Pleasure is Meaningless - Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

              

The Teacher began his reflection on meaning in life by focusing on how so much in life is hevel, vapour or smoke, it’s fleeting and hard to hold onto. Now the Teacher starts digging deeper into his search for meaning, for a sense of weight and meaning in life. The Teacher now moves into offering a philosophy on life, developing principles to guide us to growing our knowledge and ethics to shape how we should journey through life so that it’s more than simply hevel that slips through our hands. The Teacher’s desire is that we can look back over life, recognise in the present, and look to the future with the ability to recognize and determine what is hevel and what carries weight and meaning. Just a side note, when we talk about God’s glory, the word glory carries the sense of weight and majesty.

I love to laugh, as many of you have learned, but the Teacher begins by saying that “Laughter is madness.” The word for laughter in Hebrew is “simhah” and can also be translated as “mockery or derision.” In our culture today, it’s often easier to laugh at others in mockery, rather than to laugh with someone in pleasure. We see this in the word he uses for madness, “tollel” which can be translated “to be infatuated; to make look foolish; to make a mockery of; act like a madman.” This is not laughing in pleasure, but with cruelty, a type of laughter that’s much too common today. Our culture’s becoming crueler as we turn more and more to media for our information and entertainment.

Like so many people today, the Teacher turns to pleasure to find meaning in life, yet right from the start, he sounds doubtful, “What does pleasure accomplish,” and still goes ahead with trying to see if pleasure brings meaning to his life anyway. The word for pleasure is “siklut” and can be translated as “joy, gladness, or delight.” He doesn’t condemn pleasure; joy, gladness, and delight are good things, something we all desire to experience. Jesus enjoyed weddings, dinners with friends, and even created wine for the wedding. The word siklut in the Old Testament is often used as a response to worshipping God and something we can experience even in times of trouble; Psalm 51:10–12, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” We hear the call to find our joy in the strength of the Lord in Nehemiah 8:10.

The Teacher discovers that pleasure doesn’t truly satisfy in the long term. Indulging in pleasure doesn’t bring you lasting hope or meaning, it often merely hides the emptiness of your life. Much of the pleasure the Teacher seeks out is found in activities that emphasizes “sensory input to the body which gives entertainment to the senses,” the second definition of siklut. Proverbs 21:17 offers us this warning, “Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.”

The Teacher’s reason for exploring wine and embracing folly is to see what’s “good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.” He claims that he doesn’t let go of wisdom, recognizing that wisdom is better than foolishness, that having some limits in place is a good idea. At its heart, this is worldly wisdom, not Godly or biblical wisdom. In how he writes this, laughter, madness, wine and folly are all closely intertwined. It’s no secret how quickly wine or alcohol can grab a hold of us, creating a dependency that can lead to addiction. Peter gives us insight into what the Teacher learns in 2 Peter 2:18-19, “For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” The chase after pleasure is one of the big idols today. Think of how much is spent on entertainment today in the search of pleasure; where our dollars go shows where our heart is drawn.

Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World, writing about people who love technology which leads them to a place where they’re no longer able to think for themselves, reduced to passivity and self-centredness, and truth is drowned in an ocean of meaningless noise. People in Brave New World are controlled through pleasure, drugs, and beautiful women freely available in a consequence free world. Neil Postman uses Brave New World as an example of where we’re heading in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, warning that in our media-infused age, everything, politics, education, journalism, and even religion has become entertainment, and for many, meaningless. Something to think about as we flip through our apps and channels as we doom scroll on the couch.

Wine and laughter don’t bring meaning to life, so the Teacher tries a different approach, “I undertook great projects.” He does some pretty impressive things: he builds houses, plants vineyards, and gardens. He creates parks; the word for park in Hebrew is where our word for paradise comes from; he builds little paradises and fills them with fruit trees, an image of the garden of Eden. When you have parks and fruit trees, you need water so he builds reservoirs to water the trees. These are great and good projects!

The Teacher doesn’t stop with building projects; he accumulates all kinds of wealth and people. He buys slaves, and many slaves are born into slavery in his household, a foreign concept today to many of us, but not uncommon then. He develops herds and flocks, more than anyone before him, suggesting that the Teacher might be Solomon. He gathers silver and gold and treasure. He acquires singers and a harem, what he calls “the delights of a man’s heart.” In verse 10, the Teacher takes delight in what he’s accomplished and attained, and that delight is his reward, but ultimately, it’s not enough.

The experiences of pleasure all slip away through his fingers. Today that’s seems enough for many people, life’s all about the here and now, there’s no vision or thinking about the future. His heart takes delight in all he accomplishes, in all that he built and created and gathered for himself, even the immoral experiences like concubines. Solomon had over 1,000 wives and concubines, and built temples to his wives’ gods, and yet his heart and soul is empty. His many accomplishments don’t bring the meaning and weight that he’s searching for because he’s searching “under the sun” instead of seeking the Creator of everything under the sun. 

