Can We Skip the Hard Stuff?

Good afternoon, everyone. Good to be with you here in Indianapolis once again, and they have the opportunity to speak to you. I drew the short straw of the faculty members to come with the ABC choir this year over here, and so they had to twist my arm to come back home. But this is the first time I've heard them do their full program. They've done a very good job, come along quite well. It's a smaller group of students that we have this year, but they put out a pretty good sound, I think, and it's been a pleasure to work with them as one of the faculty members this year. I just finished up my last time with them this past week and gave them a final exam on the book of Acts. So I'm done teaching. Mr. McLean mentioned that I have a lot of responsibilities, not really anymore. I'm a month away from retirement and I don't even have an office in the building anymore. I left that about a month ago, and I've been working from home and winding it down. And so, about a month, I will retire from the full-time employment of the church. I still have things to do and I'm still going to teach at ABC and work on—I have a couple of years left on my council term, so I'll still be involved. And if anything else comes up, we'll see what we will do. We had a consultant come and work with the council and the administration recent months on our strategic plan, Michael Wilkinson, who's going to be addressing the ministry next week at the general conference meeting. Mr. Wilkinson himself has retired, but he doesn't call it retirement. He calls it preferment. And so I've adopted his term for what I'm entering into, and I'll do what I prefer to do. And if I don't prefer to do it, I won't do it. So I kind of like that term, and I think that's pretty good. So I'll do a number of things. One of the things I'm going to do is just settle on my back porch for a while and look at the woods and just kind of decompress. Before I get started on my sermon, I really want to take the opportunity to comment, as we all know, this past week, one of our dear members here, Freda Carlson, died. And when I saw that, heard that, it just really struck me at home. The Carlson family were quiet pillars, quiet pillars of this congregation. Going back for many, many years, I first met them in 1990 when we moved here in the Indianapolis South congregation. Brian did the sound, and Freda did a lot of other things. The girls were running around the cute, cute as a buttons, and watched them grow up. And with the beginning of the United Church of God here, they continued to work and just be key parts of the congregation. And Freda was our first secretary of the board and just did an exemplary job through the years and Brian serving as well. And the girls grew into fine ladies with their families now. And to see that happen untimely, unexpected, was just a loss for the congregation. And I know that you will be praying for the family, for everyone involved, and the arrangements that they have to make and move on with life, precious in the sight of God or the death of His saints. And it was a very, I will say Carlson family, some of the finest people I've ever known and served in the church. And Freda was just a diligent servant. So we will miss her, but we will look forward to the time we will see her again in the resurrection. And our prayers are certainly with the family at this time.

Wouldn't it be great if we could go straight to the kingdom of God at baptism? Go straight to the kingdom and skip all the hard stuff. We can't. We can't skip the overcoming. We can't skip the resistance to sin and all the stuff of the world and life that is there. We don't and we can't.

In Christ's last prayer in John 17, he had a long prayer. And one of the things that he said regarding his disciples was to ask the Father to keep those of us who would be in the world and that we would be sanctified by the truth. And so he knew that we weren't going to be removed from the world, even as he went through that suffering of his final hours of this physical life.

But he wanted us to be protected and he did pray for the disciples and all who would come to be in yet the world. And it's almost as if we are protected by knowing and observing truth as a part of our life. And the truth of God, the truth of the Bible, the truth of God's Word and his plan is all-encompassing. And God has given to his people a wonderful revelation in this age and in this time to understand his purpose and his plan. And one of those purposes and one of those truths is indeed that we must overcome and we must live righteously in this present world. If you will, please turn over to Revelation 3.

I want to go to the last of the messages to the seven congregations that are addressed in the first chapters here of Revelation and look at the message to the church at Laodicea briefly, which is just a part of it here. I'm not going to expound the whole message to the church at Laodicea, but I want to bring it to a point. In verse 18, where Jesus says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesab that you may see.

A unique message to the church with many implications both in the first century setting and in the setting of the 21st century in our current life. He goes on, and he says, As many as I love and rebuke, I chase and therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him, dine with him, and he with me.

