Here's a song I wrote

SUSTAINING GRACE

Lawrence Webb  ©June 2009

TUNE: HE LEADETH ME

When shadows fall across the sky, 

In sorrow’s wake, we groan and cry,

How can we cope in life’s mad race?

The answer: God’s sustaining grace.

Refrain:

God’s grace sustains us ev’ry day, 

Sustains us all along the way;

Sufficient for whate’er we face,

Give thanks for God’s sustaining grace.

When illness comes with no known cure,

We wonder how we can endure.

It seems too much for us to face.

Until we claim sustaining grace.

Refrain

Sometimes we are so sad and lone.

Life’s harder than we’ve ever known.

But then we feel Christ’s warm embrace.

He holds us with sustaining grace.

Refrain

With all the stress and strain of life,

We struggle on amid the strife.

But when we see Christ’s loving face,

We claim anew sustaining grace.

Refrain

If you plan music for your church or can influence those who do,  feel free to use this song.  If you want to use it, I have these requests:

1) Please give me credit as composer of the lyrics.

2) If there is a printed worship order, please send me a copy:

I will send you my postal address if you e-mail me at webbtex@charter.net.

I know that my redeemer lives

The message was in large letters for all passersby to read: “Jason Loves Megan Forever.”

I saw the words as I walked along the ocean front at Myrtle Beach.  They were written in the sand.  I passed that way later in the day after the tide had rolled in and back out.  And that testimony of eternal love had washed away, perhaps like Jason’s love for Megan.

John Keats thought his poems would vanish like Jason’s words of love.  The poet died at age twenty-five, apparently from tuberculosis. He realized he was dying, and he feared his poems would die with him.  Some three years before he died, Keats wrote a poem about his fear that begins:

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain .  .  . (Keats)

Keats asked that his gravestone not include his name.  He wanted only these words as his epitaph: 

Here lies one whose name was writ in water (Starr).

A friend named Charles Brown honored the poet’s request that his name not be on the stone, but 
he put additional words in memory of Keats:

This Grave contains all that was Mortal of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET Who on his Death Bed,

in the Malicious Power of his Enemies, Desired these Words to be engraved on his Tomb Stone 

'Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water.’

Unlike “Jason Loves Megan Forever,” the name of John Keats was not “writ in Water.” Despite his death in 1821 at age twenty-five, his name has lived nearly two centuries and probably will live for centuries to come.

TRANSITION
We like to think people will remember us after we’ve died.  We do what we can to keep the names of our friends and loved ones from being “writ in Water.”  Many churches around the world set aside today to honor the memory of the saints.  When I say saints, I refer to all Christians.  St. Paul frequently calls church members saints.
Writing to the Roman church, he says,  To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints (1:7). He uses that expression [saint = Christian]  in both letters to the Corinthians (1:1 and 1:2).  The same term is in the first verse of Ephesians and Philippians and the second verse of Colossians. Philemon hosts a church in his house, and Paul commends Philemon for your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints.

So All Saints Day isn’t just about people with shrines built to them.  It’s for all who have died in the Lord, as a way to see that their names will not be “writ in Water.”  Today, our First Baptist Church in Anderson is remembering church members who died this past year. And on our Baraca broadcast,  we want to remember six longtime members.  I will say a word about each of them later.

BIBLE PASSAGE
In our Bible passage for today, Job is concerned that his words live on after him.  
"Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were graven in the rock for ever! (19:23-24)
Unlike John Keats, Job is not interested in writing beautiful poetry.  He wants to file a complaint against his wife, against his brothers, against his so-called friends, and -- yes -- against God.

You remember, Job’s adult sons and daughters are all killed when a tornado hits the home of the eldest son where they had gathered.  Job had some eleven thousand head of camels and asses and sheep (1:3).  But all these are taken from him by a band of rustlers and by a fire (1:13-19).  On top of all that, Job loses his health (2:7-8).
He gets little consolation as he tries to come to grips with these losses.  His wife says he ought to curse God and die (2:9).  Then he is visited by three men who think of themselves as his friends, but they turn out to be harsh judges.  They are sure all this is because Job is a great sinner, even though we are told up front, he is blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil (1:1).  Also, his brothers find him loathsome, his kinfolks have failed him, his intimate friends abhor him, his household servants have forgotten him, those he loved have turned against him (19:14-20).
The three critical friends take turns raking Job over the coals, insisting he is mistaken or just plain lying as he tries to justify himself in God’s sight.

