Sermon – Isaiah 65:17-25 – New Heaven and Earth

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Isaiah 65:17-25 – New Heaven and Earth

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

November 13, 2016

This week the American people elected a new president. New people will be going to Washington in leadership positions for the new Trump administration. We need to keep our nation's new leaders in our prayers. We must also must turn to scripture and ask God for a vision of what God wants our country to look like. God has told us what he would like to see in a new earth. And God has pledged that the spiritual world in heaven will also be changed to accommodate what he wants done on earth. We see God's vision of a new earth and a new heaven from the Book of Isaiah. We will get to this, 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 Book of Isaiah is a composite work from different authors writing at different times and different contexts. But it is all consistent with the work of the Prophet Isaiah, Son of Amoz, who lived in the eighth century before Christ. The final eleven chapters of the book were written to the exiles from Judah living in Babylon in middle of the sixth century BC.

God was about to do a new thing. He was about to use Cyrus, King of Persia, to save his people. Cyrus saved the people of God by defeating the Babylonians and allowing them to return to Judah and Jerusalem to rebuild the homes and farms and city and lives. But they would no longer by an independent kingdom. Rather they were now a province in the great Persian Empire.

God has swept away the old nation because it had not followed him. And now God is ready to reveal his vision for the new country. God wanted his people to remember this vision as they rebuilt their nation. This vision also inspired John, the author of Revelation, to see a new creation of heaven and earth when Jesus returns. I think the God's vision of the new earth and new heaven should inspire us as we work to make America a better place, because our mission as Christians is to implements God's vision of a new earth here and now. And so we offer to our nation God's vision from the Book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 65: 17 “See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.

God's vision is that the new earth would be a place of forgiveness. Nothing you have done in the past will matter any more. When you enter into God's new kingdom all your sins are forgiven. And your are free to experience great joy. This part of the new creation is already available for us. It has been available since Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection. If we turn toward Christ and confess our sin, guilt and shame are instantly removed and we experience great joy and delight.

In God's vision we have some specific tasks we can work on to make joy and delight possible. Listen to the first.

20 “Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred
will be considered accursed.

In God's new earth the most vulnerable are cared for. Until a century ago the biggest problem facing children was death. Few children lived to be five years old. Today, most children live into adulthood as a result of blessing we have received from God. This brings about great joy and delight. But problems remain. Today, many children grow up in poverty. Their parents lack stable employment. They have to move from town to town looking for work. Some are homeless. God's vision is that they will be care for.

To do this I ask that you bring non-perishable food and paper supplies to church for our Thanksgiving service next week. You will have an opportunity to bring these thing forward during worship. Also you may bring them to the community thanksgiving service at Ocean City Baptist Church next Sunday at 7pm. These gifts will be given to the cold weather shelter which cares for the most vulnerable people and families in our city on the coldest of days.

Also in God's vision, the elderly are cared for. It used to be that few people ever lived into their fifties. But today God has blessed us so that we can live much longer. Some have said that the first person to live to be 150 is already alive today. Our seniors experience great joy and delight, but some problems remain. Many seniors are lonely because their families live far away. They feel isolated and alone. That is why it is so important to visit our elders. I call my Dad every week and try to visit him each month. Remember your parent, aunts and uncles. Visit them as often as you can. And keep them in your prayers.

Let's keep looking at God's vision for a new earth.

21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the work of their hands.

23 They will not labor in vain,
nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.

In the ancient world people feared losing their land. An army might show up at any time, kill your family, and begin living in your home and farming your farm. Thankfully, God has blessed us in American with stable property right. No one can take our property away from us. And this gives us great comfort and security. But some people do not have housing security. We see many young families moving in Ocean City in November when the rents drop to affordable levels. But when they get here they find few opportunities for employment. Without consistent work they get behind on rent and utility bills and face eviction. This church generously supports the Ocean City Crises Coalition, which helps people when they fall behind paying their bills. I urge your to continue your support to them, and find new ways to help people find employment and affordable housing. Let's go back to God's vision for a new earth.

24 Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.