And then the same message that all the other six congregations had is given to the church of Laodicea in verse 21. To him who overcomes, every congregation here had that message. To him who overcomes. That's what I said here as I opened. We have to overcome. We don't go straight to the kingdom. And that's part of the hard stuff, isn't it? Living a life of resistance to the world, resistance to the sin, overcoming sin, and overcoming. And Jesus says, To him that overcomes, I will grant to set with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

And to the congregation at Laodicea, it is a unique part of the message here. To be given the chance to set with Christ on his throne. Now that particular part of that promise is not new here. It is mentioned in other places in the New Testament in terms of reigning with Christ for a thousand years, preparing to reign with Christ on his throne. Jesus taught this to his disciples. He taught this as part of his message and the Gospel. When we look at this, and we look at our part in this because this is where we have to focus, it does take focus.

It takes concentrated thinking about what it means to overcome. And to look at this message as coming direct from Jesus himself, a direct message to his church, given to the church all through time. Because it is given to all of the congregations here. And for a disciple in the first century and a disciple in the 21st century, today it is the same admonition. There are changes that we have to make. There are things that we have to do as part of our covenant with God, what we agree to by taking on the blood of Christ.

And we don't go straight to the Kingdom. We don't go straight to heaven at death either, that's not taught in Scripture. But we will live a life, many years in some cases for us, until we die hopefully in the faith sealed, our crown awaiting. But while we are in the flesh, it takes a certain focus. God has done his part by laying out that very purpose of life in and through Jesus Christ.

And part of the truth that God has given us in this age that is unique, and it is a revelation more I live and see it, the more I believe it, that God has opened our minds, those of us who are first friends, to understand that purpose that is being worked out on this earth. And that purpose is outlined as a blueprint through the Holy Days, which we observe. The announcements talked about Pentecost coming up. I'd like to talk a little bit about Pentecost here in my time with you this afternoon. It is the next Holy Day.

In a few weeks we will be observing that. The message and the meaning of Pentecost is profound as it is taught in Scripture. We first are introduced to it back in Leviticus chapter 23, when the day is brought into our meaning. Let's go ahead and turn back there. Leviticus the 23rd chapter, a very familiar passage to us.

We will not read it all, but I did want to at least point to a few things here that we should remember about Pentecost. Leviticus 23 and verse 16 gives us a key point about how we determine Pentecost. Of all the Holy Days, it is counted. It's not a fixed day on the calendar like trumpets would be on the first of Tishri or the first day of the 11th bread beginning on the 15th day of the first month.

Pentecost is counted. It's counted of 50 days, verse 16, to the day after the seventh Sabbath, you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. Verse 15 says, you will count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. This is one of the first couple of passages that I really got an intense education in 53 years ago when I began in the ministry of the church of God.

And learning and understanding these two verses quite intimately in a great deal of detail in the meaning as we were studying that in the church at that time, and it was brought to our attention to understand what day we begin the count on and how we arrive at that 50th day. And it begins on the morning after the Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread. I won't go into all the details of it, but that's where it begins. And it begins the count seven full weeks, 49 days, and to the day after the 50th day. And that would be a Sunday, which we will then gather to keep the Pentecost on. And connected with the Pentecost here is what is mentioned here as a wave sheath offering. Now, earlier in verse 11, as part of this feast, the priest that says was to wave a sheath before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf on the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. That's the day we read about in verse 15 and 16 that what is on the first day of the week or a Sunday morning, the priest was to bring a wave offering and wave it before the Lord. And on verse 20, we find a bit more detail added to it. The priest shall wave them with the bread of firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs.

They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And these are the offerings there. And part of this was also brought into play. There are two loaves that are mentioned in verse 17 with specific ingredients baked with flour as firstfruits to the Lord, and they also have leaven. So there's a lot of symbolism. There's some ritual here. There's a wave sheep, a cutting of barley, and a waving on the part of the priest. Two loaves that are baked with specific amounts and ingredients, and they are to be leaven. And they are to be representing, that says in verse 17, the firstfruits to the Lord. Now, in our household, this is what is called a wave sheaf offering or a wave sheaf sermon. In that I'm mentioning wave sheaves. Debbie and I have bantered this back and forth for years, and she's always told me, never give a wave sheaf off a sermon. A wave sheaf sermon to her, when she was growing up in the church, was a sermon that went on for four and a half hours about the wave sheaf and all the details of it that I've just glanced on the specifics without going into the details. But she grew up having a minister who liked to speak for four hours. Don't worry, that's not going to happen today. And so from that point on, if it was an overly long sermon and an overly boring sermon, for her it was a wave sheaf sermon. All right? That's been our code through the years. And when I told her I was going to speak about the wave sheaf today, she said, you better not be boring. Well, it may not be electric and exciting, but I hope that it won't be completely boring because it is something that we do need to understand.

