1 Corinthians 11:27-32   

“A Time for Self-Examination”

Rev. Jerry Hoek
 
Introduction:
            There is something about examinations that we don’t really like. When I think of exams,  I think of sitting in a room for about 4 hours writing furiously.  As I was thinking of exams this week, I thought: “Wouldn’t it be nice if the professor had said, “Instead of me giving you an exam for this course, I will let you examine yourself.  Then you can tell me how you think you did.”  A do it yourself exam!  It would be great!  But the thing is I suspect we would tend to gloss over the weak spots and no one would know the difference.
            We have been looking at the sacraments and now this morning we look at the Lord’s Supper.  This week, as we continue our study of the Belgic Confession, we look at who is to come to the table and how they are to come.  In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul issues a call to believers to prepare for celebrating the Lord’s Supper by examining themselves to make sure we aren’t doing something that would be dangerous and wrong for us.  Let’s read 1 Corinthians 11:17-32.
                       
I. An Unworthy Manner                       
II. Spiritual Judgment                   
III. Physical Judgments
IV. Proper Preparation
 
I. Paul talks about An Unworthy Manner in verses 27 and 29.
            Now the question is what is an “unworthy manner?”  Literally it means that those celebrating it did not place enough worth or value on the Lord’s Supper.  They simply weren’t taking it seriously enough.  More specifically in Corinth, the actions of the believers were totally inconsistent with their profession.
            In the 1700′s, David Brainerd was a missionary among the American Indians.  He stopped at one tribe where he offered to instruct them in Christianity.  The people of that tribe said, “Why should you desire the Indians to become Christians, seeing that the Christians are so much worse than the Indians? The Christians lie, steal, and drink worse than the Indians. They first taught the Indians to be drunk. They steal to so great a degree, that their rulers are obliged to hang them for it; and even that is not enough to deter others from the practice. We will not consent, therefore, to become Christians, lest we should be as bad as they.”  The Corinthians were also inconsistent in their actions and beliefs.
            The problem Paul addresses here was a very big problem for the Corinthians.  They were turning the Lord’s Supper into a party.  Some were getting drunk during the meal and there was quarreling and fighting going on.  The rich brought plenty to eat, but refused to share it with those who had little.  These actions thus made them celebrate the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner.
            And Paul says that when they are doing that, they are not recognizing the body of the Lord.  Now what does it mean to recognize the body?  Literally, the word means to distinguish or separate something from something else.  To recognize means that one can distinguish and see the importance of something.
            To not recognize the body can refer to two things.  It can refer first to the body of believers as the body of Christ.  Because of their division, their fighting, they weren’t recognizing that they were the body of Christ there.  They are approaching their faith purely as individuals, not as being part of the body.
            The body can also refer to the body of Christ, that is the body that died on the cross.  They had lost the central focus of the Lord’s Supper and that is the sacrificial death of Christ.  The Lord’s Supper had become simply another fellowship event.
            It is not clear which of these two meanings Paul had in mind, although it may be that he had both in mind.  In their celebration of the Lord’s Supper they were not recognizing and understanding the significance of either Christ’s physical body or the corporate body of the church.  It is vitally important for everyone who is at the Lord’s Supper to understand what is going on.
            Article 35 of the Belgic Confession says:
            “At that table he makes us enjoy himself as much as the merits of his suffering and death, as he nourishes, strengthens, and comforts our poor, desolate souls by the eating of his flesh, and relieves and renews them by the drinking of his blood. 
            Moreover, though the sacraments and thing signified are joined together, not all receive both of them.  The wicked person certainly takes the sacrament, to his condemnation, but does not receive the truth of the sacrament, just as Judas and Simon the Sorcerer both indeed received the sacrament, but not Christ, who was signified by it.  He is communicated only to believers.
            Finally, with humility and reverence we receive the holy sacrament in the gathering of God’s people, as we engage together, with thanksgiving, in a holy remembrance of the death of Christ our Savior, and as we thus confess our faith and Christian religion.  Therefore no one should come to this table without examining himself carefully, lest “by eating this bread and drinking this cup he eat and drink to his own judgment.”
            In the most recent issue of Reformed Worship, Emily Brink tells of a time when she visited a church in Shanghai, China and they were about to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  She  was listening to a simultaneous translation of the service, when suddenly words were spoken but not translated, and about fifty people got up and left.
            The empty seats were immediately filled by those who had been standing along the side aisles. When she asked the person next to me what was going on, she replied that all those not baptized were asked to leave.
            Can you imagine doing that in a North American church intent on welcoming the stranger?  This is a church that knew the importance of coming to the table prepared.  Paul is saying here that if we approach it casually, there will be spiritual judgment.
 
