Saturday, November 26, 2011

Sermon – 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 – Generosity Produces Thanksgiving

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 – Generosity Produces Thanksgiving
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
Stewardship Sunday
Nov. 20, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we give thanks to God for all the blessings we have received. And I pray that this spirit of thanksgiving will be rooted in your hearts throughout this week. Please give thanks for all of your blessings as you gather with family and friends for a feast this Thanksgiving. All of you are invited to my wife's church in Princess Anne this Thursday at 11 when we will gather for worship and a traditional Thanksgiving Feast. Her church is Crossroads International Fellowship and is located at 11747 Somerset Ave. I hope to see you there. Let pray.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

I have learned a lot about farming over the last two years from the men at our Friday morning breakfast group. Each week I ask them what is happening on the area farms. Recently I have heard about combines and the harvest of corn. I now know that in order to harvest corn in the Fall you must plant it in the Spring. In fact you must plant it around the start of the baseball season so that it will pollinate before the heat of summer. And provided that there is just the right amount of rain, and the harmful nor’easters and hurricanes stay away a bountiful harvest can be expected.

According to the apostle Paul this is exactly how thanksgiving works. You must first plant the seeds of thanksgiving before you can harvest it. And this explains why some people are thankful on Thanksgiving Day while others find it very difficult to be thankful. Those who approach Thanksgiving with a spirit of thankfulness have planted seeds of thankfulness long before. And these seeds of thankfulness have been nurtured, weeded, watered and fertilized. This has allowed them to harvest thanksgiving just in time for this big celebration on Thursday. But sadly, others have failed to plant the seeds of thankfulness, or allowed them to be choked by weeds or burnt up in the sun or blown down in the wind and thus find no thankfulness to harvest at Thanksgiving.

Where do we find these seeds of thankfulness? You won't find them at Lowes or Walmart. They aren't in any seed catalog. The only place to find these seeds is in scripture. So lets turn to scripture and see if we can find out about the seeds of thankfulness that we need to plant to experience the harvest of thanksgiving.
2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” 10He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us 12for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth. Corinth is a wealthy trading center. The Apostle is writing them to raise money for the church in Jerusalem which is in trouble. Tensions are rising in Jerusalem as Christians are being persecuted. The Romans are concerned with maintaining order. The church desperately needs help so Paul is accumulating the resources he needs to help the mother church in Jerusalem.
Since Corinth is surrounded by a rich agricultural area he made his appeal to the Corinthians with an agricultural metaphor. Just as corn seeds have to be planted in the Spring for corn to be harvested in the Fall so too must the seeds of thankfulness be planted for thanksgiving to be harvested. And what are the seeds of thankfulness that must be planted. According to these Apostle the seeds which we must plant are called in Greek aploths This word has no single English equivalent. Modern translator usually translate it as “generosity”. But since it is crucial that we understand what it is that we plant in order to grow a bountiful harvest of thanksgiving lets take a closer look at what this word might mean.

Ordinarily, in our culture we do things expecting to get something in return. We work all week and expect a paycheck on Friday. We put money in the bank and expect to get it back with interest. We give to the church and expect a quality worship service and visits from the pastor. This quid pro quo is apparent even in nature. Isaac Newton observed that every action has an equal but opposite reaction. Every act of kindness comes with an expectation that it will be reciprocated.

But the Greek term aploths is the opposite of this. The seed of thankfulness consists of giving without the expectation of receiving something in return. There is no duplicity; rather we act with singleness, simplicity, sincerity, uprightness and frankness. It might be best described with the saying, “what you see is what you get.” Obviously generosity is a part of this. But aploths is much more. It is an attitude where you joyfully give away what you have expecting nothing in return.

This is the attitude that was present in the churches established by Paul. And that is why they were so successful adding new members. Their friends and neighbor saw the changes in their lives when they became Christian. People who would never give something for nothing suddenly changed when they joined the church. Christians were a people who gave without expecting any compensation. According to Paul this attitude of giving without receiving is the seed that grows into thanksgiving.

So how did Paul know this? And what caused the earliest Christians to have a gracious world view where they joyfully gave away what they had? The answers to these questions rests in the very character of God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ. You see God forgives. Our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus. This comes to us as a gift from God with no strings attached. God gives us salvation with no expectation of receiving anything in return. Aploths is a characteristic of God. And so we who receive so many blessings from God and have received the blessing of salvation without any obligation are motivated to give our blessings to others expecting nothing from them because we are created in the image of that God.