This is the most important part of God's vision of a new earth. God will be in it with us. God will hear our prayers. This is the promise of the Holy Spirit in us to know what we need and take our needs to the Father. This is a great blessing because it means that in the new earth a relationship with Jesus is possible. This relationship is the source of our great joy and delight. So if you haven't yet accepted Jesus as Lord, and invited the Holy Spirit into your hearts please see me and I wii help you pray for these thing and receive all of God's blessings.

Once the Holy Spirit is in your heart and you have a relationship with Jesus you will become God's new creation. You will become a new person, transformed into what God created you to be. A new you is what the new earth is all about. And the new you will experience great joy and delight. Here is how Isaiah describes it.

25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

And so the new earth is a place of peace. People stop fighting with other. Wars come to an end. Our new President Trump cannot make this happen. The government can never bring all conflict to a end. The best it can do is to try to protect us from violence. But God can bring this about. For that to happen the nation must turn to God in prayer. We will do this here at First Presbyterian Church. I urge you and your family to pray for this nation. Get together with others and pray for America. As more and more people pray for the nation we will discover peace, joy and delight.

The vision of God is a world where the needs of the must vulnerable children and seniors are met. It is a world where people can find jobs and live in housing they can afford. It comes comes about as the nation turns to God in prayer. In this new earth we will live in peace and be filled with joy and delight. Let's do it.

Father in heaven we ask for a recreation of our world. Help us to be a world where the vulnerable are cared for, all receive economic justice, and violence is no more. Help us to build this world full of joy and delight. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon - Habakkuk – Righteousness by Faith

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon - Habakkuk – Righteousness by Faith

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

November 6, 2016

This morning we turn to the Prophet Habakkuk. We don't know much about Habakkuk, but we do have an interesting story about him from rabbinic tradition. So listen to this story from Bel and the Dragon 1:33-39

33 Now the prophet Habakkuk was in Judea; he had made a stew and had broken bread into a bowl, and was going into the field to take it to the reapers. 34 But the angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk, “Take the food that you have to Babylon, to Daniel, in the lions’ den.” 35 Habakkuk said, “Sir, I have never seen Babylon, and I know nothing about the den.” 36 Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown of his head and carried him by his hair; with the speed of the wind[d] he set him down in Babylon, right over the den.

37 Then Habakkuk shouted, “Daniel, Daniel! Take the food that God has sent you.” 38 Daniel said, “You have remembered me, O God, and have not forsaken those who love you.” 39 So Daniel got up and ate. And the angel of God immediately returned Habakkuk to his own place.

So Habakkuk seems to be a good person and useful to God. He must have been a pretty good cook. Let's pray and then we will hear what he has to say.

“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)

Habakkuk was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah. So he clearly saw the moral decay of Judah and Jerusalem as it abandoned God's law. He also clearly saw the threat Babylon posed to all the nations in the region. But that is where the similarity with Jeremiah stopped. Jeremiah was an outsider who was called and empowered by God to proclaim a word of warning to the nations. Habakkuk was not an outsider. He was an insider, a temple musician and song writer. He was probably a Levite, an important church leader. And rather than God giving him a warning for the people, Habakkuk, like a priest, takes the people's concern to God in prayer. He asked God why he allowed this moral decay to continue. Listen to his prayer.

Habakkuk 1:2-4

2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.

So from his position of leadership, Habakkuk has seen corruption at all levels of the government and temple leadership. God's law is ignored. People coming to court for justice are turned away with no satisfaction. The Government is engaging in violence against their own people. Official corruption has run amok. And the only place Habakkuk can turn is to God. But when he turns to God it is with a complaint. “2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?”

This is a prayer I have often prayed. I have prayed for many things in my life. Sometimes God answers quickly. But often my prayers seem to go unanswered. I have prayed for healing and watched people die. I have prayed for jobs, and watch people go through unemployment. I have prayed for reconciliation, and watched people go through divorse. But I keep praying and praying and hoping that God will hear my prayers and will act quickly.