II. Paul refers to that Spiritual Judgment in verses 27 and 29.
            If we approach the Lord’s Supper so casually that we don’t recognize the body, then Paul says that we are guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.  Paul says that a man would be guilty of the body and blood of Christ.  In a certain sense that is true for we are guilty.  Our sins caused Jesus to be nailed to the cross.  If it were not for our sins, Jesus would not have had to die.
            But what Paul has in mind is the way the NIV phrases this.  If believers approach the Lord’s Supper casually, they are guilty of a offense against the Lord himself.  They are offending the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross.  The focus is not so much on the sinful nature as on the thoughtless attitude toward the Lord’s Supper and Jesus’ sacrificial death for us.  So too when we approach the Lord’s Supper with the attitude that it is no big deal, we sin against God.  We, in effect, say that Jesus’ death was not big deal.  That is an offense that demands judgment from God.
            That is why Paul says that the one who eats and drinks without recognizing the significance of the Lord’s Supper, eats and drinks judgment on himself.  Here Paul speaks as if judgment were the actual food and drink that was taken in at the Lord’s Supper.
            It means that whenever we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we take one thing or another in when we eat and drink.  If we believe and confess our sins, we take in God’s grace and are nourished by that grace.  But if we come thoughtlessly, casually, thinking nothing special happens, it is just another thing the church does, we take in, we eat and drink God’s judgment!  Either way, we receive something.
            Now the judgment Paul speaks of should not be confused with eternal condemnation.  God will not condemn us to hell for a wrong attitude about Communion.  But Paul is saying that a wrong attitude will still be punished.  If you approach the Lord’s Table not seriously recognizing Jesus’ sacrifice for you, you are guilty of a wrong committed against God.  And that wrong must be dealt with.  And in fact, it may be dealt with with physical punishment, which is what Paul says next.
 
III. Spiritual Judgments can lead to Physical Judgments such as are described in verses 30-31.
            Some of the Corinthians had become “weak and sick.”  Now this type of physical punishment from God may make us uncomfortable.  Does God make us sick in order to punish us?  God can certainly use a sickness to punish us.
            Now that is not to say that every illness we have is a punishment from God.  Sometimes people just get sick because there still are the effects of sin in the world.  But a sickness should at least cause us to reflect.
            Is there something in my life that God may be punishing?  God certainly used sickness to punish the Corinthians for their wrong actions and attitudes.  That means it is certainly possible for us.
            In fact, God even allowed some of them to die.  “Falling asleep” is a common metaphor for death.  Some people got so sick that they died.  Paul says a “number” which means “not a few.”  More than a normal number of people in that church had died.  And Paul ties it directly to their improper attitude and approach to the Lord’s Supper.
            However, verse 32 makes it clear that God’s purpose was to discipline the people.  God punishes His people because He loves them.  That is true for parents and children as well.  Children, when your mom or dad send you to your room or ban T.V. or ground you, they are not doing it to be mean.  They do it because they love you and they want you to learn how to live in the right way.  God wanted the Corinthians to learn to live in the right way so He disciplined them very firmly.
            Moreover, God’s overall purpose was their own salvation.  If He had not disciplined them, they would have continued in sin and have been swept away in God’s condemnation of the rest of the world.  God clearly did not want that, so He rescued them by firmly teaching them that they must take Him and His special supper seriously.
            Now all of this is something worth considering when we are sick or sorrowing or suffering.  We should do some self-examination.  We should ask ourselves if there is unconfessed sin.  Are there major inconsistencies in our lives?
            Suffering can be God’s way of getting rid of some things in your life that should not be there.  Many Christians get sick physically and emotionally because they are not facing their sins.
            In his book Pastoral Psychiatry, Dr. John S. Bonnell gives four such instances.  A university student experienced drumming noises in his head, blurred vision, and dizziness.  A woman suffered from neuritis. A medical student struggled with mental disorders.  And a patient lived with persistent indigestion.  In each instance, relief came when the patient finally confessed sins that were hidden away.
            Someone once wrote that discipline is like sculpturing a statue.  As God recreates you in His image, He must chisel off some things that don’t belong there.  That can be very difficult and even painful, but it is always for our own good.  When we wander or fall into sin, God disciplines us to call us back, chipping away at that sin in our lives.  Yet there is a way to avoid some of this discipline at least with respect to the Lord’s Supper.
 