I recently saw a production of Dicken's A Christmas Carol at Salisbury Christian School. You know the story. Ebeneezer Scrooge is compulsive about never doing anything without getting something in return. He won't give to poor and needy. He won't give a borrower an extension on a loan. He won't give his assistant a day off on Christmas, because none of these things would benefit him. But God wanted Scrooge to think in a new way and sent three ghosts to talk with him. That night the Ghost of Christmas Past showed Scrooge how he had received so many gifts that required nothing from him. The Ghost of Christmas Present showed Scrooge how his stinginess adversely affected the people of his day. And the Ghost of Christmas Future showed Scrooge that loneliness and death would be the outcome of his stingyness. Scrooge learned that the only way to be thankful was if he gave without expectation of receiving anything in return.

Just imagine what would happen if suddenly all the Presbyterians in Pocomoke began doing things for others expecting nothing in return. What would people be saying about us? What would they be saying about the God we worship? We wouldn't have enough space in this church for all the people looking for what we have. Remember that each time you give without expecting something in return you are planting a seed of thankfulness. These seeds will grow, and you will harvest a great joy called thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Sermon – Matthew 25:1-13 - Excuses

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – Matthew 25:1-13 - Excuses
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
Stewardship Sunday
Nov. 13, 2011

Today is Stewardship Sunday. This is the day each year when people stay home from church. This is the day to skip the sermon and visit your grandchildren on the western shore, or see a show in New York, or catch some rockfish on the bay. And if by mistake you come to church on Stewardship Sunday then this is your warning to turn down your hearing aids or read the NFL predictions on your smart phone. No one ever wants to hear a money pitch from the pastor, and that's why we all dread Stewardship Sunday. But stewardship is important so let's begin with prayer.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

NIV Matthew 25:1 "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.
5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' 7 "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.8 The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'9 "'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'10 "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.11 "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' 12 "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' 13 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

We have a simple story about ten bride maids. They are waiting for the groom to come for the great wedding feast. Their lamps are lit and they wait patiently until he arrives. But for some reason the groom is delayed and the young women fall asleep. Late that night the groom finally arrives and the women awake finding their lamps almost out of olive oil. Some of them have brought extra oil and quickly refill their lamps. Others failed to bring extra oil so they leave to get some and miss the feast. The question I have been thinking about all week is, why did these bridesmaids not bring the extra oil? Why were they not prepared? What were their excuses? Maybe it went this way.

The first bridesmaid had married just a year ago. Her husband had a good job, but he lost it when the economy soured and his company downsized. They had to borrow some money from her parents to pay the rent on their small apartment. They had also maxed out their credit cards. This couple had been economizing on everything. So when it came time for her younger sister's wedding feast she decided not to bring extra oil for her lamp. She now regrets missing her sister's wedding feast realizing that a little oil would make no difference in her finances but would have allowed her to be where she was supposed to be with her sister and her wedding.

The second bridesmaid was a vendor of purple cloth. She made a good living because purple fabric was in high demand among upper class in the city. She had saved up a solid pile of silver for her retirement and was well positioned for the weak economy. She certainly didn't waste anything and figured that she didn't really need to take that extra olive oil. But when she awoke, saw her lamp almost out she begged the others for some of theirs, but sadly they didn't have enough for her too. Had she though about it in advance she would have realized that she should have brought enough oil for everyone. But she didn't, and so she missed the feast.

The third bridesmaid knew that she was just about to inherit some prime farmland. Her husband's brother was sick, and since he had no wife or children she and her husband would inherit his land. In a few months they were sure to be wealthy. But right now the budget was tight. She had plenty of olive oil in the pantry but decided not to bring any extra. She was angry and tired when the groom was late, and fell asleep. When she awoke she saw her lamp was almost out she remembered all the oil she had left back home. So she ran home as fast as she could, but by the time she returned the door was shut and she had missed the celebration.

The fourth bridesmaid was the groom's youngest sister. She was a student in the fifth grade. She was thrilled to be a bridesmaid and got up early to prepare. Her dress was perfect and her aunt helped her with her hair. When she heard that the groom was delayed she was determined to stay awake until he got there. But she quickly fell asleep. Late that night she awoke and found that her lamp was almost out of oil. She had forgotten to bring extra oil in all the preparations. So she ran to a friend's house nearby, but the friend wasn't home. There was no place she could think of where she could get more oil. So she sat down and cried, missing the feast.

The fifth bridesmaid was the bride's best friend. The two of them were active in their church and volunteered in its homeless ministry. Every Saturday morning they would go together to the local homeless shelter and cook breakfast. The also collected an offering of coats which they delivered to the shelter. This bridesmaid really looked forward to the wedding feast. She and the bride had planned out all the details. This was going to be a great celebration. But there was only one problem. She hadn't brought any extra oil. Her lamp was going out. What could she do? No one else had any extra oil. She lived too far away to go home. In was not safe to go looking for olive oil in the dark. And all she could do was to watch as the other bridesmaids accompanied the groom into the feast while she waited outside in the cold and dark.

