Sermons and Preaching

Mansions in Glory

Read John 14:1-4 and Revelation 21:21-22:5 to start.

Where do you live? I don’t mean in Montague or Three Rivers or eastern PEI. I mean do you live in a house or an apartment or a yurt or a van down by the river? We all live somewhere, whether we own it or rent it or maybe our parents own it. Most everyone here is not in their first home, apart maybe from those who are very young. My previous house we were there for a bit more than seven years, and we’ve been in our current house for almost six years now. Bob and Marg, they owned that house for 29 years before we bought it from them. Will we own it that for long? Who knows, but I have my doubts. We’re not likely to catch my grandmother, she had lived in the same house for 80 years when she passed away in 2020.

The places where we live now, though, those are all fairly temporary. Now, six years or seven years or 29 or even 80 years might not sound temporary, but it’s not exactly permanent, is it? Especially not when compared with eternity.

We put a lot of attention and effort into our temporary lodgings here. Folks spend vast sums of money and put countless hours into purchasing, repairing, maintaining, expanding, beautifying, and of course cleaning our homes and properties. Of course, unless you want to live in a hovel, it demands a certain amount of attention to keep a home in a reasonable state, but for some people it’s one of their main concerns, one of the main demands on their time and attention. It’s nice to have a beautiful home, but for however long you’re going to live there, how much effort will it take?

You might think that this is a sermon about how to invest your time in this life with a focus on eternity, and certainly that is a worthwhile subject. You’ve probably heard more than one sermon on that in the past, I know it’s certainly something that I’ve talked about in the past, and likely will again in the future. However, that’s not my primary topic for this morning. I do want to speak about eternity, though. We think a lot about eternity, we like to imagine what it will be like, but it can stretch the imagination, and frankly, it can hurt your head if you think about it too hard.

Now, if you have a good memory, you might recall that I spoke a sermon last year on the topic of eternal life and what it will look like. I don’t want to run over the exact same ground again, and I’m not planning on that, although I did read at least a few of those verses from John chapter 14 last time as well.

When it comes to the topic of eternal life, I’m speaking most specifically to the believers here this morning. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, then you are promised eternal life in heaven with Him. This is central to the message of salvation. After all, your soul is going to be around forever, it doesn’t wink out of existence when you die.

Atheists would dearly like to believe that, that is, after all, the easy way out. If everything is over and done once your heart stops beating, then there are no lasting consequences for what we have done in this life, but it’s not something that the human mind is readily able to accept. That’s because it isn’t true, and deep down we all know it. We know that right is right and wrong is wrong, even if we get a bit muddled and confused about which is which sometimes. We know that there are consequences to our choices, potentially good or bad. The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote that we have eternity in our hearts, we know that there is something beyond this life.

That something is not like the Hindus or Buddhists say, they claim that you reincarnate and come back as someone else or something else, until finally you get it right and end up in either paradise or non-existence, depending on what flavour you subscribe to. Not sure that non-existence is a good long term goal, in any case, that just brings us back around to atheism by the scenic route, but I digress. I could go through further issues with any number of additional world religions, but that’s not really my intent for this morning either. My point is that it’s important to remember it’s this life and only this life, you don’t get a second go around. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgement.

You go somewhere. Your soul, it’s forever. It’s going to go somewhere, you are going to go somewhere, your soul is going to continue to exist somewhere. Somewhere good or somewhere bad. Up or down. Heaven or hell. It’s one or the other, not some place in between. There is no limbo, no purgatory, no holding station. No door number three.

I don’t know about you, but eternal life sounds like the obvious preferred choice. If you’re here this morning listening, I probably don’t need to convince you of that, but sometimes the reminder might be welcome.

If you have concerns about the state of your eternal soul and where you are going to end up, please come and talk to me after the meeting, or if not me, talk to someone, please. This is too important to ignore. Your soul is of too much value to not bring this up, not to have assurance about it.

For those of us who are confident about eternity, those who are sure about where we are going, we likely have some thoughts about what to expect. That being said, we don’t always have a clear idea of what eternity will look like. There are some silly clichés such as everyone sitting on a cloud with a harp, hopefully you are not expecting that. It’s not terribly Biblical. Now, if you’re talking about the New Jerusalem, the crystal sea, the streets of gold, that has a far more solid basis.