Job's wish that his accusations were inscribed in a book, suggests engraving on thin copper plates which were an early form of books.  And Job wishes he could carve his words permanently in lead or stone  -- Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock for ever! (Watts et al  82).
Job wants to write a testimony, a word of assurance, of re-assurance, really.  He is discouraged with everyone, but he believes he will see better days ahead.
We want to carve the names of deceased members of the Baraca Class on stone to preserve their memory and their honor,  to prevent their names from being writ in water.  
Job tells us the message he wants to inscribe on copper plates and carve into stone:
[25] For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; [26] and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then [apart] from my flesh I shall see God, [27] whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

We need to consider that word Redeemer from two different standpoints: human and divine.  First, the human: Ancient Jewish law called for a kinsman redeemer to protect the interests of the individual and the group.  He was to redeem “family goods or property which have been lost,” taken as collateral for debt (Watts et al  83).  The redeemer at times was an avenger who would shed blood for his family members who had been killed (Numbers 35:2; Deuteronomy 19:6,12; Joshua 20:3).  
If a person were bought into slavery over a debt, the kinsman redeemer was charged with buying the person back (Leviticus 25:48-49). 
The most vivid biblical example of the kinsman redeemer is in the story of Ruth.   Elimelech takes his wife Naomi and their two sons to live in the unneighborly land of Moab.  The sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth.  Elimelech dies in Moab, along with the two sons.  This leaves three grieving widows.  Naomi decides to go back to Bethlehem, and she urges the younger widows to stay with their own people.  Orpah turns back, but Ruth vows eternal loyalty to Naomi: 
"Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you."
We remember Ruth’s vow.  But we may not recall that Naomi’s husband’s land passed into possession of  close kinsman.  Wise widow Naomi recruits another relative, Boaz, as kinsman redeemer in hopes of getting back her husband’s property.   Boaz redeems the property and, in the process, marries Ruth.  Then Boaz and Ruth have a son who one day will be the grandfather of King David.
Job reflects on this point of Jewish law as he grieves over loss of his children, his livestock, and his health.  He longs for a kinsman redeemer to redress these wrongs.  If he can find God and lay out his case, he believes the Lord will hear him and stand in as his kinsman Redeemer.

JOB’S ACCUSERS 
All through his story, Job wants the opportunity -- shall we say -- to redeem himself in God’s sight.  He knows his cruel friends are wrong when they insist God is meting out punishment justly because of Job’s sin.  Eliphaz, the first of his friends, speaks these words of judgment (Job 4:7-9):
"Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?  Or where were the upright cut off?
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.”
At times, Job wishes God would just take him away (6:8-10):
"O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!  This would be my consolation; I would even exult in pain unsparing; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. .  .  .
Job lies down at night, hoping for rest, but peace and rest do not come (7:13-16):
When I say, `My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'
then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.
I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
A second friend, Bildad, picks up the accusation where the first left off, insisting the pure of heart do not suffer (8:11):
"Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?”
This is about the same as saying, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Zophar, the third friend, adds to the accusations, saying Job will never learn (11:12):
But a stupid man will get understanding, when a wild ass's colt is born a man.
He continues (11:14-17, 19):
If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in your tents.
Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure, and will not fear. 
You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. .  .  .
You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor.
Through it all, as his three enemy-friends harass him, Job longs for his kinsman redeemer, believing one day he will see God, either in this life or in a life to come: 
[25] For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; [26] and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then [apart] from my flesh I shall see God, [27] whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

