YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY

Preacher: Revd Mrs Grace Sintim Adisa

Bible Readings:  AMOS 8:4-7    1TIM2:1-7        LK16:1-13

Date: 19TH September 2010              17th Sunday after Pentecost

To serve means to perform a duty or provide a service for some one. There is always an authority that is being served. The parties involved are a master and a servant and the normal thing is that the servant obeys the master.

The Theme for our reflection indicates that we have God and Money in this world; but we cannot serve both of them at the same time else we will be bias.

In the first Bible reading, we hear the prophet Amos warning the Merchants of his time. These merchants were enticed by money and they pretended to be worshiping God. They were not serious with the religious festivals. They always wanted the Holy days and Sabbaths to be over quickly so they could go back to work to make money. They loved market days more than Sabbath days.

They were cheating the poor to make money. They were selling inferior products for the same price as the finest – e.g. they mixed grain with wheat that was meant for animals, they inflated prices, knocked the bottoms of their measures upward, adjusted their scales among others. They sold the poor debtors into slavery for a pair of scandals.

Beloved in Christ, the Lord was not pleased with the behaviour of the Merchants. But my problem is – how different was their time from our time?

When you visit our market centres in Ghana (Asesewa, Techiman, Mankesim, Agomeya, Makola, Kasoa, etc) you will not see a different picture, there is cheating all over. Our traders love money more than anything else. Traders are giving false measurement for materials and cloths, deceiving people with Copper Jewellery as Gold. Come to think of the way they arrange their vegetables in the pans, sacks and ‘olonkas’ – they put fresh ones on top but the bottom ones are rotten. Groundnut paste and Ground pepper are mixed with flour etc. There are countless cases of rapist, armed robbers and thieves bribing their way through.

So what do we do as Christians because the Word of God says, we are the light of the world. There is so much moral decadence even at the offices. People would have to pay in cash or in kind before they could get jobs. Elderly men are abusing young girls and their house helps, their steps daughters etc.

Beloved, we have to walk with God. We should let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream. God has something Good for us, so He is the only one that we should serve. The Word of God says that if I gain all the wealth of the world and I lose my life then what will I get?

Mt 16:26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?

Scripture warns as in 1 Tim 6:10 that the root of all evil is the love of money. Money per se is not the problem, but the way we acquire and use it brings problems.

1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

In our times, we see people especially the youth rushing for money through ‘sakawa’, juju, armed robbery, 419 among others. The Bible warns us in Gen. 3:19 that “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food…” so why do we want to relax and get money?

Gen. 3:19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The Apostle Paul in our 2nd Reading (1 Tim 2:1-7) preached Christ and his crucifixion that we may believe in God only.

Beloved in the Lord, what are you also doing? God is the ultimate that we need to serve. There is nothing to be compared.

Our 3rd Reading, (Lk 16:1-13) tells us that one day we shall be called upon to give an account of our stewardship. The servant in the parable did not know Christ but he thought of the future. He helped his master’s debtors so that they would also help him in his time of need. The steward helped the people in order to get their help in the future when he loses his job.

The Lord is saying that we cannot serve two masters. Either we will hate the one and despise the other.

Lu 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Money has the power to take Gods place in your life. It can become your master. How can you tell if you are a slave to money? Money is a hard master and a deceptive one at that. Wealth promises power and control, but often if cannot deliver.

Great fortune can be made – and – lost overnight and no amount of money can provide health, happiness or eternal life. How much better it is to let God be your Master; His servants have Peace of Mind and Security both now and forever- Amen.

REJOICE OVER ONE REPENTANT SINNER

PREACHER: REV DR JOHN ABEDU QUASHIE

DATE: SEPTEMBER 12, 2010


PASSAGES: Exodus 32: 7-14; Psalm 51: 1-10; 1Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-10

Introduction

We thank the Lord Almighty for bringing us to the beginning of yet another academic year. The year may seem to be full of challenges but we can be assured of God’s unfailing love, protection, provision and sustenance. We have every cause to thank the Lord because He has been faithful to us in the past and we can trust Him to take us through the present and continue with us into the future.

