HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-01-14, Page 12By Ernest Dow, PastorLiving Water ChristianFellowship, Blyth“There ain’t no flies on us” [an
old camp-song goes], “There ain’t
no flies on us: There might be flies
on some of YOU guys, But there
ain’t no flies on us.”
We like to imagine we’re squeaky
clean, without real problems, or at
least - that we’re better than the next
‘guy’. But when it comes to
standards of human innocence,
they’re relative shades of fallenness.
The 20th century offered a
sobering check on the optimistic
view of humanity that was sparked
by the Enlightenment – two world
wars, a cold war that brought us
close to nuking ourselves, and
increasing disparity between have
and have-not nations.
The Bible sees mankind as stuck
in a fallen condition, prone to sin;
as Psalm 14 puts it, “All have
turned aside, they have together
become corrupt; there is no one who
does good, not even one.”
(Ps 14:3)
Paul diagnoses our human disease
in Colossians 1:21: “Once you were
alienated from God and were
enemies in your minds because of
your evil behaviour.” Take that
apart... “Alienated from God” -
estranged, distanced, shut out from
one’s fellowship and intimacy.
We’re alienated or excluded from
God’s presence by our sin.
“Enemies in your minds” - James
(4:4) said friendship with the world
is hatred toward God; choosing to
be a friend of the world makes you
an enemy of God.
“Because of your evil behaviour”
- God, who is holy, cannot tolerate
evil; Psalm 5(4f) says, “with you the
wicked cannot dwell...You hate all
who do wrong.” Our sin separates
us from the life of God (Eph 4:18).
To the Ephesians (4:18f) Paul
described the closed-offness of a
fallen lifestyle this way: “They are
darkened in their understanding and
separated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in
them due to the hardening of their
hearts. Having lost all sensitivity,
they have given themselves over to
sensuality so as to indulge in every
kind of impurity, with a continual
lust for more.”
Sin is perverse, abominable to
God. Regrettably, we are all capable
of sinning - even in subtle ways.
Recently, Saskatchewan
Roughriders general manager EricTillman confessed in court tosexually assaulting a 16-year-oldbabysitter. What he actually did was
not as blatant as one might expect
before reading the details, but very
easy to do, while inexcusable.
But I wondered when reading
about it if there was not some
perverseness of my own in wanting
to find out the details, and the
quickness of one’s imagination to
play it out in our mind’s eye. One
simple action, a quick slip, and
Tillman’s employment with an
organization that made it all the way
to the Grey Cup championship
match has ended.
Sin is a parasite, it sucks the life
out of us and separates us from
God. Many trees appear to be
healthy when we see them in
summer.
But, in the winter, after their
leaves have all fallen off, people in
some locations find that hidden
underneath the lush green of the
summer foliage was a parasitic
plant called mistletoe, which had
been slowly sucking away some of
the tree's vitality.
We as Christians sometimes have
hidden sins, which—like the
mistletoe—slowly suck away our
spiritual vitality. Although not
always evident in times of outward
spiritual health and fruitfulness, we
need to keep examining ourselves
for those small, often unseen,
parasites of sinful habits that will
sap our vitality.
Just because they’re not apparent
now does not mean that in another
season of our life God will not
reveal them for all to see!
However, the apostles in their
message about Jesus Christ do not
leave us hopeless in our sinful
entanglement. Colossians Chapter
One is the most sublime and clear
Christology in the New Testament.
It brings together as a hymn strandsof description echoed elsewhere,painting a rich and appealingportrait of Jesus the Lord - made
even more startling against the
backdrop of human lostness.
Jesus is the best in Being: “He is
the image of the invisible God”
(1:15); He is our cosmic Creator
and Coherer: “For by him all things
were created: things in heaven and
on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers
or authorities; all things were
created by him and for him.” (1:16)
1:17 adds, “In Him all things hold
together.” Jesus is tops in time and
turf: v15 describes Him as
“firstborn over all creation”; v17,
“He is before all things” (even
before time itself); v18, “he is the
beginning and the firstborn from
among the dead, so that in
everything he might have the
supremacy.”