BARACA MEMORIALS:
In the wake of the death of someone dear, we have a deep sense of loss. When death comes even after a long life, we feel it keenly.   We want to do whatever we can to preserve the memory, the personal and material assets.  We may play the role of kinsman redeemer.
We lost six from Baraca since last All Saints Day, and I want to say a word about each of them.  Not that they need a witness from me to justify them before God or before other people, but simply that their names are not “writ in water.”
Ray Fowler died in October of last year.  Ray was a tenor singer in our Baraca Chorus.  He also sang in the adult choir for the worship service.  He had a gentle bearing, and he often expressed appreciation to me for the lesson.  Ray and his wife Joanne came to Anderson from Ware Shoals.  They joined our Anderson First Baptist in 1970.  Ray was the youngest of those we honor today.  He was 86.
Fred Waters was another faithful member of the Baraca Class and the Baraca Chorus.  Fred was well-known for his trained horse who did various tricks.  Fred and Ruth joined First Baptist in 1970, the same year as Ray and Joanne Fowler.  Fred attended Baraca faithfully. Ruth started driving him to church and came with him to class after he had an accident that injured his hand and made it difficult for him to drive. Fred and Ruth’s daughter Joyce Murphy and her husband Jerry lived next door. The Murphy son, Mitch, was very close to Grandfather Fred.  Ruth Waters died in October 2011, a little over a year before Fred.  When Fred died in February of this year, he was 95.
Helen Davis and her husband Arthur joined our First Baptist Church exactly sixty-one years ago yesterday, on November second in 1952.  She and Arthur were faithful Baraca Class members as long as their health permitted.  Arthur preceded Helen in death.  She died in March of this year at age 93.
Josephine Ray, known as Jo to her friends, died in September about six weeks ago.  Jo was a familiar face for many Bi-Lo customers.  She demonstrated food, cooking and giving samples to customers.  I remember Jo from the time I became one of the Baraca teachers and later was asked to teach each Sunday.  Jo and her daughter Joan Strickland were class regulars, often accompanied by a grandson. Jo Ray joined First Baptist nearly fifty-seven years ago in December 1956. She died at 93.
Francis Altman was a long-time Andersonian from the family who ran the Altman printing company.  I’m not sure Francis was on the roll of our Baraca Class, but he attended from time to time. As long as he was able, he was a man-about-the-church, a faithful greeter and general fixer-upper.  Francis was a Deacon Emeritus, and he was a Meals on Wheels volunteer for twenty-five years.  He is survived by three daughters: Amy Roberts who lives in Williamston, Dorothy Kennedy in Waynesboro,  Georgia; and June James, who lived with their father.  Francis joined First Baptist in 1976.  He was the same age as Jo Ray and Helen Davis. He died at 93.
Ed McCown died this past week.  His funeral was Wednesday.  Ed was baptized in First Baptist, Anderson, when he was ten years old, in June 1927, more than 86 years ago.  Like the others we memorialize today, Ed was a longtime faithful member of the Baraca Class.  He served on the police force for the City of Anderson and was police chief when he retired.  His wife Jean preceded him in death.  Their daughter Suzanne Moore is a member of First Baptist.  She gave loving care for her mother and her father, as well as for her own husband, Jerry Moore, who died earlier this year.  Pansy and I live on the same street as Ed and Jean.  We remember Ed as a gardener. Each December, as long as he was able, he brought Pansy a mess of collards for New Year’s Day.  Ed McCown was the eldest Baraca member who died in the past year.  He was 96.
Each man and woman on our list left a rich heritage of faith and love, a good reputation among those who knew them.  So there is little need to redeem their names in the community.

CHRIST OUR KINSMAN REDEEMER
We don’t know the full degree of Job’s vision of the kinsman Redeemer who one day will speak for him and establish his innocence, but he ties that redemption in closely with seeing God for himself.  So the kinsman Redeemer and God seem closely connected in Job’s mind.
The New Testament speaks of redemption,coming to full fruition in Jesus Christ.  It uses two different metaphors to describe how we are redeemed.  One picture is of the Jewish sacrificial system. The other is the slave market.
In the sacrificial system, animals were slaughtered and offered on the altar in the Temple for the remission of sin.  Ephesians (1:7) and a parallel passage in Colossians (1:14), tell us, we have redemption through his blood.  This reflects the work of the priests at the altar.  The New Testament book of Hebrews goes into great detail with Christ as the great high priest.  Through His death, He removed the necessity of continual animal sacrifice.  Hebrews (9:11-12, 15) describes it this way: 
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) [12] he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
The other picture of redemption is of being purchased from the slave market.  Titus 2:14  
speaks of Jesus who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. 
So, both pictures -- the priestly sacrifice and the purchase and freeing of a slave -- present Christ as our kinsman Redeemer.
All those who have died in Christ -- and all of us who are alive in Christ -- give thanks for our kinsman Redeemer.
The nineteenth century songwriter Philip Bliss wrote “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” that picks up on the kinsman Redeemer from both the standpoint of Job’s hope and of fulfillment in Jesus:

I will sing of my Redeemer,  And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered, From the curse to set me free. 