One frequently repeated idea is the concept of having a mansion in heaven. There’s a considerable number of songs which mention that idea, some of which we sing here from time to time. “Victory in Jesus” mentions a mansion, as does “Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul” to name a few. Some are even more on the nose, such as “I’ve Got a Mansion Just Over the Hilltop.” When I went looking for examples I found one called “Mansions in Heaven” by John Mellencamp. It’s a familiar idea, to be sure. And I’m sorry to say, it’s wrong.

Now, you might be saying wait a minute, we read about that a few minutes ago. After all, this idea is based largely upon John 14:2, where Christ says to the disciples that in His Father’s house are many mansions, which is how it reads in the KJV, and in a number of other translations. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Maybe you have imagined that heaven will look like some sort of estate with rolling grounds, a large house, and then down the way a little distance there is another, similar house, and then another, and another, and so on. Maybe you picture something palatial with grand columns out front, a big front step, seven bedrooms, a big balcony, the sort of stereotypical place where we imagine that the ultra-wealthy would live. Or maybe you picture something ultra-modern with an angled roofline and way too much marble with a huge swimming pool out back, I don’t know. Different people have different ideas of what a mansion should look like. I’m not sure what your idea might be, but it’s probably time to rethink it.

In many other translations, it says instead that there are many rooms in my Father’s house, rather than mansions. The original Greek word is monē (mon-AY) from the root word meno (MEN-oh) and it means a place to stay, or the act of abiding somewhere. The second word there, a place, the Greek word is topos (TOP-os), means a location or a spot. In my Father’s house there are many places to stay, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a spot for you.

There are some people who complain about modern translations and say that the translators have taken away our promised mansions, but that was never really the case. Christ did not tell His disciples that everyone was getting a big house with a big yard and a three chariot garage. And why would He? That does not even make sense when you think about it. And my idea of an ideal house might be different from yours, and I’m sure it would be completely different from what the disciples would have thought, should they have expected large houses. The more you think about it, the more odd that thought becomes. But we do like the idea of having it, don’t we? Sometimes we think of heaven as being not so different from an earthly paradise, and mansions are what we associate with that here. But heaven is not going to be like that at all.

The notion of wealth and mansions and that sort of existence is very much tied to our ideas of what is ideal in this life, what we think success should look like. We want to live in big, fancy houses, just as we want to drive nice cars, wear expensive clothes, have lots of nice stuff and all of that. That is the dream of many, many people, and the idea that if they can’t have all of it in this life, then they can get something even better in the next, that is enticing for folks. That is enticing to our human nature, that covetous, greedy, proud and selfish old human nature that wants and wants and wants. We assume that what we want in this life is what we will get in eternity, but that is not the case at all, especially if what we want in this life is self-serving and unimportant.

Christ did not promise His disciples big fancy houses. Why would He? Keep in mind, that’s not even what they wanted, they had forsaken many of the comforts of this world which they already had to follow Him. There was no luxury to be found in the company of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, it was the people, in particular the religious people, who were noticeably wealthy and powerful, who often received the harshest criticism from the Lord. John 14:2 is not about manor houses in eternity. It’s about having a place in the Father’s house, a place reserved, a place prepared by the Son of God Himself.

When we read it that way, it changes how we imagine it. Christ told the disciples that there were many places to stay in His Father’s house, that there was plenty of space, and that He would prepare a place for them. By extension, that includes you and me and anyone who trusts, follows, and believes in Christ. The Father’s house is not limited or small. There’s room for everyone.

I want to reassure you that there is no housing crisis in heaven. Here on the earth, we certainly are hearing a lot about that at the moment. In a lot of places, that’s nothing new, and frankly, it’s probably been a low to mid-grade issue in this part of the world for a very long time, but it’s a larger concern here and now than it has been in the recent past. I imagine that after the Second World War there might have been a similar crisis. We hear so much about that now, people are worried about where they will live, if they will find a place, or at least a place that they can afford.

In eternity, that’s not a concern. There is no waiting list, no sketchy landlords, no need to worry about mortgage rates or rent increases or renovictions. There’s room for everyone. Christ told the disciples this very specifically, there are many places to abide.

Not only is there space, there is space reserved. In Matthew chapter 25, the parable of the sheep and the goats is probably familiar, but I’ll read a few verses from there. Matthew 25:31-34 (31) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: (32)  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (33)  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. (34)  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

I’ll stop there. Listen to what Christ says to those on His right hand: Come and inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you. Not prepared for the last five minutes either, but this is a realm that has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This is not some sort of slapdash final hour find a spot in general seating type of arrangement; this has been in the works since the start of time as we know it. No matter what your housing status is at the moment, that should be a reassurance to you. Our earthly homes are temporary at best. Hereafter, they are already taken care of, and taken care of by the Saviour personally. That sounds like a pretty amazing offer to me.

