Study Guide: "Emmanuel"

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

OPEN:

Choosing what to preach is a daunting task; not because I have nothing to say, but because there is so much to talk about. I was contemplating Sunday's subject and text when a deeply theological conversation with my granddaughter interrupted and preached my sermon for me. She said she knew God is with us, but asked the difference between that and God living in our hearts. That difference is explained in today's text from St. Matthew.

"'and they shall name him Emmanuel,' which means, 'God is with us.'" (23)

God is with us -- Good News for the world.

"'She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.'" (21)

Jesus saves -- Even Better News for individual believers.

Were we to take the time to read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:17, we would see that what Matthew hints at in verse 16 is fully presented in verses 18-25, namely the actual historical facts of just how Jesus was conceived and born. Luke presents the same facts from the angle of Mary; Matthew, after giving us Joseph's ancestry, presents the virgin birth from the angle of Joseph. He brings in Joseph's dilemma when Mary was discovered to be pregnant, squarely meeting the hostile Jewish slander about the illegitimate birth of Jesus.

Here we encounter an interesting dilemma. The Messiah is to be given the name Emmanuel. But wait, he is also to be given the name Jesus. What gives? Both are appropriate and essential descriptions of our relationship to God in Christ.

Christmas is ultimately and essentially about God becoming man, and Christianity is ultimately and essentially about what we do with Christ.

God becoming man is good news for the world, and especially good news for believers.

I. Emmanuel -- God With Us, Good News for the World (1:23).

1. God is with us, whether we recognize him or not.

1) God is with us in a general way.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened." (Romans 1:18-21)

This explains the reason man has always been either generally or intensely religious.

2) Religion is man seeking God.

Whatever they call him, all human religions set off on their own contrived path of finding God:

- Buddhists follow the eightfold path and four noble truths.

- Islam has its five pillars and the Koran.

- Jews adhere to the Torah.

- Hindus look to the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads to achieve enlightenment.

- Adherents to Primitive religions are called Animists, and they conduct themselves in the effort to manipulate the gods or God to grant them good health, abundant crops, and victory over their enemies.

- New Agers buy crystals and pyramids and seek to find the power source and get in its flow.

Back then to the essential message of Christmas, which is Emmanuel, God with us, and to the questions it raises: Who is this God and how is he with us? 

"The high and lofty One who inhabits eternity" is the answer to the first. The One who is with us is the One whom none can look upon him and survive the ordeal. The One who is with us is the One who has made himself known at most only partially and dimly through the pantomime of nature and history and the eloquent but always obscure utterance of prophets, saints, and mystics.

The answer to the second question (how is he with us?)...

2. God is uniquely with us in Christ.

1) The virgin birth really is a big deal.

2) Christianity is God seeking man, or it is nothing at all.

"The facts and their inspired record remain unaltered and unalterable as they have been from the moment when they occurred. Their denial places those who make it outside the pale of Christianity. The Christ who was not conceived and born as the evangelists record is no Christ in any true sense, is nothing but a figment of men's brains. Any religion based upon this sort of Christ is as vacuous as the Christ upon which it is based." (Lenski, p. 38).

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

"The claim that Christianity makes for Christmas is that at a particular time and place God came to be with us himself. When Quirinius was governor of Syria, in a town called Bethlehem, a child was born who, beyond the power of anyone to account for, was the high and lofty One made low and helpless. The One who inhabits eternity comes to dwell in time. The One whom none can look upon and live is delivered in a stable under the soft, indifferent gaze of cattle. The Father of all mercies puts himself at our mercy. (F. Buechner)

II. Jesus -- Jesus Saves, Even Better News for Individual Believers (1:21).

The choice of a name was not left to Joseph. God named his son, Iesous, "Yahweh saves." The reason for the name is stated literally, "for it is he, he alone that shall save his people from their sins." The verb "to save" always denotes rescue and deliverance from danger. But coupled with the act of rescuing is the idea of keeping those rescued safe and secure, preserving them so that the danger shall not again involve them.

1. Jesus shall save his people from their sins.

With one stroke all political ideas are swept away for Joseph, such as deliverance from the Roman yoke, or from the ills that the yoke had brought on the Jewish nation. The real evils under which the Jews suffered were "their sins."

1) It isn't enough to know and believe God is with us; Christ wants to reside inside of us.

Romans 8:10, "And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness."

Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me."

Ephesians 3:17-19, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God."

Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Our bondage is of our own making (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:23, 6:23),

But it is broken by personally receiving Christ's finished work of salvation.

2. "Receiving Jesus"

John 1:12-13, "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of man, but of God."

John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Acts 2:21, "And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Romans 3:21-24, "But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Romans 10:9-10, "because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

Actually as simple as A, B, C:

Admit you've sinned and are separated from God.

Believe the Gospel--God became man, Christ died in your place, Christ is risen.

Call upon the Lord--invited him to be Lord.

CLOSE:

God becoming man is good news for the world, and especially good news for believers.

"Whether he was born in 4 B.C. or A.D. 6, in Bethlehem or Nazareth, whether there were multitudes of the heavenly host to hymn the glory of it or just Mary and her husband — when the child was born, the whole course of human history was changed. That is a truth as unassailable as any truth. Art, music, literature, Western culture itself with all its institutions and Western man's whole understanding of himself and his world — it is impossible to conceive how differently things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did. And there is a truth beyond that: for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it." - Buechner, The Faces of Jesus

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "He Shall Be Called... Everlasting Father"

Text: Isaiah 9:6

OPEN:

 

I love the way that Eugene Petersen, editor of The Message, introduces Isaiah:

 

"For Isaiah, words are watercolors and melodies and chisels to make truth and beauty and goodness.  Or, as the case may be, hammers and swords and scalpels to unmake sin and guilt and rebellion. Isaiah does not merely convey information.  He creates visions, delivers revelation, arouses belief.  He is a poet in the most fundamental sense—a maker, making God present and that presence urgent.  Isaiah is the supreme poet-prophet to come out of the Hebrew people."

 

We see some of the poet-prophet at work when we read Isaiah 9:6.  How beautiful: 

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

Isaiah's work as a prophet began in the year 739 BC and his public prophetic ministry lasted 53 years. He prophesied during the reign of four kings (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah). Jewish tradition claims he was sawed in two at the command of a 5th king, wicked King Manasseh. 

The prophet Isaiah knew something about the significance of names. His name means "The Lord is salvation." He was married to a prophetess and they had at least two sons with prophetic names. The elder was Shear-Jashub whose name means "a remnant shall return"; and the younger was Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, which means "quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil."

We've previously seen some of the beauty and importance connected to the names Wonderful, Counselor, and Mighty God. Today we encounter a fourth meaningful description, "Everlasting Father."

This portion of the title given by Isaiah to the coming Messiah appears contradictory. The title Everlasting Father has caused some difficulty to believers through the ages. They have wondered why that name was prophetically ascribed to him who in human nature was a “Child born” and a “Son given” for the salvation of people. The name “Father” has normally been associated with the first person of the Godhead.

 

To properly understand this title, we must note that the name given is not “Father” but “The everlasting Father.” In the East men were often given a name or a title that signified some quality or characteristic for which they were famous. One could be a father of wisdom or a father of folly or a son of wisdom or a son of folly. James and John were called the “Sons of Thunder.”

 

This particular messianic title speaks of the coming Savior as “the Father of perpetuity, the Father of eternity, the Father of the forever.” Together, the two words speak of the scope of the coming Messiah's reign and the quality of his ministry. To be the everlasting is to be characterized by eternity. To be Father refers to Christ’s lordship over eternity.

I. The Title Emphasizes the Messiah’s Deity.

It distinctly sets him apart from sinful man, whose life has been compared to a vapor that appears for a while and then fades away.

