United in Spirit while Completing the Assigned Task – 2022

Dear BLCF Friends,

Effective April 10, 2022, Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church will reopen by reservation only for Sunday worship under the limitations and guidelines set by Public Health and the Board of BLCF. In order to protect those who are vulnerable at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship from COVID-19 Virus infection, the BLCF Board mandates that the church will be open by reservation, with the following rules:

• attendees must wear a mask while on the premises
• attendees give their contact information upon arrival
• attendees observe two meters social distance while seated
• attendees use hand sanitizer as needed
• attendees follow any additional directions given by members of the board, while inside the church

Please be advised that both the BLCF Café Community Dinner and the BLCF Wednesday Prayer Service will continue to remain closed effective March 16, 2020, and until further notice. We pray with the administration of sufficient COVID-19 vaccinations, and following the determination of Health Canada and other Health Authorities, that the danger of the Pandemic will have subsided sufficiently, to allow BLCF to reopen safely more of our worship and outreach activities without any concern of infection to the vulnerable within our community.

– Pastor Steve

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

’United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task’

© September 18, 2022, by Steve Mickelson

Based on Messages Shared at BLCF on November 24, 2019, and November 22, 2015

BLCF Bulletin November 24, 2019

BLCF Bulletin November 22, 2015

Announcements and Call to Worship; Prayer 

Music Special – Terry Sywanyk

Offering and Prayer; Hymn #572: Praise God; Prayers

Doxology (Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow) Instrumental – https://youtu.be/Mk4p3rihONU

Today’s Scriptures: Genesis 3:1-7, Genesis 11:1-9, Mark 10:35-45, and Matthew 26:14-16

Responsive Reading #661: The One True God (Acts 17); Prayer

Music Special: I Won’t Let Go – (Lyrics With Bible Verse) Rascal Flatts – https://youtu.be/qA0YKJ0_Ivk

Message by Steve Mickelson – ’United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task’:

Let us pray…

In our lesson today, ’United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task’, we look at the challenges a Christian believer faces, while following the path set by the Lord. Those challenges include avoiding any stumbling blocks that Satan places in the path that the Lord wishes us to follow.

The Christian Church is composed of a body of believers. But is that same church of believers that Satan desires to confuse and corrupt away from the presence of God. The Reformist, Martin Luther describes the devil’s handiwork as follows: “For, where God built a church there the devil would also build a chapel.”

Satan loves nothing better than running interference with Christians’ understanding of the Lord, as we see in the various Scripture verses that we will look at for today’s lesson.

The first Scripture Verse, Genesis 3:1-7 (ESV), describes how Satan tempted both Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to eat fruit forbidden by God. The temptation challenged the Lord’s authority by lies that indicated that eating the forbidden fruit would not bring a death judgment upon them, instead, the fruit would open their eyes to understanding good from evil and elevate them to possessing knowledge like God:

The Fall

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Footnotes: a. Genesis 3:1 In Hebrew you is plural in verses 1–5 b. Genesis 3:6 Or to give insight

We see that instead of being elevated, their sin caused them separation from God, along with guilt, shame, and eventually ejection from the garden.

The second of today’s featured Scripture verses, Genesis 11:1-9 (ESV), tells how following the Great Flood, humanity spoke the same single language and sought to build a great tower to heaven. The builders expected that the tower brings fame, and unity of purpose, and help them from being scattered over the face of the earth. This second sinful act of arrogance that was an overt challenge to the authority of their Maker resulted in God bringing confusion of different languages among the builders of the tower. And the disparate languages, by their very nature, caused the people to scatter over the face of the world.

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Footnotes: a. Genesis 11:9 Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused

While the Babel account does not indicate Satan’s direct involvement in influencing the people in their decision to build themselves a tower to heaven, we know that their sinful nature is a legacy of Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Garden. But the same sinful arrogance is exhibited by two of Christ’s disciples, described in Mark 10:35-45 (ESV):

The Request of James and John

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[a] 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave[b] of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Footnotes: a. Mark 10:43 Greek diakonos b. Mark 10:44 Greek bondservant (doulos)

In this account, James and John asked to share in the glory of the Lord, by being given seats on either side of Christ. Jesus replied that their request indicated ignorance of what Jesus was expected to face, which is his suffering and death on the cross in order to fulfill God’s plan for reconciliation and forgiveness. In order to be glorified, Jesus needed to suffer the pain of judgment for the sins of all of humanity. As the Day of Pentecost had not arrived, the disciples did not have the benefit of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit to help them discern the foolishness of their request.

Our Scriptures describe an assortment of sinful actions that people committed in order to obtain a share of God’s knowledge, His Presence, and His authority. These actions can be described as peoples’ desire to put lightning in a bottle:

Lightning in a bottle

Capturing something powerful and elusive and then being able to hold it and show it to the world.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lightning%20in%20a%20bottle

The only thing worse than defying the authority of the Lord is betrayal, Matthew 26:14-16 (ESV):
Judas to Betray Jesus

14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Judas’ betrayal happened after the spirit of the devil came upon the disciple. The expectation of the betrayal was not to bring the person to the same level as the Lord. By accepting blood money for the Lord, Judas decided to elevate himself above Christ. The price of this elevation was 30 pieces of silver.
Throughout history, a desire by believers and non-believers, alike, to understand the workings of the universe, as we see in this quote from Shakespeare’s Quick Quotes:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
– Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

your philosophy ] i.e., philosophy (or learning) in general.

The emphasis here should be on “dreamt of”, as Hamlet is pointing out how little even the most educated people can explain.

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/quickquotes/quickquotehamletdreamt.html

But the great minds can only postulate theories based on their limited understanding of the nature of the world. And what is a theory?

theory – noun, plural theories. (dictionary.com)

1. a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:
Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Synonyms: principle, law, doctrine.

2. a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural and subject to experimentation, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact.
Synonyms: idea, notion hypothesis, postulate.
Antonyms: practice, verification, corroboration, substantiation

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theory

Albert Einstein, who was considered one of the world’s greatest minds, authored the Theory of Relativity, based upon astute observations of natural behavior. Einstein, who described himself as an agnostic with respect to the existence of God, advanced a theory to replace Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Nature. Newton was a firm believer in God.