The second stanza speaks of the kinsman Redeemer who intervened and saved the singer’s estate.  It also mentions the Redeemer’s paying the ransom to free a slave:

I will tell the wondrous story, How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,  He the ransom freely gave. 

Then the chorus tells of buying back the sinner through the blood of Christ:

Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer, With His blood He purchased me,
On the cross He sealed my pardon, Paid the debt, and made me free.
(Christiansen). 

The composer Philip Bliss and his wife died in a train wreck when they were only in their thirties.  One of their trunks survived the wreck.  It contained many of his hymn-poems that had not been set to music.  These poems included “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” (Reese).  So we might say this song about the kinsman Redeemer helped insure his name was not “writ in water.”

CONCLUSION
We’ve thought about the youthful expression of love which was literally written in sand and washed away by the next tide.
We’ve thought about poet John Keats who feared his name might be “writ in water” and be swept down the stream of life.
We’ve thought about Job’s desire for his thoughts to be preserved in stone as he longed for his kinsman Redeemer.
We’ve thought about our beloved Baraca class members who died in the Lord during the past twelve months.
Finally, we think how all of us who look to Jesus Christ as our kinsman Redeemer will have our names written in the Lamb’s book of life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; 21:27).

BENEDICTION
Now, as we conclude this week’s Baraca Radio Sunday School Class from Anderson’s First Baptist Church, I pray that your name is not written in sand or in water but in the Lamb’s book of life. To that end, I challenge you to claim these promises:
God’s love that will never let you go.
God’s grace that is greater than all your sin.
God’s peace that passes all understanding.
These are yours through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Job 19

Baraca Radio Class and Garden House

First Baptist Church, Anderson, South Carolina

November 3, 2013

The audio version of this message is available through the church website: www.andersonfbc.org.

I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES---SOURCES

Connie Ruth Christiansen, “Composer Philip Paul Bliss Writes I Will Sing of My Redeemer.”  Share Faith.  http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/i-will-sing-of-my-redeemer-the-song-and-the-story.html

John Keats, “When I have Fears that I may cease to be,” Bartleby.com.   http://www.bartleby.com/101/635.html.  Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919.  The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250-1900.

Ed Reese, “The life and ministry of Philip Bliss,” Christian Biography Sources, Wholesome Words.
http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biobliss.html.

Kelly Starr, Keats’ Kingdom, ed., Juliet Pye.  http://www.keatsian.co.uk/john-keats-biography.php.

John D. W. Watts in collaboration with John Joseph Owens and Marvin E. Tate, Jr., “Job,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 4.  Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1971.

Let me tell you about my travels:

I have been in many places, but I’ve never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can’t go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I’m not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

I may have been in Continent, and I don’t remember what country I was in. It’s an age thing.

I have often been in Accurate.  I wind up there by failing to pay attention where I’m going.

Also, I’m often in Sensitive.  My wife says that’s a regular port of call in my travels.

I am frequently in Tolerant.  People there don’t look like me; they have strange lifestyles and religions and political preferences.

Sometimes I’m in Communicado.  I prefer not to talk with people there.

At times, I’m in Exact.  It’s difficult to explain how I get there.

I recently was in Decisive, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to stay.

I think I'm in Dispensable, but I'm probably not.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Some of this itinerary was traveled by others before me, but I blazed some of the trails on my own.

A Heap of Fairy Tales

Cinderella and her slipper, Jack and the beanstalk, Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Rapunzel with her long tresses, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White without the Seven Dwarfs all got smushed into one musical production this past week at Anderson University.

Professor Rob Homer-Drummond, wearing his director’s hat, assembled a collection of collaborators to stage Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway show, Into the Woods.  

The printed program listed 23 actors, 13 members of an orchestra directed by Dr. Howard Kim, plus 30 other non-duplicated names on the production team.  If my counting of the various categories was correct, 68 people were directly involved in making the show a reality.  Others in the University family probably had a hand in it as well.

Director Rob (aka H. D.) said his association with this show dates back to his own college days when he had a major role, so he has had opportunity to brood over it a decade or two and find all sorts of meaning. 

The production team for this show included choreography by Terrie West-Poore, vocal coaching by Rebecca Yates and Dr. Tommy Watson, and on and on and on you could go.

Lives of characters from the various fairy tales and fables intermeshed as things went from good to bad to worse and all the principals went “into the woods” seeking solutions to what ailed them.  As the title song had it, in the woods, they had to grope, learn to cope, and try to find hope.

