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| Rev. Brian Wilkie |
By Rev.
Brian Wilkie
Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community
Rockland, Ontario
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PODCAST LINK to CFRA
broadcast - Sunday, June 9th, 2013:
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Broadcast Notes:
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‘Worthy’
Welcome
to Good News in the Morning, a
program of words and music bringing a Christian message of hope and
encouragement to those who are looking for intelligent, meaningful and spirited
approach to faith and to life. This program is sponsored by Good News Christian Ministries Box 184
Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0. This is Brian Wilkie speaking.
Thank
you to our listeners, we are very grateful for your encouragement and support.
Remember that you can always visit our website http://www.GoodNewsChristianMinistries.ca
for materials to encourage and support you in your Christian walk.
Today,
as we look together into God's Word, our theme is "Worthy."
Jesus
Christ is worthy, and here's a Scripture from John's Revelation chapter 5
verses 1 to 14. John sees this vision of Christ's power, of Christ's glory and
of Christ's destiny. When he sees it, he writes these words:
Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a
scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a
mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and
open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could
open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was
found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders
said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of
David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain,
standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures
and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits
of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right
hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living
creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a
harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers
of the saints. And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men
for God
from every tribe and language and
people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and
priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering
thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled
the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom
and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and
under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to
the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and
power,
for ever and ever!”
The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell
down and worshiped.
This is
the Word of God proclaiming the glory of Jesus Christ. Now here's a prayer to start the day with in
the form of a song. The song is called Lauds
by Steve Bell from his album Sons And
Daughters.
As we
begin today our message on this theme of worthy, we to ask the question, “what
do we mean when we say worthy?” Many people obtain great fame, great honor,
great wealth. Many people wield the instruments of power and sometimes we find
that the people who hold that great gift don't necessarily come up to our
estimation of being worthy. Being worthy doesn't mean that you have something,
it means that you deserve something; and having something doesn't mean you're
necessarily worthy of it. We use our discernment, we take a close look at
someone's characteristics.
I’ve
got friends who are great fans of sport. They look at the draft choices at
hockey or the awards for most valuable player and they often have a different
opinion than the people who make that choice on the networks and on the
television. They will often say, “Well, yes, that's a good player, but that
other player, he's really worthy of that honor.” We look at the people around
us and we see people who are not necessarily making it well in life, they
aren't getting all the breaks but somehow or other we see something in the
makes us say that they really deserve better. In fact sometimes it's when
people are at their worst, in the worst situations, at the greatest
disadvantage, It is at those times, sometimes, that we see the real worthiness
of a person: when they don't have what they ought to have.
Of
course when we look at Jesus Christ we see that he receives worship from his
church, from all those who a found salvation in him. He receives trust and
honor from the people of the earth: from millions upon millions of people who
have found in him life and love, forgiveness and grace. He's worshiped. To
worship Jesus is to give him an honor and to declare that he is worth our honor
and our praise. Now some people give honor to people simply because they hold
power. You see people following around celebrities who have a great deal of
fame, and you get the feeling that some people attach themselves to celebrities
just to be in the limelight, just to catch a bit of their glow. Not because they
necessarily think that that celebrity is worth all the attention, but because
there are benefits from being involved with that person. Likewise there are
those who follow and participate in political power, and end up following after
wealthy or attractive people because they want to receive some of the benefits
of that, not necessarily because they think the person is worthy of the power
or the honor that they hold.
Now
it's possible that some follow Jesus because they love power and they hope that
Jesus will give them power. It's possible that some follow Jesus out of pure
self-interest: out of simply a desire to save themselves. While that's a very
smart position to be in – that is, to know that your salvation lies in Jesus
Christ is a great thing – but we are called to recognize something greater in
Jesus than just his utility for us. Given that we are presented with the
character and the person of Jesus Christ we are presented with someone who is
worthy of our honor, not just someone that is useful to follow. We see that so
much in the story of Jesus: at times when Jesus is sort of on top of the world,
when people see him as a teacher who speaks with authority: when they say that
they say he's a person who's worth listening to. They hear his words and his
wisdom and they think themselves, “That's right this guy is speaking the truth,
he's opening up the Scriptures to us he's revealing the Father to us,” and they
that honor him with their attention and their listening. When Jesus performs
many miracles there are those who follow him simply because they want to get
fed. They’ve seen him turn water into wine or they've seen him multiply loaves
and fishes and may simply want to get some of those benefits. They don't look at
Jesus they look at the benefits, but then there are those who look at the One
who shows such compassion upon the sick, who notices the needs of the hungry
and the poor, who preaches good news to the outcast and the lost. They look at
Jesus and they say, “Even if I even if I don't receive a healing from him, even
if I don't receive bread from him, He is worthy of my attention, worthy of my
love.”