IV. And that is through Proper Preparation.
            Paul says in verse 28 that we should examine ourselves.  The picture he has in mind is one in which precious metals are purified. The person heats it, examines it closely, and then carefully removes the impurities.
            That means that if we examine ourselves, we do more than only identify the problem.  Now simply identifying the problem is relatively easy to do.  “I did this wrong” or “These are my faults and sins.”
            But to truly examine ourselves also means we get rid of, remove the faults.  Just as the impurities are removed, we remove our faults and sins.  We stop doing what is wrong.  That is far more difficult, but it must be done.
            Note also that Paul says that a man should examine himself.  How easy it is for us to do the opposite.  It’s the old:  “That was a great sermon for so and so to hear.”  Someone else better look at this of that sin in their life.
            But Paul says:  “Look at yourself and work on yourself!”  Examine yourself and then work on getting rid of the bad stuff out of your own life.
            That is why Paul says in verse 31, that we should judge ourselves.  That word “judge” is the same word as “recognize” in verse 29.  Again it means to distinguish or separate.
            Paul means that all of us should look very carefully at our lives and separate some things in them.  We should separate who we should be as believers in Jesus Christ from how we often actually act.  We should look at our inconsistencies that we all have between our beliefs and the way we actually live.  And then we had better work on them.  And Paul says that if we do this, we will not be judged by God.
            So how do we do this with respect to the Lord’s Supper?  Let’s make sure that we do honestly examine ourselves.  In your devotional time of Bible reading and payer, look at yourself honestly in light of God’s word.  Listen to the word preached and prayerfully apply it to your life.  Let’s be focusing on what we can learn not on other’s weaknesses.
            Warren Wiersbe tells of an incident in the life of Joseph Parker, the great British preacher.  He was preaching at the City Temple in London.  After the service one of the listeners came up to him and said, `Dr. Parker, you made a grammatical error in your sermon.’  He proceeded to point out the error to the pastor.  Joseph Parker looked at the man and said, “And what else did you get out of the message?”   God speaks to us in many ways if we are willing to listen.
            And then what should we do if and when we find lots of sin?  Certainly don’t stay away from the Lord’s Supper!  The fact that you have realized them is evidence that you have prepared yourself.
            Confess your sins and come to the Lord’s Supper to receive and be nourished in God’s grace.  God forgives you and will restore you.  The cross of Christ seen in the Lord’s Supper should make that clear to us.
            Holy lives are not a requirement to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  Being sorry for sin and having a desire to live an obedient life is.  It is not the sin that bars the door to the Lord’s Supper; it is not confessing that sin.  And once that sin is confessed, then come gladly, joyfully and humbly to receive the grace God wonderfully pours out.

Genesis 17:1-14; Colossians 2:8-12

“Baptism:  A Sign of God’s Grace”

 Rev. Jerry Hoek
 
Introduction:
            Who is this for?  It’s a question we hear in our house with some regularity.   Our kids will come home and say, “Who are those cookies for?” Or, “Who are the cinnamon rolls for?”  There is something very special, but they aren’t sure who that something special is for.
            Two weeks ago, in our study of the sacraments, we looked at the “what” of baptism.  We saw that baptism was a sign that pointed to our forgiveness, the death of our sinful nature and our rising to new life in Christ.  It is something very special. Today we look at the “who” of baptism.
            This is an issue that several in this church have struggled with over the years and so is important from a personal perspective.  It is also important for all of us because it says something very important about who God is and what our relationship to Him is like.   Read Genesis 17:1-14.
 