Does this mean that I know what heaven is going to look like, what my place, what your place will resemble? No, I’m afraid not. We don’t know this, not specifically. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t know, I can’t tell you that, and no one else can either. But I can tell you this: it’s really not all that important.

If we trust Christ to save our souls, if we trust that He has a place for us, then surely we can trust that it will be a good and suitable eternal abode? If we trust the Father to hold us in His power and keep us safe for all eternity, and if we believe that God so loved the world that He sent the Son to redeem us, and that if the Son so loved us enough to die for us, while we were yet sinners, mind you, then we should trust that He has good things in store for us. He didn’t save us from our sins because he wants to stuff us into a leaky canvas tent or the heavenly equivalent of a fleabag motel for all eternity. I’m quite confident that there no leaky tents or cheap motels in heaven. But that doesn’t mean that we should expect to spend eternity in the house from Fresh Prince of Bel Air or the Beverly Hillbillies, either.

Christ has a place for us, a place reserved for us. Why would it matter what it looks like?

If you have had your heart set on this particular vision of heaven, I trust that this will not be too disappointing. It’s not that I want to burst your bubble, although I have been told that I have a tendency to do that. It’s that we should refocus on what actually matters. It’s not what heaven looks like that’s important. It’s not about the high ceilings or the floor space or the fancy decor. There are streets of gold, but so what? Would you buy a house because you are impressed by the pavement on the road out front? It’s not about the beauty or the shine. It’s about the company.

Let me ask you this, in the here and now, where would you rather be? In a fancy and impressive building all by yourself, or perhaps with two or three hundred strangers, or in a simple cabin, or on a beach, or even out in a field, with a person or people that you love, and that love you? Is that a question that even needs to be asked? I know my answer, and I know it’s true from my own experience.  

Unfortunately, the question does need to be asked, because we do like fancy things. Or at least the idea of fancy things. If your first thought is to go for the luxury, well, how quickly would you tire of it? How many people who have great wealth find soon themselves unsatisfied and unfulfilled? If that is all that you are looking forward to in heaven then why would you even want to go there?

There’s a little children’s song that I remember from when I was a kid, which wasn’t yesterday. If I say Psalty the Singing Songbook, it might bring back memories for some of us, particularly those who were kids growing up in Christian homes in the 1980s, maybe the early 90s. As a kid I was confused for a time because I interpreted “Psalty” as being flavoured with salt, like pretzels, or seawater, and didn’t understand that it was in reference to a Psalter, or a book of Psalms and hymns. Bit of a difference there. My childhood confusion aside, the song I have in mind is called “Heaven is a Wonderful Place” and while it’s not exactly “Amazing Grace” or “And Can It Be That I Should Gain” it speaks an important truth. Don’t worry, I won’t try to sing it for you.

Heaven is a wonderful place
Filled with glory and grace
I want to see my Saviour’s face
‘Cause heaven is a wonderful place.

That’s pretty much it for the lyrics, those are repeated I’m not sure how many times overall. The message isn’t exactly hard to find. Heaven is a place which is wonderful. What makes it wonderful? Yes, there is glory, and there is grace, but most crucially, there is the Saviour. Heaven is the place where we will see Him face to face. That is the main thing, because without the Lord, the rest of it does not really matter. There is no value, no importance, no reason to be there if He is not there. The reason we can go to heaven is because He has redeemed us, and that is why we should want to be there.

At the other end of the musical spectrum, Fanny Crosby wrote a more nuanced and complete hymn that illustrates the importance of this, which also mentions a mansion, as it happens. The hymn is “My Saviour First of All” and it’s number 256 in our red hymnbook. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try and sing that one either. I will read one verse from it, though, verse three to be specific.

Oh, the dear ones in glory, how they beckon me to come,
And our parting at the river I recall;
To the sweet vales of Eden they will sing my welcome home;
But I long to meet my Saviour first of all.

The important thing about heaven, about eternal life in general, is who we will be with. The particulars of what it’s going to look like, where exactly it’s going to be located, what sort of space we will occupy, those things don’t matter, not really at all when you stop and think about it. If they do matter to you, if they concern you beyond the simple fact of wanting to know, then it’s time to re-evaluate.