Five bridesmaids and five excuses! Five very disappointed young women!

But this parable is not about bridesmaids. It is about us. The groom is Jesus, and the bridesmaids are the church waiting for his return. Some of us are prepared for the wait. We have whatever is needed to keep our lamps shining until Christ returns. Others of us are not prepared and our lamps may going out before this happens. This parable is a warning to all of us to be prepared and have sufficient resources for the wait.
What we have to do to be prepared is up to each of us to decide. In your prayer life and study of scripture God will speak to you about what you need to do to be prepared. For me it is to tithe. I give 10% of my income back to the church. Last winter, I must confess, that I couldn't do it given the high cost of heating oil. This bothered me a lot. So as soon as I could I caught up on my tithe and now try to give my 10% every month. It's not easy. I would love to put that 10% into retirement or better clothes or a nicer car, but I can't because I believe that God wants me to sacrifice and 10% is the least I should do.

I am not telling you what to do. But I am telling you to be prepared because you do not want to be shut out of the feast in heaven when Jesus returns. I do know that God has said repeatedly in scripture that He wants the church workers, the poor, the needy, the widows and the orphans to be cared for and have plenty to eat. So to be ready when Christ comes again you must take care of your church and those in need in our our community. And I urge to prayerfully ask God if a tithe is the way for you to do this.

And stay away from excuses: “I have already given enough through by taxes.” “Steward is not about money; I already do enough volunteer work.” “I have already maxed out my tax deductions for the year.” Excuses are just excuses they won't keep your lamps lit. But remember that Christ gave up his life for you. What will you do as you wait for him?

Lord Jesus Christ you have taught us to to love God and love our neighbor. Help us to use our resources in the most effective way to achieve both of these goals as we await your return. This we pray remembering your sacrifice for us. Amen.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Friday, November 11, 2011

Sermon – Revelation 7:9-27 - Heaven

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – Revelation 7:9-27 - Heaven
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
All Saints Sunday
Nov. 6, 2011

Today is the first Sunday of November and we are celebrating the Feast of All Saints. All Saints Day, November 1 each year, is the day we remember all the saints who have served our church in years past. Now that I live in the Dickinson Memorial Manse and have been noticing how ofter the name Dickinson appears at Pitts Creek church. There is a plaque in the back of the church asking us to remember William S. Dickinson who died in 1891 after serving as a “most devoted and beloved elder.” And I found an old offering plate, which we used on Reformation Sunday, that was given in memory of elder James T. Dickinson who died in 1866. These people and others who served this church so faithfully are in heaven. And so on this All Saints Day let's look at heaven from testimony in the Bible. But first let's pray.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Revelation 7:9 - 8:1 9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" 13 Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes-- who are they, and where did they come from?" 14 I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

One Sunday morning an elder came to me with a big smile on her face. She had visited her doctor that week and finally heard some good news. You see she had been suffering from stomach cancer and years of fear and pain as she underwent treatments. But now there was no sign of cancer, and although there was no guarantee that she was cured, at least the tests came back negative and she was feeling great. This thrilled the church because this elder was beloved. She attended everything we did with energy and enthusiasm. She usually had her camera and made sure fresh pictures were always properly arranged on the church bulletin board.

But her joy was not to last. A couple of months later I visited her in the hospital. The evening before she had experienced sharp pains in her stomach after dinner. She was rushed to the hospital where the doctors determined that the cancer had returned, this time to the lining around the stomach. This time there were no treatments. So my elder went home and with the assistance of her daughter and a hospice nurse she prepared for her death.

I visited her frequently during this time. What she wanted to talk about was heaven. She was certain that she would go to heaven. She was truly a woman of great faith. But what she really wanted to know from me was, What heaven is like? What would she find when she got there? This was a difficult question for me as a new pastor. But it did start me to begin thinking about what the Bible says heaven is like.

The church has always taught that when we die immediately the spirits of the faithful go off to be in the presence of God. We remain conscious and aware of what is happening. And we are blessed to be with God with no cares or concerns or diseases to bother us. We will find bliss and true happiness when we realize how much God loves us. We will experience the true joy of having our sins forgiven. We will be spiritually united with God, but this is not where our history will end. We still have one more phase in our existence to experience. The next place we go is to heaven.