While Relativity could account for the behavior of matter in most circumstances, there were some aspects of particles that fell outside the framework of this theory, which resulted in another theory, the Quantum Theory to be advanced. But Einstein believed that a Unified Theory could be created to bridge the two theories, Relativity and Quantum, and act as a single Theory of Everything:

Classical unified field theories – from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since the 19th century, some physicists have attempted to develop a single theoretical framework that can account for the fundamental forces of nature – a unified field theory. Classical unified field theories are attempts to create a unified field theory based on classical physics. In particular, unification of gravitation and electromagnetism was actively pursued by several physicists and mathematicians in the years between World War I and World War II. This work spurred the purely mathematical development of differential geometry. Albert Einstein is the best known of the many physicists who attempted to develop a classical unified field theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_unified_field_theories

Unified field theory Main article: Classical unified field theories

Following his research on general relativity, Einstein entered into a series of attempts to generalize his geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism as another aspect of a single entity. In 1950, he described his “unified field theory” in a Scientific American article entitled “On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation”.[153] Although he continued to be lauded for his work, Einstein became increasingly isolated in his research, and his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. In his pursuit of a unification of the fundamental forces, Einstein ignored some mainstream developments in physics, most notably the strong and weak nuclear forces, which were not well understood until many years after his death. Mainstream physics, in turn, largely ignored Einstein’s approaches to unification. Einstein’s dream of unifying other laws of physics with gravity motivates modern quests for a theory of everything and in particular string theory, where geometrical fields emerge in a unified quantum-mechanical setting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

But does the Bible give any indication as to why scientists have failed to come up with a single theory that accounts for the behavior of all aspects of the behavior matter and energy, from the beginning of the universe until the present? The answer to this question could be found in verse 11 of Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 (ESV):

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.[a]

Footnotes: a. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Hebrew what has been pursued

There are aspects of our nature that fall beyond the scope of the physical universe, such as mercy, love, grace, and kindness. All are given in reward to faith, us to be seated by Christ. God has granted humble believers a way, through Jesus, to be raised up to be with the Lord, without the help of forbidden fruit, elaborate towers, or a request that put the Lord to the test. Let us take joy in all He has given us.

1 John 1:1-4 (ESV) The Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands,    concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete.

And the certainty of experiencing joy comes from Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV):

4 But[a] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Footnotes: a. Ephesians 2:4 Or And

Let us pray…

Closing Hymn #177: Rejoice, the Lord is King

Rejoice The Lord Is King (Acoustic Song Leading Video) // Emu Music – https://youtu.be/oh0BYrdd-8o

Benediction – (Philippians 4:7): And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task – 2019

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

’United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task’

© November 24, 2019, by Steve Mickelson

Based on a Message Shared at BLCF on November 22, 2015 

BLCF Bulletin November 24, 2019

BLCF Bulletin November 22, 2015

Responsive Reading #661: The One True God (Acts 17); Prayer

Opening Hymn #79: We come, O Christ, to Thee; Choruses

Tithing and Prayer; Hymn #572: Praise God; Prayers

Today’s Scriptures: Genesis 3:1-7, Genesis 11:1-9, Mark 10:35-45, and Matthew 26:14-16

Let us pray…

In our lesson today, ’United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task’, we look at the challenges a Christian believer faces, while following the path set by the Lord. Those challenges include avoiding any stumbling blocks that Satan places in the path that the Lord wishes us to follow.

The Christian Church is composed of a body of believers. But is that same church of believers that Satan desires to confuse and corrupt away from the presence of God. The Reformist, Martin Luther describes the devil’s handiwork as follows: “For, where God built a church there the devil would also build a chapel.”

Satan loves nothing better than running interference with Christians’ understanding of the Lord, as we see in the various Scripture verses listed in today’s BLCF Church Bulletin.

The first Scripture Verse, Genesis 3:1-7 (ESV), describes how Satan tempted both Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to eat fruit forbidden by God. The temptation challenged the Lord’s authority by lies that indicated that eating the forbidden fruit would not bring a death judgment upon them, instead, the fruit would open their eyes to understanding good from evil and elevate them to possessing knowledge like God:

The Fall

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Footnotes: a. Genesis 3:1 In Hebrew you is plural in verses 1–5 b. Genesis 3:6 Or to give insight

We see that instead of being elevated, their sin caused them separation from God, along with guilt, shame, and eventually ejection from the garden.

The second of today’s featured Scripture verses, Genesis 11:1-9 (ESV), tells how following the Great Flood, humanity spoke the same single language and sought to build a great tower to heaven. The builders expected that the tower brings fame, and unity of purpose, and help them from being scattered over the face of the earth. This second sinful act of arrogance that was an overt challenge to the authority of their Maker resulted in God bringing confusion of different languages among the builders of the tower. And the disparate languages, by their very nature, caused the people to scatter over the face of the world.

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Footnotes: a. Genesis 11:9 Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused

While the Babel account does not indicate Satan’s direct involvement in influencing the people in their decision to build themselves a tower to heaven, we know that their sinful nature is a legacy of Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Garden. But the same sinful arrogance is exhibited by two of Christ’s disciples, described in Mark 10:35-45 (ESV):

The Request of James and John

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[a] 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave[b] of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Footnotes: a. Mark 10:43 Greek diakonos b. Mark 10:44 Greek bondservant (doulos)

In this account, James and John asked to share in the glory of the Lord, by being given seats on either side of Christ. Jesus replied that their request indicated ignorance of what Jesus was expected to face, which is his suffering and death on the cross in order to fulfill God’s plan for reconciliation and forgiveness. In order to be glorified, Jesus needed to suffer the pain of judgment for the sins of all of humanity. As the Day of Pentecost had not arrived, the disciples did not have the benefit of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit to help them discern the foolishness of their request.

Our Scriptures describe an assortment of sinful actions that people committed in order to obtain a share of God’s knowledge, His Presence, and His authority. These actions can be described as peoples’ desire to put lightning in a bottle:

Lightning in a bottle

Capturing something powerful and elusive and then being able to hold it and show it to the world.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lightning%20in%20a%20bottle

The only thing worse than defying the authority of the Lord is betrayal, Matthew 26:14-16 (ESV):
Judas to Betray Jesus

14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Judas’ betrayal happened after the spirit of the devil came upon the disciple. The expectation of the betrayal was not to bring the person to the same level as the Lord. By accepting blood money for the Lord, Judas decided to elevate himself above Christ. The price of this elevation was 30 pieces of silver.
Throughout history, a desire by believers and non-believers, alike, to understand the workings of the universe, as we see in this quote from Shakespeare’s Quick Quotes:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
– Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

your philosophy ] i.e., philosophy (or learning) in general.

The emphasis here should be on “dreamt of”, as Hamlet is pointing out how little even the most educated people can explain.

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/quickquotes/quickquotehamletdreamt.html

But the great minds can only postulate theories based on their limited understanding of the nature of the world. And what is a theory?

theory – noun, plural theories. (dictionary.com)

1. a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:
Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Synonyms: principle, law, doctrine.

2. a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural and subject to experimentation, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact.
Synonyms: idea, notion hypothesis, postulate.
Antonyms: practice, verification, corroboration, substantiation

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theory

Albert Einstein, who was considered one of the world’s greatest minds, authored the theory of relativity, based upon astute observations of natural behavior. Einstein, who described himself as an agnostic with respect to the existence of God, advanced a theory to replace Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Nature. Newton is a firm believer in God.