Now, I get the wanting to know part, I get that, I definitely do. I’m someone who wants to know all the nitty-gritty details about anything that interests me, and I’ll gladly share all that knowledge with you if you ask, and maybe even if you don’t. My family is probably nodding vigorously at that, they know what I’m like, and some of them are like that as well. It’s great to know about stuff. But sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we don’t get to know, and that has to be okay as well.

God has told us, through the Bible, what we actually do need to know. In those verses we read from John 14 to start, Christ told His disciples what they needed to hear. They needed reassurance and comfort at that point, and they needed it more than they even knew, because He was going to be arrested only a few hours later, and then crucified only a few hours after that. They needed to know that even though the Son was going away, He had not abandoned them, and likewise, the Father had would not abandon them either. What’s more, if we continued reading the chapter, we would get to the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, who would likewise provide not only additional comfort, but also the indwelling and the resultant power to allow believers to follow and serve God in this fallen world.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where we are told about the resurrection and the rapture, that was also given to comfort believers. I’ll read a few verses from there now, starting at verse 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (14)  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (15)  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (16)  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (18)  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Notice how we are not told when this will take place, nor much of the detail of what it will look like, apart from rising to the clouds and meeting the Lord in the air. It doesn’t describe where we are going, what we will do when we get there, or any further order of events. The point is that we will be with the Lord. That is what matters, that is what was going to provide comfort to believers who mourned the loss of loved ones. This was their coming hope, as it is ours.

Do we need to know what heaven is going to look like? We are given a certain amount of description in Revelation chapters 21 and the start of 22, as we heard earlier, and it all sounds impressive with the gemstones and gold, but we are also constantly reminded that God is present. He is the key feature. The place is not special because of the niceties, it is because He is there, His throne is there, and most crucially, His Son is there. The rest is window dressing.

Sermons and Preaching

Trust but Verify

Read Luke 1:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 to start.

Back before Christmas, when I was preparing for the Christmas Eve service and deciding on readings, I looked up several familiar passages, in particular from Isaiah, and Micah, and of course the second chapters of Matthew and Luke. At the time, I also took a look at the context for the various passages. Some of this context is quite well known, such as the genealogy from Matthew chapter 1. Luke chapter 1 is also well known, it talks about the parentage and birth of John the Baptist and Mary’s angelic visitor. It’s a big chapter, there’s a lot that takes place in it, there’s 80 verses, making it the longest chapter in the New Testament by verse count. I’ve heard multiple different sermons that address various sections of the chapter. But not all of it. The very first part of the chapter, is one that I don’t think I’ve ever heard referenced in a sermon, or devotional, or a Sunday school lesson.

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Sermons and Preaching

Best Laid Plans

Read James 4:13-17 and 2 Kings 5:1-8 to start.

A couple of weeks ago was New Years Eve, and as it happens on that day my family and I had gone to a festive gathering. There were some good friends there, some slight acquaintances, and some complete strangers. One of the strangers, who, as it turns out, is the brother-in-law of one of my best friends, because that’s how things go in PEI, is a pastor at a church in Charlottetown, and I chatted with him for a bit about sermon topics. I told him about the topic that I had chosen for this morning, and how it was an important and valuable topic, and also based on a passage that I don’t think I had ever heard anyone speak from before.

This is not that sermon. Maybe some month soon I will preach that, but not this morning. My original plans, my well considered outline, it went out the window in favour of something else. That is often the nature of plans, though. We make plans, sometimes simple and straightforward plans, other times elaborate and complicated plans with multiple stages that run over months or years, then things change, and those plans go down the drain.

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Sermons and Preaching

Sunk Costs and the Value of Letting Go

Read Mark 10:17-27 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 to start.

Many years ago when I was in university, my first year of university, in fact, I took a course in economics. It was the only course in economics that I took, and I remember little from it, aside from the fact that I didn’t want to learn any more economics. I do however remember a few economic concepts. One of those is the idea of sunk costs.

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Sermons and Preaching

Take it to the Lord in Prayer

Read Luke 10:38-42 and Psalm 69: 1-5 to start, see also “What a Friend We Have in Jesus“.

This morning I’m going to do something a little different, or maybe a lot different, in a few different ways. First, I’m going to start at the end, which might sound crazy but I think it will make sense once we get going. Second, this is probably going to feel more like three small sermons that are linked together, rather than one cohesive sermon. And the reason for that is the third different thing, that even though we started with a scripture reading, and we heard an entirely different passage earlier, my sermon is not really about either of those passages, but it’s about a hymn. We sang it a few minutes ago, number 517 in our red hymnbook, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

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Uncategorized

God of the Many / God of the Few

Read Luke 15:1-10 to start.