Bobby Jamieson wrote a book on Ecclesiastes called Everything is Never Enough, a reminder that one way to be unhappy is to get everything you want, only to find that everything’s still not enough. You get used to the feelings that come from doing something that brings you pleasure, but if you keep on seeking the same pleasure, you will need more in order to experience the same level of pleasure. The drive for pleasure leads to discontentment, frustration, and a continual searching for more. Thanksgiving and gratitude become difficult.

Too often we seek pleasure “under the sun” apart from God. Pleasure’s not bad, in verse 26 the Teacher even calls it a gift from God. Yet what do we gain from the constant search after pleasure? The answer is nothing permanent, it’s “chasing after the wind.” Materialism and consumerism fail to bring meaning into our lives. However, the word for pleasure can also be translated as “joy.” Joy is more a state of being than an emotion; it’s a result of choice. Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit; part of the experience of being a Christian and choosing to follow the way of Jesus. In John 15:11, Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Joy comes in living for Jesus and following his teachings.

Many people today, Christians included, believe that the purpose of life is to be happy, and suffering has never felt happy. Randy Newman writes, “With a high premium placed on “joy,” or “fellowship,” and a distorted view of “the abundant life,” some people steer clear of any uncomfortable burdens connected with seeing a world in need. Sadness and burden, by definition, are excluded from a life that is supposed to be happy and full.” The chase after pleasure “under the sun” is “me” focused while Jesus comes to guide us into a “thee” focused living faith that embraces God’s call at Sinai to care for each other. We do this out of gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin, loving God and neighbour, entering into each other’s struggles and help them see God’s presence, building our lives together on the foundation of Jesus.

Knowing Jesus is returning to overturn the results of sin: abuse, cruelty, injustice, violence, racism, poverty, and all forms of brokenness is where you’ll discover joy that has weight and meaning. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, ascension to heaven, and promise to return, we’re reminded that this world “under the sun” isn’t everything. Jesus is returning to bring renewal, to wipe away tears and fears, to bring eternal joy and hope. Joy is found in salvation, in reconciliation with God. Jesus talks about the joy in heaven when a sinner repents. Look for your joy in Jesus, in the community of believers, and in loving God and neighbour.

Stand Firm - 1 Corinthians 16:13–14 - Cadet Sunday

                     

Thank you, cadets, for leading us in worship this morning. It’s good for all of us to see your faith and the relationships you have with your counsellors as they lead you to trust in Jesus and grow into men who love and serve Jesus. Your cadet theme this year is, “Stand Firm,” reminding us that faith and trust in Jesus will not always be easy, that there will always be people who won’t understand why you trust Jesus and follow him. The verses from Paul also remind us that there will be people who will try to make you not trust Jesus and to even stop following Jesus. This is why the verses from your theme this year are so important to hear. 

These verses come near the end of Paul’s letter and out of his relationship with them. In some ways, these verses are like a prayer for them, to shape who they are in their faith. Paul’s writing as both a friend and a teacher. “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” In these 2 short verses, Paul gives us 5 commands to help us in our faith: “be on your guard,” then he goes on with, “stand firm.” Paul then calls us to “be courageous,” and then to “be strong.” Finally, Paul tells us to “do everything in love.” When we live with Paul’s words in our hearts, we’ll be able to stand firm when challenges to our faith in Jesus show up.

Paul commands them to “be on your guard.” Guards protect the people; they actively patrol their area so that nothing bad happens and enemies aren’t able to sneak in and hurt people. any danger they come across they deal with quickly, even before the people they’re protecting even know about the danger. Peter talks about being alert and watching out for Satan, 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Paul warns about lies or temptations that might cause people to doubt Jesus and his love for us. We protect each other from the lies and temptations, and to do this, we need to know what we believe about Jesus and why. This is why Bible study is such an important part of the cadet meeting, this is why your counsellors have committed themselves to learning the Bible and Jesus so they can help you grow strong in your faith and recognize the dangers when they come and help you stand against them.

Paul then calls us to “stand firm in the faith.” This is a command to trust in Jesus and what you believe so that you don’t fall. It’s like when you stand and push against each other; it takes work to not fall over or step backwards. If someone is sneaky or tricks you, they can fool you into falling. This is why Paul puts standing firm in the faith right beside “be on your guard.” Satan’s not only like a roaring lion, he’s also a liar and trickster, always looking for ways to get you to do things that make God unhappy or even angry. Trust what your parents and counsellors are teaching you about Jesus, but also read the Bible yourself, talk to God in prayer asking him to help you stand firm, and come regularly to church on Sundays to praise God. These are 3 pillars of faith we’re focusing on in Bethel to help us “stand firm in the faith.”  

Now Paul encourages us to “be courageous.” Paul echoes Psalm 31:21, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Courage and strength are often connected to each other in the Bible. Courage is doing what you know is right even if you’re scared. It’s easy to do what’s right when everything is going well and everyone agrees with you. It takes courage to do what’s right when things are hard and people disagree with you, and may even be trying to get you to not do what is right, doing what the Holy Spirit is guiding you to do. They may try to force you to do wrong, they may trash your reputation, mock you, and chase your friends away, they may even try to hurt you, insult you, or do even more to stop you from doing what God says is right. It’s hard to be courageous, it can be lonely to be courageous, this is why God gives us friends who also follow Jesus, gives us a church family to help us be brave.

