I Will Not Leave You Comfortless

HOW WE CAN GET OUR HEART AROUND THE CORNER

Today I was asked to speak on "God as Comforter" at a Christian High School assembly in Nevada. It was a day of celebration as the school had just placed first for the third year in a row in the State Academic Olympics. The scheduled speaker was called out for an emergency. Since I was in town, I was called upon to speak at the last minute. (Be ready in season and out of season. Even when you are on vacation!). I spoke from the heart extemporaneously. These are my recollection notes written AFTER I spoke to the student body.

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV)
¹⁸ I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:18 (KJV)

When I was recently on a mission in Brazil, I was grateful for the one who was called alongside me to be my 'appointed interpreter'. With my helper at my side, I felt I could go anywhere I needed to go and say anything I needed to say. Without my helper, doors of conversation would not open to me and I would be rendered speechless.

• Foreign ambassadors know the value of an expert interpreter at their side to ensure that the right words are being used to effectively communicate to the intended hearers.
• Winning athletes know the value of a coach- one who is called to be present with us, to come alongside us, and train us.
• Defendants appreciate the value of an Advocate to represent them in court, to use their knowledge of the law to release them from its condemnation, and put them in the right before all.
  
• Blind persons appreciate the value of having a guide so they can find their way in life.
  
• Students, who want to learn a difficult subject, know the value of having a personal tutor who is an expert in their desired field of study.
  
• People who are hurting know the value of a healer or counselor who is able to relieve them of their suffering.
  
• Those who are lonely know the value of an intimate trustworthy confidante.
  
• Those who recognize that they cannot do something themselves know the value of practical help.
  

In order for these helpers to fulfill their value they must be present, competent and personal.

When God reveals Himself in the Bible as "The God of all comfort" (2 Cor 1:3) He is saying that He is our appointed helper, coach, interpreter, advocate, guide, teacher, healer (Psalm 147:3), counselor, and friend all rolled into one and multiplied to the nth degree.

The three persons of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, share the roles and responsibilities of "Comforter".

God the Father is the comforter, a 'parakletos'- one called alongside to help. (2 Cor 1:3). Jesus also refers to Himself as a 'paraklete', a comforter (John 14:16) and as one who communicates to us the comfort He has received from the Father (John 14:9-13) The Holy Spirit is the 'another comforter' Jesus promised (John 14:16); He comforts us and enables us to be ministers of comfort to others (John 14:26; John 15:26; 16:7-15).

Each member of the Trinity pledges His ongoing comfort to the community of blood-bought believers (those who are made alive to God through faith in Christ Jesus).

We are comforted by:

• HIS PRESENCE- HE IS WITH US. He is an ever present help in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1) He "comforts us in all our troubles (2 Cor 1:4). The Psalmist said "²¹ You will increase my honor and comfort me once again." (Psalm 71:21)
  
• HIS PROMISES-HE IS FAITHFUL. He will bring us through. Although we may battle storms and taking water on board, He will bring us to our desired have. Psalm 119:50, 76 (NIV)
  ⁵⁰ My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.
  ⁷⁶ May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.
  
• HIS PROVIDENCE- HE KNOWS WHAT WE NEED.
  One missionary who had been laboring among tribes wanted to find the local word for 'comforter'. One day his native helper came to him asking for a week's leave, and he explained that his uncle had died and he wanted some days off to visit his bereaved aunt - and he said this: "I want to help her heart around the corner'." The missionary had his word for 'comforter'! This is what the Comforter does. He helps our heart 'around the corner'. He knows how to heal our brokenness. He gets us past the obstacles and restores us to life with Him in the NOW.
  
• HIS PEACE- HE HAS RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF. Our hearts can be rest in the perfect redemptive work that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross (John 14:27). We can also have the peace of the indwelling presence of Christ in our hearts.
  
• HIS PROTECTION- He keeps us from falling (Jude 1:24). He is our defender and our Advocate (1 John 2:1-2) He intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27).
  