I’m going to let you all in on the worst kept secret – I like Star Trek. Have liked it since I was a kid watching the repeats of the original series on CBC on Saturday afternoon. I remember it was on right after lunch time. No one else in the house was much into it, but I enjoyed it, cheesy as it was. I liked the movies as well, well, not the first one, it was long and boring, but the later movies were great. There’s a line that comes up a couple of times in the second movie, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.” In the context of the movie the line fits with Spock putting himself in danger to save the ship and ultimately dying from radiation poisoning.

In the context of everyday life, this is a reasonable and practical approach to many things. We see this principle play out all the time. Main roads with lots of traffic see the snow plow first. When there is a power outage, the crews will generally try to get the largest groups of people back on first, and then deal with the smaller individual outages. If you are ordering pizza for a group of people, you order what most people like. The guy who wants nothing but pineapple, olives, and anchovies, he’s probably out of luck, because the larger group, the many, they don’t want that, and it’s more reasonable to meet their needs than the needs of someone who has terrible taste in pizza.

Questions of pizza, plows, and power outages might all seem urgent at the time, but when you look at the big picture, none of those is especially important, none are likely to have any lasting significance. Are we ourselves more concerned with the views and opinions of the many, or of the few? Are we concerned with the well-being of the few? Or are we more worried about the approval of the many?

It was very tempting for me to take this sermon in a different direction than I had planned, and to talk about the importance of taking care of the small, the weak, the marginalized, unpopular, the few, even at the expense of incurring the ire of the many. I do think that is a valid topic for another day, because all too often is this world quick to dismiss and discard those who do not fit a preferred mould. For that matter, all too often in the church we are also ready to distance ourselves from those who don’t conform to our views or whose Christian walk might be stumbling and halting at times, or might not measure up. It is something that we all need to watch out for in our own behaviour, our own thoughts and deeds, because we enjoy having the approval of the majority, and at times that may divert us from doing what is right. The parables we read were delivered to a group of people that included the Pharisees who did not approve of how Christ associated with publicans and sinners. Clearly He did not care about the approval of the many.

But this morning, I want to ask a different question. Is God more concerned with the many or the few? Is He the God of the many, or the God of the few? Is He both? Or is He neither? That is what I would like to consider this morning.

It’s easy to find scripture to support either side of this. In the Old Testament we see repeated references to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We also see many examples of how God interacted directly with individuals. Some of the most well known Bible characters are people who had a close personal relationship with God, and with whom we see Him communicating. Think of men like Noah, Moses, and Samuel, they walked with God, talked with God, and very specifically did His work. Each of them was called out by the Lord for a particular task, and we even have some specific details of their conversations with Him.

It’s not just prophets and patriarchs that God dealt with personally. In Genesis chapter 16, we read of Hagar, at the time pregnant with the baby who would be Ishmael, how she fled into the wilderness when things went badly for her. We see how God sent an angel to speak with her, instruct her, acknowledge her affliction, as well as give a promise to her about her unborn baby. This is as plain an example of God dealing with someone personally as we will find in scripture, and most notably, someone that we do not have any indication that they knew God at all prior to this event. She even refers to the Lord as “Thou God seeth me” which is an acknowledgement of how God has taken notice of her directly and in a personal and specific way.

God clearly deals with people on an individual basis, and deals with them where they are.

But we can also see God dealing with larger groups of people, often much larger groups, such as individual tribes, or specific family lines, or with entire nations. Israel is the most obvious one, there are myriad promises to the Israelites, some of which are contingent upon their obedience, and some of which are not. Likewise, there are warnings for Israel as a nation, that should they refuse to follow God’s laws, there would be consequences. We can see that unfortunately, that is what happened, Israel fell far short of a passing grade when it came to serving God. They did not keep the Sabbath as they should have, they did not keep the Passover as they should have. They did not follow the seven-year-cycle of harvest and letting the land rest as they should have. Most notably, they did not refrain from worshipping idols, they continually fell into that and became virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding nations, including the very groups that God had told them to remove from the land. As a result, they went into exile as a nation, and never experienced the level of freedom that they had before until 1948.

It’s not only Israel that God deals with as a group. Often there are select groups mentioned in scripture, such as on the day of Pentecost when a vast crowd heard Peter’s sermon, and three thousand believed and were added to the church on that one day. Many of the epistles in the New Testament are directed to entire local churches, with however many people they might consist of.