We reflect on the theme, “Rejoice over one repentant sinner” by considering the following:

Lost Sinners

From the three scripture passages and the Psalter, one thing that becomes clear is the fact of lost sinners in the world. This fact of sin and sinners is sometimes found in the most unlikely places such as among the people of God, the church; the people who are supposed to be separated from the world and separated unto God.

In Exodus 32, we find the Israelites, the specially chosen people of God, having sinned terribly against God. They had made for themselves graven images and attributed the protection, provision and deliverance of God to these images. God was so angry that He wanted to destroy them. What led to the Psalter read for us today (Psalm 51) was a grievous sin committed by a man whom God had raised and used to deliver His people. David, a man after God’s own heart, committed murder and adultery. In 1Timothy 1:15 Paul describes his previous life as being the “the worst of sinners”.

In the gospel reading, we find the Pharisees and scribes complaining and criticising Jesus, that He had associated himself with sinners and even gone on to eat with them. In His response Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin (Luke 15: 1-10). In these parables, Jesus did not deny the fact that those people the Pharisees and scribes were referring to were indeed lost sinners. Jesus used pictures that would be appreciated by all the people gathered. The story of the sheep would at the time touch the hearts of the men and boys in the crowd, while the women and girls would appreciate the story of the coin.

Sheep get lost because of their foolishness. They have the tendency to go astray. While the Pharisees and the scribes had no problem seeing the publicans and others as ‘lost sheep’ or sinners they could not see themselves in the light of Isaiah’s prophecy that all we like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). It is very easy for us, like the Pharisees and scribes, to consider others as lost and ourselves as okay. The story of the Pharisee and the publican who went to pray is a good illustration of this kind of situation. But is it not true that we have been foolish at times, going astray like the Israelites, and like David, and disobeying the word of God. Is it not just because of grace that we can claim to have a right standing with God? It is not strange that John Newton will pen down the hymn, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me”. The fact is that we are all sinners saved by grace.

The other issue is that unlike sheep that get lost because of their foolishness, the coin was lost because of the carelessness of another. When a Jewish girl married, she began to wear a headband of ten silver coins to signify that she was now a wife. It was a calamity to lose one of those silver coins. Sometimes our carelessness at home and at work results in a soul being lost. It is important to ask ourselves whether our words and lives are not causing people to be lost.

Two things can be said about being lost. First is that one is “out of place”. Sheep belong with the flock and coins belong on the chain. All humans belong in fellowship with God and anytime that fellowship was broken, it means they are lost. The Israelites had broken their fellowship with God so they were lost. In David’s prayer of forgiveness, he dreaded this idea of being out of place and asked God not to cast him away from His presence but to restore to him the fellowship that was lost.

To be lost also means to be “out of service”. A lost sheep is of no service to the shepherd and a lost coin is of no service to the owner. As ministers in training and even lay people, we must remember that we cannot break our union with God and think that we are still in His service. We sometimes find people living in serious sin and still claiming to be working for the Lord. Well, they may be working for another lord but not

the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus categorically said that without Him we can do nothing. Are we lost? Are we out of place and out of service with the father through Christ? Do we know people who we can rightly claim are lost?

Lost Sinners are Valued

What the Pharisees failed to appreciate was that the lost are also valued. The fact that the shepherd would go after one sheep is proof that each animal was dear to him. In the same way that fact that the maiden would light a lamp and search for the missing coin was indication that the coin was of value to her. The point being made here is that the people we may think of as being lost are valuable to God. Each person in the world is so valuable that God does not desire that any should be lost forever. So Jesus described His ministry as “seeking and saving the lost” (Luke 19:10).

The lost sinner is so valuable to God that he offers the priceless blood of Christ to purchase him/her. That is why we never have to look down on anyone like the Pharisees did; that is why we never have to give up on anyone who is lost; that is why we never have to relent in our efforts in seeking the lost. Moses set us an example. When the Lord told him that He was going to destroy all the Israelites because they had broken the fellowship with Him and gone to serve other gods, but He was going to bless Moses, Moses began to remind God about the value of the people He was going to destroy. They were a people God had brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand (Ex. 32:11). They were a people God had made an everlasting covenant with through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that He would make their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them the land as an inheritance forever (Ex. 32:12). The lost are also valuable to God.