• HIS POWER- HE IS ABLE
  Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
  
• HIS PROVISION- HE GIVES US HIS WISDOM AND LOVE. Nothing is able to separate us from it. (Romans 8:36-39) His love will last beyond death, outdistancing any love of an earthly spouse. He gives us wisdom so as we can know what to do and what to say in the light of His counsel.
  

This is the one who is called alongside us. He will not leave us. He is faithful. He knows what we need; He has reconciled us to Himself and given us peace. He will protect us, empower us and provide for us. And most importantly, He will glorify Jesus!

The only solution to our loneliness, our inadequacy, our lostness, our guilt, our broken heartedness, and our awayness from God is to put our faith in Jesus Christ and receive His forgiveness and the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. We must be saved by confessing that our trust is in the merits of our Jesus Christ, this world's only Savior and not our own merits.

May all of you who are feeling at sea, alone in the crowd, distressed with the daily pressures of life, trapped, or just drifting, or merely existing, come to Jesus now. He does not want you to live as orphans. He does not want you to be comfortless. He says "I will come to you". He has come to save us, to comfort us (confortare- to strengthen us). To heal us. To guide us. May every heart prepare Him room and humbly admit our need for God's rescue and say 'yes' to the God of all comfort. Call on His Name and He will come to you.

Lessons from "The Pilgrim Church"

Yesterday while flying across the United States, I had an opportunity to revisit a favorite book: "The Pilgrim Church"by E.H. Broadbent published in 1931. His work captures so much in the history of the church that we can learn from today.

The book is a classic. In the opening chapters he expresses well the mystery of the universal church and the strategic importance of the local church, secure in her identity, purpose, responsibility and accountability:

"The New Testament reveals the church of Christ, consisting of all who are born again through faith in the Son of God and so made partakers of the Divine and Eternal Life (John 3:16)

As this body, the whole church of Christ, cannot be seen and cannot act in any one place, since many of its members are already with Christ and others scattered throughout the world, it is appointed to be actually known and to bear its testimony in the form of churches of God in various places and at different times. Each of these consists of those disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ who, in the place where they live, gather together in His Name. To such the presence of the Lord in their midst is promised and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is given in different ways through all the members (Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 12.7)

Each of these churches stands in direct relationship to the Lord, draws its authority from Him and is responsible to Him (Rev 2 and 3). There is no suggestion that one church should control another or that any organized union of churches should exist, but an intimate personal fellowship unites them (Acts 15.36)

The chief business of the churches is to make known throughout the world the Gospel or Glad Tidings of Salvation. This the Lord commanded before His ascension, promising to give the Holy Spirit as the power in which it should be accomplished (Acts 1:8)" (p.2)

Broadbent then goes on to highlight individuals, groups and episodes often ignored in church history books and demonstrates the effective spread of the
gospel.

"The first three centuries of the Church's history prove that no earthly power can crush it. It is invincible to attacks from without. The witnesses of its sufferings, and even its persecutors, become its converts and it grows more rapidly than it can be destroyed. The following period of nearly two hundred years shows that the union of the church and the State, even when the powers of the mightiest Empire are put into the church's hands, do not enable her to save the State from destruction, for, in abandoning the position which her very name implies, of being "called out" of the world, and of separation to Christ, she loses the power that comes from subjection to her Lord, exchanging it for an earthly authority that is fatal to herself." (p.29)

"The gradual transformation of the New Testament churches from their original pattern into organizations so different from it that its relation to them came to be scarcely recognizable, seemed as though it might continue until all was lost. The effort to save the churches from disunion and heresy by means of the episcopal and clerical system not only failed, but bought great evils in its train. The expectation that the persecuted churches would gain by union with the State was disappointed. Monasticism proved unable to provide a substitute for the churches as a refuge from the world, becoming itself worldly. There remained, however, through all these times one thing capable of bringing about restoration. The presence of the Scriptures in the world supplied the means by which the Holy Spirit could use the hearts of men with a power able to overcome error and bring them back to Divine Truth, and there never ceased to be congregations, true churches, which adhered to the Scriptures as the guide of faith and doctrine, and the pattern both for individual conduct and for the order of the Church. These, though hidden and despised, yet exercised an influence that did not fail to bear fruit." (p.33)

Local Native American Rebukes White Men

LOCAL NATIVE AMERICAN REBUKES TOWN LEADERS

MASSACHUSETTS- 1647. Webbacowitt, the former medicine man of Musketequid, today known as Concord, rebuked the English settlers living here, asking, "How has it happened that some of you having been in the country for no less than twenty seven years, have never taught us to know God, until now?"


The Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury first brought the good news of Jesus Christ to Musketequid chief Tahattawan's son in law, Waban, on October 28th 1646 at Nonantum (now Newton). The gospel experience has had a dramatic impact on Waban's life and on the Nonantum community.

Webbacowitt added, "Why did you not impart sooner what you professed to consider so important?"

"Had you done it sooner, we might have known much of God by this time, and much sin might have been prevented. But now some of us have grown old in our sin."

A Concord spokesman replied to the allegation: "We do repent that we did not do this long agao as we do now." The Reverend Peter Bulkeley, also acting as Concord's Town Moderator, has taken pains in recent days to do what he can to ammend the situation.

-See page 25 The History of Concord, 1835 by Lemuel Shattuck; picture courtesy of New Life Fine Arts, from the musical "Song on the Wind" by David MacAdam; see http://www.newlifefinearts.org/

The Value of the Election Day Sermon

THE ELECTION DAY SERMON

One of the earliest New England traditions contributing to the strength of the United States of America as a democratic republic has been “The Election Day Sermon”.

On Election Day citizens would be reminded to:

1. Faithfully exercise the privilege of voting


2. Vote wisely

Candidates would not be endorsed from the pulpit. But all citizens would be reminded, both candidate and voter, of the serious matter before them. They had a sacred responsibility to choose wisely and freely with a sufficiently informed mind and conscience.

In 1630 John Winthrop and the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony spelled out their aspirations for a new form of government that would be ‘a model of Christian charity’, ‘a city on a hill’ that might exhibit compelling evidence for the kind of reform the Puritans believed were needed in Old England.

In 1636 Thomas Hooker moved from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he had served briefly as pastor, to found the new settlement of Hartford, Connecticut. The new colony in the Connecticut Valley set out to compose its outline of ideals and practices for self-government following the Bay Colony’s example. These early New England social compacts of fundamental laws were the early forerunners of the Federal Constitution.

In 1638, before the first voting for election in Hartford, Thomas Hooker preached an Election Day sermon that summarized the Puritan zeal to promote basic freedoms in both the exercise of government and religion that had been denied them during the Stuart regime in England- the rights to vote, to run for public office and to worship God according to conscience.

His text for this first Election Day sermon was Deuteronomy 1:13:

"Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes and I will set them over you.”

Hooker expounded this portion of Scripture where Moses was recounting to the people of God their history and reminding them of their responsibilities in representative government.

We need to be reminded again today:

Choose those who are wise. The Scriptures teach us that the fear of the Lord (reverential respect for God and obedience to His Word) is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 11:10; Proverbs 9:10)

Choose those who are understanding. Those who do not know where they have come from, will not appreciate or understand where they are. And if they remain ignorant of these things we have no reason to believe that they will know where they will take us in the future.

Choose those who are respected. (The Hebrew ‘yada’ implies being known and proved as experienced, knowledgeable competent and seasoned individuals.) We are to choose leaders whose exemplary character has been proven.

Not only did Thomas Hooker point out that the responsibility of choosing leaders was Moses’ directive by God’s allowance but he told them how to vote:

“The privilege of election, which belongs to the people, must not be exercised according to their humors but according to the blessed will and law of God.” (Thomas Hooker’s election sermon notes, 1638)

'Humors' refer to emotional dispositions based on external, fleeting superficial impressions and passions. Hooker would warn us today of our visceral responses to image, rhetoric, personality, glitz, hoopla, charisma and moods of the moment generated by straw polls and advertisement campaigns!

We must vote taking into account that there is a law that stands taller than the laws of men. As Christians we must vote and hold leaders accountable to lead in the light of the truth of God’s law.

Article Three of the Bill of Rights of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 asserted that

"the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend on piety, religion and morality."