​1.​To the Savior is ascribed ageless, timeless being and character. In this respect he is uniquely different from others.

Isaiah 57:15, "For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy, 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"

​2.​ Our Savior is the Eternal One (John 1:1-14).

​The Messiah came and lived on this earth, died for our sins, and lives again as the Lord of life and death. 

Revelation 1:18, "I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hell."

​In the midst of a changing world, we worship and serve the unchanging Christ. 

Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

​3.​ Our Savior, the Father of eternity, is immune to the limitations of time.

He is as young as the morning; he is as youthful as the daybreak. 

Time cannot tarnish the glory of his person. Age after age reveals his ability to achieve miraculous results in the lives of those who trust him.

The Savior whom we worship at Christmastime did not come into existence at the time of his birth in Bethlehem. He always was. In this event the eternal God clothed himself in the garments of human flesh that people might better understand the nature and character of the true God. What the Savior was, he is and shall be forever.

II. As the Everlasting Father He Gives Eternal Life.

Psalm 36:9, "You are the giver of life. Your light lets us enjoy life." (NCV)

To be in relationship with Jesus Christ, means to be connected to eternity.

1. Everlasting life is the future for believers (John 3:16).

​2. Everlasting life is a present possession for believers. 

John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life."

Eternity has already begun.

Great challenge is to see God at work in ordinary moments of this life.

“We must be careful with our lives, for Christ’s sake, because it would seem that they are the only lives we are going to have in this puzzling and perilous world, and so they are very precious and what we do with them matters enormously” ~ Frederick Buechner

III. As "Father” Christ Cares For Us Like a Parent.

1. "Father" is a term of intimate relationship.

Our appreciation of the term depends on our own experience.

This is a term of intimacy and nurture.

​

2.​ He provides tender, loving care for the children of God.

​

3. He constantly exercises the concern of a father’s loving heart.

CLOSE:

The Savior continues to be “The everlasting Father” in his ability and availability to meet the deepest needs of the human heart. He can introduce you to the true God who has revealed himself in terms of love and mercy and grace as well as in terms of holiness and justice.

As the Father of eternity, he is eager to bestow on you the gift of eternal life. This life is more than endless duration. It is a new quality of life—the very life of God. Recognize him, respond to him positively, and this will be the most wonderful Christmas of all.

 

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes, www.danefowlkes.com)

Study Guide: "He Shall Be Called... Mighty God"

Text: Isaiah 9:6

OPEN:

The names and titles given to God contain a revelation of his person, his character, and his purposes toward humankind. The names by which God chose to make himself known to his people are part of the self-revelation by which he led his people to get to know him.

1) The First Name of the Messiah is "Wonderful."

A Celtic proverb describes our Savior as a “Wonder of Wonders and every wonder is true.” God has done many wonderful things for us in and through Jesus Christ. We need to have our eyes opened to recognize all that God has done and proposes to do for us through our wonderful Savior.

2) The second name of the Messiah is "Counselor."

The advent of Jesus Christ means that God is concerned about and intimately involved in our lives.

3) The third name of the Messiah is "mighty God."

In Hebrew: El Gibbowr.

GOD - The Hebrew word for God is 'el. We see it as part of other words such as Beth-el ("House of God"). As a noun, 'el literally means, “strength.” To fully understand how the word fits into the context of Isaiah 9:6 it becomes necessary to trace the meaning of the word from its Hebrew root origin. The root word is 'ayil and it contains several possible definitions and applications:

1) Ram: a) Ram (as food), b) Ram (as sacrifice), c) Ram (skin dyed red, for tabernacle)

2) Pillar, doorpost

3) A strong man, a leader, a chief

4) Mighty tree

MIGHTY - The Hebrew word gibbowr for "mighty" is an adjective; Strong’s defines gibbowr as powerful, warrior; as an adjective it means strong or mighty.

So, 'el gibbowr could be rendered as strong sacrifice; this is a possibility, and if it truly is the intended meaning, perhaps it is meant to build upon the prior words for wondrous counselor by his distinguishing act of obedience to God as he became the sacrificial lamb crucified and the propitiation for their sins. I believe this is valid but unlikely, since the tenor of Isaiah 9:6 is directed more towards strong, governmental-type leadership (throne of David).

Therefore, 'el gibbowr means a strong man, a omnipotent leader, a warrior chief in Isaiah 9:6.

The Messiah is our Warrior Chief: Strong on our behalf

His might is always exercised for two reasons:

1) His own glory

2) Our good

I.  GOD’S GLORY IS OUR MIGHTY GOD’S GREATEST PASSION.

1. God’s Ultimate Goal in all that he does is to Preserve and Display His Glory.

He prizes and delights in his own glory above all things. God’s passion for God is unmistakable.

J. Edwards: “The great end of God’s works, which is so variously expressed in Scripture, is indeed but one; and this one end is most properly and comprehensively called, the glory of God.”

Glory is not easy to define.  The term “glory of God” in the Bible refers to the visible splendor or moral beauty of God’s manifold perfections. It is an attempt to put into words what cannot be contained in words—what God is like in his unveiled magnificence and excellence.

Another theme in Scripture that signifies much the same thing us “the name of God.”  When Scripture speaks of doing something “for God’s name’s sake” it means virtually the same as doing it “for God’s glory.”

The name of God is not merely his label, but a reference to his character. The term “glory” simply makes more explicit that the character of God is indeed magnificent and excellent.

2. God would be less than God if he valued anything more than what is supremely valuable, namely, himself.

Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases.”

None of God’s purposes can be frustrated.

God is never deficient or needy. He is never gloomy or discouraged.

God is always full and over-flowingly energetic for the sake of his people who seek their happiness in him.

II.  A PASSION FOR GOD’S GLORY IS THE ESSENCE OF ALL TRUE WORSHIP.

1. Since God’s Glory is God’s Greatest Passion, a Passion for God in Worship Precedes and Supersedes Everything Else in Our Lives and the Life of Our Church.

We are “on mission with God”, but missions is not the ultimate goal of the church, nor is evangelism, discipleship, ministry, fellowship.

J. Piper: “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.  Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.  When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.  It is a temporary necessity.  But worship abides forever.”

If the pursuit of God’s glory is not ordered above every other pursuit, regardless of how beneficial, God will not be duly honored and man will not be well served.

“When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God’s true worth, the light of missions will shine to the darkest peoples of the earth.”—J. Piper

Churches that are not centered on the exaltation of the majesty and beauty of God will scarcely kindle a fervent desire to “declare his glory among the nations.”

I want to ask a probing question and seek an honest answer: How brightly does the flame of worship burn at Bosqueville United Methodist Church?  How central is the glory of God to who we are?  How is a passion for God’s glory impacting our programs/staffing/budgeting/outreach/ministry/fellowship?

III. GOD'S MIGHT IS ALWAYS WORKING FOR OUR GOOD.

God's activity on our behalf is constant, not occasional.

God cares for us, not because he is needy, but because his care for us declares his greatness/ his might.

Psalm 68:28, "Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us." (ESV)

Jeremiah 32:17, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you."

Luke 1:37, "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Angel's response when the virgin Mary questioned how she could possibly bear a son when she had never been with a man)

Mark 10:27, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." (Jesus' reply to the disciples' incredulity when they responded to his statement of how difficult it would be for a rich man to enter heaven)

2 Corinthians 9:8, "And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Whatever you need in order to serve God and declare his glory, he will supply in abundance.

CLOSE:

The Messiah is our Warrior Chief and his might is always exercised for two reasons: 

1) His own glory, and 

2) Our good.

With this vision of the Anointed One, attention is drawn away from earthly things and reverently fixed upon God and his glory.  This vision of sovereign majesty is to be our delight and is to shape our entire mindset, filling our mind with thoughts of God and his glory.  In this way the God of grace becomes the center of our entire life.