In the Old Testament, we see prophecies directed to various nations, such as Moab, Ammon, Edom, Assyria, and Egypt. We also see other, more general examples. Psalm 33 has an interesting one, which is both for Israel, but not limited to that nation. Reading at verse (12) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (13)  The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. (14)  From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. (15)  He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.

Yes, that does refer to Israel, if not by name, but it also includes the entire world. All the inhabitants of the earth, that phrase is ever so inclusive. That includes me, it includes you, it leaves no one out. Not only does God see us, He has formed us, and He notices our works and deeds, and He considers them. He weighs and evaluates and knows us, we do not get to fly under the radar.

God is the God of the Many, and He is the God of the few.

We see this well illustrated in the passage that we looked at to start this morning. We read a parable from Luke’s gospel, or rather two closely related parables, the parable of the Lost Sheep, and of the Lost Coin. In both cases, someone has a large number of something, whether it be sheep, or coins, depending on the parable, and in both cases, a small percentage of both goes missing. The owner of that which is lost, instead of quickly giving up and abandoning it, instead makes a diligent search. The lost sheep and the lost coin are both recovered, and there is cause for rejoicing in both cases. We see exactly this in both parables, one is almost an echo of the other.

These are well known parables, although perhaps not quite as well known as the one that immediately follows, which is the parable of the Prodigal Son. I didn’t read that one, because it’s long, and it is one of the best known of all the parables. It is of course deserving of an entire sermon. One day I expect to preach that sermon, we’ll see how things unfold and how my perspective develops over the next couple of years.

But for the here and now, these three parables have an interesting progression with numbers and percentages. First we have 100 sheep, and one is lost, which is only one percent. Then we have ten coins, one lost, which is ten percent. Finally we have two sons, one of which for a time became lost. That is of course fifty percent. The relative value of what is lost compared to what is not lost changes dramatically. But in all cases, that which was lost is eventually found.

Is a son more valuable than a coin, or a coin more precious than a sheep? You might think that the answer to the first one is obvious, of course your child is worth far more than some money or an animal. Sadly, there are some parents who do not act as if that is the case, but that is another topic for another day. The point is not who or what is worth more, the point is that there is perceived value, great value, in all of the lost things. It’s not about the monetary value or the cost of replacement, it’s about how precious the lost ones are to those who own them, those who value them.

If I’m driving out in the country, a random sheep lost on the side of the road is not particularly worrisome for me, and it’s probably not for you either. I’ve not seen stray sheep out and about, but I have seen stray cows on more than one occasion, and I haven’t exactly gotten worked up about it. Presumably sheep get out of their pastures and get lost from time to time as well. For most of us, that’s not the end of the world. But I don’t own that lost sheep, or for that matter, any sheep. To whoever owns that sheep, though, a lost sheep is a big deal, a very big deal. That animal is precious to them, and they would very much like to find it, to recover it.

It’s also not about how many there are, how many are lost compared to how many are not. When you have 99 sheep remaining, one missing animal may seem insignificant, not worth the effort to find it. But it’s worth the effort when you care about that sheep, when you care about each of your sheep. You make that effort when you value something, or someone.

You know who else appreciates that effort? The lonely lost sheep.

As mentioned, I don’t own sheep, or any livestock for that matter. And while I don’t ever expect to own sheep, I do own a cat. Well, technically, there’s a cat that lives in our house and we supply it with food and treats, and we clean up its poop. So far as the cat is concerned, we don’t own him, we’re more like his cooks, janitor, and butler. Our cat is an indoor cat, because he does not need to be outside murdering birds, avoiding cars, and making friends with skunks and raccoons. However, he has on far too many occasions made excursions to the great outdoors, usually because someone didn’t notice him slip out when they were coming in the door. When he gets outside, sometimes he gets scared and comes back in a few minutes, but there then are other times when he does not. When that happens, we go and find him, we chase him down, we lure him in with treats, we wait for him to come out from under the deck or down from one of the maple trees –– it’s always a maple, he must be a patriotic cat – because it’s not safe for him to be on his own outside. I don’t even like the cat all that much, but the rest of the family does, and therefore he’s precious enough to us to go and rescue him when he gets himself into trouble.

If my cat is precious to me, how precious must we be to our Creator? Like my cat, and like the sheep in the parable, we are entirely too dumb and frequently we make ill-advised choices and get into trouble. We get ourselves away from God, away from safety. Maybe we realize quickly that we have lost our way and are far from home, and maybe we don’t, but God is there for us once we are ready to turn to Him for help.

