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Will You Take This Man
Speaker: M.Noorhoff
In our last time together we spoke of the worlds obsession with time and sometimes our own, How much the desire it and how they use it. We talked about how we prioritize our lives and how we should prioritize our lives. We talked about what we schedule first. We discussed our relationships with others and our relationship with God We asked the question that was asked of Jesus in the Parable of the Good Samaritan
“Who is my neighbour”? But most of all we tried to reposition ourselves, our lives so that we may achieve the greatest of all aims “Love” Jesus reminded us that all the laws are boiled down simply to this point “Love” Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and body and love your neighbour as yourself.
It was a message we not only needed to hear but need to institute into our live. We must let them know we are Christians by our love. The bible states it quite clearly that love must be our greatest aim and let everything fall into place after that.
Now of course when I talk love I talk of true love. The love that does what needs to be done not an emotional love but a love based in God’s love and in the bible. So the first step is to learn how God’s loves us and we do this by writing his word in or hearts.
We remember that Jesus said
For
I was hungry
and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to
drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you
looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
We treat others as if we were looking at Jesus himself and our love for the least of them is a reflection of our love for Jesus himself
This week I am going to continue talking about love for I have neglected it for far too long.
Now it was shortly after
last sermon that I
was asked a question a very simple I with a simple but complicated
answer. So
before answering I gave it some thought. Today I will tell you how I
answered
and expand on it. At the same time I will pose that very same question
to you
all as well today “ What is Christianity”
In the times of the new testament church the name Christian was not used but rather what we call Christians now were called simple followers of the way, followers of Jesus or disciples of Jesus. Christianity was just known as the way.
I had to think what was behind the question, And I discovered that it was a belief that Christianity was a moral teaching essentially a bunch of do’s and don’ts a set of rules for moral or good behavior. And this is how much of the world sees Christianity and even some sitting in the churches would agree either by word or action. Is that the image we are putting across? How did this happen? The news and mass media portray us as opposed to this and that. As hard and unforgiving at times, I have often heard people complain that “Christianity” and “Christians” try to force their own morality or opinion of morals on others. And sadly enough in many ways I have to totally agree with them. This truly saddens me. Now let me add a point or two here: I believe in Jesus Christ I believe in the sovereignty of God I believe every word in the bible. I take the bible literally and I love all His laws old testament and new. I believe the world would be a better place if we all lived as the bible instructs us to. I believe that the Ten Commandments are just and needed and that we would have a world of peace if all submitted to them.
But to submit to the commandments we must start from the first one first we cannot pick and choose at random the first is first because of its important and that it is absolutely essential in order to carry out the rest. The first Commandment in the words of Jesus to love the lord God with all you heart mind soul and body. Or as it is in the Old Testament. You shall have no other gods before Me.
If we do not uphold this one then why would we uphold the rest? This was well played out in a wonderful movie called the time changer When one man in the 1800’s theorized that he believed that the moral ideas of Christianity should be taught with or without teaching the gospel. He then was allowed to travel through time to the present day when his proposal essentially has come true and finds out how mistaken he was. It is a wonderful movie and anyone who would like to borrow it please ask me.
So we cannot as
Christians expect others to
follow the idea of morality we have because they do not know God and
therefore
feel no need to follow what he says. Lets look back at those
commandments again
to the precursor on them “"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out
of
I have told this story several times but it is such a good illustration for more ways that we will see in a bit.
Once upon a time there was a young woman whose parents had arranged for here to marry a man. She felt obligated to obey her parents and so married the man. At first all was okay but the husband became more and more demanding and began to leave a list of chores for her to do everyday. She scrubbed and cleaned and polished and washed because she felt obligated but never managed to finish before her husband got home and he would get angry and hit her. Everyday the chores got harder to do and everyday the husband got angry. Well the man was quite a bit older then she was and after several years she died. The young women who was once very beautiful now looked terrible and was always depressed. One day a young man approach her despite her appearance for he remember what she used to look like and had always loved her. He courted her but she was afraid of commitment after a couple years he finally won her over and she fell madly in love with him for his love and patience with her. They married and every day he gave her a kiss goodbye and went to work and she to her chores. She now happily did all the chores she used to for her first husband and finish with time to spare for now she did all the chores through love and not obligation.
You see being Christian is essentially just saying “I do my love I do.”
The bible clearly explains that we His people/ the church are the bride for whom the bridegroom has been waiting and is coming to fetch so that he may take her back to the rooms he has prepared in his fathers house.
Essentially the Jewish Wedding consists of two parts: The engagement and the actual wedding but after the engagement the wedding has essentially been set and to end an engagement is exactly like divorce. Well it all starts essentially the same boy sees girl sees boy they exchange flirtive looks then the man approaches the women and they talk about many things and get to know each other。 Then he will ask her to come and meet his father. He has chosen her and if she accepts she has chosen him. There is no dating involved. The two will then sit down with the man’s father and talk. If the man likes the women he tells his father that he wants to marry her. They discuss a dowry: this is the bride price that will be paid. He formally writes all this down in what is called a Ketubah (a marriage contract) stating what he will pay so that she will be his wife and what he vows to do for her and what he expects from her. She looks it over and if she agrees the contract because valid immediately. The father will then take a silver chalice of wine and both will drink from the chalice. With this they are engaged. The man will then after paying the price go away to his father’s house and prepare everything so that his bride can move in once they officially marry though they are now essentially married by contract now. This is why Joseph talked of divorcing Mary even though they were not married yet. The woman goes home and prepares herself for her wedding, purifying herself and waiting to leave the moment he bridegroom come to pick here up. On the wedding day or the houpa the two will stand under a canopy and the bride will circle around the groom 3 times and with that they are married and go to his father’s house
Do you now see how the gospels speak of our engagement to Christ
He choose us
You did not choose me,
but I chose you and
appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the
Father will
give you whatever you ask in my name.
And If we choose him He offers the bride price
We accept his offer
We drink the wine we do this each month in the Lord ’s Supper
Often becoming a Christian requires some lose we may lose friends and we may even lose family because they cannot accept our decision but the Lord promises that he will repay all this pain with joy.
2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