In our current election there is much at stake.

Separation of church and state does not mean separating our civic responsibility from piety, religion and moral sensibility. As Christians we need to vote with the prayerful consideration of the revelation of God’s will according to Scripture.

Our nation is facing a financial crisis due to covenant-breaking and dishonesty. Our nation continues to disrespect life in the womb and consents to the slaughter of millions through abortion. The rights to life and liberty, once considered to be ‘inalienable’, are being progressively reduced to society’s privileged. Marriage is being redefined by renegade judiciaries as being no longer the monogamous hetero-sexual union of husband and wife, but “Party A” and “Party B” as it now appears on our Massachusetts wedding licenses (a disregard for the basis of marriage in Genesis 2:24 and the clear teaching of Scripture regarding sexual immorality (See 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Romans 1:27; Heb. 13:4; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13).

In some American cities decriminalizing prostitution is currently being considered. So are legal protections for infanticide and euthanasia. The right to kill expands. The right to life diminishes.

The next president will face many issues. Some of these are foreseeable. Some are not. It is most likely that he will appoint at least one justice to the Supreme Court. It is certain that he will have to understand the nature of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the agenda of the terrorist. It is certain that the protection of marriage is at stake. It is certain that inless the whistle is blown and heard, our nation will continue to turn a blind eye and rationalize the slaughter of innocent babies.

The Election Day Sermon was a good idea. It is good to be reminded of the privilege and responsibilities we have as voters and elected officials knowing that there is a greater accountability we must face at the end of the Day.

According to the notes that survive from Hooker’s archives, his Election Day Sermon concludes:

“And lastly: as God has spared our lives and given them in liberty, so (we are) to seek the guidance of God, and to choose in God and for
God.”

Financial Crisis- Dropping Seven- from Grace to Greed

Yesterday the Dow plunged 777 points after the U.S. Congress rejected the $700 billion bailout plan for its financial institutions. This represents a 7% drop in the value of the stock market. The worst single day setback in two decades.
The recurrence of the number seven (777 point drop, 700 billion bailout plan dropped (at least for the moment) and 7% overall drop) prompted me to reflect upon the Biblical significance of the number seven. The dropped '7' certainly illustrates an underlying reason for the current mess.

The number '7' comes from the Hebrew root meaning 'to be complete', 'to be full', 'to be satisfied' or 'to have enough'. On the seventh day God finished His work and He rested from all the work that He had done. (Gen 2:2) He gave the Sabbath, the seventh day as a day of rest to His people, Israel. They were not to strive but were to rest in the provision of His work and His promised blessing. God also instituted the sabbatical, the 7th year rest, and the jubilee, the fiftieth year, after the seventh sabbatical year, as special periods of thanksgiving and rest.

But history has shown that excessively profit-driven cultures ignore God's command to rest in His sufficiency. We fail to be thankful. We turn from grace to greed. Instead of rejoicing in rest, we rejoin the rat-race. We fear our neighbor might have greater gains in the market place if we take our place resting in what God's grace has given us. Instead of having peace, we are restless and scheme to get the greatest possible share. We act irresponsibly. We live beyond our means. We borrow. We bet. We believe the lies. We tell ourselves we never have enough. We are never satisfied.

However there is joy for the one who hears the ancient gospel call in Isaiah 55:
Isaiah 55:1-3 (NIV)
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.


The breaking of covenants has caused the financial system to unravel. When an economy is based on lies, greed, exploitation and irresponsibility, there is certain to be trouble. When we refuse to recognize God's sufficiency and His gracious provision as our provider and sustainer, we are left to face dire consequences of our covetousness.

What does the prophet mean: "Buy without money"? (Isaiah 55:1) He explains that it means to "Listen" "Delight" (55:2) "give ear" to God and "come to Him that we might live" (Isaiah 55:3). He explains that it means we are to trust in the (new) covenant promises ratified by Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of God. Receive by faith His gracious gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. He wants to be our sufficiency. We can rest in Him.

Pray that all of us will be turned ever more directly from greed to grace! Pray for our nation.

David