While Relativity could account for the behavior of matter in most circumstances, there were some aspects of particles that fell outside the framework of this theory, which resulted in another theory, the Quantum Theory to be advanced. But Einstein believed that a Unified Theory could be created to bridge the two theories, Relativity and Quantum, and act as a single Theory of Everything:

Classical unified field theories – from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since the 19th century, some physicists have attempted to develop a single theoretical framework that can account for the fundamental forces of nature – a unified field theory. Classical unified field theories are attempts to create a unified field theory based on classical physics. In particular, unification of gravitation and electromagnetism was actively pursued by several physicists and mathematicians in the years between World War I and World War II. This work spurred the purely mathematical development of differential geometry. Albert Einstein is the best known of the many physicists who attempted to develop a classical unified field theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_unified_field_theories

Unified field theory Main article: Classical unified field theories

Following his research on general relativity, Einstein entered into a series of attempts to generalize his geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism as another aspect of a single entity. In 1950, he described his “unified field theory” in a Scientific American article entitled “On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation”.[153] Although he continued to be lauded for his work, Einstein became increasingly isolated in his research, and his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. In his pursuit of a unification of the fundamental forces, Einstein ignored some mainstream developments in physics, most notably the strong and weak nuclear forces, which were not well understood until many years after his death. Mainstream physics, in turn, largely ignored Einstein’s approaches to unification. Einstein’s dream of unifying other laws of physics with gravity motivates modern quests for a theory of everything and in particular string theory, where geometrical fields emerge in a unified quantum-mechanical setting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

But does the Bible give any indication as to why scientists have failed to come up with a single theory that accounts for the behavior of all aspects of the behavior matter and energy, from the beginning of the universe until the present? The answer to this question could be found in verse 11 of Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 (ESV):

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.[a]

Footnotes: a. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Hebrew what has been pursued

There are aspects of our nature that fall beyond the scope of the physical universe, such as mercy, love, grace, and kindness. All are given in reward to faith, us to be seated by Christ. God has granted humble believers a way, through Jesus, to be raised up to be with the Lord, without the help of forbidden fruit, elaborate towers, or a request that put the Lord to the test. Let us take joy in all He has given us.

1 John 1:1-4 (ESV) The Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands,    concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete.

And the certainty of experiencing joy comes from Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV):

4 But[a] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Footnotes: a. Ephesians 2:4 Or And

Let us pray…

Closing Hymn #177: Rejoice, the Lord is King

Benediction – (Philippians 4:7): And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Rejoice and Be Renewed In HIS Image

Message for Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church:           

‘Rejoice and Be Renewed In HIS Image’

© September 23, 2018, by Steve Mickelson

Based on Message Shared with BLCF on August 9, 2015

 Announcements and Call to Worship; Prayer                                                    Opening Hymn #25: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee; Choruses                             Prayer and Tithing: Hymn #572: Praise God; Prayer Requests                     Responsive Reading #667: Humility and Exaltation (Philippians 2 and Matthew 23)                                                                                                                               Message by Steve Mickelson: ‘Rejoice and Be Renewed In HIS Image’

Let us pray…

Good morning and welcome to Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship’s Sunday Praise and Worship Service.

Our lesson this morning is entitled: ‘Rejoice and Be Renewed In HIS Image’, where we will have an opportunity for some self-reflection upon our personal walk with the Lord. We will look at the pitfalls of hypocrisy in our faith practices when we reflect upon God’s Word, primarily using today’s Scripture verses, .

It is through the Bible, along with the Spirit’s guidance, that we may understand not only the path God has set for us but examine our behavior as a true reflection of God’s grace. Let us first look at Psalm 119:57-64, which happens to take from not only the longest of the Psalms but also happens to be the longest chapter of Scripture found in the Bible, comprised of some 176 verses:

Psalm 119, verses 57 to 64 indicate the importance of attitude over actions as an expression of our faith which is pleasing to the Lord:

Psalm 119:57-64 (ESV)

Heth

⁵⁷ The Lord is my portion;
I promise to keep your words.
⁵⁸ I entreat your favor with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
⁵⁹ When I think on my ways,
I turn my feet to your testimonies;
⁶⁰ I hasten and do not delay
to keep your commandments.
⁶¹ Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
I do not forget your law.
⁶² At midnight I rise to praise you,
because of your righteous rules.
⁶³ I am a companion of all who fear you,
of those who keep your precepts.
⁶⁴ The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;
teach me your statutes!

Our second Scripture verse contrasts that from Psalm 119, where Jesus gives a litany of failings in the faith practices of the Scribes and the Pharisees, Matthew 23:1-36 (ESV):

Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, ³ so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,^[a] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ⁶ and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi^[b] by others. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.^{[c] 9} And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. ¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.^{[d] 15} Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell^[e] as yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, ³⁵ so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah,^[f] whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Footnotes: a. Matthew 23:4 Some manuscripts omit hard to bear b. Matthew 23:7 Rabbi means my teacher, or my master; also verse 8 c. Matthew 23:8 Or brothers and sisters d. Matthew 23:13 Some manuscripts add here (or after verse 12) verse 14: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation e. Matthew 23:15 Greek Gehenna; also verse 33 f. Matthew 23:35 Some manuscripts omit the son of Barachiah

Henry’s Concise Commentary helps us understand the Lord’s concerns found in today’s second Scripture verse, Matthew 23:

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: Matthew 23 Chapter Contents:

Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees (1-12); Crimes of the Pharisees (13-33); The guilt of Jerusalem. (34-39):

Commentary on Matthew 23:1-12

(Read Matthew 23:1-12)

The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylacteries. These were scrolls of paper or parchment, wherein were written four paragraphs of the law, to be worn on their foreheads and left arms, Exodus 13:2-10; 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21.

{The phylacteries are illustrated on the inside of today’s BLCF Bulletin.}

They made these phylacteries broad, that they might be thought more zealous for the law than others. God appointed the Jews to make fringes upon their garments, Numbers 15:38, to remind them of their being a peculiar people; but the Pharisees made them larger than common, as if they were thereby more religious than others. Pride was the darling, reigning sin of the Pharisees, the sin that most easily beset them, and which our Lord Jesus takes all occasions to speak against. For him that is taught in the word to give respect to him that teaches, is commendable; but for him that teaches, to demand it, to be puffed up with it, is sinful. How much is all this against the spirit of Christianity! The consistent disciple of Christ is pained by being put into chief places. But who that looks around on the visible church, would think this was the spirit required? It is plain that some measure of this antichristian spirit prevails in every religious society, and in every one of our hearts.

Commentary on Matthew 23:13-33(Read Matthew 23:13-33):

The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him…

The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or dressing up a dead body, only for show. The deceitfulness of sinners’ hearts appears in that they go down the streams of the sins of their own day, while they fancy that they should have opposed the sins of former days. We sometimes think, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, that we should not have despised and rejected him, as men then did; yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is still no better treated. And it is just with God to give those up to their hearts’ lusts, who obstinately persist in gratifying them. Christ gives men their true characters.