Along with being courageous, Paul calls us to “be strong.” How do you get a strong body; do you lie on the couch or bed all day watching videos, playing games, doom scrolling, or watching tv? Do you get strong by eating junk food and slacking off? It’s a lot of work to become strong physically, and it’s just as much work to become strong spiritually in the Lord. To become strong physically you need to eat right, work out and exercise, get enough sleep, and doing all the right things to build your muscles. It might make you sore at first, but it slowly becomes easier. To become strong spiritually to help you be courageous, it also takes hard work.

Becoming strong spiritually in your faith takes exercising your heart and mind. Studying the Bible with your family, friends, at cadets and church is one of the big exercises. It might seem hard at first and there will be lots you don’t understand, but slowly you’ll learn more and understand Jesus better. Doing the things Jesus tells us to do by putting your faith in action like helping others, even if it means missing out sometimes on things you want to do, being generous with your time and even money, encouraging each other and building others up, standing up for what is right, protecting those who are being bullied are some of the ways we exercise our faith to become stronger and braver. We do this together as cadets and as a church family so the world can see who Jesus calls us to be.

We become stronger in the faith together by putting God first, focusing on learning the Scriptures instead of your phone, talking to God instead of watching people online, spending time with fellow Christians and praising God instead of focusing on yourself. Satan will try to get you think that God isn’t really that important, he’ll try to get you to think that a little sin isn’t that bad and that website’s alright, he will try to distract you from paying attention to Jesus. Satan will try to use your hurt, use the things people have done against you to doubt God’s love. When we lose things that we love, Satan will use that to try and weaken our faith. The more you read scripture, pray, and spend time with your Christian friends and family worshipping, the stronger your faith grows and the deeper your love for God grows, the better you become at recognizing Satan’s lies. This is why your parents and counsellors are so important, because they set you an example of being strong for Jesus by trusting in him and following his way.

Paul ends these commands by encouraging us to “do everything out of love.” This echoes Jesus’ command “to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbour as yourself.” This looks like caring about others and wanting what’s best for them, even if you don’t like them. This means that part of love is wanting them to know Jesus and God’s love for all people. Love leads to a willingness to forgive and to offer grace even when it’s hard, even if it takes time to move from your head to your heart. Naomi Tutu writes, “How we walk through the world makes a statement about the world we want.” When we see in the Bible how much God loves the world he created by sending his only son Jesus to come to earth to bring us back to God, taking our sin away on the cross, and showing us how to follow God. We ask God to show us how to live in our world with others. We know how important being in a relationship with Jesus is, knowing why Jesus came for us, and together working to become the cadets and people Jesus teaches us to be as his followers.

Cadets and our church family help us to be ready, alert, strong, and courageous in living for Jesus, doing this together, not by ourselves. It’s not always easy, we need to help each other, encourage each other, build each other up so we can stand firm in what Jesus teaches. We can stand firm because Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit to help us be bold and strong for him to stand firm in the faith. When it gets hard, Jesus calls us to come to him and he’ll fill us with his strength and protect us, he will give us a place to rest our souls. We know that we can trust him because of his love for us. Trust in Jesus’ love and sacrifice, trust in his strength and promises, walking together as we stand firm in our faith.

Meaninglessness and Wisdom - Ecclesiastes 1:1-18; 2:12-16

This week we’re beginning a journey through the book of Ecclesiastes. This book is part of the Wisdom books in the Old Testament, books that reflect on life and life well lived as followers of God. J.A Louder observes, “Wisdom is concerned with the correct ordering of live. Wise action is that which integrates people harmoniously into the order God has created. The rules of life that prescribe how human beings must integrate themselves into that order are the precept of wisdom.” Scripture describes wisdom as living well with God, others, creation, and with ourselves, living according to God’s will. Wisdom is living according to who God created us to be as images of him in his world. Ecclesiastes calls us back to an awareness of God.

Ecclesiastes is written with 2 voices, a narrator and the Teacher. The Teacher’s talking to people like himself who are caught up in the things and values of this world, looking for something to fill the hole in their heart. God’s distant, not part of their everyday awareness. The Teacher is calling us to an awareness of our God who is close and engaged in our world. The Teacher’s a son from the line of David, some believe this is Solomon, while others believe it’s a later king or leader in Judah. Even though the author’s not definitively known, the Jewish people and church recognizes the wisdom within the book and how it’s relevant to every time and age.

The Teacher begins, “Hevel, hevel, everything is hevel.” Hevel has often been translated as “meaninglessness,” in Hebrew the literal meaning is “vapour” or “breath” or “smoke.” These are things that look like they’re solid and have substance, and yet when you try to grab hold of them, they simply slip through your fingers. As we journey through Ecclesiastes, this thought will come up again and again, the things we often chase end up having little or no lasting meaning or importance, they end up simply vapour or smoke. Ecclesiastes is written from a “this world” perspective, “life under the sun,” showing that the things we strive for end up as vapour or smoke because we chase them without God in mind. The Teacher is aware of how our daily lives are mostly lived apart from an awareness of God.