With this understanding of our potential in light of God's mighty power at work on our behalf, we may face any circumstance with great confidence that God will overcome. He is our Warrior Chief.

- What is your impossible situation?

- What is your greatest need?

Turn to God, surrender it to him, move forward in confidence that God is at work on your behalf.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "He Shall Be Called... Counselor"

Text: Isaiah 9:6

OPEN:

There are a few things to keep in mind as we study this powerful statement by the prophet Isaiah:

1) This is an example of Hebrew parallelism

- A common feature of Hebrew poetry in the Old Testament is called parallelism, in which the words of two or more lines are directly related in some way. This feature may be found in any poetic passage, as well as in narrative sections. Multiple words or phrases with the same/similar meaning, are repeated one after the other for emphasis.

- Examples:

"The heavens are telling the glory of God;

and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours forth speech,

and night to night declares knowledge." (Psalm 19:1-2)

"You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart, and with all your soul,

and with all your might." (Deuteronomy 6:5)

2) This is a Messianic prophecy.

- These titles/attributes are those of the promised Messiah.

- "Messiah" is a Hebrew word that means "anointed one." The Greek equivalent is "Christ." Whenever we say Jesus Christ, we are saying Jesus Anointed One/ Jesus the Messiah.

3) The word translated "counselor" is actually a verbal adjective.

- This describes Christ by what he does.  We know him as God in our lives because he is actively involved.

- Francis Schaefer talked about "the God who is there." This passages speaks about a God who is near/ actively involved with us.

The advent of Jesus Christ means that God is concerned about and intimately involved in our lives.

I.  The Counselor Provides Exhortation.

1) The idea conveyed by this word is one of encouragement.

2) This is the root meaning of the New Testament word used for the Holy Spirit.

John 14:15-17, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth."

The Greek word is parakletos. "One who comes alongside to exhort/encourage."

3) Healing comes not from feeling better about the awful mess I'm in, but by being encouraged to get out of it.

II.  The Counselor Produces Comfort.

1) This is the ability to fully understand/ identify with another person.

Isaiah 66:13, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you."

2) Jesus understands us completely because of his own humanity.

Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

So, we should never hesitate to honestly pour out our hearts before the Lord. He understands and he cares.

III.  The Counselor Promotes Action.

1) The root meaning of the word may also be interpreted as "coach."

Coaching is different from counseling.

Counseling looks to the past to address problems from the past. That's called 'Therapy.'

Coaching looks to the future. Coaches ask carefully selected questions in order to help the coachee discover what they don't know that they know.

2) The Christian life is an active rather than a passive one.

We're not puppets or marionettes. God is not the Master Puppeteer. 

God doesn't do everything for us while we dangle by divine strings. That's fatalism.

God wants us to discover the gifts and strengths he had given us, to recognize the calling he has placed within each of us, and then serve him with great energy and effort.

CLOSE:

The advent of Jesus Christ means that God is concerned about and intimately involved in our lives.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "He Shall Be Called... Wonderful"

Text: Isaiah 9:6

OPEN:

God’s greatest gift to people is often overlooked at Christmas. We focus our attention on the gifts the good and gracious heavenly Father sends our way. The prophet Isaiah foretold the giving of God’s greatest gift—his only begotten Son. "For a child has been born for us, a son given us" (Isa. 9:6).

I love this time of year. I love Christmas music, Christmas lights, Christmas shopping, Christmas movies, Christmas gatherings.

But I also have a great burden during Advent each year:

It is a tragedy of tragedies that so few have properly related themselves to the Christ who was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger. 

It is a really god time to face up to life's most pivotal question: Is Jesus Christ merely a mythical or legendary figure? Is Christ simply the most notable figure on the pages of history? 

His birthday gave the world a new era dividing the past from the future at a focal point. His spirit has given the world its most immortal paintings. His love has inspired the world’s masterpieces of art, sculpture, and music. His influence has inspired earth’s greatest philanthropies. More books have been written about him than have been written about all of the kings who have ruled from earthly thrones.

Who is this Son whom God has given? 

 

The prophet Isaiah is speaking prophetically about Israel's coming Messiah. A study of the messianic titles bestowed on the wonderful Savior by the prophet Isaiah can help us enter the Christmas season with reverence and awe for Christ. Christmas should cause us to focus our attention on Christ and on God’s great redemption of us through him. The names that were given to him can help us to understand God’s gracious and loving purposes for us.

Names do not hold the same significance for us as was true in biblical times and is still true in other cultures. We use them merely as labels to identify one person in contrast to another. In the land and time of our Savior, this was not the case. Names were significant. The name given to a child might be an expression of gratitude, the declaration of a hope or dream, or even a prayer on behalf of the parents. Occasionally parents would give to their children a name of prophetic significance. Some names were deeply religious in nature. The name of a city, a mountain, a village, or a home was often an indication of some spiritual experience that the individual or the people had had with God.

The names and titles given to God contain a revelation of his person, his character, and his purposes toward humankind. The names by which God chose to make himself known to his people are part of the self-revelation by which he led his people to get to know him.

The First Name of the Messiah is "Wonderful."

Commentators Keil & Delitzsch tell us: "This first word is not to be taken in conjunction with the next word. There is nothing at all to prevent our taking "wonderful" and "counselor" as two separate names."

​I.​ He is wonderful because of who he is. 

"Not only is this or that wonderful in him; but he himself is throughout a wonder."

Who is this Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate in December? 

Is he to be thought of only as the best man who ever lived on earth? He was. 

Are we to think of him only as a remarkable teacher who taught with authority as no one had ever taught before? He did. 

The Scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ was uniquely different from all other people.

​1) Jesus Christ was the God-man. He was the eternal God clothed in human flesh (John l:1; 14:9). He came to reveal the nature and character of God to man.

​2) Jesus Christ was the eternal God who came to be our Savior (Phil. 2:5–11). 

He did not begin to be when he was born and laid in Bethlehem’s manger. 

This was but the beginning of the visible manifestation of the eternal God who clothed himself in human flesh for the suffering death on the cross. Paul speaks of this “self-emptying” of the Savior who laid aside his divine glory in order that he might become incarnate.

​Because of his sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross, Christ has been exalted to the right hand of God and should be the object of our worship and adoration (Phil. 2:9–11).

II. He is wonderful because of what he said. 

Through the centuries some people have gained immortality through the words that fell from their lips. 

Patrick Henry will always be known for saying, “Give me liberty or give me death.” 

John F. Kennedy’s words “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” will be quoted as long as free people live. 

And Martin Luther King will be known for “I have a dream.”

​Because the words that fell from Christ’s lips contained divine truth concerning eternity, they continue to live to bless the lives of people. His message is as relevant now as it was when first spoken: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me."

​

III. He is wonderful because of what he did. 

The Scriptures tell us that he went about doing good. 

The unique ministry he performed was that relating to his substitutionary death on the cross. The prophets had foretold how he would deal with human sin (Isa. 53:5–6). 

After “Christ died for our sins,” he validated the act in his resurrection. He proved that he has power over death and the devil. This is our Gospel: born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, raised the third day and lives forever more.

​IV. He is wonderful because of what he can do for you. 

All of us are indebted to others who have and who will continue to render valuable service to us. Most of us owe a debt of gratitude to former teachers, our family physician, our banker, or others who might have assisted us in a time of need. 

To Jesus Christ we owe our greatest debt of gratitude.

​1.​He can forgive your every sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

​2.​He can bestow upon you the wonderful gift of eternal life.

​3.​He can provide you with guidance and help as you face the future.

Is he wonderful to you?