Commentary on Matthew 23:34-39 (Read Matthew 23:34-39):

Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo… There is nothing between sinners and eternal happiness, but their proud and unbelieving unwillingness.

http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=mhc&b=40&c=23

The Bible refers to Christ, Jesus as the “Word made flesh.” But what is meant by this description of our Lord?

Question: “What does it mean that the Word became flesh (John 1:14)?”

Answer: The term word is used in different ways in the Bible. In the New Testament, there are two Greek words translated “word”: rhema and logos. They have slightly different meanings. Rhema usually means “a spoken word.” For example, in Luke 1:38, when the angel told Mary that she would be the mother of God’s Son, Mary replied, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word [rhema].”

Logos, however, has a broader, more philosophical meaning. This is the term used in John 1. It usually implies a total message, and is used mostly in reference to God’s message to mankind. For example, Luke 4:32 says that, when Jesus taught the people, “they were amazed at his teaching, because his words [logos] had authority.” The people were amazed not merely by the particular words Jesus chose but by His total message.

“The Word” (Logos) in John 1 is referring to Jesus. Jesus is the total Message—everything that God wants to communicate to man. The first chapter of John gives us a glimpse inside the Father/Son relationship before Jesus came to earth in human form. He preexisted with the Father (verse 1), He was involved in the creation of everything (verse 3), and He is the “light of all mankind” (verse 4). The Word (Jesus) is the full embodiment of all that is God (Colossians 1:19; 2:9; John 14:9). But God the Father is Spirit. He is invisible to the human eye. The message of love and redemption that God spoke through the prophets had gone unheeded for centuries (Ezekiel 22:26; Matthew 23:37). People found it easy to disregard the message of an invisible God and continued in their sin and rebellion. So the Message became flesh, took on human form, and came to dwell among us (Matthew 1:23; Romans 8:3; Philippians 2: 5–11).

The Greeks used the word logos to refer to one’s “mind,” “reason,” or “wisdom.” John used this Greek concept to communicate the fact that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is the self-expression of God to the world. In the Old Testament, the word of God brought the universe into existence (Psalm 33:6) and saved the needy (Psalm 107:20). In chapter 1 of his Gospel, John is appealing to both Jew and Gentile to receive the eternal Christ.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 20:9–16 to explain why the Word had to become flesh. “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

In this parable, Jesus was reminding the Jewish leaders that they had rejected the prophets and were now rejecting the Son. The Logos, the Word of God, was now going to be offered to everyone, not just the Jews (John 10:16; Galatians 2:28; Colossians 3:11). Because the Word became flesh, we have a high priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses, one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).

http://www.gotquestions.org/Word-became-flesh.html

The Bible reminds us that God created us in His image. And while the sin of Adam and Eve separated us from the image of God spiritually, which removed from us the immortality of this Godly image, Jesus, by way of his death on the cross to remove the death penalty, which is the expected judgment for sin and restores in us the promise of immortality to those who are not fettered by condemnation of sin.

Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Having been freed of the judgment of sin, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and born again into a new self, redeemed and sanctified by Christ, Jesus, being a new creation through him. No longer are we judged by the Law, but redeemed by the one who has fulfilled that judgment, by his own sacrifice on the cross.

                                   Colossians 3:9-11 (ESV): Put On the New Self

⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self^[a] with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave,^[b] free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Footnotes: a. Colossians 3:9 Greek man; also as supplied in verse 10 b. Colossians 3:11 Greek bondservant

Let us pray…

Closing Hymn #177: Rejoice, the Lord is King

Benediction:  – (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17): Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Satisfy Your Righteous Hunger with the Bread of Life

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

‘Satisfy Your Righteous Hunger with the Bread of Life’

© May 27, 2018, by Steve Mickelson

BLCF Bulletin May 27, 2018

Based on a Message Shared at BLCF on September 13, 2015

BLCF Bulletin September 13, 2015

Announcements & Call to Worship; Prayer

Opening Hymn #14: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart

Offering & Prayer: Hymn #572 Praise God from Whom All Blessings

Responsive Reading #632: God’s Redeeming Love (John 3 & 1John 4)

Message by Steve Mickelson:                                                                                                  ‘Satisfy Your Righteous Hunger with The Bread of Life’

 

Let us pray…

Good morning and welcome to BLCF Church Praise and Worship Service.  Remember this Wednesday is our “All For One Fundraiser,” featuring the music of Cold Water Roots, takes place during the BLCF Café Community Dinner. All proceeds from the concert go to feeding the homeless and marginalized at the café. The dinner does not benefit from any government or corporate help or support.

Speaking of feeding the hungry, our lesson today will give us a chance to examine how to ‘Satisfy Your Righteous Hunger with the Bread of Life.’

When we look at today’s two key Scripture verses, which are Exodus 17:1-7 and John 6:22-59, we see two accounts of the People of Israel not only dissatisfied with their lot, actually grumbling about it. I suppose the message could have been given the title: “A Tale of Two Grumblers.” Still, grumbling and quarreling happen amongst members of His Church, though it is not reflective of the Spirit of God.

The first account, from Exodus 17, concerns Moses as prophet and leader of the People of Israel, as he  has to deal with not just their complaints of thirst, but also their demands to be provided with water, Exodus 17:1-7 (ESV):

Water from the Rock

17 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” ³ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” ⁴ So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the name of the place Massah^[a] and Meribah,^[b] because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Footnotes: a. Exodus 17:7 Massah means testing b. Exodus 17:7 Meribah means quarreling

The People of Israel not only grumbled against Moses (Exodus 17:3), they questioned Moses about the presence of God (Exodus 17:7).

It seems that the People of Israel had lost their faith, in spite of all the miracles of God that they had witnessed, including the 10 Plagues of Egypt, the Pillar of Fire, the parting of the Red Sea, and the manna God sent from heaven to feed them.

Rather than honouring God by prayer and trusting Him in faith, the people began to quarrel with Moses and questioned the presence of God in their midst.

We see that God provided for the needs of His people (Israel), by providing manna to eat and water from the rock at (Mount) Horeb. In honour of the bickering Moses received from his people, he named the place “Massah and Meribah”, the respective meaning of Massah being testing and Meribah being quarreling, as the people had quarreled with Moses and they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Our second Scripture verse, John 6:22-59, gives us of another account of grumbling and testing by God’s Chosen People, found in John 6:22-59 (ESV):

I Am the Bread of Life

²² On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰ So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³² Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹ So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread^[a] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus^[b] said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

Footnotes: a. John 6:58 Greek lacks the bread b. John 6:59 Greek He

 

 

Following the miracle that Jesus had performed, where he multiplied the bread and fish to feed the gathered multitude, a crowd had followed the Lord to Capernaum. Like their forefathers, these Jews sought not because of the miracles performed by God’s supernatural power, but because they hungered for more bread, as we see in John 6:26-27 (ESV):

²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

Jesus uses his understanding that the crowds have followed him to Capernaum because of hunger for food, rather than to satisfy their spiritual hunger, which is more important.