The wave sheaf that was done and begins this counting process is something that is intimately tied to this process of overcoming and being in the process of changing and growing to be able to set with Christ on His throne, which when you break it down is the most exciting part of our calling to understand why we're called now in the church to have this truth that Jesus said does sanctify us, it does set us apart. And yes, it's dealing with things that we don't do.

I mean, we don't bring in a sheaf of barley grain on these days and do this. We don't have two loaves up here. We're not working with the old covenant structure, but we learn from it. We understand its symbolism and its meaning is fulfilled under the new covenant. And it tells us something in this particular case that is actually at the heart of our very purpose in life. That is, to come to the point where we do inherit glory, instead with Christ on His throne, whatever that means. Now, we can imagine what that means, and we could talk about that for another sermon, but it is a promise of a very, very close relationship with Christ in eternity, sharing in that glory, sharing in His role that He has gone on for. And when we look at where we are with the fabulous meaning of Pentecost, we see this from the terms of what we learn from the Scriptures. We learn, and we would learn as we study the Gospels, that the way she had to do with Christ's acceptance before the Father as the first of the first fruits. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 23, I'm not going to read that one today, Christ is the first of the first fruits. When Jesus first appeared on the early morning after His resurrection, He did not allow Mary to touch Him.

I've not yet ascended to my Father, He said. Later on in the Gospel accounts, we read that He did allow them to bow down and grab His feet. Obviously, something had changed in that interval.

What had changed was He had been accepted as that wave-sheath offering before the Father, opening up so much for us. Hebrews chapter 10 highlights that. If you will turn to Hebrews, the 10th chapter.

Hebrews 10 and verse 14. In this very detailed passage that speaks of Christ and His role and His purpose and His place, we'll just read verse 14. For by one offering, He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

One offering, His life, His shed blood, for our sins, then being accepted to fulfill that typology from the book of Leviticus. As this offering for God, by one offering, He's perfected forever those who are being sanctified. That's us, set apart, sanctified by truth.

As Christ prayed in John 17, we're being sanctified. Sanctified is one of those terms that can be quite involved. One way to understand it is that it means overcoming.

Because as we are set apart from the world, as we are set apart through Christ's sacrifice, it involves change. It involves our understanding of the very reason that Jesus gave it that sacrifice and what His acceptance before the Father as that wave-sheaf offering was all about.

Remember the two loaves that were there back in Leviticus 23, baked with a certain amount of ingredients with leaven? When we observe the days of unleavened bread, we know what leaven means in pictures. Leaven is a type of sin. We put the leaven out, we eat unleavened bread. To picture the unleavened life of Christ, we eat that leavened bread, symbolizing the very bread of life that we need, Christ, to live in a spiritual way. That's what it's all about.

And the two loaves have a symbolism there. It's interesting to look at how we have understood that and what we can glean from that. But the waving of those two loaves are about the saints being accepted by the Father and the ongoing process of the sanctification of the Spirit.

Notice that they're baked with leaven. The baking involves an oven, heat. Leaven is sin.

Speaking of this life, speaking of this condition, that we must be sanctified from, how? By truth.

In all of its many forms. The offering of those two loaves has to do with the ongoing process in this life of the sanctification, the overcoming of the saints to the point where, through Christ's life, we do become unleavened by the presence of His life within us, waiting for the time of the resurrection at a future time described by the seventh trumpet, which will sound at the time of the meaning fulfilled through the Feast of Trumpets. So the two loaves symbolize the saints of God through all of the ages with the Spirit. They are the first fruits.

A group of people called in advance of all the rest of the world to know truth, to know God, to live a sanctified life, to have the first fruits of the Spirit.

Being a part of that group, and I'm sure the message is here and throughout the congregations on the day of Pentecost, we'll give more of the details to remind us of this.

But the one point I would make today is the profound truth of the first fruits is something we should never take for granted and we should never forget. Because it is a unique description of God's people in the scriptures who are being called in advance of the greater harvest of the world at the future time after Christ's return, again taught through the meaning of the fall holy days. Those holy days are the blueprint for God's purpose and plan. And as we know, they form and shape the calendar of our life. We base our life and how we live around the calendar of the holy days. We start to make reservations tomorrow that was announced here today. And we will begin to make the work that most of us probably already have your plans for where you want to go. Some of you have already been accepted for some exotic, boutique feast site, probably in some far-flung part of the world. That's great. Me and Debbie, we're going to drive 10 minutes down the road this year to the Holiday Inn East Gate and we're going to keep the Feast of Tabernacles there.