When we look at life, we see much beauty, wonder, and good in the world. Yet it can all disappear in a moment of tragedy. It feels then as if everything has slipped through your fingers. There’s right and wrong and justice, so why are good people hurt so often? As much as we want to control our lives, life’s unpredictable and can feel as if we’re “chasing after the wind.” The big theme through Ecclesiastes is found in verse 3, “What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?” As we go through the book, we will encounter the word “gain” 8 more times, the word “toil” 22 times, and the phrase “under the sun” 29 times.

Over the next 12 chapters, the Teacher is going to challenge the tendency we have to invest so much of our time and energy, and even our emotions, into things that ultimately are not going to matter, things that are “hevel.” Verses 4,5,6,7 reflect on verse 3’s question about what do we gain through all our work. These verses are written in what is called poetic parallelism: 2 thoughts put together in order to compare or contrast, here in these verses, to emphasize the sameness found in the rhythms of the world; nothing ever changes, so why bother working so hard. Professor Lisa M. Wolfe writes, “Qoheleth uses hevel poetically…. Poetry as a genre often prompts its readers to thoughtfulness about the meaning of life.”

In verse 4, the Teacher talks about how people are born and die, but only world lasts forever. Our lives are so short compared to the existence of the world, so what can we really expect to accomplish? We can work our fingers to the bone yet what kind of lasting mark do we really leave on the world? He goes on in verse 5 about how the sun rises and falls, repeating over and over again the same each day. If you’ve seen one sunrise or sunset, you’ve basically seen them all, and if you’ve never seen one, there is always another one coming. In verse 6, he turns his attention to how the wind blows north and then south, always following the same pattern, over and over again. It may blow stronger or lighter, but ultimately it all just repeats itself. The fascinating example for me is how the streams all flow into the sea and the sea’s never full – like our efforts to make more, have more pleasure, gain more wealth, power, knowledge, whatever – it never really amounts to anything, even the wisest man in history Solomon died. Even with all his wisdom, he still ends up kneeling down before meaningless idols for the sake of his wives. It makes us think about what idols we have in our own lives that we bow down to, who do we raise up in the place of God, what do we let have power over us? How much smoke do we fill our hearts with?

Jesus warns us against placing too much value or weight into the things of this world. He tells his disciples a parable about a rich man in Luke 12:16–20, “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” You can work so hard to become so wealthy that you can take it easy for the rest of your life, but we really have no idea how long that might be. When we die, no matter how much we have, it all stays behind for someone else.

Jesus warns his disciples about what’s really important in Matthew 16:24–26, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” Jesus warns us that what we work hard for “under the sun” also demands our attention, and even our worship, Matthew 6:19–21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” It’s amazing where our heart’s desire will lead us, and if our desire’s not Jesus, but something “under the sun,” it won’t be towards what has weight and importance.

Verse 9 in Ecclesiastes 1 reminds us, “there is nothing new under the sun.” That’s the answer to verse 3’s question, “What do people gain from all their labours at which they toil under the sun?” Our pride tells us that we’re unique and wiser than all those who’ve come before, that our wisdom is greater, and yet it all slips away in the end if it’s all done only “under the sun,” rather than approaching life from the perspective of God. Living only “under the sun” brings no hope for now or the future. If nothing ever changes, why bother trying. Paul gets at this in Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Their thinking became futile, just vapour with no substance or weight or value. They know God but fail to glorify or give thanks to God, making themselves the center of their universe and importance, living only “under the sun.” Everything we chase that’s not Jesus is vapour.

In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher concedes that in the short run, it’s better to be wise than foolish, but the Teacher looks way down the road. In the short run, fools might suffer for their foolishness, but in the long run, it doesn’t make much difference; both the fool and the wise person die. Into a world more focused on living “under the sun” than living under God, Jesus comes to do something brand new. The one through whom all things were created comes into life’s rough, hard places and goes to the Place of the Skull to be crucified, taking on the world because he loves us so much. Jesus shows us that we don’t need to put our trust or find our identity in the things we’ve gathered for ourselves, but rather in him, the one who came to show us the path of humility and vulnerability. He calls us to trust and live under him alone, to find our hope in him. Our identity comes from Jesus who is over all things, who created everything “under the sun,” who calls us to care for all things “under the sun” for him, giving us purpose and belonging.

 

 

Spiritual Gifts - 1 Peter 4:7-11

                  

Christmas wasn’t that long ago, and many of us can still remember how special it felt to get gifts from our loved ones, whether family or friends. What are some of your favourite gifts that you received, and were you able to give people you love special gifts too? God loves to give us gifts too! Just like the people like to pick out just the right gift for you so that you’ll love them and use them, so God loves to give us gifts that are spiritual and fit who we are, gifts that we can use. Spiritual gifts and abilities given to us by the Holy Spirit to help us for ministry, to bless the church, and to help others come to know the good news of salvation through Jesus. The best thing about God’s gifts is that they don’t wear out, in fact they get better as we use them, and they can’t be taken away from us by anyone else. God gives us these gifts to help us know him better and to become more like Jesus as we use them.