CLOSE:

Because Jesus is Wonderful—wonderful in his person, in his purpose, in his presence, and in his power—you would be wise to trust him and yield your heart and life to him.

 

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "Casting But Not Reeling In"

Text: 1 Peter 5:1-7

OPEN:

It's human to worry, and being human is not sinful.  But it can definitely be unhealthy and even devastating if our humanness doesn't lead to a closer connection to the Son of Man. 

The Father intends for his children to be worry-free.

I. HUMILITY IS REQUIRED TO BE WORRY-FREE (vv.5-6).

First statement about humility has to do with human relationships: "And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"(v.5)

Second statement about humility has to do with our relationship with God: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God..." (v.6a).

1. Humility is Closely Connected to Anxiety.

The reason Peter deals with the problem of anxiety is because he is dealing with the problem of humility.  Somehow the command for humility makes the command to cast our anxiety on God more urgent, more necessary.

The point is that casting your anxiety on God is somehow part humbling yourself.  Casting your anxiety on God is not a separate thing you do after you humble yourself; it’s something you do in order to humble yourself

2. What Does it Mean to be Humble?

The statement "clothe yourself" is literally "tie on an apron." Peter may have in mind a slave's apron that is tied on with its attached strings, or he may have in mind that act of Jesus' in the upper room when he tied on an apron and washed the disciples' feet and performed a slave's service.

When connected to the command that follows to live anxiety-free, Humility means that when you’ve made a mistake, you admit it and say you’re sorry.

It means when you are weak or sick or inadequate for a task, not being too proud to ask for help.

It takes humility to admit your need, to recognize God cares, and to let God and others in God’s family help you.

3. Humility acknowledges that God knows best.

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time."

Submit myself to God's authority and trust that he knows best for me. When the time is right, I will see the visible answer to my silent cries.

II.  GOD WANTS TO BE OUR BURDEN BEARER (v.7).

(Peter is quoting from the Septuagint version of Psalm 55:22)

1. Now what does it mean to cast your anxiety on God?  How do I do that?

     1) Anxiety is essentially a loss of confidence.

The word anxiety in the Greek is mermna and means "worry as when one does not know whether to do this or that, distraction."

We have the same word used in Luke 10:41: "Martha was distracted by all she wanted to do, not knowing to what to turn her hand and in desperation going to Jesus to have him order Mary to help her."

“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all others thoughts are drained.”  (Arthur Somers Roche) 

     2) Anxiety/worry plagues me when I lose confidence in God and myself because of my present circumstances.

This is Peter walking on the water, and then shifting his focus onto the boisterous waves and fierce winds. The moment his focus shifted from Jesus and he allowed himself to be distracted by his circumstances, he immediately began to drown and cried out in desperation for Jesus to rescue him.

I become a nervous wreck when I begin to think everything depends on me and that I'm inadequate for the task. Either I lose sight of God, or I refuse to trust his ability & willingness to help.

2. The secret to living worry-free is trust & release.

The word “casting” (epiripto) in verse 7 occurs only one other time in exactly the same form in the New Testament – in Luke 19:35.  “They brought it to Jesus, and casting their garments on the colt, they set Jesus on it.”

So, the meaning is simple and straight forward: if you are carrying something and you want an animal to carry it for you, you “cast” the item on the animal.  In this way, you don’t carry it any more.  It’s on the animal, not on you.  The donkey works for you and lifts your load.

     1) God is willing to carry your anxieties the same way a donkey carries your baggage.

Mt 11:28, “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Ps 55:22, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.”

Is 46:4, “Even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you.  I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save."

     2) The critical thing is that after saddling God with your burden, you leave it there.

Many of us are good about bringing our burdens, problems, heartaches, illnesses, etc., to the Lord, but we take them back and walk away with them. Nothing changes, except that I may be even more frustrated, feeling like God doesn't care and that he can't help.

     3) God wants to be your burden bearer because it demonstrates His power and puts Him in a class by Himself.

Is 64:4, “from of old no one has hear or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for Him.”

2. Practically, how do you do that?

You do it by trusting the second half of verse 7 very specifically in relation to your specific anxiety.  The first half of verse 7 says, “casting all your anxiety on him . . .” and the second half says, “. . . because he cares for you.”

How do you practically make the anxiety transfer from your back to God’s back?  The answer is: trust that he cares for you.  Believe this promise.  Trust Him.  It’s a matter of practical trust.

Parallel Passage: Philippians 4:6: "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

So often we trust God in the abstract.  Yes, he is a trustworthy God.  Yes, he can save sinners in general. Yes, hypothetically he will work it all out; generally speaking, he is on the side of what's for my good. But this text means, lay your specific anxiety on God.  Trust him specifically that he cares about you.

When it says that he cares, it means he will not stand by and let things develop without his influence.  It means he will act.  He will work; not always the way we would choose.  But he will do what is right for us and for his name’s sake.

Here’s the important key: once you cast your cares/anxiety on the Lord, leave them there.

CLOSE:

The Father intends for his children to live worry-free.

Casting your anxiety on God means trusting him for handling this specific situation, putting the burden on his back, leaving it there and walking away.

What burden is eating away at you today?

What care is so heavy you’re stumbling under the weight and are in danger of being crushed by it?

Lay it down today – place it on the back of a God who cares and will act in your best interest.

I challenge you to come to this alter and cast your care/burden upon God today; then get up and leave it at the altar.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "A Tackle Box for Life"

Text: 1 Peter 3:13-17

OPEN:

We continue our sermon series from 1 Peter: "Life Lessons from a Lifelong Fisherman."

A new division in this letter begins in 3:8 ("Finally"), and has to do with suffering and trials. It rests on all that Peter has written thus far, namely the sovereignty of God and the necessity of surrender to Christ in all human relationships. Peter is attempting to enlighten, comfort, and strengthen  his readers. They have tasted the sting of suffering previously and the prospect of even greater suffering loomed large. Remember that the setting for this letter is Nero's hostility toward Christianity in the Roman Empire.

What comes to mind when you read the word "suffering?" Most think of poverty, famine, hunger, disease, political oppression, perhaps religious persecution.

There is another type of suffering that is just as real and is referred to here in verse 16. "Keep your conscience clear." This is an emotional response to emotional suffering. This may be the most common and devastating form of suffering that you and I endure: emotional suffering. Believers must anticipate the experience and seek the cure for emotional suffering.

Three basic categories of personal emotional suffering:

I. The Performance Trap (How I See Myself).

Description: This is the feeling that I must meet certain arbitrary standards in order to attain self-worth. Failure to do so threatens our security and sense of significance. Such a threat-- real or perceived-- results in a paralyzing fear of failure.

False Belief: I must meet certain standards in order to feel good about myself.

Consequences: Because of our unique personalities, we each react differently to this deception.

1) Some respond by becoming slaves to perfectionism, driving themselves toward achieving impossible goals. Perfectionists can be quite vulnerable and susceptible to mood disorders. They tend to react defensively to criticism, and demand to be in control of most situations they encounter.

2) Some are driven beyond healthy limitations. Rarely able to relax and enjoy life.

3) Some fall into a tailspin of despair. They rarely expect to achieve or feel good about themselves. Past failure is seen as proof of personal worthlessness. So, eventually they stop trying.

God's Answer: Justification.

Romans 5:1, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God has ascribed to us secure self-worth completely separated from our ability to perform. We have been justified, placed in right standing before God through Christ's death on the cross.

God didn't stop with our forgiveness, he also grants us the very righteousness of Christ.

2 Co 5:21, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

God ascribes Christ's worth to us.  I have the same value that Christ has to the Father!

II. The Approval Addict (How we think others see us).

Description: Our self-concept is determined not only by how we see ourselves, but by how we think others perceive as well. Basing self-worth on what we believe others think about us causes us to become addicted to their approval.