The two parables teach us about the value of the lost sinner. If you lose something that is not valuable, you don’t mind. For the shepherd to search for the one sheep, it indicated that the one sheep was valuable and for the maiden to search for the one coin, it indicated the value of the coin. It is because of the value of the lost sinner that when one repents, there is rejoicing.

Sinners Have the Capacity to Repent and be Found

The two parables also suggest that it was the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep, and the maiden who goes after the lost coin. This may not immediately bring out the fact that there is the capacity in the ‘lost’ to be found. There are situations in which announcements are made about lost but found items which the owners had to come for. Could it be that the lost sheep was looking for a way back but was helpless? The third parable which follows the two read today brings this fact out clearly. In the parable of the lost son, we find the son repenting and returning to the father.

People have the capacity to repent and go back when they realise their foolishness. David, in Psalm 51, expressed the desire to be restored to God. The Lost son was desirous to be restored back to the father. Paul was happy to have been restored back and was thankful to God. His statement in 1Timothy 1: 15 that Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners is an indication of the fact that sinners can be saved. In fact, his statement that he is the worst of sinners seems to give an indication that all sinners can be saved. If the worst has been saved, then it is easy to save the “not so bad”.

Every lost person has the capacity to be restored back to their place and to their service with God. That is the reason we should never give up on them. There are people who have prayed for the salvation of their loved ones for years and after so many years, it eventually happened. In his song “Welcome Home”, Ron Kenoly talks of his son who left home at 16 and after some years came back in repentance.

Unfortunately, the Pharisees failed to recognise this capacity in the “sinners” with whom Jesus ate. Do we recognise the capacity in sinners to be saved or we totally condemn them as if nothing good can come out of them?

Attitudes towards Sinners

In the passages, there are two kinds of attitudes displayed regarding sinners. First we have the attitude of the Pharisees. For them, sinners were lost and could not be found. Nothing good could come from them. To them there was no possibility of repentance.

Unlike the Pharisees however, we find Moses, Jesus and Paul having a different attitude to sinners. Moses’ example was a striking one. God had decided to destroy all the Israelites and to leave him alone blessed. If you found yourself in that situation, what would be your reaction? There are people who see their success in other people’s failure. If those people were in Moses’ situation they would have become excited about the idea and asked God to quickly do what He was talking about. Do you see yourself also wanting to be better than the other person? Do you see yourself rejoicing over the downfall of a fellow believer because you think it raises your prospects? Or do you see yourself hurt about the brother or sister who has fallen and praying earnestly about his restoration? What is your attitude to sinners?

Jesus’ attitude was one of hate for sin and love for the sinner recognising the potential of the sinner to be the best. Due to the recognition of this potential in the sinner, Jesus is always patient with the sinner. Paul declared in 1 Timothy 1:16 that in him, Christ Jesus displayed His unlimited patience and that was intended to be an example to those who would believe in Him. What is your own attitude to the sinner? Are you eager that the sinner should be punished or like Moses, you always plead on their behalf that God will have mercy upon them? Do you hate sin and love the sinner or you hate both sin and the sinner?

Rejoicing: The Right Reaction towards Repentant Sinners

Our attitude also informs our reaction to the sinner who has repented and received mercy. Because the Pharisees had a negative attitude, they could not rejoice over the fact that the sinner has repented and received mercy. On the other hand Jesus explained that just as a shepherd would rejoice over a lost but found sheep and a maiden would rejoice over a lost but found coin, so do the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents. There are three things that we may consider as the right reaction towards the repentant sinner. First is rejoicing over the sinner’s repentance. If heaven rejoices over a repentant sinner, our reaction to the repentant sinner should be one of joy and celebration. A lost brother/sister has been found and there is every cause for celebration.

Second those who are genuinely in tune with God reach out to the lost to restore fellowship with them in a very intimate way to the extent of eating with them. The shepherd reaches out to the lost sheep and the maiden reaches out for the lost coin. True believers welcome the repentant sinner and seek to help them stand firm on their feet as they find their place among the people of God and become of service to God.