The production had so much to commend it: costumes, make-up, sets, lighting, audio, choreography, and certainly the orchestra and the actors-singers.

I’ve watched theater at Anderson College/Anderson University as faithfully as possible for the past 32 years.  Most productions have been good, others better.  As we went from junior college to senior college to university, more and more of them have been outstanding.

So I’m accustomed to good things happening when AU theatre and music students do a show.  But, to me, the most astounding single feature of Into the Woods was the array of able vocal soloists.  I lost count, but it seemed almost every one of the actors had his/her moment or moments in the spotlight as a singer.  I could hardly believe the talent on that stage.

If you missed this show, all I can say is, Keep your eye out for future theatre and music events by the students at Anderson University.  At least seven more are listed at www.andersonuniversity.edu under “Fine Arts.”  And that doesn’t include music recitals by students and professors.

A major dramatic production in the spring is Shakespeare’s As You Like It, April 2-5.

I went to Anderson University Homecoming Today

I hadn't been back for this event in several years. But a student worker in the alumni office called to invite me, so I accepted, and I'm so glad I did.

Now I wear the title Professor Emeritus in recognition of 23 years of teaching in two separate stints: 1963-1967 and 1981-2000.  I saw lots of people from both those periods, but let me tell you about one student from each era.

Stacey (Gray) Feaster greeted me just outside Henderson Auditorium after the welcoming ceremony.  Her Class of 1993 was the first full senior college class after we returned to four-year status.  

[A history side note: Anderson College was founded in 1911 as a senior college for women.  To survive the Great Depression, we reduced to junior college status in 1930 and returned as a senior college in 1989.  Then we became Anderson University in the 21st century.]

I will always remember Stacey as a lively journalism student with fresh ideas for feature stories.  She also was involved in student government and probably other activities I don't recall. There was never a dull moment when she was among her fellow budding reporters in the former garage apartment building -- one of several hand-me-down homes for journalism during my years on the faculty.

Several times over the years, I took students to New York City for a journalism convention, and Stacey was in one of those groups.  College students are adults, and I didn't try to monitor their every moment. But I did get worried one night when Stacey and her roommate were out when I knocked on their door after midnight just before I went to my room.  End of story?  I woke up sometime in the night -- still worried -- and went by their room and called out to them.  This time, they passed the room check. Whew!

At Homecoming, Stacey was accompanied by her husband Jeffrey and their 12-year-old son Jeff.  I wonder whether she's told young Jeff about her late-night roaming in the Big Apple .  .  .

The Feasters live in the Columbia, South Carolina, area, where she teaches in Fairfield County.  Great seeing you and the men in your life, Stacey.

Jumping back 30 years earlier, Ronnie Hyatt was a sophomore when I first came to Anderson (Junior) College.  I didn't teach Ronnie, but in those years the student population was small.  About 700. That's less than 25 percent of this year's record enrollment of 2966.  In those years, I was young and single and spent many hours a day on campus, so I knew a high percentage of the boarding students.

Ronnie was classmate with some of my students, including Wallace Taylor, who edited the campus paper, The Yodler; and Don Kirkland.  Ronnie and his wife live in Taylors, South Carolina, where Don also lives.  He said he sees Don from time to time.  Don recently retired from editing the South Carolina Baptist publication, The Baptist Courier.  

As I recall, Ronnie was the team manager for men’s basketball, with Coach Jim “Red” Hill.  Ronnie is another redhead.  I made some trips with the team.  I guess that was my closest association with Ronnie.

I was pleased to learn Ronnie hears me on the radio on Sunday mornings as he is on the way to church.  I teach the Baraca Radio Sunday School Class from Anderson’s First Baptist Church.  I told him the lesson also is online at the church website: www.andersonfbc.org.  If he goes to that site, he can read the lesson or listen to me.

Ronnie, my visit with you and your wife was a pleasure.

To Stacey and Ronnie, “thanks for the memories.”

A Litany for World Communion Sunday

World Communion Sunday

First Baptist Church

 Anderson, South Carolina

Simon Peter saw heaven opened and something coming down that looked like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners to the earth.  In it were all kinds of animals, reptiles, and wild birds. 
A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!” But Peter said, “Certainly not, Lord! I have never eaten anything ritually unclean or defiled.” The voice spoke to him again, “Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean.”   Peter began to speak: 

I now realize that it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis.  Those who fear him and do what is right are acceptable to him, no matter what race they belong to.