False Belief: I must be approved/accepted by others in order to feel good about myself. Satan's lie: Self Worth=Performance + Approval

Consequences:

1) Fear of rejection -- We spend most of our time building relationships, striving to please people and win their respect. And yet, it only takes one unappreciative word or negative comment to cause our self-worth to crumble.

2) Failure to accept responsibility -- Many go from relationship to relationship, attempting to find someone who will meet their need for approval/acceptance.  We are responsible for getting this need met.

3) Self-worth becomes a constantly moving target.  Our fear of rejection will control us to the degree that we base our self-worth on the opinions of others rather than our relationship with Christ.

Galatians 1:10, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

God's Answer: Reconciliation

We have unconditional acceptance in Christ.

The moment we receive Christ by faith we enter into a personal relationship with him.

Colossians 1:21, "And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him."

III. The Shame and Blame Game (How we abuse ourselves and others).

Description: Overwhelming feeling of inadequacy in myself and in others. The inability or unwillingness to accept failure in myself and in others.

Self-condemnation (I'm so stupid, I'm so ugly, I can't do anything right).

Condemnation of others (You're so stupid, you're so ugly, you can't do anything right).

False Belief: Those who fail are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished. I am what I am & you are what you are; I cannot change & you won't change. I'm hopeless and so are you.

Consequences:

1) Self-induced punishment (asceticism) -- We think that if we're hard enough on ourselves, then God won't have to punish us. We fail to understand that God disciplines in love, never punishes in anger.

2) Judge & punish others -- Our condemnation of those who fail may take the form of verbal abuse, physical abuse, nagging criticism, withholding appreciation and affection.

God's Answer: Atonement.

Hebrews 2:17, "For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people."

Providing his only Son as the atonement for our sins was the greatest possible demonstration of God's love for man.

We no longer have to induce punishment for our failure or anyone else's because Christ atoned/ paid for them all -- past, present, and future.

"A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members for one another, or the community will be destroyed. I can no longer condemn or hate other Christians for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble they cause me. In intercessory prayer the face that may have been strange and intolerable to me is transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died, the face of a pardoned sinner." (Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

CLOSE:

How are you suffering today? Notice that I did not ask "Are you suffering", but "How are you suffering?"

Each of us are dealing with something today and probably many things:

1) May be physical suffering. Jesus cares and heals.

James 5:13, "Are any among you suffering? They should pray.

2) May be emotional suffering. Jesus cares and heals.

Discover your self-worth in God's complete and unconditional acceptance (Justification).

Relieve yourself of the awful burden of trying to measure up (Reconciliation).

Release others from your disapproval and condemnation (Atonement).

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "The Imitation of Christ"

Text: 1 Peter 2:21 (Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 John 2:6)

OPEN:

No doubt you've heard the initials: WWJD (What would Jesus do?), but do you remember who used them first?  They come from a little book written by Congregational minister Charles Sheldon.  His book, In His Steps, first published in 1896, has sold more than 30,000,000 copies, and ranks as one of the best-selling books of all time. The full title of the book is: In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?

In His Steps takes place in the railroad town of Raymond, probably located in the eastern U.S.A. The main character is the Rev. Henry Maxwell, pastor of the First Church of Raymond. The novel begins on a Friday morning when a man out of work appears at the front door of Henry Maxwell while the latter is preparing for that Sunday’s upcoming sermon. Maxwell listens to the man’s helpless plea briefly before brushing him away and closing the door. The same man appears in church at the end of the Sunday sermon, walks up to “the open space in front of the pulpit,” and faces the people. No one stops him. He quietly but frankly confronts the congregation—“I’m not complaining; just stating facts.”—about their compassion, or apathetic lack thereof, for the jobless like him in Raymond. Upon finishing his address to the congregation, he collapses, and dies a few days later.

That next Sunday, Henry Maxwell, deeply moved by the events of the past week, presents a challenge to his congregation: “Do not do anything without first asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’” This challenge is the theme of the novel and is the driving force of the plot. From this point on, the rest of the novel consists of certain episodes that focus on individual characters as their lives are transformed by the challenge.

Sheldon wrote a sequel to In His Steps entitled Jesus is Here, where Christ actually shows up and visits the characters of In His Steps, supposedly a few years later. This book's recurring phrase used in describing Jesus is: "Like an average man. Only different."

Peter lays down a daunting task in 1 Peter 2:21: “follow in his steps.”

We read something similar in two other New Testament letters.  

1) The first is from the hand of the Apostle Paul writing to the Church at Ephesus.  In 5:1-2, Paul exhorts them to live exemplary lives and at the climax of his argument makes the startling declaration: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  

2) John writes in his first letter: "Whoever says, 'I abide in him,' ought to walk as he walked." (1 John 2:6)

Can you think of anything more preposterous? Latin=Imitatio Dei

Imitate a Creator?

Imitate an All-Powerful God?

Imitate an All-Knowing God?

Imitate an All-Present God?

Peter gives us a clue as to how to implement the audacious demand to imitate Christ.  In fact, it is one of the grand benefits of the incarnation—God became human flesh.  Not only did his sojourn on earth end in the ultimate sacrifice and victory for our sakes, in the process he provides the ultimate example of how to live.  

He is our Savior; he is also our Model.

What does it look like for us to "follow in his steps," to live as Jesus did? If it is not perfection, then what does it mean?  

- According to Ephesians 5:2,  We imitate Christ by living in love.  

And not just any kind of love, this love is the same kind of love that was demonstrated in Christ’s sacrificial death in our place.

I.  WE ARE TO IMITATE THE WAY JESUS LIVED.

“Therefore” in Ephesians 5:1 refers back to the last part of chapter 4, especially verse 32: “and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”

We read a similar command in 5:2, “and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.”

1. Christians are not a cheap imitation.

     1) Mimetes (imitator) is the term from which we get “mimic,” someone who copies specific characteristics of another person.  As “imitators of God,” Christians are to imitate God’s characteristics, and above all his love.

- The imperative “Be” is something in Greek called a durative imperative: Ever Be!

- The imperative to imitate actually means dependence on God in all our actions and not independent sameness.

Thomas à Kempis was a shy man who liked “books and quiet corners all his days.”  Yet, this simple, kindly man walked with Christ in such intimacy that he left Of the Imitation of Christ as a rich inheritance to millions of Christians.  In the past 500 years, the little book has been translated into more languages than any other book except the Bible.

“’He that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness’ saith the Lord.  These are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished how we ought to imitate His life and manners, if we would be enlightened and delivered from all blindness of heart.  Let therefore our chief endeavor be to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ.”

2. Our Relationship With God Underlies Our Imitating the Son.

“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children…”

“The closes relation underlies our imitating, and this relation to God is both the reason for our imitating Him and the motive that prompts us.” (a Kempis)

     1) The word translated “beloved” denotes the closest relationship possible—this is the closest possible family relationship one could imagine.

- This is the son or daughter imitating the father that they love, adore, respect, and most want to be like.

II.  WE ARE TO IMITATE THE WAY JESUS LOVED.

The whole of the Christian life is the reproduction of divine love as seen in the person of Christ.

“Kindness, tender-heartedness, and forgiveness are characteristics of God, who is love.  God himself is infinitely kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving, and we achieve those virtues by imitating their Source.” (J. MacArthur)

1. Imitating the Son Means Following a Unique Way.

- Conventional wisdom and common sense are not signs of the kingdom of God.

Donald Kraybill, in his book, The Upside-Down Kingdom, suggests: 

“The kingdom of God points to an inverted, or upside-down way of life that contrasts with the prevailing social order.”