Jesus speaks of God’s desire to fill his children’s need for the Spiritual sustenance  through Jesus, who is described as being “the Bread of Life.”

And like their forefathers, the Jews grumbled. They grumbled about Jesus (John 6:41), refusing to believe or to have faith in the Lord being the true manifestation of the “Bread of Life.” Jesus continues to explain that the only path to God’s salvation and grace is by faith in Jesus as the Son of God, (John 6:55-57).

The anxiety that People of Israel exhibited in Exodus 17 and by their descendants, the Jews, in John 6, were hunger of a worldly and physical nature, for water and bread, respectively. Along with their hunger and thirst, came an anxiety that demonstrated a lack of faith in God. Even after being fed, they would eventually die when their physical lives reached their end, (John 6:58-59).

Those who believed and ate from the eternal bread and water that Christ offered would not die, but live forever, (John 6:53-57).

At times, we often see a similar reaction among guests and some volunteers at the BLCF Café Community Dinner. Over the last ten years of its existence, the BLCF Café has hosted a minimum of 100 guests a night, served by 15 to 20 volunteers. Multiply that number by 52 weeks per year and 10 years, we see that we have a conservative estimate of over 62,000 people attending the dinner.

But, it is not the free dinner or bags of bread being the point of the exercise, any more than the feeding fish and bread to the multitude gathered to hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Unfortunately, some of our guests and volunteers see the BLCF Café strictly as serving food to hungry people. The prime reason for the dinner is to serve the good news message found in the Gospel of Christ, Jesus.

The importance of nourishing the Spirit should be a greater priority than the feeding the body. Regardless of how much food we serve, unless the Lord returns, we should expect to eventually die. When our guests consume the Spiritual nourishment that comes from Christ’s sacrifice, we may expect the reward of our own forgiveness from the judgment of our sins; our own resurrection from the grave; and our ascension to join the Lord in heaven.

If we grumble and complain amongst ourselves, we are not demonstrating to the world a love and joy that comes from faith in the Lord to believers in the Resurrected Christ. Rather than complaining and grumbling, we should always rejoice in the Lord as seen in Philippians 4:4-8, which is printed on the back of today’s bulletin:

Rejoice in the Lord always

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ⁵ Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

This expression of prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, and joy leads to a peace which surpasses all understanding. Our focus should be on the positive aspects of a faith which is pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Seeking these is characteristic of the pursuit of righteousness, which we should be the focus of our attention and which leads us no room for us to grumble. By seeking them, we follow a righteous path and are promised to receive the Lord’s blessing:

Matthew 5:6 and 11 (ESV)

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Let our hunger and thirst be of a righteous in nature, for in this pursuit we cannot find fault in others, as such grumbling is not an expression of Christ-like love and an acknowledgement of the joy that comes from grace of God, by allowing Jesus to be our Lord, Saviour, an example in how we treat others.

Let us pray…

Closing Hymn #177: Rejoice, the Lord is King

Benediction – (Romans 15:5): May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

’United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task’

© November 22, 2015 by Steve Mickelson

BLCF Bulletin November 22, 2015

Responsive Reading #661: The One True God (Acts 17); Prayer

Opening Hymn #79: We come, O Christ, to Thee; Choruses

Tithing and Prayer; Hymn #572: Praise God; Prayers

Today’s Scriptures: Genesis 3:1-7, Genesis 11:1-9, Mark 10:35-45, and Matthew 26:14-16

Let us pray…

In our lesson today, ’United in the Spirit While Completing the Assigned Task’, we look at the challenges a Christian believer faces, while following the path set by the Lord. Those challenges include avoiding any stumbling blocks that Satan places in the path that the Lord wishes us to follow.

The Christian Church is composed of a body of believers. But is that same church of believers that Satan desires to confuse and corrupt away from the presence of God. The Reformist, Martin Luther describes the devil’s handiwork as follows: “For, where God built a church there the devil would also build a chapel.”

Satan loves nothing better than running interference with Christians’ understanding of the Lord, as we see in the various Scripture verses listed in today’s BLCF Church Bulletin.

The first Scripture Verse, Genesis 3:1-7 (ESV), describes how Satan tempted both Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to eat fruit forbidden by God. The temptation challenged the Lord’s authority by lies that indicated that eating the forbidden fruit would not bring a death judgment upon them, instead, the fruit would open their eyes to understanding good from evil and elevate them to possessing knowledge like God:

The Fall

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Footnotes: a. Genesis 3:1 In Hebrew you is plural in verses 1–5 b. Genesis 3:6 Or to give insight

We see that instead of being elevated, their sin caused them separation from God, along with guilt, shame, and eventually ejection from the garden.

The second of today’s featured Scripture verses, Genesis 11:1-9 (ESV), tells how following the Great Flood, humanity spoke the same single language and sought to build a great tower to heaven. The builders expected that the tower brings fame, and unity of purpose, and help them from being scattered over the face of the earth. This second sinful act of arrogance that was an overt challenge to the authority of their Maker resulted in God bringing confusion of different languages among the builders of the tower. And the disparate languages, by their very nature, caused the people to scatter over the face of the world.

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Footnotes: a. Genesis 11:9 Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused

While the Babel account does not indicate Satan’s direct involvement in influencing the people in their decision to build themselves a tower to heaven, we know that their sinful nature is a legacy of Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Garden. But the same sinful arrogance is exhibited by two of Christ’s disciples, described in Mark 10:35-45 (ESV):

The Request of James and John

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[a] 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave[b] of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Footnotes: a. Mark 10:43 Greek diakonos b. Mark 10:44 Greek bondservant (doulos)

In this account, James and John asked to share in the glory of the Lord, by being given seats on either side of Christ. Jesus replied that their request indicated ignorance of what Jesus was expected to face, which is his suffering and death on the cross in order to fulfill God’s plan for reconciliation and forgiveness. In order to be glorified, Jesus needed to suffer the pain of judgment for the sins of all of humanity. As the Day of Pentecost had not arrived, the disciples did not have the benefit of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit to help them discern the foolishness of their request.