I'm going to coordinate that site this year. That's one job I've never done in the church. I thought, well, at retirement, I'm going to do a feast coordinator job. It'll probably be the last time I will do that, but I'm going to do it at least once. So y'all come down to Cincinnati if you want. We'll have a good feast down there this year. But that's part of the calendar of our life.

And we all know that. But rehearsing those meanings, show us God's mind. Show us God's blueprint for all of mankind. Not just us, but our role is unique. And it should never make us proud. It should never make us condescending toward others. It should make us humble. It should give us a profound sense of what God is doing and how it helps us to understand and make sense of evil, of the suffering, of the wars, and of this life. And even the life of all of us within the Church. Untimely death. Premature situations that occur. When our lives are anchored in that knowledge of God's purpose and His plan, then we can work our way through the sorrow, the grief, the upset, the challenge, the redirection that we might have to make, whatever it might be.

If we're anchored in God's calling, knowing that there is a plan, and knowing that we are firstfruits, and knowing what we are to do, that we can't go straight to the Kingdom.

That indeed we do have to overcome. We have to deal with what life throws us. Let's look at chapter 10 again. I'll read verses 19 and 20. Hebrews 10, verses 19 and 20.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil that is His flesh.

Boldness. Boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Christ, a new and living way.

That is the way of life we are in. A new and living way of life that allows us to overcome, that allows us to have access to the Father through Christ. That's the big wow.

That is the big wow of life. It's not difficult to find, to understand.

To understand the difficulty comes for each of us as we have to keep coming back to it and do it. It's the big wow of life that we have access to the holiest, a new and living way.

And that's what this life is all about, preparing to reign with Christ on the earth and beyond in His family.

We go back to the two loaves, baked in a hot oven, symbolic of a fiery trial, baked with leaven, symbolic of sin.

It should remind us of the Scripture that Paul said that it is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God. And we are tested in fire at various times.

In 1 Peter 4, just a few pages forward, 1 Peter 4, verse 12, Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. It's not strange. It's part of life.

But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

As we are a part of what is symbolized on those two loaves offered up before God, baked with leaven, we're tested.

And through that testing, we are to remain faithful, because it is those who endure to the end who are the ones who will be saved.

And so we must remain faithful.

And to endure any trial that I've had, watched, and helped members work through to remain faithful, does require a bit of overcoming.

The hard thing to do.

Overcoming.

Overcoming sin, our own sin. Our own sin.

Overcoming the world and its temptations, and its style, and all that it offers to us.

And sometimes even overcoming the direct challenges that Satan might have.

Overcoming all of that.

That's what this life is about.

When we look at those two loaves, when we look at the wave sheaf offering, all of that anticipating the count to 50 days and the day of Pentecost, we come to the profound realization that all of that symbolism, the counting, the two loaves, the leaven, the wave sheaf, that are connected with Pentecost, point us to Christ and His first coming.

And what He did during His first coming, which was to preach the gospel, live a perfect life, suffer, die, and be resurrected.

That puts it all in one sentence, it encapsulates the whole plan.

But that's what Pentecost points us to, Christ's first coming.

And it's important to keep that in mind. Sometimes people think that Pentecost points to the second coming. It doesn't. Pentecost points us back to the first coming.

And what that said in motion?

What did it say in motion?

The church age?

The age of the church? Firstfruits.

All of the scriptures that speak to a man, as Christ would say in the parables, going off to a far country and leaving to his servants, measures and amounts of talents, saying, do business until I come. And then coming back and taking account of everyone to see how much their five or ten or fifteen or whatever had increased and rewarding according to the works.

All of that which has been going on for 2,000 years and even more.

The church age.

This is where we are.

This is why overcoming is so critical to the whole story. This is why we don't go straight to the kingdom. That baptism. That we must live righteously in this present world and live a life overcoming sin.

That's the difficult. Sometimes ideas circulate that cause people to miss the point. Pentecost isn't connecting us to the second coming of Christ. It connects us to the first coming of Christ.

The second coming of Christ. It connects us to the first coming.

I find that when we get that turned around, we miss the meaning of Pentecost.

And it could cause us to miss the point of the first resurrection.

If it's taken too far.

Because the two loaves represent the saints through the ages with the spirit, the first fruits of the spirit.

And we're part of that. And we have to take that very seriously.

Careful reading of 1 Corinthians 15, verses 42-46, show us that there has to be the physical first, but then the spirit.