“In this upside-down kingdom, the first shall be last and the last shall be first, the exalted will be humbled and the humbled will be exalted, sinners are forgiven and welcomed while the self-righteous are chastised, the poor are blessed and the rich condemned, the lost are found and the dead are made alive, the lion lays down with the lamb and spears are reshaped into pruning hooks.  This is the language of the kingdom” (James Mulholland).

> Jesus warned some very religious people: 

“I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Mt 21:31).

> He announced: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).

> He shocked his disciples by saying: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt 19:24).

2.  Christ is most concerned with those who have been ignored, neglected, and even oppressed by the kingdoms of this world.

> Mary, the mother of Jesus, anticipated this when she said: “God has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.  He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:51-53).

>Jesus began his ministry with similar words; “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

>Jesus seemed to think the kingdom of God would only appear as we work to eliminate poverty, free those who are prisoners (either of their own making or of others), give sight to the blind (especially those blind to their responsibility), and release the oppressed.

CLOSE:

We are commanded to follow the example of Jesus Christ, and we do so by loving the way Jesus did.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "Shepherds and Fishermen"

Text: 1 Peter 2:18-25

OPEN:

Our sermon series is: "Life Lessons from a Lifelong Fisherman: Studies in 1 Peter." The Apostle Peter was a professional fisherman when Jesus called him to become a fisher of men, and he reverted to what was familiar after the crucifixion. Evidently, he never lost his love for the feel of a ship under him or the thrill of pulling in nets full of fish. How many tilapia would this haul hold? In fact, tilapia are known around the Sea of Galilee as "St. Peter's fish."

In light of that reality, it's interesting to me that after just three years of discipleship, Jesus tells a fisherman (Peter) to think and act

like a shepherd (John 21). "If you love me, feed my sheep." That would be like telling a banker to leave his vaults and go give money away for a living. - Fishermen and shepherds have opposite values and attitudes. Fishermen only value the biggest fish and throw out the small, while shepherds focus on the smallest and weakest in their flock.

So, don't miss the weight of the imagery Peter uses here in 2:25, where he turns to the metaphor of shepherd to say something enormously important about Jesus and about us. 

We have an example to follow and a Savior who cares about us.

I. Jesus is our Example to Follow (2:18-24).

The context of our focal text is the entire section of chapters 2-4 that deal with the command of "submission." Coming from hupo (to place under) and tasso (authority/rank), submission ("accept the authority of" NRSV in v. 13) means voluntary humility. This attitude of the heart allows us and, in fact, forces us to approach every possible human relationship "for the Lord's sake" -- political, vocational, marital, social, ecclesiastical.

Knowing that this command to voluntary submission seems to be asking too much of believers, Peter provides an unavoidable example. Peter was a great preacher and he knew it was time for an illustration. He holds Jesus before us like a multi-faceted diamond, so that in considering Christ as our standard, we might better understand what submission is all about.

Peter describes Jesus' extraordinary sacrifice in the following terms:

1. Absolutely perfect man (2:22) "He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth."

2. Total absence of retaliation (2:23) "When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten."

3. Consummate submission/ ultimate sacrifice (2:24a) "He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross."

4. His sacrifice secured our recovery/ redemption (2:24b) "so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."

Here is where Peter surprises us by introducing the language of the shepherd....

II. Jesus is our Shepherd (2:25).

This, then, is the real focus of all that Peter is telling us:

"For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls."

This is the message we need to hear; when our world crumbles around us, when we can't pay our bills, when depression threatens to engulf us like the dark of the night, when the challenges before us appear insurmountable, Jesus is the shepherd and guardian of our very souls.

To understand this talk of shepherds and sheep, we must understand the work and mindset of the eastern shepherd:

The Shepherd's attention/ concern is extremely personal.

(Luke 15:3-7)

  1) The Bible is full of references and reminders that God knows each of us intimately and individually: hairs on our head are numbered, knows our name, names written on the palms of his hands, calls us from our mother's womb, etc. 

** I'm truly glad that Jesus never referred to himself or to God in fishermen terms:

- Because the Romans taxed the fishermen based on the number of fish they caught, seasoned fishermen threw out the small fish and kept the big ones. In order to find 100 keepers for the market, a fisherman might have to catch 250 or 300. For a fisherman, size mattered more than numbers. Big fish were important. Small fish were throwaways.

- The attitude of the shepherd was exactly the opposite – every sheep was

valuable, not just the big and strong. In fact the good shepherd was

expected to leave the 99 strong and mature sheep and go after the lost.

He was expected to protect and care for the weak. Before he did

anything else, he was supposed to feed the lambs – the smallest.

2. The Shepherd does what is best for the sheep, whether they understand it or not.

- The familiar image used to represent shepherds is the shepherd's staff.  The purpose of the shepherd's staff:

  1) Crooked to lift sheep when they've fallen over a ledge and can't get up on their own.

  2) Solid in order to use as a weapon for defending the sheep.

  3) Hard in order to break the leg of the sheep if it continues wandering off.  Sheep stray gradually, always looking for choice pasture/ greener grass.

- God disciplines his children out of love for us.

Hebrews 12:5-7, "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"

- There is a divine law of consequence for God's children.

Galatians 6:7, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

God forgives completely, but we will reap the consequences of our choices.

3. The Shepherd has compassion for his sheep.

- Matthew and Mark describe the multitudes for whom Jesus felt compassion, grieving that they were "like sheep without a shepherd."

- Mark says that it was a result of his compassion that Jesus began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34).

- Matthew says that Jesus' compassion motivated him to challenge his disciples to pray for more workers to enter the spiritual harvest fields (Matthew 9:36).

- Since the people of God were like sheep without a shepherd, God provided a compassionate Shepherd in the person of Jesus Christ.

  1) Jesus really does care about what you're currently enduring, or the personal battle you're waging.

1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."

CLOSE:

Jesus is the Shepherd of our souls. He knows, and he cares. And he's available to help you out of whatever difficulty you're experiencing.

Hebrews 4:15-16, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are -- yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "Men of Derring-Do"

Text: 1 Peter 2:13-17

OPEN:

I like the term "derring-do." It first appeared in print in something Chaucer wrote, circa 1374. The writer who popularized the term was Sir Walter Scott. His use of 'derring-do' as a single word in the novel Ivanhoe, 1820, cemented it into the English language. I first encountered it in the title of a book a purchased, Fishing Giants, and Other Men of Derring-Do. Derring-do has to do with brave actions, an attitude of heroic daring.

Attitude is everything for the believer.

The most heroic exploit of a believer is to display an attitude that honors God in all things.

I. The Attitude that Most Honors God is Submission (v. 12).

Our text today underscores that our attitude is what matters in every conceivable aspect of life. The most important thing this section of 1 Peter does (2:11 - 4:12) is put all of life in relation to God and here in verse 12, Peter introduces the necessary attitude that paves the way for honoring God in every aspect of life:

     "Conduct yourselves honorably."

The word Peter uses is hupotasso, which literally means "submit yourselves."

It is a military term composed of two Greek words-- hupo (under) + tasso (command/ authority). It meant to rank under, only here it is something you do to yourself> choose to place yourself at a lower rank than someone else.

This is not something that someone else does to you; this is an attitude that leads you to do it to yourself. Voluntary humility.

Attitude is everything.

II. An Attitude of Submission Does Not Come Naturally (v. 13).

This attitude is unnatural, humanly speaking.

It cuts across the grain to choose to lower yourself and elevate others.

There are many Scriptures that speak of submission, and in each case we are called upon to display this attitude for the Lord's sake:

"Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." Ephesians 5:21

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7

"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Luke 22:42

Peter tells us in 2:13 that the key to submission is "for the Lord's sake."

If you miss that, you miss the important thing.

III. The End Result of Submission is the Glory of God (vv. 12, 15, 16).

"Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge."

"For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish."

"As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil."