There were
times when Jesus was filled with majesty and power, like when the disciples saw
him upon the mountain talking with Moses and Elijah and a voice came from
heaven saying, “This is my Son with whom I am well pleased, listen to him,” and
they knew that Jesus was worthy of honor and glory. They saw in those
circumstances the honor that God the Father himself gave his own Son. Then
there are those times when Jesus glory shines through unexpectedly: like when
the thief was upon the cross. At first he is mocking Jesus and then considering
anew this man who hung dying beside him. The man who called out from the cross,
“Father forgive them they know not what they do;” the man who looked at his
mother Mary and his disciple John, saw their needs and reached out to them from
the cross; the man who took insult and mockery, who took flogging and torture
and even death itself. And the one thief said to the other thief, “Do you not
fear God? For we are under the same condemnation as this man. Yet we are
getting what we deserve for our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then
he looked to Jesus and said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” What
did the Thief see in Jesus? In Jesus he saw a broken man on the cross who was
worthy of honor, worthy of praise, worthy of devotion. Jesus Christ even in the
worst circumstances shines through in the love of God, in the character that
he's had from all eternity, in the sacrifice that he has given towards all of
us. And we see Jesus raised from the dead don't we say, “This, this is the man
who deserved it!” If anyone ever deserved to have his circumstances turned
around if anyone ever deserved to be honored for the love that he'd shown and
the faithfulness he’d shown to the Father; if any man ever deserved to be
raised from the dead it's Jesus Christ! There are times when we can look at
that resurrection and rejoice in it because the right thing was done. God
honored his Son!
It's an
extra for us, the bonus for us that we benefit from his death and resurrection
– but even if we did not, he would be worthy of what the Father bestowed upon
him, the kingdom and the grace. I thank God that he gives us such a gift of
salvation through Jesus Christ and I'm thankful that he simply allows our eyes
to see the one who is worthy of all honor and glory and power, all riches, all
devotion, all grace. This is Jesus Christ, worthy of all things, presented to
us in the cross and the resurrection, and presented to us today by the Holy
Spirit continuing to reveal the Father and the Son to us through his Word and
through his work within our hearts. Let us pause here to listen to a beautiful
song by Sarah Groves, Love Is Such A
Worthy Cause from her album Tell Me
What You Know.
There can
be no doubt that Jesus Christ is worthy of all which the angels in heaven
declared about him and what the elders and the thousands upon thousands and
10,000×10,000 who encircled the throne and shared in the praise of God. The
Angels, the elders, the Saints, and all the living creatures around the throne
of God. He is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and
honor and glory and praise. So what do we do to honor him? What is he worthy of
in our lives? Well it's fairly obvious that when we commit our lives to Jesus
Christ we’re saying that he is worthy of our trust. He is worthy of all our trust.
He is worthy of our trust in good times and bad, he's worthy of our trust when
we're feeling great and when were going through difficulties. He is worthy of
all that we have. To be worthy of all this is to say that he's not worthy of
just what we have extra: our spare time, the money that we know is not needed
for our own indulgences. He is worthy of it all. He is worthy of our lives: all
of our lives, not just the golden years when will get around to following Jesus,
but the years in which we have strength in our limbs; our youth and even our
childhood. Jesus Christ is worthy of a whole life given to him. How much we
regret, once having discovered Jesus, that we didn't turn to him earlier. Often
people turn to Jesus late in life, thinking throughout their life that by
avoiding God they have benefited themselves somehow. Then when they finally do
find God they realize how much they missed in the years that they allowed themselves
to drift away and be used for their own fleeting purposes instead of using
their life in the worship and service of the worthy God.
When we
say that Jesus is worthy of all honor and all riches and all praise then we
recognize that he is worthy to receive everything from us. Sometimes we make
the mistake of offering only the best of what we believe we have to God and
holding back those talents or those skills that we think are not quite up to
scratch. How often we sing, to the children, hymns about how even the smallest
gift is a good gift if it's given with love and yet we ourselves adults are
ashamed of our talents, ashamed of our opportunities, ashamed of our words. We
don't use them for God because we think they're not good enough. Yet he is
worthy of all of it. Yes he deserves the best, he deserves better, but he
deserves what we have to be offered for his glory and service. Whatever we have:
if we only have a little love then offer it to him. If we only have a little
bit of courage then use it for him. If our talent is small use it for him and
don't hold back because he deserves everything.
When we
honor him with our whole lives, do we honor him with our time and do we honor
him with with our attention, with our obedience? Is his word getting all the
attention it deserves? What is wonderful about Jesus Christ is that he accepts
the gifts that we give, accepts the honor that we give him, and he equips us
by his Holy Spirit so that what we give is multiplied, what we give is
glorified. Often what we think to be the weakest part of our offering God turns
into something he uses for great glory in his life. So give it to Jesus without
restraint, without worrying, without shame, but give to Jesus the life that
he's given you daily, as your spiritual worship.
In the
Old Testament there were some offerings given to God that were a whole burnt
offering: not just the best parts of the animal but every part was offered to
God and that's the standard for our life when we give our lives as a living
sacrifice to Jesus Christ, to be totally transformed by his spirit and his love.
So let's continue to honor God in his worthiness. Let us continue to serve him
and glorify him and give him all that he deserves, for he is indeed worthy.
Let's
pray together.
Lord you are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals
because you were slain and with your blood you purchased people for God from
every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made us to be a
kingdom and priests to serve you, our God, and we will serve you. God, we will
honor and glorify you with our lips, our hands, our thoughts and our lives. Glory
be to your name, Almighty God, amen.
Thank
you listeners for your encouragement, prayer and financial support. You keep us
on the air week by week. If you can please make out a check payable to Good News Christian Ministries and send
it to Box 184 Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0. You will get a receipt at income
tax time.
Be sure
to worship in a church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived out
with compassion, integrity and resolve.
Now to
conclude our program here is the song You
Are Worthy written by Michael Card from his album Unveiled Hope. May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly
may the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart. May the heavenly Father
surround you with his constant and abiding and accompanying love.
- Rev. Brian Wilkie
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To listen to the above
broadcast, click on the following link:
