Lead Pastor
Sermons by Wade Allen (Page 8)
We do not know everyone who knew the reason for Mary’s sudden departure to go stay with her relatives near Jerusalem, but we assume that Joseph was aware of what was going on. But what was happening with Joseph during these three months that Mary was gone? What was he thinking? How did he feel? I cannot answer these questions definitively, but we can deduce some aspects of the situation back in Nazareth based off of what we learn in Matthew 1. Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, had made a difficult decision for his life and future; and God chose to intervene by sending one of His messengers to inform Joseph of vital details about the situation before it was too late.
While waiting for her wedding day, an angel appeared to Mary to explain what was about to happen to her. When the angel spoke to her, he said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.” Mary was a recipient His grace. God pursued her with His grace! So today, we’re going to focus in on the interaction Mary had with the angel, Gabriel, and with her cousin, Elizabeth, from Luke 1. We will look specifically at Mary’s character and the struggles that she experienced—social, mental and emotional struggles—as she carried the Promised Messiah.
Before the world began… before mankind was created… before we ever chose to disobey God in sin… God had a plan to reconcile mankind to Himself. He knew that we would sin, and so, He provided a way to be made right in His presence. That way was, is, and always will be Jesus Christ. That was God’s Plan A and there was no Plan B! So, throughout the recorded history of the Bible, God chose to use people who were willing to yield their lives to Him to pronounce the truth of His Word concerning the coming Messiah—the One who would deliver His chosen people once and for all!
One of the great struggles for people in their spiritual journey is trying to understand why so many bad things happen in the world today. The prevailing thought is that if God is a god of love, then all these bad things should not be happening. But since they are happening, people often conclude one of two things: either (A) God doesn’t exist, or (B) God doesn’t love. Both of these conclusions are wrong because they ignore the foundational teachings from the Word of God. Evil exists in the world today because the first man and woman chose to disobey God. The consequences of their disobedience brought about not only physical and spiritual death, but also pain, suffering and difficulties in life. Without the consequences of sin, we would never look to Him for salvation and reconciliation—we would keep on sinning. Because of the gospel of reconciliation which brings salvation, we can experience joy in the midst of pain, suffering and difficulties. In our text today, the Apostle Paul wrote about some of these difficulties, but not in a negative or complaining manner—he wrote for our comfort and encouragement!
We are all ministers of the gospel of reconciliation. Each of us is responsible to do the work of the ministry. So, as we serve as His ministers, it is important that we demonstrate the love and character of Christ as we serve Him. This serves as proof of our relationship with the Lord. It is validation of our calling to the ministry of reconciliation. Our text today focuses on four ways that we are able to validate our call to ministry. We validate our call to ministry by removing barriers to the Gospel, by suffering for the Gospel, through spiritual growth and maturity, and by responding to situations in life with contentment.
As Paul begins this next section of Scripture, calling us to be responsible for the ministry of reconciliation, he does so by reminding us to “fear the Lord.” We should not look at this responsibility flippantly—rather, we should be serious about it and about living a life of obedience to God’s commands. It is in this framework that he sets out to motivate his readers to do this ministry. Our goal today is to look at six factors that should be present in our lives when it comes to our motivation for this ministry of reconciliation.
Just a little over two months ago, I had the honor of preaching my father’s funeral service, and our text today was the same text I used for that message. My dad was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and his memorial service was an amazing celebration of faith and family. It was a wonderful time of worship together. Of course, it was difficult emotionally, but we do not grieve as those who have no hope! My dad has now experienced the culmination of God’s promises of eternal life. What an amazing thing to think about!
In our message this morning, we’re going to explore the fourth chapter of Second Corinthians. In this chapter, Paul encourages believers to be the couriers of God’s promises to everyone who will receive this message of grace. In the first section, he shows himself and his companions as an example of how to do this work of ministry; and then, in the second section, he encourages us to keep on working for the Lord—even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
When it comes to our Christian walk, we want instant spiritual maturity. We want all our sinful desires to just magically disappear. We don’t understand why the war between the flesh and the spirit continues to rage inside of us. We struggle to see God’s plan at work in our lives as we flounder in mediocrity—mediocrity in our prayers, mediocrity in our Bible reading and study, mediocrity in witnessing and mediocrity in ridding ourselves of all the sin that weighs us down and trips us up. The problem is that there is nothing about spiritual growth and maturity that comes quickly. We need to think about discipleship more like a crock pot, not a microwave!
In our text today, we’re going to be introduced to the concept of the New Covenant—God’s promise to all mankind that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This new covenant can be summarized in the message of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). We will pick up where we left off last week in 2 Corinthians 2. Paul is still referring to the “stern letter” that he had written to the Corinthian believers. We learn from other passages that it was Paul’s disciple, Titus, who delivered the letter to them. Remember, Paul didn’t want to go there himself because he did not want his visit with them to be filled with conflict and difficulties. Titus was to go to Corinth, deal with the issue and then meet Paul in Troas, but as we’re about to discover, Titus never showed up in Troas and this worried Paul.