            I. The Old Testament Covenant and its Sign           
            II. The New Testament Covenant Sign
            III. The Vital Response of Faith
 
I. The Old Testament Covenant and its Sign           
            First, let’s understand what a covenant is and is not.  A covenant is not what we would think of as a modern contract.  A contract is often the result of negotiation between two parties.  A covenant is not a negotiated agreement with God.
            Nor is a covenant simply a partnership between equals.  Two people may get together to form a business in which expenses and profits are shared equally.  A covenant is not a partnership between equals between God and us.
            A covenant is different in that it is an agreement between unequals; more specifically, an agreement between one who has power and one who does not.  In the ancient world, a ruler and the people around him would make a covenant.  The ruler would agree to protect and help the many poorer people living around his estate.  The people, in turn, would give him part of their harvest and pledge their loyalty to him.  But this agreement is set up and initiated by the ruler.
            This is the kind of covenant between God and man.  God will bless and protect His people.  They, in turn, must serve and be loyal to God.  But God initiates the covenant and determines the terms.
            We see this in Genesis 17:1-3.  Here “God almighty,” makes a covenant with Abraham.  The Lord appears to Abram as “God Almighty,” “El-Shaddai.”  He is the one who owns all things and will set the terms of the agreement.
            What does God Almighty promise in this covenant?  He will make Abraham’s descendants into many nations.  He will give Abraham and his children a promised land.  Above all else, God promises to be a God to them in a special relationship in which he will protect them and bless them.
            And what is Abraham’s role in the covenant?  He must walk before the Lord and be blameless, that is, live a life that is pleasing to God.  He and his descendants must believe in the Lord and obey Him.
            This covenant has been called the “covenant of grace” and with good reason.  Quite simply Abraham and his descendants didn’t deserve to receive the blessings that God promised in this covenant.  They were sinful and Abraham’s descendants would continue to sin against God.  But in spite of this, God still will pour out his blessings on them.
            A few years ago, Bono of the band U2 said, “The most powerful idea that’s entered the world in the last few thousand years – the idea of grace – is the reason I would like to be a Christian.  Though sometimes I feel more like a fan, rather than actually in the band.  I can’t live up to it.  But the reason I would like to is the idea of grace.  It’s really powerful.”
            We can’t live up to grace, but God gives it to us anyway when we don’t deserve it.  The covenant described here was to show God’s beautiful grace to people even though they would not be able to keep their end of it.  God then gives Abraham a sign which would remind the people of this covenant agreement.
            The Old Testament covenant sign that seals the agreement is circumcision.  Every male of the household of Abraham must undergo circumcision.  A baby boy must be circumcised on the 8th day.  Any foreign slave or servant also had to be circumcised.
            Now this was not unique to the Hebrews for other peoples practiced this rite as well.  But God takes this rite and raises it to have a special significance for His people.  Circumcision was a sign or symbol of the covenant God had made with his people.
            Perhaps a good modern example of this is the symbol of a wedding ring.  A wedding ring is a symbol, a sign of a marriage.  It not only tells others that one is married, it is a reminder of the serious relationship that a husband and wife have in their marriage.  Now just buying a ring and wearing it doesn’t mean you are married.  But the ring is a special symbol of a greater reality.
            Circumcision for the Hebrews was that kind of sign.  Every time a baby boy was circumcised, it reminded the people of the covenant God had made with them.  They would remember the beautiful promises that God had made to them.  They would remember their own responsibilities within that covenant.  Circumcision said, “Remember what God has done and is doing for us.”
            Now it is important to realize who this sign was for.  Although only males were circumcised, all the people were members of the covenant.  Circumcision reminded the people they all were God’s special people.  Together they would receive God’s promised blessings.  Circumcision was the Old Testament covenant sign.
 
II. In Colossians 2, we read of The New Testament Covenant Sign.
             Let’s read Colossians 2:8-12.
            In the New Testament, it is important to remember that Jesus Christ came to fulfill all that the Old Testament was pointing to.  The covenant doesn’t end with the Old Testament, but  continues on.  Only now the Old Testament is beautifully fulfilled through Christ.
            How does Jesus fulfill the ritual of circumcision?  In Colossians 2:11-12, Paul writes, “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
            The thrust of what Paul is saying is that those who believe in Christ have been circumcised.  However, it is not a physical circumcision but a spiritual one.  Christ has circumcised us by putting off our old sinful nature.  In Romans 6, Paul writes that baptism points to being buried with Christ which means our old sinful nature is dead and buried.  Thus, being circumcised by Christ means our sins have been cut off and put to death.  We now can enter a new relationship with God.
            Then Paul links the thought of circumcision to baptism in verse 12.  Now in the New Testament, baptism has become the physical symbol or sign of what God promises to do.  For Paul, both circumcision and baptism mark the end of sin.  However, circumcision is no longer the sign of the covenant, but rather now it is baptism.
            And baptism not only replaces circumcision, it powerfully fulfills it.  Baptism points to all that Christ has done to bring salvation.  Baptism is the symbol that powerfully points to Jesus’ death and resurrection which makes us into God’s special people.
            And like circumcision, baptism is a symbol for all of God’s people.  Baptism is a symbol that should cause all God’s people to celebrate.  Baptism in the New Testament is a sign of salvation, a sign of all that God, as the Covenant God, has done now for us through Jesus Christ in that it is the symbol that powerfully points to Jesus’ death and resurrection which gives us salvation.
            Now given this, who then is baptism for?  Circumcision was something that involved only the person, but it had meaning for all God’s people.  It said that God’s promises are for all people.  It was a sign that was for all God’s people.
            On that basis, we say that baptism is for all God’s people, including infants born to believing parents.  Baptism is a sign that says that a baby is able to receive God’s promises given in Jesus Christ.  This child is now part of the new covenant in Christ and as such can receive the gift of salvation.
            Baptism does not say that a person is saved or that he or she will definitely believe and go to heaven.  It does say that they are now within God’s people.  If they respond to the call of the Holy Spirit, they will receive the promises of the covenant.
            Article 34 of the Belgic Confession says:
“We believe our children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant,  as little children were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises made to our children.  And truly, Christ has shed his blood no less for washing the little children of believers than he did for adults.  Therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them, just as the Lord commanded in the law that by offering a lamb for them the sacrament of the suffering and death of Christ would be granted them shortly after their birth.  This was the sacrament of Jesus Christ.  Furthermore, baptism does for our children what circumcision did for the Jewish people.  That is why Paul calls baptism the ‘circumcision of Christ.’”
            Baptism is an opportunity for all God’s people to celebrate the fact that God has promised to save for eternity all those who believe in Jesus Christ!  It is not what we do that will enable us to go to heaven.  It is purely a matter of God’s grace and his love.
            For example, you’re driving to work one morning like you do every morning.  You divert your eyes or answer your cell phone or whatever and you hit someone else. You know you were in the wrong and you expect the insurance company is going to hang you out to dry.
            So when you go to your mailbox a few weeks later, you’re expecting a letter from your extortion company, and when you open it you’re expecting that there’s gonna be a hefty increase in your premium.  Only there’s not. The letter says something like: “We’re sorry you had an accident. Well, they do happen. No worries, though. We’re keeping your premium the same. Just be more careful next time.”  Good news? You bet!
            That’s what many auto insurance companies are doing these days. It’s called “accident forgiveness.”  If you have a new policy or a clean driving record for an extended period before any “at-fault” accident, that fender bender probably won’t cost you a big hit on your insurance bill. As far as they’re concerned, it never happened …… at least this once.
            The wonder of salvation by grace that baptism points to is that it isn’t just a one time thing.  Because we are His children, God forgives us over and over and over again.  There is nothing that we can do to earn our salvation.  It is only what Jesus has done for us on the cross.
 
            And so baptism is far more than just a way for a believer to say that he or she believes.  Baptism is a celebration of God’s promised salvation.  It is accompanied by the prayer that the little ones baptized and who are part of God’s family will some day accept these promises and the truths that baptism points us all to.
 
III. And that brings us to The Vital Response of Faith in this.
            The response of faith is vital in the setting of the covenant.  It was important that Abraham be circumcised, but it was even more important that he responded by believing and obeying.  Abraham believed, fully trusted in God’s leading and promises.  And we read that as a result of his belief, he was credited with righteousness.  God’s call came first, then Abraham’s belief, finally the rite of circumcision.  But circumcision was given for the whole household as a symbol of God’s call and promises.  While the response of faith is vitally important, the symbol points to what God is doing, for all His people not just what Abraham did.
            Today, we too must respond in faith to the new covenant in Christ.  Baptism says to us this morning:  “This is what Christ has done.”  But it is still up to us to respond to that offer of salvation.
            How does God want people today to respond?  First, let me speak to the children.  I want to ask you a very simple question:  “Do you believe in Jesus?”  God wants you to love Jesus and to live your life doing things that makes Jesus happy.  Is that what you are doing?  Remember, it is never too early to tell Jesus that you love him and want to live for him.
            And you who are young people, you too have most likely been baptized.  When that happened, it meant that you are a part of God’s family.  But you must still come to that point when you say that not only is what the Bible teaches true, it is true for me and what Christ has done was done for me!  If you have not done that, I urge you to seriously think about that.
            And for you adults, baptism also contains an ongoing challenge to us.  Baptism reminds us that we are now living for Christ and not ourselves.  Is that true for you?  Remember, our sinful nature is dead and gone.  We are now to live our lives focused on our Lord.  Every baptism we celebrate should focus our lives on living for Him.  Moreover, baptism is a time when we remember that we have promised to help the children and young people of the church to respond in faith to Christ.  Are you doing that with your own children and with the children of our church?
            For all of us, baptism is a time for us to remember and thank God for His beautiful promises.  These promises of salvation are very special and very helpful to us.
            In the classic book Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian and his comrade are imprisoned in Doubting Castle.  Giant Despair has seized the two pilgrims and has flung them into the dungeons below the castle.  In the darkness, and after many days of cruel beatings, their spirits are low – until suddenly Christian remembers a gold key and its name is Promises.
            Eagerly thrusting it into the lock of their cell, they watch as the door swings open.  One by one the creaking doors of Doubting Castle give way before Promises, until the pilgrims feel their backs warmed by the sun and their eyes dazzled by it.
            If you are facing times of despair, let the promises of God which we remembered in baptism, lift you from the dungeon of despair.  If your life is in despair because you do not know Christ, there is a promise here to help you out of your despair.  The promises are real!  Will you respond in faith and joy to God’s offer?

