Old Sandals

Hebrews 3:4-6
For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

“I understand where you’re coming from, Caleb.  We talked about that last evening, remember?  Sin is doing things we know we should not do, like when we disobey our parents, or they tell us to do something, but we do it without much effort, like we don’t even care, and do a poor job.  That’s about the same as not doing it in the first place. Or, as Counselor Leanne told us last night, sin is not only doing things we know we should not do, it’s also NOT doing things we know we should do, like cleaning up our room, without being told twenty times to do it. Basically, sin is who we are, not what we do or don’t do. Well, I was up late last night thinking about it all.  I couldn’t sleep.  I thought about how much God has done for us, rescuing us from Egypt where we were slaves, pulling back the waters of the Red Sea, so we could escape from Pharaoh and his army, providing food for us in the wilderness.  One miracle after another.  And yet, despite all of that, what did we do?  A party with a golden statue.  A golden cow. Falling down and worshiping a statue? Oh God, I prayed, I feel like a failure.  I blame myself.  I know in my heart I’m a sinner too.  I realize there’s no way I can show these kids how much you love them—not really; there’s no way I can show them the awful life-wrecking consequences of sin.

And as I prayed, it was as if God showed me something that was so real to me, it was like it had already happened.  And I want to share it with you.  The good news.  Great news in fact.  God has a way to show you and me His great love for us AND the very awful consequences of our sin.

When I reread the story about Adam and Eve, right there it was.  Maybe I missed it before.  God made a promise to Adam & Eve, to reassure them that He would provide a solution to the sin problem. In fact, the solution is older than the problem.  God Himself is the solution.  It was as if God said to me, “Moses, you can’t do it.  I’ll do it.”  What did He mean by that, I thought to myself.  And then it all became clear, and as I said, so clear it was like it had already happened.

The God of the universe became a man, one of us, in the man Jesus Christ.  The same one who created it all.  The same God who used to walk in the garden before Adam & Eve walked away.  But He didn’t let go.  God became a man, like you and me, but without sin, to die a horrible death for all of us.  Upon a cross.  He somehow took upon Himself our sinful rebellion, even though He was innocent.  In that way He showed us both His love and the awful consequences of our sin.  All at the same time.

This holy, loving, kind and good God wants to be your God, throughout your whole life’s journey!

Hebrews 2:2-3
For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

CALEB: I guess I don’t understand.  What is sin?

MOSES: Sin is disobedience.  When we disobey, we sin.  We do wrong.  And when we do wrong, we disappoint God; we make Him angry even.

After you guys went to bed last night, Caleb and some other campers threw a party.  They called it a party.  It was awful.  They danced around a statue of a golden cow, and worshiped it as if it were their God!  Did they think a golden cow made the world that we live in?  Did they think a golden cow pulled back the mighty waters of the Red Sea? I think most of you were in bed, but if you were there, well, then, I’m pretty upset with all of you.

CALEB: I see what you mean.  I’m sorry I made you sad.  I won’t do that again.

MOSES: I hear you, Caleb.  And I forgive you, all of you.  But what about God?  Are you and God OK?  That’s the thing.

What did we learn yesterday?  We learned that God, our Creator, is a real Person.  Even though right now we can’t see Him with our eyes, or touch Him with our hands, He is real. He is nothing like a statue of a golden cow!  He made the world and everything in it.  And He has rules.  He gave Adam & Eve—we learned about them yesterday too—He gave Adam & Eve some rules to obey.  Actually just one.  But they broke that rule.  They broke it on purpose.  That was a very big deal.  A huge deal.  It was as if they said to God, “We like the beautiful garden you made and all, but we don’t really need you.  We can make our own decisions.  We can do it our own way.”

Yesterday we learned that we are all Israelites because our great ancestor’s name was Israel.  Well, in the same way, we are all sinners because we are all descended from Adam & Eve.  We are just like them.  We find it so easy to turn away from God , just like they did.

Now some of you might be thinking, “I didn’t dance around no stupid cow last night!  I’m no sinner!”  Maybe you didn’t.  But here’s the thing.  Sin is not so much what we do. It’s who we are.  It’s our nature to be rebellious.  Think about it.  Have you ever thrown a temper-tantrum?  Who taught you how to do that?  Nobody had to, huh?  It’s your nature.  It’s the way we are.  That’s why sometimes you don’t listen to Mommy & Daddy.  That’s why sometimes  you are unkind to your brother or sister.  That’s why sometimes you sulk around when things don’t go your way.  We are all guilty.

But the real God is holy and kind and good.  And He wants to be our God. But sin and disobedience have separated us—all of us—from Him.  That is why we can’t see Him with our eyes now or touch Him with our hands now.  It’s not because He’s a ghost.  Before Adam & Eve sinned, God actually walked and talked with them in the beautiful garden He had made for them!  Imagine that!  No, it’s because of sin.  Sin in our hearts.  Sin in the world around us.  Sin has separated us from God.  Sin is the problem.