God sent His only begotten Son to pay the price for our sins in order that we might have the salvation we need. If we were not precious to Him, He would not have done that. We have the Lord’s Supper every Sunday morning to commemorate this, to recognize that Christ suffered and died for us, because we were lost and needed to be found. Yes, He asked His followers to remember Him in this way, and so we do, but we also do so because of how significant His sacrifice was, how greatly He suffered, and how complete is the salvation that we have gained from His work. If we trust in Christ to save us, then the benefit we enjoy is beyond measure, and that benefit only exists because we are precious to Him.

We are not precious to Him because we are good, or we are righteous, or well behaved, or skilled, or particularly brilliant and wonderful. We are precious to Him because He made us, we are His creation, and He values us more than we can ever truly comprehend. And because of this, He made a way that we could be with Him, a way to resolve the divide that is caused by sin.

Christ said that He came to seek and to save the lost, we can read that if we flip over a few pages to Luke chapter 19. And who are the lost? While He came first to Israel, to His chosen people, this invitation is extended to one and all. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All we are have gone astray. We are all lost sheep. God is the God of any who will accept Him.

The shepherd in the first parable, is he the shepherd of that one lost sheep, or of all the sheep? The immediate answer is to say both. The parable pays the most attention to the lost sheep, but no doubt when that shepherd was not out recovering the missing animal, he was caring for the other 99. Or more accurately, most of the time he was caring for all 100.

And likewise the woman with her coins, all ten of them were precious to her. The one that was lost had her attention at the moment, because it was not with the others, and its fate was uncertain, but it was not more or less important than the others. She owned all ten of them. She valued them all.

Both people in those parables, they went out and looked for the lost. They went to find what was missing, and in the case of the shepherd, went quite a distance out in the wilderness, and carried it back.

God does that with us as well, He meets us where we are. This can be out in the wilderness, hopeless and alone, or it can be right where we have been all along, not even seeing that we need Him. But alone or in a crowd, God sees us and knows us and cares for us.

I’ll ask you to turn to Acts chapter 8 to see how God meets people where they are, no matter how large or small a group they might be in. This takes place in the early days of the church, shortly after persecution has started at Jerusalem, and believers have started dispersing out to the surrounding areas. Reading at verse (5) Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. (6)  And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. (7)  For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. (8)  And there was great joy in that city.

Samaria is a bit of a distance from Jerusalem, about 70 kilometres or so. It’s a fair hike when you are on foot, which Philip almost certainly was. But instead of running and hiding and staying quiet to avoid potential persecution following him to Samaria, Philip instead shared the good news of salvation to the Samaritans, who he probably didn’t particularly like, as there was a long standing animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans, which we won’t get into at this time. God used Philip to reach this group of people, probably a fairly large group, because they clearly needed to be reached. They had illnesses, they had injuries, they had demonic oppression, and they did not have the gospel. God sent Philip to be His minister to the Samaritans, and it says that they listened. It says they were healed, and that there was great joy. We don’t have specific numbers of how many believed, but it was certainly in the hundreds at minimum, and probably in the thousands. What a blessing to those people who had been on the outside looking in when it came to being part of God’s people prior to this point!

We saw how God was the God of the many, how the city of Samaria was reached and was blessed, and how many were added to the church. We see a different example if we look further down the chapter, to verse (26)  And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. (27)  And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, (28)  Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. (29)  Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. (30)  And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? (31)  And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

I could read the rest of the passage, but it is familiar to most, and I’ll simply sum it up instead. The Ethiopian heard the gospel from Philip, who explained how the Old Testament prophecies applied to Christ, and how this was relevant and important, and the Ethiopian believed and was baptised almost immediately. This man, this one man, was added to the church universal on that day, out in the wilderness, in isolation from other believers, from anyone else apart from maybe his chariot driver. No large group, no others, just him. God found him where he was, when he needed help, when he needed answers. God saw him, and saved him, because God pays attention to those who seek Him, those who need Him.

At times we might feel that we are part of a larger group, and that we relate to God as part of that group. We worship as a group, we pray as a group, we sing as a group. This morning, right now, I’m speaking to you all as a group, not sitting down with you one by one to share with you directly, as Philip did with that Ethiopian in the wilderness.

If we have believed and trusted in Him, then we have been added to the church so that we will be part of a group, part of His building, so that we will be better equipped to serve Him, and better supported in this life, so that we will be part of something much larger than ourselves. He is the God of the many, and we are part of the many.