The fun part of being given these spiritual gifts from God is discovering which gifts we have and how we can use them to serve others. You can take a spiritual gifts test, or talk to your friends and other people that you respect and ask them what gifts they see in you. Then try using them. Sometimes it’ll come really easy and you’ll go ‘wow,’ and sometimes you’ll try them and see that you’ll need to work on growing your gift, and sometimes you’ll find out that you don’t really have a gift in that area, but that’s alright too, the important part is trying. Our gifts are not to make life easier for us, but to be used for others and for God.

Why is it important to know our gifts and use them? Peter reminds us that Jesus is coming back again as king over everything and everyone. Jesus returned home to heaven after being resurrected from the dead, dying on the cross so that our sins are washed away. Peter wants us to be ready for when Jesus comes back. Jesus said we should always be ready because he’ll come like a thief in the night when no one’s expecting him, but God doesn’t want anyone to be lost, so he’s patient in sending Jesus back so everyone will have an opportunity to know Jesus. Peter wants Jesus’ church to be ready and strong, praying for each other and for all people to come to accept Jesus as their Lord. We’re using our gifts to build our church on Jesus and his teachings and life. Prayer’s a powerful gift from God to help us in this.

Part of being ready is learning to live with love for each other. Peter tells us that love covers a multitude of sins. We hear an echo to the cross where Jesus’ love for us takes him to the cross where he dies to wash away our sin. What amazing love! Jesus tells us in John 15:12, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” Love strengthens our gifts: we receive gifts from God because he loves us, and he wants us to use our gifts in love to bless others, to help them see God’s love through how we use our gifts, especially when we forgive them when they do something wrong against us. We forgive them out of love like Jesus did. We pray to God to forgive them and help us to forgive them like Jesus, because this helps us to build strong relationships with each other. I see this happening every Friendship evening as you pray for each other and with each other, showing love, God’s love to each other, using your gifts of prayer, a really special time.

Part of love is showing hospitality to each other without grumbling. Hebrews 13:2 reminds us, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Hebrews is talking about when Abraham invited 3 strangers to eat supper with him and his wife Sarah. After they ate, it turned out that 2 of the strangers were angels and the third person was the Lord! This is why Paul reminds us in Romans 12:13 to “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” We never know when we might need to help someone out by inviting them to have a meal with us, or even providing them with a room and bed for a night or two. Hospitality is a spiritual gift that God gives some of us. This gift is rooted in love that comes from God, caring about each other and even strangers.

Now Peter tells us, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” We’re all called to use our gifts to serve others, and by serving each other, we’re sharing God’s grace with them. Jesus tells a parable about a king giving his servants talents to use while he went away. He was excited about the servants who used his talents and even made more, but he was angry at the one who did nothing, and so he kicked him out.

The Holy Spirit has given a lot of different kinds of gifts to the church because the church has so many different kinds of people. There are many different types of people in the world, so one kind of gift isn’t enough. Yet even though the gifts are different, they all come from the same Holy Spirit, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4–7, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

Some of the gifts the Holy Spirit gives are the gifts of teaching, showing mercy, wisdom, helping others, praying, encouragement, hospitality, giving, and lots more. The Holy Spirit gives each one of us gifts, there’s no one who doesn’t have a gift. My brother Glennie never spoke, never walked, he could smile and make different sounds for each one of us. But happiness was his gift, every time he saw you, he smiled and reached out to you.

Our gifts are not about making us look better, or to use for ourselves, they’re meant to be used to bless the church, to bless others, and to bring glory to God. When we use our gifts the way that God wants us to, we bring glory to God, and other people praise God through Jesus. When we use our gifts, we’re doing ministry for God, meaning that we’re all ministers! All Christians have things they can do in church or community for Jesus. We’re not called to simply receive the blessings of other people’s service, we’re also called to use our gifts and then, as Paul shares with us in Ephesians 4:16, “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” The other wonderful thing about using our gifts is that using them for God’s work, it brings us joy, knowing that it pleases God. When we use our gifts to serve others, we should do it with confidence that we’re doing it for God and it makes the church stronger.

For us to use our gifts in healthy ways, we need to stay connected to Jesus. Jesus uses the image of a vine and branches in John 15:5–9, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” So, as we leave from here, go knowing that God has given each of you gifts to use to serve others and to build his kingdom. As we work together using our gifts, we’re able to accomplish much more than on our own. May you continue to discover new gifts that you’ve been given, new ways of serving and loving the Lord and each other.

 

 

 

 

Noticing God in the New Year - Luke 6:37-42

Today marks the beginning of a new year, 2026. As we look ahead, we make plans, we have dreams and hopes about what 2026 might contain, but ultimately, we place the year in God’s hands, saying with James, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” We have plans for the year ahead as a council. We plan on working together as a congregation on vision and mission. It’s a good time to reflect on the changes in our church family. There’ve been many events that have happened since our last vision/mission time: a new pastor, a pandemic, a complete turnover in our staff, new growth, and many important denominational conversations. We’re the same, and yet different church now than 10+ years ago.