Our Scriptures describe an assortment of sinful actions that people committed in order to obtain a share of God’s knowledge, His Presence, and His authority. These actions can be described as peoples’ desire to put lightning in a bottle:

Lightning in a bottle

Capturing something powerful and elusive and then being able to hold it and show it to the world.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lightning%20in%20a%20bottle

The only thing worse than defying the authority of the Lord is betrayal, Matthew 26:14-16 (ESV):
Judas to Betray Jesus

14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Judas’ betrayal happened after the spirit of the devil came upon the disciple. The expectation of the betrayal was not to bring the person to the same level as the Lord. By accepting blood money for the Lord, Judas decided to elevate himself above Christ. The price of this elevation was 30 pieces of silver.
Throughout history, a desire by believers and non-believers, alike, to understand the workings of the universe, as we see in this quote from Shakespeare’s Quick Quotes:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
– Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

your philosophy ] i.e., philosophy (or learning) in general.

The emphasis here should be on “dreamt of”, as Hamlet is pointing out how little even the most educated people can explain.

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/quickquotes/quickquotehamletdreamt.html

But the great minds can only postulate theories based on their limited understanding of the nature of the world. And what is a theory?

theory – noun, plural theories. (dictionary.com)

1. a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:
Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Synonyms: principle, law, doctrine.

2. a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural and subject to experimentation, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact.
Synonyms: idea, notion hypothesis, postulate.
Antonyms: practice, verification, corroboration, substantiation

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theory

Albert Einstein, who was considered one of the world’s greatest minds, authored the theory of relativity, based upon astute observations of natural behavior. Einstein, who described himself as an agnostic with respect to the existence of God, advanced a theory to replace Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Nature. Newton is a firm believer in God.

While Relativity could account for the behavior of matter in most circumstances, there were some aspects of particles that fell outside the framework of this theory, which resulted in another theory, the Quantum Theory to be advanced. But Einstein believed that a Unified Theory could be created to bridge the two theories, Relativity and Quantum, and act as a single Theory of Everything:

Classical unified field theories – from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since the 19th century, some physicists have attempted to develop a single theoretical framework that can account for the fundamental forces of nature – a unified field theory. Classical unified field theories are attempts to create a unified field theory based on classical physics. In particular, unification of gravitation and electromagnetism was actively pursued by several physicists and mathematicians in the years between World War I and World War II. This work spurred the purely mathematical development of differential geometry. Albert Einstein is the best known of the many physicists who attempted to develop a classical unified field theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_unified_field_theories

Unified field theory Main article: Classical unified field theories

Following his research on general relativity, Einstein entered into a series of attempts to generalize his geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism as another aspect of a single entity. In 1950, he described his “unified field theory” in a Scientific American article entitled “On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation”.[153] Although he continued to be lauded for his work, Einstein became increasingly isolated in his research, and his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. In his pursuit of a unification of the fundamental forces, Einstein ignored some mainstream developments in physics, most notably the strong and weak nuclear forces, which were not well understood until many years after his death. Mainstream physics, in turn, largely ignored Einstein’s approaches to unification. Einstein’s dream of unifying other laws of physics with gravity motivates modern quests for a theory of everything and in particular string theory, where geometrical fields emerge in a unified quantum-mechanical setting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

But does the Bible give any indication as to why scientists have failed to come up with a single theory that accounts for the behavior of all aspects of the behavior matter and energy, from the beginning of the universe until the present? The answer to this question could be found in verse 11 of Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 (ESV):

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.[a]

Footnotes: a. Ecclesiastes 3:15 Hebrew what has been pursued

There are aspects of our nature that fall beyond the scope of the physical universe, such as mercy, love, grace, and kindness. All are given in reward to faith, us to be seated by Christ. God has granted humble believers a way, through Jesus, to be raised up to be with the Lord, without the help of forbidden fruit, elaborate towers, or a request that put the Lord to the test. Let us take joy in all He has given us.

1 John 1:1-4 (ESV) The Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands,    concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete.

And the certainty of experiencing joy comes from Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV):

4 But[a] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Footnotes: a. Ephesians 2:4 Or And

Let us pray…

Closing Hymn #177: Rejoice, the Lord is King

Benediction – (Philippians 4:7): And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Satisfy Your Righteous Hunger with the Bread of Life

Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:

‘Satisfy Your Righteous Hunger with the Bread of Life’

© September 13, 2015, by Steve Mickelson

BLCF Bulletin September 13, 2015

 

Announcements & Call to Worship                                                                     

Responsive Reading #632: God’s Redeeming Love (John 3 & 1John 4); Prayer

Opening Hymn #14: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart

Offering & Prayer: Hymn #572 Praise God from Whom All Blessings

Scripture Readings: Exodus 17:1-7 and John 6:22-59

 

Exodus 17:1-7 (ESV) Water from the Rock

17 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” ³ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” ⁴ So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the name of the place Massah^[a] and Meribah,^[b] because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Footnotes: a. Exodus 17:7 Massah means testing b. Exodus 17:7 Meribah means quarreling

 

John 6:22-59 (ESV) I Am the Bread of Life

²² On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰ So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³² Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹ So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread^[a] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus^[b] said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

Footnotes: a. John 6:58 Greek lacks the bread b. John 6:59 Greek He

 

 

Let us pray…

Good morning and welcome to BLCF Church Praise and Worship Service. For our lesson for the Sunday morning, we will discuss how to: ‘Satisfy Your Righteous Hunger with the Bread of Life.’

When we look at today’s Scripture verses, Exodus 17:1-7 and John 6:22-59, we see two accounts of the people of Israel not only dissatisfied with their lot, actually grumbling about it. I suppose the message could have been titled: “A Tale of Two Grumblers.” Still, grumbling and quarreling happen amongst members of His Church, though it is something born of the Spirit of God.

The first account, from Exodus 17, Moses as prophet and leader of the People of Israel, known later as Jews, has to deal with their complaints about how they thirst, as well as their demands to be provided with water. The People of Israel not only grumbled against Moses (Exodus 17:3), they questioned Moses about the presence of God (Exodus 17:7).

It seems that the People of Israel had lost their faith, in spite of all the miracles of God that they had witnessed: the 10 Plagues of Egypt, the Pillar of Fire, the parting of the Red Sea, and the manna God sent from heaven to feed them.

Rather than honoring God by prayer and trusting Him in faith, the people began to quarrel with Moses and questioned the presence of God in their midst.

We see that God provided for the needs of His people (Israel), by providing manna to eat and water from the rock at (Mount) Horeb. In honour of the bickering Moses received from his people, he named the place “Massah and Meribah”, the respective meaning of Massah being testing and Meribah being quarreling, as the people had quarreled with Moses and they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Our second Scripture verse, John 6:22-59, gives us of another account of grumbling and testing by God’s Chosen People, at the synagogue which is found at the location of another spring, located in the village of Capernaum. Our Wikibits describes Capernaum as follows:

Josephus referred to Capernaum as a fertile spring. He stayed the night there after spraining his ankle. During the first Jewish revolt of 66–70, Capernaum was spared as it was never occupied by the Romans.                                                                                    

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capernaum

 

Following the miracle that Jesus had performed, where he multiplied the bread and fish to feed the gathered multitude, a crowd had followed the Lord to Capernaum. Like their forefathers, these Jews sought not because of the miracles performed by God’s supernatural power, but because they hungered for more bread, as we see in John 6:26-27,

²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

 

Jesus uses his understanding that the crowds have followed him to Capernaum because of hunger for food to talk about feeding a spiritual hunger which is more important.