But at times we may not feel that we are really a proper part of the many. We may feel that we do not fit in, that we are not seen, that we are all on our own. I won’t have you turn there, but we could see many examples in the Psalms of how David found himself all alone, or at least feeling that he was alone, and that there was none to help. We also could look at Elijah, who fled into the wilderness and cried out to the Lord that he was the only one left who actually followed, who actually believed.

For both of them, God met them where they were, and reassured them that He had not forgotten them, not left them, and that they were not alone. They needed to be reminded of God’s goodness, His grace, and His presence, both in their lives and in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes, quite often I think, we need that reminder as well. We need that attention.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father loved both of his sons, he valued both of them. The one who went off, who went astray, he gets the lion’s share of attention in the parable, because he got into trouble, trouble of his own making, mind you. He needed help. He required attention.

Sometimes we need a lot of attention, and sometimes we do not. Some people need more attention and more help, and some do not. That is how this life goes. That has nothing to do with how much God loves us. His love and His grace are sufficient for us, in whatever measure we may need, and when we need it.

God is the God of the many, it is true. We are part of the many, whether we feel it or not, and whether we like it or not. But God is also the God of the few, and the God of the one. He meets us where we are, He deals with us where we are, because He values us every bit as much as that shepherd in the parable valued the lone lost sheep. He seeks us as the woman looks for her lost coin. He loves us as much as the father loved his runaway son.

Sermons and Preaching

This is Life Eternal

Read John 10:22-30 and John 14:1-7 to start.

Eternal life is a topic that you are likely familiar with. It’s a topic that comes up a lot, because it’s something that basically everyone wants. We’re not just talking about those who believe in God, we’re talking about the general public. Certainly popular media likes the idea of eternal life, I can think of any number of songs you might hear on the radio that talk about living forever and/or not dying, running the gamut from Alphaville to Steppenwolf. Last week I watched a movie with a couple of my kids, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In that movie, the characters are looking for the Holy Grail, which is supposed to grant eternal life to anyone who drinks from it. It doesn’t work out quite as expected. Of course, things are often quite different than we expect.

I imagine you have heard plenty of preaching about eternal life, how to get it, and how important it is to pay attention to it. I don’t know that I’ve ever preached an entire sermon specifically on the subject of eternal life, but certainly it has been a topic that has come up many times, because it’s a topic that troubles us. A lot of people are concerned with it, some you you might even say are preoccupied with it. In fact, while I was preparing this very sermon, one of my kids came to me to talk about eternity and what it would look like.

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Sermons and Preaching

I’m The Problem

Read Jonah 1:1-12 and Genesis 3:1-13 to start.

American comedian Flip Wilson was known as the first black TV superstar, he was a frequent guest on variety shows, did a number of comedy albums, and hosted his own show for four seasons. There was a catchphrase he popularized in the early 1970s, “The devil made me do it.” You’ve probably heard someone say this, or maybe you’ve said it yourself. The same phrase was used as the title of a song by Dutch rock band Golden Earring, and in that song of course it’s about someone not willing to accept responsibility for their illegal actions, specifically the theft of a fur coat and a BMW.

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Sermons and Preaching

Seeing Jesus

Read Luke 19: 1-10 to start.

In the spring of 1985, Canadian paralympian Rick Hansen set out on a world tour in his wheelchair to raise money for spinal cord research. He travelled 40,000 kilometres, across 34 countries, taking 26 months to complete his trek. It was called the Man in Motion tour, and it was an absolute success, raising 26 million dollars, and certainly increasing awareness of those living with spinal injury and how they could do things that no one expected of them. While he didn’t get much attention at the start, by the time he some months along he was making international news and folks took notice.

He met a lot of people on that tour, and no doubt shook a lot of hands. One of those hands was mine, because when he rolled into Charlottetown in the fall of 1986, I heard that he was going to be at the parking lot for the Ellis Brothers’ Shopping Center, which was only a five minute walk from my house, so I went down there to see him. There were a couple of hundred other people with the same idea, so there was quite a crowd, but ten year old Marko was pushy and persistent, and I made my way to the front. I wanted to see him, and I did. I don’t remember if I said anything, but I remember that I shook his hand.

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Sermons and Preaching

Age and Youth

Read Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8 to start.

Sometimes I like to start a sermon with a story or a personal anecdote. But today there wasn’t one that came to mind, although this is a very personal topic, and I think a very personal sermon. This morning, I’m speaking to the younger folks in particular, but I hope that there is something here for everyone, regardless of your age. Because this is a topic that affects each and every one of us, and that is the subject of getting older.

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