The Lords Prayer
Matthew 6:6-15 (NT, pg. 5-6)
I’d like to start with a prayer that may sound familiar to you.
Our father in heaven
May your name be honored
May your Kingdom come soon
May your will be done here on earth just as it is in Heaven
Give us our food for today
And Forgive us our sins
Just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us
And don’t let us lead to temptation
But deliver us from the evil one.
From The New Believer Bible
How about this one.
Our Father in Heaven
Reveal who you are
Set the world right
Do what’s best as above, so below
Keep us alive with three square meals
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others
Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil
You’re in charge
You can do anything you want
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes, Yes, Yes
From The Message Bible
Both of those prayers are versions of the Lords Prayer and the same chapter and verse as Jodi read to you this morning.
My Sermon this morning is on “The Lords Prayer”, or as I called it growing up. “The Our father.”
Here’s one more from the bible in front of you
Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial." Luke 11
When I was growing up, the Lord’s Prayer was my favorite prayer for two reasons. One, it was the only prayer I knew by heart. I didn’t know the Apostles creed nor did I know prayers such as the “Hail Mary” which is not just a type of pass in football, but an actual Catholic prayer.
For those of you who know me you can imagine I was a pretty active child. If you need confirmation you can just ask my parents who probably still have nightmares about the trouble I got into. So the second reason the Lords prayer was my favorite was because it meant Mass was almost over and I could go home and play with my friends.
For most of my life, The Lords Prayer was mostly white noise. It was, and is, a prayer we say every week. Most of us can say it in our sleep. We’ve said it so often that we could probably do our taxes in our head at the same time.
But more recently I’ve given a lot of thought to the words and their meaning.
This prayer is the only prayer taught to us by our Lord Jesus so you have to imagine it’s a pretty powerful prayer. It contains all we ever need to pray to God.
There are some of us that find it easy to pray to God. I myself pray through conversation with God. Others know how to ask for specific requests. We pray for others to get well. We pray that God will help us with our finances. We pray that our favorite team wins the super bowl, or world series. Some even pray to win the lottery or for a fancy car. There is nothing wrong with these prayers even though some of them may seem selfish. But if you really want to pray to God and you’re not sure how, the Lord’s prayer contains everything, as you can imagine it would, being taught to us by Jesus.
The Lord’s prayer is captured in two of the gospels. Matthew, as in our reading today and in Luke chapter 11 as I read before.
In Mathew, the prayer is taught during the Sermon on the Mount including Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you shall find.
Jesus was teaching the multitudes of followers how to pray. So what did this prayer mean to them and what should it mean to us today.
Our Father who art in heaven
Our acknowledgment that there is God in heaven and he is our Father.
Not to be sexist as in God is male, but that he is our provider as the men were in the time Jesus taught.
Hallowed be thy name.
We who are praying acknowledging that God is Holy
Thy Kingdom come
Our knowing that this is still a Kingdom of men and waiting and asking for Gods Kingdom to come amongst us as it was promised in the old testament to those who first heard Jesus words, and as it is promised to us.
Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
Not our will. Not the will of men, but Gods will be done.
If we had our way, God would save our Church because it’s what we want. But what does God want. What is Gods will for, not only our church, but in our lives.
So for our Church, should we be praying that our wishes be done, or that God’s will concerning our church be done. How about in our every day lives.
Give us this day our daily bread
This was very significant to those who were listening to Jesus. All knew the story of Moses and the Israelites as they traveled through the desert. Each day, God provided Manna, bread from heaven. Every morning and every evening God provided Manna and the Israelites would collect it. God provided food while they traveled and they had to have faith that God would provide. In fact, any manna they tried to hoard during the day spoiled so they had to learn to trust that God would provide for them. In the same way we can have faith that God will provide food to us.
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
The term Debtors meant more to the Israelites than just “Sin”. The Israelites celebrated a Holiday every 49 years called Jubilee. During this year long celebration all debts, no matter how large, were forgiven. All land was returned to its original owner. Anyone who had sold themselves into slavery, were released. All was forgiven.
When I was growing up we said forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us. I can remember as a child thinking that meant that if someone cut across my lawn that I should forgive them for trespassing.
The term trespass comes from the verse following the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew that reads.
For if you forgive men there trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you
But if you do not forgive others neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
I prefer the interpretation
“And Forgive us our sins
Just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us”
It’s clearer, but the message is the same.
If we want God to forgive our sins we need to learn to forgive others.