A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)  Jesus answered, “If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

I now realize it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis.

It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus.  You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself.  So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.

I now realize it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis.

For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it . .  .  by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.

I now realize it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis.

In Christ there is no East or West, In Him no South or North;
But one great fellowship of love Throughout the whole wide earth.

Join hands, then, members of the faith, Whate’er your race may be!
Who serves my Father as His child Is surely kin to me.
I now realize it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis.

Bible passages from Today’s English Version: Acts 10:11-15; 34-35; John 4:7-10; Galatians 3:26-28; Ephesians 2:8-9, 16.  Hymn text by William A. Dunkerley.

October 6, 2013

Are we near the end of the world?

From a message on the Baraca Radio Sunday School Class, First Baptist Church, Anderson, South Carolina

Think back fourteen years.  We were nearing the end of 1999.  Nearing the end of the twentieth century.  People looking forward to the dawning of two-thousand and excited about the twenty-first century.  But there was also apprehension, anxiety.  We heard all sorts of wild rumors about electronics not being coded to make the transition to a new century, a new millennium.  Computers were going to crash.  Everything digital would go haywire.  If you had money in the bank, you’d be wise to withdraw it and put it under your mattress.  All government records would disappear.  Your TV, your computer, your cell phone -- all that was going to die at the stroke of midnight as two-thousand got underway. 

Along with that, people were urged to install gasoline-powered back-up generators and store up food and medical supplies so they could survive the catastrophe which was surely coming on January first in the year two-thousand.  If you didn’t get those beforehand, people would go crazy when the crash came.  Like the run on the supermarkets when Anderson has the forecast of snow.  People go running in and buy up all the bread and milk.

Among a certain segment of the religious community, there was also the expectation, even the hope, that the start of the year two-thousand would also be the start of a spectacular chain of events which would lead to the return of Jesus Christ.  

To the best of my knowledge, neither of these cataclysmic events took place. Computers did not crash.  The nation’s infrastructure did not collapse.  The Rapture did not occur.

Fourteen years later, we hardly remember the scare about computers crashing and everything digital being destroyed. On the other hand, the passing of fourteen years has done nothing to quell the excitement over the presumption of Jesus coming soon.  People get stirred up so easily by preachers on television and radio who claim to have figured out the end.  Well, for what it’s worth, this preacher on this radio program this minute has no idea when Christ is coming back.  So, if that’s what you’re hoping to hear, you might want to change stations.  The only prediction I offer at the moment is that this Baraca Radio Sunday School broadcast will end about ten minutes before eleven.

MATTHEW 24

The Gospel of Matthew devotes two lengthy chapters to the end time.  It would take from now till Christmas to do justice to that entire passage.  So I want to pull out two separate sections, looking first at a few verses from chapter 24 and then a longer passage from chapter 25 later in the lesson.

Teachers know it’s next to impossible to get everybody to learn what needs to be learned.  And if everybody does learn what needs to be learned, some will forget it.  So we have to start all over.

I wish it were simple to tell people -- one time  -- so they would hear what Jesus said.  Jesus Himself said He didn’t know when the end would come.  Only the Father knows. Three times in Matthew 24, Jesus says we don’t know the time.  But people don’t listen.  So let’s hear these words.  And please try to listen this time to verses 36-44:

In verse 36: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. [37] As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. [38] For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, [39] and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. [40] Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. [41] Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. 

Again in verse 42: Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  [43] But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. 

Then a third time in verse 44: Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 

You’d think three times over would get the message across.  But you’ve heard an exasperated mother say, “I’ve told you and told you and told you.  And I’m not going to tell you any more!”  “Third time’s a charm.”  But those rules don’t always apply.  Sometimes we have to keep telling.

At this point, Jesus is telling them to be watchful.  We need to watch our own lives as we watch for the end -- the end of our lives or the end of time.  But Jesus also tells us to work as well as to watch:

[45-46]: "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?  Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing.”

The faithful and wise servant carries out the responsibilities his master puts in his charge. So we have heard the two-fold warning here regarding the return of Christ: watch and work, with the emphasis on working rather than spending so much time watching. Or if you do watch, don’t try to set your watch to tell when Jesus is coming back.  Rather, set your watch to remind you to work for Christ.

But it’s more fun to guess about Jesus coming back than to work for Him.