Our submission follows a natural progression (v.17):

Honor everyone -- give to all human beings basic respect, honor, and dignity.

Love the family of believers -- give special love and respect to fellow believers (Christian army is the only army that shoots its wounded). We won't always like each other, but we are to speak in love/ extend grace to one another.

"Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." (Franklin Jones)

3) Fear God -- beyond a common respect for all and special love for Christians, we display a special reverence appropriate to God and no one else.

4) Honor the emperor -- only when we follow the progression are we able to come to the place of submitting to political authority, especially if we disagree with that authority (emperor was anathema to Christians).

CLOSE:

Attitude is everything. The most heroic exploit of a believer is to display an attitude that honors God in all things.

This matter of voluntary humility is no small order. Submission calls for a heroic attitude born of accepting one's self and surrendering everything to God.

Remember that submission is a voluntary act of ranking yourself lower than another. What needs to take place in your life for God to be elevated to his rightful place?

- Confession of sin

- Acknowledge your need/ inadequacy

- Invite him to take control

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "A Chip Off the Old Block"

Text: 1Peter 2:4-10

OPEN:

I'm not sure of the origin of the term "chip off the old block," but I'm sure most of us are familiar with its meaning. The metaphor refers to a child imitating a parent or grandparent, or any person imitating another.

Keep that idea in mind as we consider this text from 1 Peter, because it gets to the heart of the text.

The focus on these verses is verse 5: "like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

This is a word from the Lord to his church, not primarily to individuals. We know this because the "yourselves" in verse 5 is plural and refers back to 1:1 where Peter addresses his audience: "To the exiles.... who have been chosen and destined by God the Father." That's us! We are a holy priesthood.

This text was used by Martin Luther to reject the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. He coined the phrase "priesthood of the believer." Western individualism has taken this slogan and turned it into a license for personal freedom in belief and lifestyle. But this context is corporate, not individual. To view this priesthood as providing us direct access to the Father is accurate, but it's not the purpose of the metaphor. This refers back to the Old Testament system of priesthood.

As an Old Testament priest stood between a needy people and a holy God, so holy priests advocate not their own position, but the needs of the people to God, and the expectations of God to the people. So, we as a church in the 21st Century are expected by God to represent Him accurately to the world and in turn to offer acceptable spiritual sacrifices to Him.

Let's look at these two responsibilities in turn:

I. WE ARE TO ACCURATELY REPRESENT GOD TO THE WORLD.

To understand our role we must begin at the right place--focus on Jesus Christ.

(v. 4) "Come to him, a living stone...."

     1) There are many biblical references to Jesus Christ as a stone:

A rejected stone (Ps 118:22)

A building stone (Isa 28:16)

A stumbling stone (Isa 8:14-15)

An overcoming stone (Dan 2:45)

     2) Notice that Christ is the living Stone, and we are living stones.

It is no accident that Peter uses the same image to compare us to Christ.

The similarity is intentional.

The small pebbles are to be miniature replicas of the larger rock, chips off the old block.

2. The way we represent God to the world is by being like, looking like, sounding like, living like Christ.

Eph 5:1,2: "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ...."

As Christ's church, we must make sure that we are Christlike in all things at all times. Too many people artificially separate their church life from real life.  That's why we can appear to be saints at church, and live like hell the rest of the week.

William Law (1686-1761) wrote in A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life:

"There is no reason why we should make God the rule and measure of our prayers, why we should look wholly unto him and pray according to his will, and yet not make him the rule and measure of all the other actions of our life.... For there is no other reason why our prayers should be according to the will of God unless our lives also be of the same nature.

This is the reason that we see such ridicule in the lives of many people. Many people are strict when it comes to times and places of devotion, but when the service and the church is over, they live like those that seldom or never come there. In their way of life... they are just like the rest of the world. This leads the world to make light of those because they see their devotion goes no further than their prayers."

If any member of this church leads such a blatant lie, he or she makes everything we do as a church a mockery in this community.  Our criteria for success as a church is never how many people attend or how much they give, but how we narrow the gap between what we profess and what we practice.

The simple application is that either Christianity prescribes clearly the way to live our daily lives, or it is practically useless.

This is what it means to be a holy priesthood-- accurately represent Christ to the world.

II. WE ARE TO OFFER ACCEPTABLE SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES TO GOD.

"to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (v.5)

What are these acceptable sacrifices?

1. Our bodies.

(Rom 12:1) "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer  your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship."

Everything you do with your body is to be done as an offering of worship to God (hammer nails, drive car, prepare a meal, program a computer, read a book, throw a baseball, etc.).

(1 Co 10:31) "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

2. Praise and Thanks.

(Heb 13:15) "Through Jesus Christ, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-- the fruit of lips that confess his name."

Our praise should be regular and genuine spiritual activity, not sporadic and hollow.

3. Acts of Love.

(Phil 4:18) "I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God."

This is an unmistakable word to us as a church. Are we offering acceptable spiritual sacrifices to God?

Do we sing in the power of the Spirit according to the will of the Spirit as a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ?

Do I preach in the power of the Spirit, according to the will of the Spirit, as a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ?

Do we leave this place and live like Christ in the power of the Spirit, according to the will of the Spirit, as a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ?

CLOSE:

You and I are not isolated rocks, doing our own thing, disconnected from God and God's people. According to 1 Peter 2:5, we are part of something larger than ourselves.  We are each an integral part of what God is building, a spiritual house.

The stones are meant to fit together (like my friend who built a fireplace).

We are more than an occasional gathering of individuals who happen to be in the same building at the same time. We are God's temple, His dwelling place.  This is true of each of us (1 Co 6:19), but there is more of God to be known and enjoyed than may be expressed and experienced in isolation.

So, what kind of church are we? Are we imitating Christ in such a way that our church is an accurate representation of God in this community?

Is our worship acceptable to God or a mockery? Only holy priests make spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God.

Your attitude/ actions/ sins are never private matters.  They affect all of us.  There is no such thing as secret sin.  You can never say, "I'm not hurting anybody else."

"Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ."

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "The Brotherhood of Fishermen"

Text:  1 Peter 1:22 – 2:3

OPEN:

As we come to the close of chapter one and the beginning of chapter two, we encounter a fourth command. The three previous were:

Live in hope. "Set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you" (v. 13).

Live in holiness. "Be holy yourselves in all your conduct" (v. 15).

Live in fear. "Live in reverent fear during the time of your exile" (v. 17). Last week we saw that the river that should run through each of our lives is the fear of living in a way that does not honor God.

The fourth imperative is found in verse 22: "Love one another deeply, from the heart.”

Live in love.

A noticeable thing about these verses is the imagery of growth: seed, grass, withering, and newborn babies. How is the imagery of growth related to this command to love?

Grown-up love in our church is expected but also commanded as an indication of spiritual maturity.

Two thoughts on this grown-up love that the world is supposed to see in us . . .

I.  THE LEVEL OF LOVE IN OUR CHURCH DETERMINES OUR REPUTATION. (1:22-25)

     1.  Christian love/unity is both assumed and commanded in verse 22.

Assumed/expected: “Now that . . . so that . . .”

“sincere”: ahupokritos = without hypocrisy.

“love for your brothers”=Philadelphia=fraternal affection/brotherly kindness.

Peter assumes/expects that there would at least be affection and kindness in the church.  This is his minimum standard. Anything less than this does not qualify as a church.

Commanded: “Love one another deeply, from the heart.”

“Love . . .  deeply”: Aorist active imperative of the word agapao.   Comes from the root word meaning “much.”   The early church took a relatively unused noun (agape) and turned it into an action word/verb.

They understood that to truly contain agape/ God’s kind of love, it must agapao/ be put into action.

     2.  Why are we commanded to display a deep love in the local church?

Love is THE identifying mark of a disciple – love of God/love for others.