Our scripture today tells us that we will enter heaven clothed in white robes. These are clothes we died in: the hospital gown covered in vomit, the tea shirt and jeans covered in blood after the car wreck, the wet bathing suit after the drowning. But our clothes will be clean having been washed in the blood of Jesus. So in heaven we will have bodies to wear the clothes. We will have noses that smell the incense , the animals, and the blood of the lamb. We will have ears that hear the voices of the elders, the angels singing “Holy, holy holy”, the harps, the trumpets, and the prayers in every language on earth. We will feel the shaking of the earth, the palm branches in our hands, the shade of the tent shielding us from the scorching sun, and the satisfaction of having plenty to eat. We will have tongues that taste our own tears and the cool spring living water. And we will have eyes to see the glory of heaven, God sitting on a throne, his Son to his right, the 144000 children of Israel, the 24 elders, the 7 blazing lamps, the four horses and their riders, the sun turning black, the moon turning red and the stars falling from the sky. All five of our senses will be engaged as we encounter heaven. And so in heaven we will not be disembodied spirits. Rather we will have bodies, our own bodies, resurrected from the dead and now alive, in heaven with God.

In heaven we will participate in nothing less than a new creation of God. Isaiah told us “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind”. (Isaiah 65:17). The new heaven and the new earth constitute a renewal of the Cosmos. In it God's creation is complete, and when creation is at last finish God will come to earth to live. Thus heaven is not some spiritual realm far away. Heaven is right here. Our world is restored and renewed by God. Earth becomes holy and a suitable place for God to dwell.

But notice that in heaven we are not alone. We are part of a group so large no one can count. Heaven is therefore a place of fellowship with peace, harmony, love and righteousness. We return to the Garden of Eden where we live in harmonious relations with each other and our God. And in heaven we will be constantly glorified by being in the presence of God . The Spirit will bring us into perfect conformity with Christ, sin will be abolished. We will praise God continually joining people from all over the world in worship. The Spirit will mold us into one great choir that will glorify God. And in Jesus Christ God will glorify us. And thus we participate in the glory shared by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Today we are in worship. The bread and wine is on the table. We have sung Holy Holy Holy. The Apostle Paul says , “Now we see but a poor reflection; then we will see face to face.” (1 Cor. 13:12) So our worship today is just a poor reflection of what we will experience one day in heaven in our new glorified resurrected bodies where we will live with God in God's creation forever. But what we do in worship today prepares us for this future. It is here in worship that we learn how to pray, sing praises God, and live in conformity with Christ. Worship is the training ground for heaven. So we remember the saints we have known in years past, and we can rejoice because they are with God and will one day be reunited with us in heaven.

Holy God, Lord of life and death, you made us in your image and hold us in your care. We thank you for your saints, for the gifts they shared with our church, and for the love and mercy they received from you and gave to us. Especially we praise you for your love in Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the grave to free us from evil, and give us life eternal. Grant that when our time on earth is ended, we may be united with all the saints in the joys of your eternal home, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Adapted from The Book of Common Worship p.907)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Friday, November 4, 2011

Sermon – King James Bible - 1611-2011

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – 1611-2011 – King James Bible
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
Reformation Sunday
October 30, 2011

Today is Reformation Sunday. This is the day each year when we celebrate our Reformed heritage rooted in the work of John Calvin and others in the 16th century Protestant Reformation of the church. 2011 is the four hundredth anniversary of the publishing of the first authorized English language translation of the Bible, the King James Version. And so today we will celebrate the reformers who risked their lives to make an English translation possible. But first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

The year was 1382. The government of King Richard II of England was running a deficit. They needed more revenue. So the King imposed a new tax, a flat tax. Everyone had to send in one shilling. This was a hated tax and started a peasant rebellion. The people asked their priests what the Bible had to say about all of this. But the priests didn't know. The Bibles in their churches were written in Latin which few priests could read. The Bishops told the priest and the people to pay the tax because whatever the king did was God's will.
But there was a man in England who argued intensively that the Bible should be translated into English so that anyone in his native country could read it for themselves and know what God had to say. His name was John Wycliff. Wycliff's ideas were dangerous to the king and the church hierarchy because it would break the monopoly they held in interpreting scripture. The king declared translating the Bible into English a crime, but Wycliff and others cited Divine Law and translated the Latin Bible into English.

In 1450 a German blacksmith has an idea. What if we could use movable metal type to print books? Until then printing required that each page be carved into a block of wood, a time consuming and expensive process. But Johannes Gutenberg thought that movable metal type would make printing far more economical. He developed a permanent ink made from varnish and lamp soot and found that this bonded well with paper. He also found that the paper could be pressed on the metal type covered with ink with a screw mechanism similar to what was used in the production of paper. Gutenberg had invented the printing press and began printing Bibles to pay off his debts.