The first time these predictions caught my attention, I was eleven or twelve at the time, growing up in Texas.  Daddy would listen to preachers on high-powered radio stations whose transmitters were based in Mexico across the border from Del Rio or Laredo. Because these stations were not in this country, the Federal Communications Commission had no control over their signal, so these stations could be heard all the way to Canada. Some preachers on these border stations were sure they knew when Jesus was coming back.  And I was young and susceptible to this religious trash.

One of these radio preachers set a date, a certain day in September.  He knew Christ was coming at ten o’clock on a Monday morning.  This preacher was actually in California, but his sermons were carried on the station out of Mexico.  So Jesus was coming back at ten o’clock, California time.  Several of my school friends had heard about this day being the end of the world.  So we nervously watched the clock in the school room and heaved a sigh of relief when ten o’clock came.  Of course, at ten o’clock Texas time, it was still only eight o’clock in California.  So, if Jesus was coming back at ten o’clock where the radio preacher was, we were letting down our guard a couple of hours too soon.   Anyway,  Jesus apparently didn’t come back at ten o’clock that day, Texas time or California time.

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

You probably have your own end-of-the-world story you could tell.  You don’t have to go back sixty or seventy years to remember that kind of preaching.

While you’re thinking, let me tell you about scare date from a few years back.  You know how end-of-the-world folks are always playing around with numbers?  Their favorite number is 6-6-6.  Back about seven years ago, in 2006, they started thinking: June is the sixth month; the sixth day of June is another six, and the year was two-thousand-and-six.  So June sixth, two-thousand-and-six lines up as 6-6-6.

So the wooly-boogers are coming out of the woodwork, saying something drastic was going to happen on the sixth day of the sixth month of this sixth year of the 21st century.  When all that hurrah was taking place in 2006, a friend of mine told me about this prediction, so I decided to go to the Internet to see what the crazies might be saying in cyberspace.

I went to the Google site which is a gateway to all sorts of information and misinformation on the Internet.  I typed in, “Is 6-6-Oh-6 doomsday?”  Lo and behold, I found several dozen sites dealing with this subject.

Let me read you a bit from the most fascinating one I found on the Internet--from a man who said he was “searching the Bible Code for guidance and direction as to June 6, two-thousand-and-six.” 

My claim is that God has given me "wisdom and understanding",  so I can correctly

interpret Bible Prophecy and Revelation and reveal this to whoever will listen, to all 

who have "ears to hear".  Thru this divine Wisdom and Understanding, ON JUNE 6 2006, 

I will reveal who Antichrist is, (as we read in Rev:13:18), unless of course, prophetic events

supersede.  (Walther)

That preacher is still going.  It didn’t seem to faze him when the Antichrist failed to show his face on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of this new century and new millennium.  He probably didn’t miss a beat.  I looked at his blog this past week as I was preparing this lesson.  

Like many others who are sure about when the Lord is coming back, the man who prophesied the June 6 date believes a great war is supposed to start any day now in the Middle East.  He put another date up on his blog a month or so back:  Last month, the fifth of September was supposed to be significant in preparation for that anticipated war.  To get ready for the Battle of Armageddon, our country was supposed to attack Syria, and this predictor was eager for that to take place.  But this man blamed President Obama for backing out or backing down from those plans.  When the President interfered with this man’s vision of September 5, the preacher set a new date.  Now, his end-of-time war has been projected till some time this month, October 2013.  It might help if the man would read Matthew 24.

Before we completely brush aside these preachers who hope and pray for Armageddon, there’s one thing we might want to take seriously.  Some of these religious zealots think they have a divine commission to hurry things up so Christ will come back to fulfill their hopes.  These warrior Christians are so eager for things to break loose in the Middle East, they might do something dangerous to bring on their version of the Battle of Armageddon.  With that in mind, I wouldn’t rule out some members of a religious fringe group doing something outrageous on a date they predict.  They didn’t do this on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the new century.  But they might feel led to help Christ out by trying to start World War Three. I’m certainly not predicting anybody will actually do this, but these are strange times.

I was talking recently with a friend who had been to a meeting where she heard a speaker tell about a new scientific invention he believes will bring evil.  In fact, the man thinks this is the Mark of the Beast.  And my friend believes we probably are very near the end.  I didn’t argue with this friend.  

I wouldn’t argue anyway.  You don’t win friends if you win the argument.   But I did ask a question:  What will they point to next year?  What new scare will they point to the year after that?  People with this mindset are always looking for evidence that we are in the last days.