Now the surprising thing – that a
being so sublime and supreme
should become our Transcendent
Trampled Reconciler. Notice how
the span of vv19-20 take one’s
breath away: “For God was pleased
to have all his fullness dwell in him,
and through him to reconcile to
himself all things, whether things
on earth or things in heaven, by
making peace through his blood,
shed on the cross.”
God the Father willed for His
perfect, exalted Son to become
the trash can for our sinfulness,
so we could be put right with
God. Doesn’t that just blow you
away? The idea’s echoed in v22,
“But now He has reconciled you by
Christ’s physical body through
death...”
Reconciliation is so precious.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s
parents disapproved so strongly of
her marriage to Robert that they
disowned her. Almost weekly,
Elizabeth wrote love letters to hermother and father, asking for areconciliation. They never oncereplied.
After 10 years of letter writing,
Elizabeth received a huge box in the
mail. She opened it. To her dismay
and heartbreak, the box contained
all of her letters to her parents. Not
one of them had ever been opened!
Today those love letters are
among the most beautiful in
classical English literature. Had her
parents opened and read only a few
of them, a reconciliation might have
come about.
The Bible is God’s letter of
reconciliation to us. What a treasure
that we can open and read it
thoroughly and often - and so come
to appreciate more and more how
the Transcendent One was trampled
to bring us back!
PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2010.From the Minister’s Study‘Regrettably all are capable of sinning’
YOU ARE WELCOME
9:45 a.m. Sunday School for all ages
10:30 a.m. - Sunday Morning Worship
Mid-week Bible Study
C H U R C H O F G O D ,ANDERS
O
N
,
I
N
D
I
A
N
A
Timeless Truths
For Today
308 Blyth Rd. E., Blyth
Pastor Les Cook ~ 519-523-4590
Blyth Community Church of God
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
Welcomes you to come
and worship with us
Trinity, Blyth
9:15 a.m.
519-523-9595
St. John's, Brussels
11:15 a.m.
519-887-6862
Sunday, January 17
Please join us for worship
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00am
Evening Service 7:30pm
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
Pastor John Kuperus
Hwy. 4, Blyth
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Blyth United Church
Office: 519-523-4224 Rev. Gary Clark
All Welcome
Sunday, January 17
Worship Service & Sunday School
at 11 a.m.
getlivingwater.org
Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848
Living Water
Christian Fellowship
10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School
at Blyth Public School,
corner of King & Mill
Tuesdays 7:30 pm - Wingham Bible Study
1st & 3rd Wednesdays 7:30 pm - Women at the Well
Fridays 7:30 pm - Youth Group
Evangelical Missionary Church
January 17: Col. 3:1-17
“Jesus
Wear”
Youre Invited
to come worship
with us
Sunday, January 17
Brussels Public School
at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Sunday School for children
4 to 11 years of age (mornings only)
Childcare provided for infants and toddlers
Coffee & cookies after the morning service
For additional details please contact:
Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173
Chris McMichael 519.482.1644
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
SUNDAY, JANUARY 17
Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available
519-887-9831
11:00 am - Sunday Morning Worship
- Sunday School
9:30 am - Sunday Belgrave Service
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Sandra Cable, Worship Leader
Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca
Sunday, January 17
Ethel United Church
Worship Service and Sunday School - 9:30 a.m.
Brussels United Church
Worship Service and Sunday School - 11:00 a.m.
Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship
REV. DAVID WOOD
119 John’s Ave.,Auburn
519-526-1131
www.huronchapel.org
9:30 a.m.
Sunday School & Small Groups
10:30 a.m.
Morning Worship Service
Jr. High Youth
Snow Camp
at Word of Life
in Owen Sound
January 29-31
for more info,
call the
church office!
See histories and
historic photographs on
the
Huron History section
of our website
www.northhuron.on.ca
T h e C itize n