Habakkuk is in the same the boat. He has been praying to God over and over to change the situation Judah is in before it is too late. He prays over and over for divine intervention. But with each prayer Habakkuk wonders when God will act. But after today's prayer, God is ready to deal with Habakkuk’s complaint. And here is God's answer.

5 “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;9     they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.10 They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

So God has told Habakkuk exactly what he is going to do. God is going to let Babylon to sweep away the corrupt government of Judah. But Habakkuk was not satisfied with this answer and he prayed again.

12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?
    My God, my Holy One, you[c] will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
    he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?

Habakkuk 2

1 I will stand at my watch
    and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.[a]

So Habakkuk is not satisfied with God's answer that he is sending the Babylonians to destroy them. Habakkuk wants to know why God has allowed this corruption to go on and on. Why didn't God act to solve these problems long ago before they got so bad that destruction was the only remedy? I don't know about you, but I have certainly prayed like this. I have been angry with God. Sometimes I want an explanation. Sometimes I need to know why God letting bad things happen. Habakkuk expressed this complaint to God and got an answer. Here it is.

2 Then the Lord replied:

“Write down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald[b] may run with it.3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it[c] will certainly come
    and will not delay.

4 “See, the enemy is puffed up;
    his desires are not upright—
    but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness[d]—

So God's answer to Habakkuk’s complaint that God did not act sooner to rid evil from the world was because evil exists because people desire it. Evil so permeates our hearts, and is so much a part of who we are, that we really have no choice but to be evil. We are totally depraved, unable to do good even if we wanted to, which of course we do not. This situation was caused by Adam and Eve's disobedience. Original sin so stains us that we are incapable of desiring or doing good. This was the problem in Jerusalem. The people had abandoned God and their own deprived natures were all that was left. So wickedness was the result. God didn't cause the wickedness; we did.

This is the situation we find ourselves in today. As people in our country abandon God, his law and his church the only thing we are left with is our own deprived natures. We see this in our current election. Both candidates are stained by sin. One Candidate and the other's husband have treated women atrociously. One candidate is being investigated by the FBI for corruption. And Christians are crying out “How long will this go on?” to Jesus

Habakkuk cried out God. And God responded to Habakkuk, “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.”

By Jesus' time people had interpreted God's answer to Habakkuk to mean that by being faithful to God's law a person becomes righteous. So they held people to high personal standards of obedience. Jesus had numerous interactions with people who demanded strict adherence to the law. The Apostle Paul was trained as a pharisee and had first hand experience trying to get people to be righteous by obeying the law. But Paul saw that this didn't work because people were so depraved that they neither did nor desired to the good. They were all stained by original sin, and thus condemned by their nature as evil. Advocating faithful adherence to the law did not bring about righteousness among people totally depraved.

But God revealed to Paul what he really meant when he told Habakkuk “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” God told Paul that the righteous will live by faith in Jesus Christ. That was God's answer. The answer to total depravity, our inability to be righteous as a result of original sin, is not by faithfully keeping God's law. That doesn't work. The answer to depravity, is to have faith in Jesus Christ.

It works this way. God makes faith available to you through his Holy Spirit. You can accept it or reject it. If you accept it the Holy Spirit begin the lifelong process in you of purging the stain of original sin from your heart. You are forgiven for the sins you have committed, You make Jesus your Lord. And you are free from slavery to sin. This frees you to live the life you were created to live as a righteous person. So, righteousness comes from the faith in Jesus Christ you received from the Holy Spirit.

So what is God's solution to evil in the world? We have been praying to God “How long will you let evil continue?” And God's answer is that evil will continue until all people on earth are made righteous by the saving faith in Jesus Christ. So if you want to make the world a better place, the only way is to help people receive faith in Jesus Christ. Here is what you do: Talk to people about Jesus, and demonstrate Jesus' love in your actions. Help people to see the blessing from God that our offered. And urged them to respond positively when the Spirit comes with the gift of faith. As more and more people accept Jesus as Lord and receive the Holy Spirit in their hearts, our nation will become more and more righteous.