Third, those who have a right attitude towards sinners are not ashamed associating with the repentant sinner. Jesus was not ashamed of associating with sinners, something that the Pharisees could not just take in. Barnabas was not ashamed associating with Paul and that helped Paul a lot to find his place in the fellowship of the Lord and of the believers. Some believers behave like the Pharisees and shun those who have fallen from grace even when the people have genuinely repented and received mercy from God. The attitude of Christ is to receive the repentant sinner and encourage them to stay strong in the Lord. Could we follow the example of Jesus and help those who fall to rise on their feet instead of “shooting the wounded”.

Conclusion

The fact is that there is sin and sinners in the world, sometimes found in the most unlikely place like the church. Sinners are out place in the fellowship with God and also out of service. However in the sight of God, there a great value in every sinner and every sinner has the potential to repent. Our attitude to sinners must not be one of looking down on them but rather one of hate for sin and love for the sinner. This attitude leads us to rejoice when they repent, share fellowship with them and not become ashamed associating with them. May we have the grace to follow the example of Jesus and that of Moses towards sinners who have repented! Amen.

1. there is sin and sinners in the world,

2. Sinners are out place in the fellowship with God

3. Sinners are out of service out God

4. However in the sight of God, there is a great value in every sinner and every sinner has the potential to repent.

5. We must not look down on sinners, rather we must hate sin and love the sinner...

6. ...that attitude leads us to rejoice when they repent, share fellowship with them and not become ashamed associating with them.

7. May God grant us the grace to follow the example of Jesus and that of Moses towards sinners who have repented!

Amen.

Revd Dr Abedu Quashie is Dean of Students, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon.

BE A TRUE DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST

PREACHER: Revd Seth Kissi

BIBLE READINGS: Deut 30:15-20 / Philemon 4-6 / Lk 14:25-33

DATE: 5th September, 2010             

15th Sunday after Pentecost



God wants us to be disciples of His son Jesus Christ; but He doesn’t compel us to obey Him. He wants us to be willing disciples and always expects us to trust in His counsel. No matter how we feel about or see God’s ways, they are always meant for our good.


A disciple learns from his master and is influenced by him.

Paul was different in his approach to his ministry to the Gentiles compared to the other Apostles. He was a teacher and a friend to them. In explaining the Gospel to them he used his own life experiences and encouraged them to ‘follow him as he followed Christ’.

What are we supposed to do as followers of Christ or to be followers of Christ?

1. Decide to be willing disciples

2. Estimate the cost of following Christ

3. Be prepared to bear the cost and

4. Do not let the cost deter us


1. God doesn’t force us to obey Him, and so we must decide to be willing, obedient disciples

2. Jesus asked in Luke 14 which house builder does not estimate the cost of the building before he sets out to build the house. Likewise we must estimate the cost of following Christ.

The cost involves

• Death or loss of our own lives

• the loss of family and other relationships

• Acceptance, love and forgiveness of difficult people and things as was the case of Philemon who had to take back Onesimus, a runaway slave.

• Injury to our ego

3. A lot of sacrifices need to be given in our desire to be disciples of Christ and we must be prepared to bear that cost

4. The good news is that when we become disciples of Jesus Christ, that relationship takes care of our every need and gives us the Grace to love and forgive, accept other people, do things that ordinarily would have been difficult for us to do. That relationship with Christ promises us above all things, Eternal life; and so the cost does not and must not deter us.

TEACHING AND ADMONISHING EACH OTHER WITH PSALMS, HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS

PREACHER: Mrs E. Owusu Bennoah


BIBLE READINGS: Jer 2:4-13
                                 Heb 13:1-8
                                 Lk 14:7-14

TEXT: Col 3.16 – Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly

Date: 29 August, 2010            

14th Sunday after Pentecost


The theme for today coincides with the Choir's Anniversary and we thank God for their lives.

I would like us to dwell on 3 important things in the passage:
1. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly
2. Using the Word of God to teach  and admonish each other
3.Singing Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual songs in our hearts to show gratitude to God.

