Baptism of the Lord, Thursday, January 12, 2006

Old Testament Lesson

Genesis 4:17-26

We see now that after he is punished by God for killing his brother Able, Cain has a family and generations pass until there is one named Lamech, who is apparently pretty wretched. He says that he will avenge those that harm him worse that Cain avenged. Cain is the first murdered in the world and now his later offspring is basically saying, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” The Word tells us that the sins of the parents are passed down to the children, and that punishment sometimes comes in future generations. Cain’s offspring are reaping what he has sown. He murdered and departed from the Lord, and from that moment, his family was apart from the Lord. Now, this is not to say that if the parents are Christian, the child will be, and likewise this is not saying that if the parents are lost the child will be. But, in both cases what the parents do affects what he children do. Cain never lived to see Lamech. But, the effects of his sin did. We will not live long enough to see generations into the future, but are we living in such a manner that the affects of our sin may be passed down to them. We should live knowing that our lives do not just affect us, but our family and those yet to come.

New Testament Lesson

Hebrews 3:1-11

Today, Hebrews tells us that Jesus was greater than Moses. We think, well of course. But to the original readers of this letter that was a really big deal. It was Moses that led the people of our Egypt. It was Moses that led them in wilderness. It was Moses that preformed miracles. It was Moses that received the Law. So, Moses was the standard of righteousness and holiness. And Jesus is great than Moses. What does mean to us? Jesus is bigger than any person. Many of us place our ultimate faith in another person. For instance, why do you come to church? Is it for the preacher? Or is it for Jesus? Jesus is greater than the preacher, whoever they are (and as my granny would say, I are one). I hope pray that on Sunday, Coy Methodist will be filled not with folks coming to listen to me, but instead to worship Jesus. I hope and pray I share with them something to strength their faith and call the lost to salvation, but we come to church for Jesus, not for anyone else. Jesus was greater than Moses, great than you, greater than me, greater than any human. It is He who we worship, He who we adore.

Gospel Lesson

John 1:43-51

Phillip today is the example for us. He had seen Jesus, and he knew that He was the one that would save the people. So, he goes to his friend Nathaniel and tells him. He doesn’t beat him up, he doesn’t try to do anything more than just tell him what he has seen, and offer to take him to Jesus. Folks that is witnessing. It is not complicated. It is merely about meeting Jesus yourself and then telling others what he has done. We can’t make folks come. All we can do is offer to take them to Jesus. But first, we have to have met Jesus ourselves. We can’t give witness to something that we don’t know. If we are not walking with Lord, how can we lead others to Him? And once we are walking with Him, we just merely ask folks to come walk beside us and meet the Lord. A Christian group named Casting Crowns has a song on their new CD which calls people to “Love them like Jesus.” That’s how we lead folks to Him. And in loving them like that, we can better lead a dying world to that saving grace.