While we cannot control the year ahead of us, we can choose how we’ll walk through the year ahead. I’m sure many of you wondered about choosing our passage this morning from Luke as a New Year’s Day passage. These verses come from what is often called, The Sermon on the Plain, which echoes a lot of what Matthew places in The Sermon on the Mount. Luke places these verses right after a call by Jesus to love your enemies and to do good to those who hate you. Now Jesus moves on to telling the people to be careful about judging others, or more importantly, the spirit with how you judge others.

At the heart of Jesus’ warning is that if you judge you’ll also be judged, so be careful how you treat others. As we enter the new year, we have a choice on how we are going to relate with each other, and with others in our lives and community. Will we look at others in critical ways, checking to make sure they do all the right things or hold the right values, or are we going to choose a different way? It’s important to note the context here, as the scholar David Brown writes, “The thing here condemned is that disposition to look unfavorably on the character and actions of others, which leads invariably to the pronouncing of rash, unjust, and unlovely judgments upon them. No doubt it is the judgments so pronounced which are here spoken of; but what our Lord aims at is the spirit out of which they spring. Provided we eschew this unlovely spirit, we are not only warranted to sit in judgment upon a brother’s character and actions, but in the exercise of a necessary discrimination are often constrained to do so for our own guidance. It is the violation of the law of love involved in the exercise of a censorious disposition which alone is here condemned.” It’s not wrong to hold each other to account for our actions, but it’s how you do it that Jesus is getting at here.

Jesus offers a different way, paraphrasing what he says, “don’t judge or condemn and you won’t be either, don’t worry so much about the speck in other peoples’ eyes, pay attention first to what’s preventing you from seeing more clearly.” Jesus offers a kinder way of living with each other, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” How we treat others will reflect back on us.

When we’re overly critical of others, they’ll return that same kind of criticism back on us. Over time, people withdraw from those who are harsh, recognizing that it will likely only be a matter of time before they’re the ones who’ll be harshly judged for not measuring up, and often, in self-defense will attack the critical person first. The reality is, none of us ever completely measure up. This is why Jesus came to take our sin and brokenness on himself and to bring healing and reconciliation with God and others.

The positive side of Jesus’ teaching is that “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap,” goes with other passages that talk about how God’s cup of blessing runs over. Jesus is using a business image here, a merchant who is generous with his customers will be judged and evaluated in a generous way by others. Another way of saying this is, the way you treat others is the way others will treat you, kindness and generosity create kindness and generosity in return. At the heart of this is beginning the year with the goal of becoming more like Jesus and joining him in what he’s doing; the best way to do this is to keep our eyes on Jesus.

How do you create eyes for seeing God and what’s he’s doing? What are some spiritual practices or ways of looking at the world through the eyes of God that might be helpful for noticing and responding to what God’s doing in the midst of the chaos of life. The Examen is a way of prayer developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in the late 16th century that invites prayerful reflection back over the events of the day in order to recognize God’s presence and figure out God’s direction for our lives. A good friend in Montreal, Father David, introduced me to Ignatius, who developed the Jesuit order. Ignatius required his followers to practice the Examen every lunch and evening. It involves 5 steps:

1. Become aware of God’s presence. As you pray, ask the Holy Spirit to help you see God’s hand at work in the events of the day.
2. Review the day with gratitude. Gratitude is an important way of engaging our day and helping us to recognize God’s presence and the joys and little gifts that are part of each day. Look at the work you accomplished, the people you met, those you helped, and those who helped you, the food you ate, the small pleasures in the day. Give God thanks.
3. Pay attention to your emotions. Ignatius recognized that we often experience the presence of God through our emotions. When did we experience happiness, boredom, resentment, compassion, anger, contentment, and asking what is God saying through those feelings. Often it will be to recognize where we need to still grow, but often it can also help us recognize when something is wrong and act as a call to be God’s agent in making it right again.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. This may be an emotion you experienced, an event or person you encountered, or a direction from God to pay more attention to.
5. Look toward tomorrow. Ask Jesus for direction and guidance for the day ahead, and for the strength and wisdom needed for where he is leading.

End your prayer by talking with God, asking for forgiveness and grace, thanking Jesus for who he is, asking questions you have, and sharing problems you’re working through.

As we enter this new year, may your eyes and hearts be open to seeing the blessings and presence of God each day, and may this guide you through 2026.

The Fields are Ripe for Harvest - John 4:27-38

          

Jesus and his disciples are travelling from Judea, north to Galilee. While in the area of Judea, Jesus encounters Nicodemus, and he’s baptized by his cousin John in the Jordan River who points to Jesus as the one sent by God. Seeds to Jesus’ identity are being planted and Jesus is getting noticed. The Pharisees hear about all the people being baptized by John and by Jesus’ disciples; they believe Jesus is doing the baptizing. When Jesus learns that the Pharisees are getting interested in him, he leaves Judea and heads north to Galilee, taking the road through Samaria rather than the way by the sea or the trade roads to the east of the Jordan, both longer routes, but then there’s no need to encounter any of the hated Samaritans. Most Jews preferred the longer routes, but Jesus chooses to take the direct road that passes right through the heart of Samaria.