Acts 14:21-28 “A Missionary Report”
Rev. Jerry Hoek
 
 
Introduction:
            What comes to mind when you hear the word “report?”  I suspect that much depends on what kind of work you do. If you are in business, you may think of a financial or sales report which gives dollars and cents.  If you are involved in some of kind of governmental or some other type of bureaucracy, reports may mean mountains of paperwork that someone writes and others may, or may not, read.  When I think of report, I tend to think of Classis or meetings or Synod Agendas in which we hear dozens of reports from various committees, groups and delegates throughout the day.  Perhaps for you the word “report” doesn’t sound very exciting.
            In Acts 14:21-28, we read of a report given to the church by a pair of missionaries.  And unlike so many reports today, this report was very exciting.  What made this report so exciting?   This report told the people that God was doing something very wonderful through their missionaries, Paul and Barnabas.  God continues to do great things through His missionaries, which is what we hear this morning.  Let’s read Acts 14:21-28. This describes the conclusion of Paul’s first missionary journey.

I. Committed to the Grace of God  

II. Opened Doors of Faith

I. These verses make it clear that workers must be committed to the grace of God.
            After revisiting the churches they had begun on his journey, Paul and Barnabas returned to the church in Antioch who had sent them out and where they “had been committed to the grace of God for the work.”
            I find this phrase “committed to the grace of God” very interesting.  The church in Antioch didn’t just send them out on a mission.  They fasted and prayed for these two men before they sent them out.  They laid their hands on them as they sent them out.  They knew it would be God’s grace that would sustain and lead them.
            And being committed to God’s grace is no little thing.  Without God’s grace, any mission within the Kingdom is going to fail.  More than that, with God’s grace, great things can happen because God’s grace is inexhaustible.
            St. Theresa of Avila once wanted to build an orphanage, but she had only three shillings, and someone said to her, “What can you do to build an orphanage with only three shillings?”  She said, “Theresa with three shillings can do nothing, but with three shillings and with God to help her there is nothing that Theresa cannot do!”  Being committed to God’s grace makes all the difference with respect to our mission.            This morning we think of our own missionaries, the Campbells.  We want to send them back to their mission field in Guinea committing them to the grace of God.  David and Joyce, we want you to know that we have been and will continue to pray for you.  We believe that you are doing God’s work that He has called you to.  And we believe that God has called us to commit you to His grace.
            And we do thank God for the work that you have done in Guinea.  We have heard of your needs and prayed for them.  We have heard of answers to our prayers and given thanks for them.  We will continue to support you in prayer and whatever gifts we are able to give to help you in your work there.
            And we pray that God’s grace may uphold you in this work.  We also know that if we commit you to God’s grace, God can do great things through you even when things seem to not be going the way they should.
            Several years ago, the keynote speaker at an evangelism seminar in Bogota, Columbia, was Rev. Rodolfo Loyola, a pastor from Madrid, Spain.  Several years prior to that, Rev. Loyola was a pastor and professor in Cuba. The Cuban government instructed him to either abandon his faith or quit teaching school.  They gave him 15 days to decide. Rev. Loyola said, “I don’t need 15 days.  I don’t need 15 minutes.  I won’t be back to teach tomorrow.”
            Several days later, in the middle of the night, he was abducted and imprisoned in a concentration camp for over two years.  In part because of his dedication to sharing the gospel with those around him, he was transferred 13 times to new concentration camps.  Finally, he was told by Castro’s government that he had 30 days to find two thousand dollars to take his family out of Cuba.  Over the weekend, he and his wife prayed for guidance, writing to family and friends in other countries.  Thirty days later, there was two thousand and ten dollars.  So with ten dollars in his pocket, Rev. Loyola and his family were sent to Spain where he now joyfully exclaims that he is a missionary to Spain sent by Castro!”
            The grace of God can do powerful and wonderful things if we are committed to it and committed to doing God’s work.
 