The Apostle John wrote a pastoral letter to several churches in which he emphasizes the necessity of love among the members:

1 Jn. 2:9-11: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”

1 Jn. 3:11:  “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”

1 Jn. 3:16:  “This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

1 Jn. 4:12:  “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”  (John is saying that the only way the unbelieving world will ever see God us through our expression of deep love for one another in the church!)

That’s what Jesus meant when he said in John 13:34-35:

“A new command I give to you:  Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

*The only thing the world has to judge us by is whether or not we love one another – at least affection but growing deep into God’s kind of love.

We love each other without partiality/prejudice because salvation treats us the same.

Without Christ we are the same (v. 24) – “like grass.”

With Christ we are the same (v. 23) – “not of perishable but of imperishable seed"

If God treats us the same in salvation, who are we to do any differently in the church?

John 13:34: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

James 4:12: “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.  But you – who are you to judge your neighbor?”

II.  THE DEPTH AND AUTHENTICITY OF OUR LOVE IS DETERMINED BY OUR LEVEL OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY. (2:1-3)

The only way we get to the place where we love this way, is by deepening our walk with Jesus Christ:

  1. We Need To Get Rid of Some Things (2:1):

The meaning of “rid yourselves” is literally to undress.

 a.  All malice.

Kakia= badness, active or passive wickedness.

Comes from a root word meaning “intrinsically worthless.”

Get rid of anything word, thought, action that is intrinsically worthless.

        b.  All deceit ("guile").

Dolos= a trick, bait

Comes from an old word meaning “to catch with bait.”

We bait each other at times with our words, trying to catch them in a mistake so that we may pounce on them for it.

    c.  All hypocrisy ("insincerity").

Hupokritos

Be real!

            d.  All envy.

Phthonos=jealousy.

Comes from a root word that means to shrivel or wither.  May mean desiring the other person to shrivel and may mean it causes you to shrivel.

   e.  Slander of any kind.

Katalalia=to defame the character of someone

We are told to add these:

      a.  Crave the Word of God (2:2)

      b.  Grow-up! “grow up in your salvation”

The Christian life is a continuing process, not a past experience!

What is Peter getting at here?  He is telling us that we prove our spiritual maturity by having deep love for one another.

The reason for most church disunity and conflict is a group of people who have never grown-up in their salvation and they attempt to run the body of Christ in place of Christ who is the head of the Church.

James knew this.  He wrote about it in James 4:1-12.  The content is corporate, not individual.

CLOSE:

Grown-up  love in our church is expected but also commanded as an indication of spiritual maturity.

One Sunday on their way home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the preacher's sermon this morning confused me. The mother said, "Oh? Why is that?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?" The mother replied, "Yes, that's true, honey." "And he also said that God lives in us? Is that true Mommy?" Again the mother replied, "Yes." "Well," said the little girl, "if God is bigger than us and he lives in us, wouldn't He show through?"

I am saying this morning that God wants to show through us.  He wants to reveal what the Father is like by the way we love each other.

Study Guide: "A River Runs Through It"

Text: 1 Peter 1:17-19

OPEN:

My all-time favorite fishing movie is actually the screen version of author Norman MacLean's memoir of his youth spent in Montana.  "A River Runs Through It" tells the story of the MacLean family, presided over by the strict but encouraging Presbyterian minister Rev. MacLean and his loving wife. Norman, the older son in his family, takes his school work and writing a bit too seriously for Paul, the impetuous younger son. Paul would rather have a good time, drink and play cards than get involved with academic study. Where Norman wants to be a college literature professor, Paul would prefer to stay in Montana all his life and wrangle some kind of job writing for a local newspaper. Fly fishing is the constant for each of the men in the story, and fishing becomes inseparable from life for each of them.

Our text for today speaks of a theme that God intends to run through each of our lives.  It may surprise you to note what that theme is according to the Apostle Peter: Fear.

We're learning some "Life Lessons from a Lifelong Fisherman" by studying the small New Testament book known as "The First Letter of Peter." We're learning how to live despite difficult challenges and, at times, overwhelming circumstances.  

Verses 1-12 of chapter one are a celebration of what God has done to make us his own forever.

Verses 13-19 of chapter one issue three commands for living in the here and now.

The first command is to live in hope. "Set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you" (v. 13).

The second command is to live in holiness. "Be holy yourselves in all your conduct" (v. 15).

The third command is to live in fear. "Live in reverent fear during the time of your exile" (v. 17).

Essentially, Peter says the river that should run through each of our lives is the fear of living in a way that does not honor God.

I. Fear Living As Though Our Faith Were Not in God (v.17).

"If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile." (v. 17)

A couple of things strike me immediately when I read this.

  1) It sounds as if Peter is contradicting himself.  He has just told us to set all our hope on grace (verse 13), and now he's telling us that God will judge us according to or deeds. So, which is it? Am I judged according to Christ's finished work on the cross or on my unfinished work here on earth?

This judgment to which Peter refers has nothing to do with our salvation, but has everything to do with our rewards in heaven.

"For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." 

(1 Corinthians 3:9-15, NASB)

In other words, Christ lays the foundation of salvation by grace.  I will determine what is built upon that foundation. What I do with this life matters for eternity.

  2) The second thing that strikes me is this matter of fear.  I thought that God is a God of relationship and that he implores me to explore and enjoy intimacy with him.  That sounds a lot more like love than it does fear.

Note several things about this fear:

There is no special word for "reverence" or "reverent fear" in the Greek language.  This phrase was the choice of Bible translators to provide the Editors' interpretation of what connotation they thought the word should have.

The word is phobeo, and it means to put to flight by terrifying (to scare away), to be seized with alarm. We get from this word phobia.  For example, I am claustrophobic.

1.  I choose to live in fear because I know that what I do today counts tomorrow, and all the tomorrow's that follow.

The same idea Paul had in mind in 1 Corinthians 6:18, "Flee fornication."

The same idea Jesus had in mind when he said, "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out" (Matthew 5:29).

2.  I choose to live in fear because I know that how I live today says a great deal about the condition of my heart. As we saw last week, outward holiness comes from an inner holiness. The external eventually reveals the nature of the internal.

Peter tells us that there is a very appropriate fear that all believers are to display: the fear of living as though we do not belong to God.

II. Fear Living As Though Jesus' Blood Is Not Precious (vv. 18-19).

"You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish."

Paraphrase: "Live in fear, because you've been ransomed at infinite cost."

  1. Peter stresses the surpassing value of Christ's sacrifice.

He says that the blood of Jesus is "precious." This word in the Greek is timos and it means "beyond price." You can't assign a value to it.  It is priceless.

 

  2. This points to the fact that the ultimate purpose of Christ's sacrifice is not forgiveness, but transformation.

The design of Christ's redemption is to rescue us from a futile way of living. The aim of this verse is victory over the power of sin in your everyday life, not just forgiveness from the guilt of sin in the past.

So, we live each moment in light of the inestimable value of the blood of Jesus Christ that gives us life now, and throughout all eternity.

CLOSE:

Each time I've stood in front of a war memorial has had a profound effect on me.  Standing in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., or before the monuments erected to honor veterans from each war in Port Arthur's Veterans Memorial Park, or walking the civil war battlefields in the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia, I have been impacted by the sacrifice of those who've gone before me and gave themselves for my freedom.  I should be a better American because of those who fought to secure and sustain my freedom.

Today, we have the opportunity to hold in our hands a piece of bread and a cup of grape juice that should effect an even higher emotion.  When we meditate on the precious blood of Jesus and his body broken for us, it should result in life on a higher plane. We should live in profound fear of doing anything to dishonor our Christ and his precious blood that he shed freely for us. 

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)