The church found a use for this new invention and began printing indulgences which could be sold to gullible people as tickets to heaven. This upset a German Monk whose writings were printed and distributed all over Europe. The year was 1510 and Protestant Reformation had begun as Martin Luther began publishing his ideas for all to read. He even translated the Bible into German from its original languages, a book which became a best seller. 

 Luther's work had a powerful impact on a English scholar named William Tyndale.
Tyndale had studied Greek and Hebrew at Cambridge and was interested in translating the Bible from these original languages into English. Neither Oxford nor Cambridge had any interest in translating scripture into English, but Tyndale, influenced by Luther, wanted everyone to be able to read the Bible. So he went to Germany and translated the Bible from its original languages into English. In 1526 Tyndale's English Bible was printed in Germany and smuggled into England.

But the King of England and his church were not happy. Tyndale saw translation as a literary function; he wanted the translation to reflect the original meaning of the author as much as possible. So he translated the Greek word presbyteros as “elder” rather than the word “priest” as the church had taught. He also translated the Greek word ekklesia as “congregation” rather than “church”. This satisfied the protestants who saw the church as a assembly of people or congregation led by the elders. But the English church saw this as a way of undermining the authority of the institutional church and its bishops. So the church attempted to suppress Tyndale translation, but it was so popular in England that the smugglers could not be stopped.

By 1535 the English church realized that an English translation was needed that was free of the problems they saw in the Tyndale translation. Henry VIII had separated the Church of England from Rome and it needed an English Bible. So the church hired Miles Coverdale to put together a new English Bible. What Coverdale did was to put together various translations and correct them to conform to the traditional teachings of the church. With the approval of the church and the king a copy of “The Great Bible” was placed in the pulpit of every church in England.

In 1560 John Calvin was established in Geneva where he had started a school for Reformed Theology. A group of pilgrims arrived from England and an English congregation was started in a French church. John Knox arrived from Scotland as their pastor and they needed an English Bible. William Whittingham developed a new translation with prefaces before each chapter and margin notes to explain difficult passages. The new Geneva Bible was printed cheaply and in a smaller size for family use. It was an instant best seller sweeping across England. Even William Shakespeare quoted from it in his plays. And when James I came from Protestant Scotland as the new King of England many thought that the Geneva Bible would become the official Bible of the Church of England.

But James I had a passionate dislike of the Geneva Bible. He was upset with those margin notes. For example the Geneva Bible's treatment of Daniel 6. You will remember that I talked about Daniel 6 just last week. King Darius issued a decree that everyone should pray only to him for 30 days. Daniel prayed to God and was thrown into the lion's den. Daniel then said that he had been saved from the lion's mouth because he had obeyed the command of God. The Geneva Bible margin note pointed out that God had approved Daniels disobedience of the King's decree because the king did not act within the will of God. This infuriated King James who did not want the English church to have a Bible that said it was ok to disobey the king. James believed that the king was ordained by God with the divine right to rule. So he initiated a process to produce a new translation from the original languages, consistent with the traditional teachings of the church, that would be free from those annoying margin notes of the Geneva Bible. The King James authorized translation of the Bible was begun. And in 1611 the first King James Version of the Bible came off the presses of the King's printer.

The new version fell flat. People preferred the Geneva Bible. The king granted a monopoly to the printers of the King James Version and banned the Geneva Bible. But it continued to be printed in the Netherlands and smuggled copies were still preferred by the people of England. But within a generation, as the economic benefits of the publishing monopoly took hold, the King James Version eventually became the translation everyone used.

When settlers came to Jamestown in 1607 and later to banks of the Pocomoke River they came escaping religious persecution in England. They were intensely religious and brought with them their Geneva Bibles. The Geneva Bible and margin notes had allowed them to see the hand of providence guiding them to a promised land. But England controlled the importation of books into colonial America. This monopoly ensured that only the King James Version would be available to the American colonist and so the King James Version became the American Bible.

In 1769 Robert Aitken came from Scotland and established a printing shop in Philadelphia. By 1777 he was printing the King James Version of the Bible. Congress approved Aitken's freedom to print Bibles in 1782. Aitken's decision to print the King James Version ensured that it would be the preferred Bible of the new country.

The King James Version remained our preferred English translation until World War II when rival translations such as the Revised Standard Version became available. Today there are many quality modern translations. But we still love the majesty of the language of the King James Version. Listen as I conclude with the King James Version's rendering of Psalm 23.