Jesus speaks of God’s desire to fill his children’s need for Spiritual through Jesus, who is described as being “the Bread of Life.”

And like their forefathers, the Jews grumbled. They grumbled about Jesus (John 6:41), refusing to believe or to have faith in the Lord being the true manifestation of the “Bread of Life.” Jesus continues to explain that the only path to God’s salvation and grace is by faith in Jesus as the Son of God. (John 6:55-57).

The anxiety that People of Israel exhibited in Exodus 17 and by their descendants, the Jews, in John 6, were hunger of a worldly and physical nature, for water and bread, respectively. Along with their hunger and thirst came anxiety. Even after being fed, they would eventually die when their physical lives reached their end,(John 6:58-59).

Those who believed and ate from the eternal bread and water that Christ offered would not die, but live forever, (John 6:53-57).

As believers in the resurrected Christ, if we grumble and complain amongst ourselves, we are not demonstrating to the world a love and joy that comes from faith in the Lord. Rather than complaining and grumbling, we should always rejoice in the Lord as seen in Philippians 4:4-8, which is printed on the back of today’s bulletin:

Philippians 4:4-8 (ESV) Rejoice in the Lord always

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ⁵ Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

This expression of prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, and joy leads to a peace which surpasses all understanding. Our focus should be on the positive aspects of faith: that which is pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. These are things are righteous pursuits, which we should be the focus of our attention and about which there is no fault for us to grumble. By seeking them we follow a righteous path and are promised to receive the Lord’s blessing, ():

Matthew 5:6 and 11 (ESV)

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Let our hunger and thirst be of a righteous in nature, for in this pursuit we cannot find fault in others, as such grumbling is not an expression of Christ-like love and an acknowledgement of the joy that comes from grace of God, by allowing Jesus to be our Lord, Saviour, an example in how we treat others.

 

Let us pray…

 

 

Closing Hymn #177: Rejoice, the Lord is King                                                                              

 

Benediction – (Romans 15:5): May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Rejoice and Be Renewed In HIS Image

Message for Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church:          

‘Rejoice and Be Renewed In HIS Image’

© August 9, 2015 by Steve Mickelson

BLCF Bulletin August 9, 2015

 

Announcements and Call to Worship – Responsive Reading #667:                        

Humility and Exaltation (Philippians 2 and Matthew 23)                                                      

Opening Hymn #25: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee; Choruses                                  

Prayer and Tithing: Hymn #572: Praise God from Whom All Blessings;          

Prayer Requests                                                                                                                       

Today’s Scriptures: Psalm 119:57-64 and Matthew 23:1-36

  

Let us pray…

Good morning and welcome to Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship’s Sunday Praise and Worship Service.

Our lesson this morning is entitled: ‘Rejoice and Be Renewed In HIS Image’, where we will have an opportunity for some self-reflection upon our personal walk with the Lord. We will look at the pitfalls of hypocrisy in our faith practices when we reflect upon God’s Word, primarily using today’s Scripture verses, and Matthew 23:1-36. Let us first look at Psalm 119:57-64, which happens to taken from not only the longest of the Psalms, but also happens to be the longest chapter of Scripture found in the Bible. It is through the Bible, along with the Spirit’s guidance, that we may understand not only the path God has set for us, but examine our behavior as a true reflection of God’s grace. Let us begin with the Wikibits on Psalm 119:

Psalm 119

Psalm 119 (Greek numbering: Psalm 118) is the longest psalm as well as the longest chapter in the Bible. It is referred to in Hebrew by its opening words, “Ashrei temimei derech” (“happy are those whose way is perfect”). It is the prayer of one who delights in and lives by the Torah, the sacred law. With its 176 verses, Psalm 119 has more verses than 14 Old Testament Books and 17 New Testament Books.

This psalm is one of about a dozen alphabetic acrostic poems in the Bible. Its 176 verses are divided into twenty-two stanzas, one stanza for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet; within each stanza, each of the eight verses begins (in Hebrew) with that letter.^[1] The name of God (Yahweh/Jehovah) appears twenty-four times.

A Haredi Jew reading Psalm 119 at the Western Wall. – Wikipedia.org

Employed in almost (but not quite) every verse of the psalm is a synonym for the Torah, such as dabar (“word, promise”), mishpatim (“rulings”), etc.^[1]

The acrostic form and the use of the Torah words constitute the framework for an elaborate prayer. The grounds for the prayer are established in the first two stanzas (alef and beth): the Torah is held up as a source of blessing and right conduct, and the psalmist pledges to dedicate himself to the law. The prayer proper begins in the third stanza (gimel, v. 17). Like many other psalms, this prayer includes dramatic lament (e.g. verses 81–88), joyous praise (e.g. verses 45–48) and prayers for life, deliverance and vindication (e.g. verses 132–134).

Eastern Orthodox

The psalm (118 in the Septuagint) figures prominently in the worship of the Orthodox Church. There is a tradition that King David used this psalm to teach his young son Solomon the alphabet—but not just the alphabet for writing letters: the alphabet of the spiritual life.

The psalm comprises an entire Kathisma (division of the Psalter) in Orthodox liturgical practice. In Orthodox monasteries it is read daily at the Midnight Office: “At midnight I arose to give thanks unto Thee for the judgments of Thy righteousness” (v. 62). It is read at Matins on Saturdays and is also chanted on many Sundays throughout the year. A major portion of Matins on Holy Saturday comprises chanting the entire psalm as a threnody, divided into three parts (stases) with Praises (Greek: Enkomia) interspersed between each verse. This chanting is done as all stand holding candles around a catafalque over which has been placed the Epitaphion (a shroud embroidered with the figure of Christ laid out for burial).

The psalm is also chanted with special solemnity at Orthodox funeral services and on the various All-Souls Days occurring throughout the year, with “Alleluia” chanted between each verse. Its use here is a reflection of the chanting done on Holy Saturday. “Alleluia” is chanted between the verses to signify the victory over death accomplished by Christ’s death and Resurrection, and the eternal reward promised to the faithful.

The Psalm contains several dozen prayers and several themes run through it. God’s goodness in the midst of affliction and delight in God’s law. God is seen sovereignly “inclining ones heart” and the Psalmist “inclines his heart” to the statutes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_119

Psalm 119, verses 57 to 64 indicate the importance of attitude over actions as an expression of our faith which is pleasing to the Lord:

Psalm 119:57-64 (ESV)

Heth

⁵⁷ The Lord is my portion;     

I promise to keep your words.

⁵⁸ I entreat your favor with all my heart;     

be gracious to me according to your promise.