Even when you take the direct route through Samaria, it takes a while to get where you’re going because walking was the normal way of travelling. It was about 137 kilometers from Jerusalem to the area of Nazareth, not something you walked in one day. This means that Jesus and his disciples knew they would need to stop overnight somewhere, as well as purchase food and find water. John records that they reach the town of Sychar, an old town connected with the patriarch Jacob and his sons. They stop at a well outside of town and Jesus rests while the disciples go into town to buy food, and while they’re in town, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman who shows up to draw water for her family. Jesus engages her in conversation.

Jesus recognizes that the Samaritans are ripe for believing in him as the promised Messiah. After a deep conversation about living water, where to worship God, ending with Jesus revealing to her that he’s the one they’re waiting for, the disciples return. The woman, in her eagerness to share the good news with her townspeople, leaves her water jar behind as she rushes back into town. The excitement and eagerness to share who Jesus is with others, is always so exciting to see in new followers of Jesus. It’s a reminder of the power of the gospel news and the hope it offers! The scholar David Brown notes, “The living water was already beginning to spring up within her; she found that man doth not live by bread nor by water only, and that there was a water of wondrous virtue that raised people above meat and drink, and the vessels that held them, and all human things. In short, she was transported, forgot everything but One, and her heart running over with the tale she had to tell, she hastens home and pours it out”

The disciples now encourage Jesus to eat, but Jesus responds with a puzzling answer, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Imagine the disciples’ response, they had gone into town to buy food, so where did Jesus get other food? Now Jesus had turned water into wine earlier, could he have done something similar here? Could someone else have brought him food? Jesus overhears them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” Jesus says something similar in his response to Satan’s temptations in Matthew 4:4, “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Jesus is pointing them to the main reason he’s come, why God has sent him; Jesus has come to draw people to himself as the Messiah, to take our sin on himself so that we can have new life, be nourished with his living water.

Jesus is helping the disciples to see how what’s happened with the Samaritan woman, how his time spent helping her see him for who he really is, how he’s offered her living water, filled her heart and soul with his wisdom, offering her his love and acceptance, gaining her soul for the kingdom of heaven, and inspiring her to go and gain more souls for the kingdom, is all part of laying the foundation for a great movement of faith in Samaria and the world.

Jesus goes on and tells them, “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” This is a message just as important for us today, as it is for Jesus’ disciples, to open our eyes and see just how many people are primed by the Holy Spirit to hear the good news of who Jesus is, who are thirsting deeply for something that our world and culture simply can’t offer: belonging, meaning in life beyond our physical lives, an identity that is unshakeable and rooted in the eternity and glory of belonging to Jesus. 

Jesus recognizes that the Samaritans are ripe for believing in him as their Messiah. The Samaritan woman is his first missionary, going to her own people. Who are our people who have not yet accepted Jesus as their Messiah, as their saviour? This is a good starting place; we know them and they know us. If we’re truly living our faith, we can be a powerful witness to them. There’s something about seeing someone living in a way that matches the descriptions of Jesus’ focus and dedication to his calling, to making the peoples’ lives better, offering hope, that makes us want to read the Bible again to see what we’ve missed. We can offer what Jesus offers them in the empty places that they’re seeking and searching to fill by showing them Jesus.

Jesus shows us a basic method to engage people. He begins by having conversations with people, showing them that he sees them and values them; showing he wants to know them by showing an interest in them. In a world that’s increasing self-focused, showing interest in you as a person is powerful. Jesus approaches the Samaritan woman seeking help, a favour that only she in the moment can help him with. Jesus pays attention to what she has to offer, he sees her water-jar, but he also listens closely to the things she says, asking more questions each time she speaks. Jesus then shows how it’s the often-simple things in our daily lives that point to spiritual and soul needs and desires. Simple water becomes an image for spiritual and heart thirst for God and spiritual nourishment. Jesus then points her to God, to worship and an invitation to worship God, and become a disciple of Jesus.

In Christianity, disciple describes a person devoted to following Jesus. In the ancient world, a disciple was a follower of a rabbi. In the ancient biblical world, the disciple would dedicate themselves to imitating the life and teaching of the rabbi or teacher until they looked and sounded just like their rabbi. It’s like an apprenticeship where the disciple is slowly transformed into a living copy of the master. James Vander Laan writes, “According to scripture, the essence of being a disciple of the rabbi is forgiveness, humility, service, and servanthood — and this applies especially to those who would be leaders. But notice, also, that Paul tells us to do this “so that [others] may be saved.” His evangelism strategy is seeking the good of others.”

Here are some things to think about as you look out with the eyes and heart of Jesus at the fields of people ready for harvest. Think about people who make you feel loved. What about them makes you feel this way? I can almost guarantee that they ask good questions and listen well. David Augsburger, a pastor and theologian writes, “Being heard is so close to being loved that most people cannot tell the difference.” A person who asks questions and listens, makes people feel known and loved. Unfortunately, this is an increasingly rare gift. As Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People wrote, “Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Most people don’t actually listen, instead they’re waiting for you to stop talking so they can talk. 