Back in the 1930s, when President Roosevelt got Congress to pass the Social Security plan, the end-of-the-worlders were sure the Social Security number was the Mark of the Beast.  More recently, it was the barcode in the retail store.  A few years back, it probably was the postal zip code.  You can rest assured other things will come along that make people say the end is near.  That’s why I asked my friend what new sign will they come up with next year and the year after that and the year after that.

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.   

People try to put a lot of things in the Bible that just plain are not in there.  Did I tell you about a Baptist lady named Amy who lived in a city in another state many years ago?  Amy has long since gone on to be with the Lord.

In Amy’s adult Sunday school class, the teacher distributed a list of well-known sayings, some from the Bible, some from other sources.  “Cleanliness is next to godliness” was on the list, and Amy argued that the saying was in the Bible.  The teacher told her this was said by Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley, the founders of the Methodist denomination.

Amy continued insisting the saying was in the Bible. So the teacher loaned her a concordance, which helps locate words and phrases in the Bible, and asked Amy to find the statement and bring her report to class next Sunday.  When she returned, the teacher asked, “Did you find “Cleanliness is next to godliness” in the Bible?”  

Amy said, triumphantly, “It’s in my Bible.  I wrote it in.”

Our Amy has many counterparts who interpret things pertaining to the end times. They write in concepts that simply were not put there by the men who wrote the Bible.  They do that when they start trying to set dates for the Lord’s return.

WATCHING AND WORKING

We’ve done enough with Jesus saying even He didn’t know when the end would be. There’s the need to be watching and working. We’ve dealt with watching.  Now, let’s think about working.

Jesus climaxes His discussion of the end time in the last part of Matthew, chapter 25 (31-46). You probably can quote some of this by heart: 

When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,  and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 

Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?'  And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' 

Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;  for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?' Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Think for a moment:  Jesus has talked at length in two lengthy chapters about being ready for His return.  And we’ve just read or heard the very last things He says on this subject.  He says nothing about figuring when the end is coming.  He simply points to what you have done in His name to help people in need.  Or what you have failed to do.

In a parable by the Afghani novelist Khaled Hosseini, a woman tells how her father would get rid of her bad dreams and replace them with good dreams.  After the father tucked his daughter into bed, he would sit on the bed and pluck bad dreams from her head.  He would put his hands on her forehead, search behind her ears and the back of her head.  When he found bad dreams, he would would put them in an invisible sack in his lap and tie the drawstrings tightly together.

  Then, after a search, his face would break into a broad grin as he sang out, Ah, here is one!" Then he would let the dream fall on her forehead.  He would tell her, the good things in life were fragile and easily lost (Hosseini 506).

Together, we reach out to people whose lives are bad dreams and pluck those bad dreams away, through Anderson Interfaith Ministries, providing food for the needy and provides money for heating as cold weather will soon be here.  We pluck away bad dreams for homeless families through Family Promise.  We replace bad dreams with good by supporting Haven of Rest ministries and Meals on Wheels.  Also, we as individuals replace bad dreams with good dreams by reaching out as Christ commended and commanded:  Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.

So, as you think of Christ’s return:  

Don’t worry about when and how the world is going to end.

Don’t try to figure when and how you’re going to meet the Lord.

Until you meet Christ -- in death or in life -- heed the songwriter B. B. McKinney:

Then live for Christ both day and night, 

Be faithful, be brave and true, 

And lead the lost to life and light. 

  Let others see Jesus in you.

From the Baraca Radio Sunday School Class
WRIX-FM, Sunday, October 13, 2013
First Baptist Church, Anderson, South Carolina

ARE WE NEAR THE END OF THE WORLD---SOURCES

**From May 28, 2006

James W. Clarke, “The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians,” The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 11.  New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1955.

E. P. Gould, “Corinthians,” An American Commentary on the New Testament, Volume V.  Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1887.

Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed.  Detroit, New York, et al: Thorndike Press, 2014.

B. B. McKinney, “Let Others See Jesus in You,”  Baptist Hymnal.  Nashville, Tenn.: Convention Press, 1975.  Number 294.

James Moffatt, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians,  The Moffatt Commentary on the New Testament.  New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishers, No date given.

Harry Walther, “Antichrist to Be Revealed on June 6, 2006.”  http://www.satansrapture.com/antichrist.htm