Well, we’ve talked about some heavy stuff today, and you may have questions. Your camp counselors will talk with you more in a few minutes.  I don’t want to leave you on a sad note however, so let me say that tomorrow we’ll learn about God’s wonderful solution!

Hebrews 1:3
Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

“There’s more to the story than that! Here at Camp Kiski Valley, we’re Israelites. Our grandfather’s grandfather’s name was Israel, so all of us are called Israelites. We are out here in the desert somewhere between Egypt and a new land God has promised to give us. Canaan land, they call it. Everybody say “Canaan land”. It’s a beautiful land, too,  just like Kirby said. Yesterday, we talked about how God spoke to me out of a burning bush that did not burn up, and how He told me to go down to Egypt and lead His people—all of you guys—out of Egypt, where you had been slaves.  And how God rolled back the waters of the Red Sea, and allowed us to walk through on dry ground.  What a miraculous thing that was!

But there’s more to the story than that!  Long before our ancestor Israel was born, long before there was a land called Egypt, and a land called Canaan, long before there were cities and towns and deserts and trees and oceans and stars and planets—long before there was anything at all, there was God.  He created everything that we see all around us, out of nothing.  And out of nothing he made this world we live in.  And in the world He made a garden; it was a beautiful garden. There was a river that flowed right through the garden.  God filled the river with all kinds of fish.  And He filled the garden with lots of animals, of all shapes, sizes and colors.  And out of the dust of the ground in the garden He made a man and a woman, the very first people on this earth.  And He made them in a special way, to have a personal relationship with God.  All of us are made that way, to have a personal relationship with our Creator, who is holy, loving, kind and good.  That’s the big idea at Camp Kiski Valley this week.  As Israelites in a big desert wilderness, we are on a journey.  As kids growing up in a big world, each of you are on a journey. You don’t want to take any wrong turns.  You need God to lead and guide you.  We all do.  Your camp counselors will tell you more about it.”

Philemon 1:3
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why does this salutation not mention the Holy Spirit? Is Paul’s understanding of the Trinity deficient?

Not at all. The Father’s role is external. The Son’s role is external. The greeting is, in one sense, external, coming to Philemon from the outside. The Spirit’s role, by contrast, is internal, dwelling within the heart of Philemon and every believer.

Titus 3:5
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

I’ve been listening to an audio book by a well-known astro-physics guy from MIT. It’s mostly over my head, but his main point is easy enough to understand, even if science wasn’t your best subject in school.

The universe we live in is extremely well-ordered. It’s as if all the dials have been set exactly right for life. What accounts for this precision? I think his “multi-verse” theory is quite bizarre, and more science-fiction than science, but it has caused me to think about the bigness of God, His infiniteness, and this is where we come to our call to worship today.

“He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” Psalm 147:3-5

I just noticed in reading these verses how they first of all say “He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds”. We’re rather intrigued by the next statement, “He calls the stars by name.” Say what, Lord? You call all the billions of stars by name? “Oh, that—that’s nothing”, the Lord would say.

It’s as if the Lord God Almighty is saying to us, “Let Me take care of the infinite, eternal part. Your part is to be faithful. You trust. You rejoice. Remember, I made you with a finite, limited capacity for a reason.  My love, my joy, my peace is really not found by storing it up, but in the overflow. May our worship of the infinite, personal God overflow this day. To God be all the glory!

Titus 2:11
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

It has appeared. It has been made manifest. The grace of God is Jesus Christ, who is the   only-begotten Son of God. He gave Himself for all of us, dying for the sins of the whole world.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

Oh, receive Him! Do not spurn such amazing grace!

Titus 1:1
“…according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness.”

Biblical faith is vital faith.  It is not a “yea, I sort of believe it” faith.  It’s all in. It’s a daily, prayerful reaching and grabbing onto.  It’s not focused on “pie in the sky”.  It is practical, down-to-earth, as Christ Himself was down-to-earth.

It’s in the little things…

 

II Tim 4:16
At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.

In the Spirit of Christ, the apostle here echoes the gracious words spoken from the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We are not to return evil for evil, but blessing.  We are to be kind when it would be easier to be thoughtless. We are to be forgiving when it would be easier to hold a grudge. This is the heart of God, for He is not willing that anyone perish.  He stands ready to forgive.

II Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Read the book. Eat the book. Live the book.

II Timothy 2:11-13
This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

In holy baptism we are “ingrafted into Christ”. It is a sacrament, which means it is much more than a physical act. It is God-infused. It is God’s action, regenerating us to new life in Christ. We are, in an unseen yet very real sense, ‘buried with Him in baptism and raised to new life”. This is true even with infants; this is how the ancient church understood baptism, even as they acknowledged its mystery. Sacraments are mysteries.