Sermons – Page 3 – Somerset Church of Christ

August 8, 2024

Will You Keep His Commandments No Matter What?

When the Israelites were rescued from Egypt, they spent forty years in the desert under very brutal conditions. The heat would have been unbearable and there was a constant lack of food and water. The wilderness wanderings certainly tested the Israelites in every sense of the word. In fact, God said, “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2 ESV).

God reminded them that they always had food and water when they were in the desert. God was testing them to see if they would remain faithful to him and to see if they were really ready to inherit the promised land. A valid question we could ask ourselves is: like the Israelites, will we keep God’s commandments no matter what? Will we help our neighbor and do what we can to bless other people when they are in need? Will we do this regardless of our life’s circumstances?

The Bible is clear that we will face many trials. Those trials will test us on every level. There may be days when we are hungry, thirsty, lacking money, or our health may be bad. What will we do in those circumstances? Will we turn away from God or will we continue to trust him and bless other people? Those are choices that we need to make every single day of our lives. Let’s always choose to bless!

August 1, 2024

The Doer Will Be Blessed In His Doing

James, the brother of Jesus, wrote to Christians telling them that faith wasn’t enough. In fact, faith without works is dead. James repeatedly warns them to be active in works, helping those who are in need: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror” (James 1:22, 23 ESV).

That man looks away and forgets what he was like, according to James. James goes on to say, “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (vs. 25). James is clear that God blesses the one who is a “doer.” The word for doer means someone who makes or produces things–someone who is productive! Put another way, the productive one will be blessed in his production.

When we make the conscious decision to be a “doer” for God, He blessed the doing. He makes us more productive when we faithfully work to help others. Just two verses later James says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (vs. 27). Remember, God blesses the doing of the doer!

July 18, 2024

Come To the Light

We all can recite John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Within the bigger context, John is drawing attention to the fact that Jesus explicitly stated that unless one be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. A person must be born of the water and Spirit and Jesus concludes that “whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (vs. 15).

While keeping things in perspective, John reminds us that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (vs. 17). His judgment is that light came into the world but people loved the darkness because their works are evil. Evil people hate the light and love the darkness because light exposes their deeds (vs. 20). This is why people hated Jesus and wanted him dead.

However, “whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (vs. 21). In other words, people who do what is true naturally gravitate toward the light so that the works that are carried out in God can be seen and point others to God. The works that Christians do should always point people to God. Paul was incredibly adamant that people follow him as he followed the example of Christ. Everything he and the disciples did and said was meant to point people to God, and it was always done in the light.

July 10, 2024

Be Mature In Your Thinking

There is a lot going on in the church today. At first glance, it looks like Christianity is all over the map. For example, there have been recent splits among the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Methodists, to name a few. These are not small splits, either. It is a sign of how radically divided the nation as a whole is, and Christians are no better. The church in Corinth really mirrored a lot of the division we see today. A lot of the same issues emerged then that are dividing the church now–issues over sexuality, spiritual gifts (or non-gifts), which Christian influencers we follow, marriage and divorce issues, and so on.

Paul needed to nip the issues in the bud while there was still a semblance of a church left. In one sentence he sums up how they should get together as the body of Christ: “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20 ESV). Paul warns them not to be children (“childish”) in their thinking. They should be infants in evil, where infants don’t even know what evil is! And they should be mature in their thinking, where they are patient with one another, compassionate, caring, and deeply rooted in the Word.

Just one chapter earlier Paul wrote about the importance of love. Love is patient. It is kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not self-seeking. These are all pointing Christians to mature thinking, something the church at Corinth really needed if it was going to survive. When we model mature thinking, it makes Christ attractive to others. We need to model the bride of Christ in a way that showcases who Jesus is. The church is the bride of Christ and nobody in their right mind wants to get near a bridezilla!

July 4, 2024

Desire Without Knowledge Is not Good

black pen on opened book beside lit taper candle

There is a proverb that says, “Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way” (Proverbs 19:2 ESV). This one verse is important, especially given our theme this year of straining toward the goal. What this proverb means is that desire itself won’t get us to the finish line, even if we desire God. A more literal translation of this verse is: “It is also not good for the soul to be without knowledge, and he who hastens with his feet sins.”

The emphasis is on the soul lacking knowledge from and about God. If the soul lacks knowledge about God, we will hastily pursue dreams and passions that will lead us off the godly path. It can’t be overemphasized how important it is to have the knowledge of God for our souls to not follow our own passions. For example, the preceding verse says, “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool” (vs. 1).

As we saw with Job, integrity matters. Job said, “As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me” (Job 27:2-5). Job clearly put the knowledge of God above all else. That was his guiding light, not his own desire.

June 25, 2024

Gather During Harvest Time

Remember when Jesus prayed for workers because the harvest was plentiful? The lack of workers in the kingdom is an age old problem. Specifically, the church suffers when all hands are not on deck. Proverbs 10:5 ESV says, “He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.” This certainly has spiritual implications too. If we are lazy in the field we will be lazy in “God’s Field.” How can we gather up people who are ripe for the harvest if we don’t work?

To quote a dear church member, “We will only rise to the lowest level of expectations.” In other words, if we expect little of each other, nobody will rise beyond those lowest expectations. Who in their right mind will wear themselves out if nobody else is sharing the work load? This is why Jesus expected much out of his disciples. He didn’t give them the best tools to work with and he certainly didn’t line their pockets with money. But he expected them to work, and to work hard!

Paul, when addressing Christian households, says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward” (Colossians 3:23, 24). This is very much in line with what Jesus said about storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves cannot break in and steal. We need to always set the bar high and gather while the harvest is ready. We should be talking to everyone we know about Jesus and gathering them in!

June 13, 2024

Jesus Came to Call Sinners

Hosea is an interesting prophet. God told him to take a wife who was unfaithful, which he did. God said, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (Hosea 1:2 ESV). Throughout the book of Hosea, God shows him what it is like when the Israelites forsake God for other gods. They had turned their back on God even though he loved them as his own bride.

In a strange twist, she leaves Hosea after having children and Hosea is told to take her back and love her. Even though Israel sold herself to the Baals, God reveals His heart for his people: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). Jesus quotes this passage when he was criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners: “Go and learn, what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).

The heart of the gospel is repentance, a theme that is dominant throughout the entire Bible. God’s plea to Israel is to return to him: “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity” (Hosea 14:1). He makes a promise that he will love his people and will heal their iniquity when they repent. We need to be reminded of God’s mercy for his people. It changes the way we treat “sinner and tax collectors,” the people who God calls to righteousness!