Here are 4 guidelines to help you “reap the fields ripe for harvest”

1. Be Curious: The beginning of asking good questions is being genuinely curious about the person to whom you’re speaking.

2. Follow Up: Once the other person finishes talking, try to repeat what they said in your own words something like, “So, you’re saying….?” Making a habit of asking this follow-up question will help you learn to listen well.

3. Ask Leading Questions: Think about the kinds of questions that you normally ask someone. Do they regularly inspire discussions that lead to praise and gratitude? Or do your questions inspire gossip or complaining?

4. Communicate Love: challenge yourself to ask more questions than you answer. This goes a long way in making the other person feel valued—and it’s one of the most powerful ways to communicate the character and love of God.

God has called you at this time for this moment of harvest time. May the Lord bless your harvesting!

Christmas Day - Isaiah 61, Psalm 98, Luke 2:1-20 - The Promised Seed

Today is Christmas Day, the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, the one who brings salvation to all who believe in him. This is a time to celebrate as the people had been waiting for thousands of years for the Messiah to come. The birth of a child is always a reason to rejoice and praise God, because every life is precious as each child is born in the image of God.

Isaiah is one of the prophets who especially point ahead to the Messiah, to the time when God begins the next chapter in his plan of redemption and restoration of all creation. Isaiah uses the return of Israel back to their homes after the exile in Babylon as a picture of what kind of Messiah God is sending and what he’s coming to do, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” We see God’s heart here for the captives and oppressed, for those who mourn, and we see a Messiah will come and bring freedom, comfort, and joy.

But we often overlook that the Messiah is also bringing “the day of vengeance of our God.” We hear this echoed in Psalm 98, “for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.” Jesus is not just any child, this is not just a charming story, there’s a lot more to Jesus’ birth than shepherds in a field and magi travelling to see a young child. Angels don’t come announcing a regular child’s birth, people don’t travel for a couple of years to visit just any child. Jesus is the promised Messiah, the one who has come to crush the serpent’s head, to defeat Satan, to bring judgment against evil, and punish the wicked, and to restore the poor, the orphan, the widow, those oppressed and broken so they might flourish in the kingdom of heaven that’s already here, though not yet fully established. The angel’s announcement is, “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” 

Our World Belongs to God summarizes why Jesus came: Article 5. “God holds this world with fierce love. Keeping his promise, he sends Jesus into the world, pours out the Holy Spirit, and announces the good news: sinners who repent and believe in Jesus live anew as members of the family of God— the first-fruits of a new creation.” Then in Article 23 the confession reminds us, “Remembering the promise to reconcile the world to himself, God joined our humanity in Jesus Christ—the eternal Word made flesh. He is the long-awaited Messiah, one with us and one with God, fully human and fully divine, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” Jesus is both human and God, he’s someone to approach with awe and reverence, but also the one who knows our hearts and demands our full allegiance so we don’t have to face his judgment.

Isaiah writes in verses 10- 11, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” In these verses we come back to our Advent focus on the images we’ve reflected on of stumps, thorns, gardens and vineyards, of planting and growing. An important question to ask ourselves today is “Am I part of the garden, planted in good soil so that I can grow?” There’s this image of growth, of our spiritual growth, here in Isaiah. Jesus and the Spirit offer us new life, to bring growth in our hearts and souls, so that praise and righteousness spring up and flow out of our churches and personal lives, so that the people and nations will notice what the Lord is doing in our lives, how the presence of Jesus transforms us and brings new life.

Peter reminds us of who we are in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We’re chosen by God, saved through Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit in order to praise and worship and glorify the Father and the Son. We glorify God because he “has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness” as we read in Psalm 98:3. This same Psalm also warns, “he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.”

The coming of the Messiah is a time of joy and praise to God, but also a time that points to Jesus’ return. It isn’t just a feel-good time, but also a warning to the world that God is serious about justice and righteousness. Isaiah reminds us that we need to be more aware of, and committed to walking the way of Jesus, showing our love through obedience to Jesus’ way. This is not something we need to fear as we’ve been reflecting on this these over Advent. God hears his people’s cries, he sees our struggles and the wrong in the world, and he responds in sending Jesus, who sends his Spirit to be in us, reminding us to keep looking forward to Jesus’ return, as we sing with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”

We’re challenged as we celebrate Jesus’ birth today to reflect on how we’re growing in Christ. How are we growing in our faith and in our witness to the world? Jesus gets to the heart of faith, to the goal of Christian living with one two-word command, “Follow me.” Sanctification, becoming more Christ-like, and justification, being made right through Jesus’ finished work on the cross, are intertwined spiritual realities. When you place your complete trust in Jesus, his Spirit begins to renew you from the inside out until the fruit of that Spirit becomes the core of our character, leading us to become more like Jesus. We’re then equipped to become the change we seek in the world, as the Spirit transforms our hearts, forms our habits, and becomes our character. When this Spirit-led change takes priority in our lives, obedience to Jesus out of love for him becomes a natural part of who we are, and we get closer to becoming the righteous society that is God’s new creation in God’s redemption of the world. As we go into the world, go with the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, shaped by his Spirit.