Just as Habakkuk was lifted up by God to provide life sustaining food to Daniel in lion's den, so too does the Prophet Habakkuk provide us with the life sustaining food of the good news that righteousness comes from faith, in Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

How long, Lord Jesus, will you allow our nation to become more and more depraved. Help us, as your church, to bring your your love to people who don't know you, or have abandoned you. Help us to be your presence in the world through what we say and do. Use us and empower us to bring people to faith in you. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.

Sermon - John Knox

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon John Knox

October 23, 2016

Today is Reformation Sunday, the day we remember the 16th Century reformers who tried to pull the medieval church back to biblical practices and doctrines. We will be looking at the protestant reformation in Scotland and the founder of the Presbyterian church, John Knox. Let's begin with prayer.

"O Lord, infinite in mercy, if thou shalt punish, make not consummation, but cut away the proud and luxuriant branches which bear no fruit: and preserve the commonwealth of such as give succour and harbour to thy contemned messengers, which long have suffered exile in deserts. And let thy kingdom shortly come, that sin may be ended, death devoured, thy enemies confounded; that we thy people, by thy majesty delivered, may obtain everlasting joy and felicity, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, to whom be all honour and praise, for ever. Amen.”¹

On December 8, 1542 James V of Scotland had a daughter and named her Mary. Six days later James died and the baby girl became Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, became the ruler of Scotland. And Scotland effectively became a colony of France.

During the reign of Mary of Guise, the protestant reformation came to Scotland through a fiery preacher name George Wishart. Wishart preached throughout the county that the church should change. It had fallen into error and must repent. But Cardinal Beaton, leader of the Catholic church in Scotland, was angry at what Wishart was preaching. He ordered Wishart to come to St. Andrews Castle where Wishart was burned to death, martyred for his faith. This angered many of the Scottish noblemen. They stormed St. Andrews Castle and assassinated the cardinal.

Wishart had been accompanied on his missionary journeys by an assistant, a young man, a theology graduate from St. Andrews, and a tutor for young children. This assistant's name was John Knox. The noblemen in St. Andrews castle selected John Knox to lead the reformation in Scotland after the death of Wishart. But Knox's ministry at St. Andrews did not last very long. The French fleet soon arrived in the harbor and laid siege on the castle. Knox was captured and became a galley slave in one of the King's ships.

Knox was not a slave for very long. The protestant king of England, Edward VI, negotiated Knox's release and installed him as the pastor of a church in the northern part of England and named Knox as his personal chaplain. It was there that Knox battled the Church of England. He was concerned that the Church of England had left the altars in their churches and continued the practice of kneeling during communion. The medieval church had taught that Jesus was sacrificed every time a priest broke the bread. The bread and wine on the altar were the sacrificed body and blood of Christ they said. People were told to kneel and worship Christ's body broken they placed on the altar. But the protestant reformers said that this was nonsense. Christ's sacrifice happened only once, on the cross. The bread and wine were symbols of his sacrifice, not Christ's actual body and blood. If there was no sacrifice then there was no need for an altar and kneeling. So Knox argued that the altars should be removed and replaced by ordinary tables, supper tables for the Lord's Supper. And he said, we should not kneel for communion, but gather around the table the way the disciples did for Jesus' last supper. So Knox argued that the Church of England should replace altars with tables and stop the practice of kneeling during communion.

Knox's conflict with the Church of England did not last very long. Edward VI died and was replaced by his Catholic half sister, Mary, who became Queen Mary I of England. Mary wanted to purge protestant influence from the Church of England. The protestants fled for their lives calling her Bloody Mary.

A group of protestant pilgrims arrived in Geneva where John Calvin was teaching. Knox arrived and established an English language church. Worship in this church was very simple. It would start with a prayer of confession. Then scripture would be read, both the Old and New Testaments. Then the pastor would explain the meaning of the scripture passages and how it could be applied in their lives. The congregation would then respond with a confession of faith, prayers and tithes. They would sing Psalms together. The worship service would end with the pastor giving a benediction. With minor changes this is how we worship today in Presbyterian churches. Today's worship service is drawn from the Directory of Worship Knox developed for the Geneva church.