⁵⁹ When I think on my ways,     

I turn my feet to your testimonies;

⁶⁰ I hasten and do not delay     

to keep your commandments.

⁶¹ Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,     

I do not forget your law.

⁶² At midnight I rise to praise you,     

because of your righteous rules.

⁶³ I am a companion of all who fear you,     

of those who keep your precepts.

⁶⁴ The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;     

teach me your statutes!

Our second Scripture verse contrasts that from Psalm 119, where Jesus gives a litany of failings in the faith practices of both the Scribes and the Pharisees. Henry’s Concise Commentary helps us understand the Lord’s concerns found in today’s second Scripture verse, Matthew 23:

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: Matthew 23

Chapter Contents

Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees. (1-12) Crimes of the Pharisees. (13-33) The guilt of Jerusalem. (34-39)

Commentary on Matthew 23:1-12

(Read Matthew 23:1-12)

The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylacteries. These were scrolls of paper or parchment, wherein were written four paragraphs of the law, to be worn on their foreheads and left arms, Exodus 13:2-10; 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21. They made these phylacteries broad, that they might be thought more zealous for the law than others. God appointed the Jews to make fringes upon their garments, Numbers 15:38, to remind them of their being a peculiar people; but the Pharisees made them larger than common, as if they were thereby more religious than others. Pride was the darling, reigning sin of the Pharisees, the sin that most easily beset them, and which our Lord Jesus takes all occasions to speak against. For him that is taught in the word to give respect to him that teaches, is commendable; but for him that teaches, to demand it, to be puffed up with it, is sinful. How much is all this against the spirit of Christianity! The consistent disciple of Christ is pained by being put into chief places. But who that looks around on the visible church, would think this was the spirit required? It is plain that some measure of this antichristian spirit prevails in every religious society, and in every one of our hearts.

Commentary on Matthew 23:13-33 (Read Matthew 23:13-33)

The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and the good of souls, but that they might have the credit and advantage of making converts. Gain being their godliness, by a thousand devices they made religion give way to their worldly interests. They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose in weightier matters. It is not the scrupling a little sin that Christ here reproves; if it be a sin, though but a gnat, it must be strained out; but the doing that, and then swallowing a camel, or, committing a greater sin. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. We are really, what we are inwardly. Outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if the heart and spirit be made new, there will be newness of life; here we must begin with ourselves. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or dressing up a dead body, only for show. The deceitfulness of sinners’ hearts appears in that they go down the streams of the sins of their own day, while they fancy that they should have opposed the sins of former days. We sometimes think, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, that we should not have despised and rejected him, as men then did; yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is still no better treated. And it is just with God to give those up to their hearts’ lusts, who obstinately persist in gratifying them. Christ gives men their true characters.

Commentary on Matthew 23:34-39 (Read Matthew 23:34-39)

Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour’s tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them safe, and nourishes them to eternal life. The present dispersion and unbelief of the Jews, and their future conversion to Christ, were here foretold. Jerusalem and her children had a large share of guilt, and their punishment has been signal. But ere long, deserved vengeance will fall on every church which is Christian in name only. In the mean time the Saviour stands ready to receive all who come to him. There is nothing between sinners and eternal happiness, but their proud and unbelieving unwillingness.

http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=mhc&b=40&c=23

 Matthew 23:1-36 (ESV) Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, ³ so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,^[a] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ⁶ and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi^[b] by others. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.^{[c] 9} And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰ Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. ¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.^{[d] 15} Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell^[e] as yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, ³⁵ so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah,^[f] whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Illustrated look at Phylacteries, two small black boxes with black straps worn by observant Jewish men. MCT 2010

Footnotes: a. Matthew 23:4 Some manuscripts omit hard to bear b. Matthew 23:7 Rabbi means my teacher, or my master; also verse 8 c. Matthew 23:8 Or brothers and sisters d. Matthew 23:13 Some manuscripts add here (or after verse 12) verse 14: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation e. Matthew 23:15 Greek Gehenna; also verse 33 f. Matthew 23:35 Some manuscripts omit the son of Barachiah

 

Word became flesh – John 1:14

Question: “What does it mean that the Word became flesh (John 1:14)?”

Answer: The term word is used in different ways in the Bible. In the New Testament, there are two Greek words translated “word”: rhema and logos. They have slightly different meanings. Rhema usually means “a spoken word.” For example, in Luke 1:38, when the angel told Mary that she would be the mother of God’s Son, Mary replied, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word [rhema].” Logos, however, has a broader, more philosophical meaning. This is the term used in John 1. It usually implies a total message, and is used mostly in reference to God’s message to mankind. For example, Luke 4:32 says that, when Jesus taught the people, “they were amazed at his teaching, because his words [logos] had authority.” The people were amazed not merely by the particular words Jesus chose but by His total message. “The Word” (Logos) in John 1 is referring to Jesus. Jesus is the total Message—everything that God wants to communicate to man.

The first chapter of John gives us a glimpse inside the Father/Son relationship before Jesus came to earth in human form. He preexisted with the Father (verse 1), He was involved in the creation of everything (verse 3), and He is the “light of all mankind” (verse 4). The Word (Jesus) is the full embodiment of all that is God (Colossians 1:19; 2:9; John 14:9). But God the Father is Spirit. He is invisible to the human eye.

The message of love and redemption that God spoke through the prophets had gone unheeded for centuries (Ezekiel 22:26; Matthew 23:37). People found it easy to disregard the message of an invisible God and continued in their sin and rebellion. So the Message became flesh, took on human form, and came to dwell among us (Matthew 1:23; Romans 8:3; Philippians 2: 5–11). The Greeks used the word logos to refer to one’s “mind,” “reason,” or “wisdom.” John used this Greek concept to communicate the fact that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, is the self-expression of God to the world. In the Old Testament, the word of God brought the universe into existence (Psalm 33:6) and saved the needy (Psalm 107:20). In chapter 1 of his Gospel, John is appealing to both Jew and Gentile to receive the eternal Christ.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 20:9–16 to explain why the Word had to become flesh. “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’

But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

In this parable, Jesus was reminding the Jewish leaders that they had rejected the prophets and were now rejecting the Son. The Logos, the Word of God, was now going to be offered to everyone, not just the Jews (John 10:16; Galatians 2:28; Colossians 3:11). Because the Word became flesh, we have a high priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses, one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).

http://www.gotquestions.org/Word-became-flesh.html

Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,     

in the image of God he created him;    

 male and female he created them.

Colossians 3:9-11 (ESV) Put On the New Self

⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self^[a] with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave,^[b] free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Footnotes: a. Colossians 3:9 Greek man; also as supplied in verse 10 b. Colossians 3:11 Greek bondservant

Let us pray…

Closing Hymn #177: Rejoice, the Lord is King

Benediction:  – (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17):                                                                        

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.