Before we are changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye, there's the work that is involved in the physical Paul brings out there. And that is often overlooked.

You know, I've studied that through the years and as I've worked with people, pastoring and seeing ideas come and go in the church, about various aspects of the Word of God that sometimes maybe are overemphasized, overanticipated, misunderstood.

But we miss the point of just the steady beat of day in and day out living righteously.

And through the seasons of life, measuring growth.

Because overcoming, as I said, is hard, but it can be done.

It's not one of those things we measure with a meter.

On a weekly basis, or monthly basis.

I find that we measure it and we see the growth through seasons of life.

And that might be a few years at a time for us.

And if we're honest and God's working with us, we say, there has been progress.

And that can be encouraging when God gives us that understanding.

But it's what we have to do.

But any idea, teaching, or thought that causes us to want to short-circuit that usually causes us problems.

I've noted through the years that where people might want to just go straight to the idea of a place of safety.

To escape.

Causes people to miss the point of what this life is all about.

And we can focus too much on that.

That's not the goal.

The goal is the glory of the resurrection.

The goal is eternal life.

And the path to that, as Christ shows, is overcoming.

And that's what we have to keep in mind. There's one other thought to think about with this wave-sheaf offering.

And it gets to the point, again, of what we must never lose sight of.

A wave-sheaf offering symbolized the presentation to God of something.

And the old covenant sheaf of barley.

Christ, after His resurrection, to God to open that way to the holiest as we have read. But what are we to present to God?

Well, Romans 12.1 hits it right on the head.

When I was preparing and counseling for my own baptism many, many years ago, Romans 12.1 hit me and became my touchstone.

Romans 12.1.

And let's read it.

Paul writes, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. What do we present to God?

If we're symbolized by those two loaves.

A living sacrifice. We don't give an animal offering. We don't even give a grain offering.

We are to give ourselves as a living sacrifice. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, which is what God expects, which is what God calls us to do.

That's how I understood it. And I realized when I came to that point where I seriously set down and wanted to be baptized, this is what God wants me to do. This is my purpose, to present myself to be a living sacrifice.

That's my reasonable service. That's it.

And all the scriptures then begin to line up to help us to realize what it is that God is doing with us and what the purpose of life is all about.

And so that's the difficult part.

And my point is that whenever we misinterpret these symbols, get things turned around, get off on ideas and teachings that are not scriptural and are not supported by the plain facts of scripture, we tend to lose the focus, I think, of overcoming our very purpose to change and to deal with the trials, to deal with the issues, to deal with the world, sometimes even to deal with the church and overcome and stand before God as an acceptable sacrifice, a living sacrifice.

What can I do?

A quiet sacrifice.

A quiet sacrifice.

A role that just does within the body of Christ.

And when we do, peace, good works, faith, and hope comes along.

The Bible gives us the best plan for all of this.

We're in a time where we can find any life hack we want. We can read any new idea to be a better person.

And many of those ideas and books and plans and programs offer some very good ideas.

I've read so much and looked at so much through the years that some of you have. I guess of all the literature of our particular time, I probably would label Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as the one that keeps standing out.

Every once in a while, I'll pull off on my shelf that I've actually kept and pull off the shelf.

In my moves and travels, I've culled so many books, and books like that, but I never have thrown that one away. I've kept that one.

It offers some pretty good advice, much of it grounded in Scripture.

But ultimately, it's the Bible that gives us the best plan for a renewed life, a sanctified life, a life of peace.

It offers the best plan. Where does it start? With humility.

It talks about service.

And it talks about discipleship.

Following the life, teachings, and example of Jesus of Nazareth.

That's the best plan. That's the best path to overcoming.

When we follow that example with His life within us, then the blueprint of God's purpose, brought out into festivals, makes a difference.

Makes a big difference. And God's working with us now. This is our day of salvation.

Judgment now begins at the house of God. Peter writes.

And that's the church in this age of the church.

And we are to prepare to reign and to rule with Christ.

A proper understanding of the meaning of Pentecost aligns us with all of that and points us to the first coming of Christ.

And as we live and prepare in this age, in this life, through that period of time, then we will be ready. When that sounding of the seventh trump occurs, and the dead rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed, as Paul reveals that we will. But for now, we spend our time with the bread of life, with Jesus Christ.

And when we keep our focus on that, and when we focus on living that righteous life in this world, then we can be assured to lay hold on that promise, to set with Him on His throne at His coming.