While in Geneva, Knox wrote a book highly critical of Mary of Guise in Scotland and Mary I of England. It was called The first blast of the trumpet against the monstruous regiment of women. Unfortunately for Knox, Mary I of England died as the book was being published. Her half sister, the protestant Elizabeth I, was very angry with him about the book.

In 1559 John Knox return to Edinburgh, Scotland. He was declared an outlaw by Mary of Guise and ordered to appear in Stirling Castle. The protestants gathered in the walled city of Perth with Knox as their leader. Reinforcements came from neighboring countries. Mary of Guise was removed from power in October 1559. She died in July 1560 paving the way for a treaty between England and France that removed all French influence over Scotland. Scotland had won it's independence and was free to become a protestant nation.

In August of 1560 the Scottish Parliament met to design a new nation. John Knox wanted them to adopt a reformed statement of faith that would unify the nation and it's church. Knox and five other protestants began work on a Confession of Faith for their approval. They finished their work in just four days and Knox presented it to the assembly. The Scots Confession became the founding document for the new Church of Scotland.

In the Scots Confession they affirmed their beliefs. They believed in our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They believed that men and women are stained by original sin and thus in need of a mediator. They believed that Jesus is that mediator for all who were chosen by God before he laid the foundations of the world. They believed that the church has existed since Adam and is characterized by the preaching of the Word of God, the proper administration of the sacraments of Baptism and The Lord's Supper, and the enforcement of ecclesiastical discipline. And they believed that men and women should respond to the blessings they receive from God with good works of their own.

With the adoption of The Scots Confession, the Church of Scotland was formed with a Presbyterian form of government. The church would be governed not by a Pope or King. Rather it would be governed by elders or presbyters meeting in councils. To prevent error inherent in all human councils, the councils of the church would be led by Jesus Christ, governed by the Word of God and disciplined by higher councils.

This is the structure of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. We have no bishops or Pope or king. Rather we are governed by councils. At this church we are governed by a council called the Session, which consists of elders elected by God and the congregation. Our session elects elders as commissioners to a higher council, the presbytery. Above the presbytery is the synod. And above the synod is the General Assembly. At each level the councils are governed by the Word of God, and they discipline the councils beneath.

In 1561 Mary, Queen of Scots, returned to Scotland from France. She declared that nothing would change. Even though she still practiced her Roman Catholicism the Presbyterians could continue to worship as they chose. Many Scottish nobles accepted her offer. But John Knox was not convinced. He continued to preach against the monarchy.

So Queen Mary invited Knox to several meetings. They discussed whether Christians could live under a queen or not. They decided that Christians could live under a monarch, like Paul lived under Nero, provided that the monarch not exceed the law of God. They agreed that if Knox and the Queen had a disagreement that would discuss it privately not in public. And Mary agreed with Knox that catholic priests should be prosecuted when they violated the law. Their most dramatic meeting came after Knox had preached against the Queen's upcoming marriage. Not even her tears could convince Knox that this marriage was good for Scotland. The Queen was reported to have said, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.” ²

By the middle of the 1560s Scotland had descended into civil war. Knox fled and completed a book called “The History of the Reformation in Scotland”. Knox returned to Edinburgh in 1572. He continued to preach but had become quite feeble. On November 24, 1572 Knox asked his wife to read the Bible out loud for him. She was reading from First Corinthians as John Knox went to be with his Lord.

And so we celebrate the life of John Knox, a Protestant reformer and founder of the Presbyterian church. Let us pray.

“O LORD, strengthen our faith; kindle it more in ferventness and love towards thee, and our neighbours, for thy sake. Suffer us not, most dear Father, to receive thy word any more in vain; but grant us always the assistance of thy grace and Holy Spirit, that in heart, word, and deed, we may sanctify and do worship to thy name. Amen.” ³

1http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/prayertr.htm

2http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/give-me-scotland-or-i-die/

3http://creedorchaos.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/a-godly-prayer-to-be-said-at-all-times-from-john-knox-1556/