II. Moreover, they reported on Opened Doors of Faith.
            When Paul and Barnabas got back to Antioch, the church was naturally anxious to hear how things had gone for them.  This was more than a passing interest in the wonderful story that Paul and Barnabas had to tell.  The church had shared in the responsibility for their service.  It was with the blessing and the fellowship of the whole church in Antioch that the two missionaries had gone forth on their journey.
            The main thrust of their report was this: God had now opened the door to the Gentiles.  This meant that the Christian faith was moving from just being a local Jewish phenomenon.  The church then could begin to see that the church would grow and spread throughout the world.
            But what is also a main theme of their report is who did the work.  They didn’t report all that they had done, but all that God had done through them.  God had protected them and caused many to believe.  They celebrated God’s success in this mission.  All the praise and credit goes to the Lord alone.
            Once again, this is a good reminder that all of our work in the church is God’s work.  That is important to remember for our own congregation.  This isn’t my ministry, but it is God’s work using me.  This isn’t our mission, it is God’s mission here in Nashville using you and me in doing this work.
            The same is true of the work in Guinea.  This work the Campbells are doing isn’t their ministry.  It is God’s work in which He is using David and Joyce.  We must remember that the work that is done is God’s work.  And we are being used by God, no matter who we are or where we are to work in His kingdom.
            It is important that we keep sight of the overall picture.   Consider the digging of the Panama Canal.  Over a period of decades, several major attempts failed to finish the job.  Finally, they were able to complete it.  How sad the worker who labored away without seeing the big picture.  How foolish the laborer who may have been tempted to settle in an improved Panama with railroads and drained swamps and forget about the canal he had been sent to build!  This sort of short_ sightedness was, in part, why previous efforts failed.
            How sad is the Christian who goes along in life without an urgent conviction that God’s kingdom is what is being built.
            You see, there is plenty of work still to be done there and all over the world.  If we reduced our world into a village of 1,000 people, we would find approximately 607 Asians, 144 Africans, 105 Europeans, 87 South Americans, and 51 North Americans.  There would be 330 Christians, 210 Muslims, 140 Hindus, 60 Buddhists, 120 of traditional pagan beliefs and 140 atheists or non-religious.  There is still plenty of work to be done by Christian missionaries.
            The needs are there and now we have an opportunity to continue to work in God’s kingdom in another part of the world.  And so I would like to ask David and Joyce to come up at this time and give a report of what God is doing with them and through them in Guinea.  David and Joyce, we commit you to God’s grace with the faith that God will use your efforts powerfully to continue to build the kingdom of God in Guinea.

Snapshots from Kenya – Lokichar
 
After our day or so in the hot dusty part of northern Kenya, we again made our way south back down the “international highway to Cairo.”  We dodged potholes and huge ruts in the road, eventually arriving in Lokichar.
The guest house in Lokichar was one of the most challenging of all the accommodation Claire and I had on our trip.  The guesthouse was right on the highway and the trucks would rumble and rattle throughout the night just outside the room.  The bathroom was a concrete outhouse with just a hole in the concrete floor, complete with bats and roaches inside.

It was still far enough north where it did not get very cool at night and the mosquito nets had large holes in them.  The beds in each room were twin beds with about a half inch thick foam mattress on it.  We stacked two pieces of foam on top of each other and crawled into one bed with the best mosquito net of the two covering us.
It was one of those nights when we simply assumed that no sleep would come and yet, it turned out to be another example of God’s gracious provision for us.  We learned that God gives his beloved sleep in spite of such conditions.
The next morning, we were taken on a tour of the area around Lokichar.  This was a mission outpost started by a Dutch Reformed Church Mission with the centerpiece of this mission being the hospital.