As Believers in Christ Jesus our main weapon is the Word of God; and we are being encouraged here to study the Word and let it dwell richly in us.
When we keep the Word in our hearts and allow it to direct us in whatever we do, then we will be able to teach others and direct them when they go wrong.
The Apostle Paul encouraged the Church in Colossae to continue to study the Word and build one another up with the Word through love. Paul insisted on the importance of the study of the Word since no spiritual growth is possible without the Word of God. His prayer was that all believers will relate the knowledge of God to all aspects of their lives.As Christians, it is our duty to teach and correct one another with the Word of God and also sing Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to show gratitude to God. When we have the Word of God we have peace; and worry and fear will not arise.
Isa 43:1 ¶ 1 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.


2 When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.These are the assurances God has given us.

Music plays a very important role in our liturgy. The early Christians composed many hymns; and many times, these were determined by their mood. The kind of music we sing or listen to is sometimes determined by our mood. The Israelites, in Ps 137, did not sing the Lord's songs in a strange land. They were sacred.

When we are in despair, we sing a hymn and that hymn becomes our prayer and God listens to our prayer in singing. This is my experience when a close relative was sick at the hospital. He could not speak and we did not know what to do. As I was with him, I heard a voice that asked me to sing. I started singing PHB205, by the 3rd stanza, he said ''Abena sing well'' ( I don't have a good voice). That statement from a man who was very sick encouraged me. I sang more and more. He got well eventually.
 
The words in our hymns are words we must pay attention to anytime we sing those hymns. There is power and healing in the words of the hymns we sing.
 
But in performing this duty of TEACHING AND ADMONISHING EACH OTHER WITH PSALMS, HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS, should we have any difficulty, we must remember that there is always help from Christ when we approach Him in prayer. MHB 538 – What a Friend we have in Jesus – sums up everything.

RESPOND TO THE CALL OF GOD

Preacher: Mrs Rita Abrahams

Bible Readings: Jer 1:4-10 / Heb. 12:18-29 / Lk 13:10-17

Date: 22 August, 2010

13th Sunday after Pentecost

I have many times avoided being asked to preach in this church; trying to avoid the call of God. But I asked God to forgive me and also to reveal to me if He really wants me to preach and He did it.

God knew Jeremiah before he was formed. Jeremiah was sanctified while in his mother’s womb to preach. He was made holy in the womb.

Like Jeremiah, God is calling all of us today to his Ministry. He has sanctified us all even while we were in our mothers’ wombs.

We are to go and spread His praises, to go and evangelise, to spread the truth.

In 1Pet 2:9 , the Bible says: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. He has made us kings and priests. He has ordained us to go and preach the Good news. We cannot say ‘no’ to Him. Some of us say we are old, we are shy; our work schedule does not allow us to evangelise etc. We do not have any excuse and God will not accept any excuse from us if He did not accept Jeremiah’s excuse of incompetence. He has given us authority over the problems we shall encounter in the ministry; and his Spirit will strengthen us to spread the message of Jesus Christ. He has given us authority to go and break down and destroy the barriers in peoples’ lives and in their stead plant the word of God and build lives for His Kingdom.

God is calling us to a life of holiness and sanctity. We must therefore be holy and portray God’s likeness.

REF: Rev 5 9,10 -9 and they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth."

1Pe 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 1Pe 1:16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

In Hebrews 12 , Paul presents a dramatic contrast between Judaism and Christianity; where God is calling us out of death to life; into a new covenant into the glorious company of Christ Jesus. We cannot be our old selves.

In Hebrews 12: 28-29 is a final warning to those of us who are contemplating whether to respond to the call or not. There is a more severe punishment for them that do not respond to the call of God, more than those who rejected Mount Sinai. God is a consuming fire!

Heb 12:28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe;


Heb 1229 for our God is a consuming fire.


2Co 3:6 ¶ who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Let us therefore respond to the call and join this glorious company.

It is our duty to respond to the call of God. We can run but cannot hide.

Mt 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.


19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,


20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

Jesus’ encounter with the woman who was bent for over 18 years and could not stand straight is instructive here. She responded to Jesus’ call. She did not make excuses with her condition. Anyone who encounters and responds to the call of Jesus never remains the same.

Jesus is calling us to respond to his call to holiness, to a lifestyle of his likeness, to the new covenant. We cannot respond to the call and be the same.

This morning the question is not who is called? or have you been called?; but rather will you respond to the call of God like Isaiah did or will you be like Jonah?

Let us respond to the call of God.