According to this passage forgiveness does not come without learning to forgive. Something we all need to give thought to.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
I don’t like the phrasing of this translation. It sounds as if God himself leads us to sin. But that’s not true. Human nature is Sin nature. We can’t even blame Satan for leading us into sin. We are capable of getting ourselves in trouble without help from anyone.
How about
Do not subject us to the final test
But deliver us from the evil one.
The New American Bible
What we are praying for is for God to give us the strength to ignore temptation.
For thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever.
If only we could truly live that last statement. Everything is Gods. We’re just borrowing.
How should we use the Lord’s Prayer
We can use the Lord’s Prayer for any aspect of our lives that we’re not sure what to pray for. Just think about what you want it is you want God to help you with. Whether it’s a financial problem as we have here at the church. It may be it a health problem, either yours, a friend or a family member. No matter what’s on your mind, think about it and say the Lords prayer and have the faith the God’s will, will be done.
Please stand and if you feel comfortable, take the hand of the person on either side of you and say with me the words that our Lord taught us.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
What is Sin
In my last sermon I spoke about faith. I told you that faith was responding to what God has asked us to do. Today I want to talk about sin. Not in a Fire and brimstone way, but more of defining what sin is.
First the good news, Jesus died on the cross so that all our sins would be forgiven.
Now the bad news, there is no bad news. We are forgiven. We are forgiven for all the sins we have committed and all the sins we will commit.
But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t sinners and shouldn’t strive to reduce sin in our lives. Notice I didn’t say eliminate sin in our lives, because that would be impossible. Only Jesus was sinless, only Jesus was perfect. We can only strive for perfection. We can never attain it.
But in order to reduce sin, we need to know what sin is.
In the same way faith is a response to God’s word, sin is the opposite. It is ignoring God’s word. Ignoring what God has told us not to do and ignoring what God has told us to do. It’s believing that we are in control of our own lives and we don’t need God.
There are Sins of action and Sins of inaction.
Let’s look at the original sin as Jodi read to us.
God tells Adam that he should not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice that it isn’t an apple tree or any other kind of fruit we know of today. It is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now, the bible doesn’t tell us how eve is told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She is created after God tells Adam no to eat of it, but she apparently knows as she explains to the serpent that God said they can eat of all trees but the tree in the middle of the garden. We can assume that she heard it from Adam and not God directly, because as we read from the bible, the serpent asks her, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ He questions her knowing the God did not tell her directly.
Did God say?
Notice that the serpent went to Eve and not to Adam. Adam would have been sure of what God said, and probably sent him away. Instead he goes to Eve and seduces her with how appealing the fruit looks. That eating the fruit will make her like God and so she eats the fruit.
In this way he deceives Eve into eating the apple thus ignoring God’s will and committing the first sin.
Now, Eve gets a bad rap through history. She did sin and it was the first sin, but she was deceived.
Adam, on the other hand, jumps into sin fully knowing what he was doing. He did it out of the love for Eve, knowing that God will punish her and he will lose her. So Adam joins Eve in her sin.
The punishment for their sin is harsh. They are expelled from the Garden of Eden, they need to work to survive, Eve, and all women, are punished with the pain of child birth. Death enters the land and more if you care to read it in Genesis chapter 3.
So that was the first sin. The second sin speaks to is when Cain kills Able and the punishment placed upon Cain.
The bible then jumps to the story of Noah. Sin becomes so rampant throughout the world that God has to wipe out all mankind with the exception of Noah and his family to start again. But in doing so, God promises that the next time he destroys the world will be judgment day.
God expects mankind to obey his commands but it’s not until Exodus and the 10 commandments that we get a clearer idea of what is expected of us.
Lets look at them quickly.
1- You shall have no other gods before me.
This includes any type of addictions. Drugs, alcohol etc. Addiction only serves to separate you from God.
2- You shall not take the lords name in vain.
3 - Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
To the Israelites that was Saturday. For us, everyday is Holy. Everyday belongs to God.
4 - Honour your father and your mother.
5 - You shall not murder.
6 - You shall not commit adultery.
7 - You shall not steal.
8 - You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. No lying.
9 - You shall not covet your neighbour’s house;
1 0 do not covet your neighbour’s wife, or anything else for that matter.
To Covet. To wish for earnestly, to desire.
To even wish for something you don’t have that others have is a sin. Even if you live in a monastery devoid of any material possessions and have achieved true enlightenment you can’t get away from sin. We can get close, but God has made it impossible for us to be sinless. Why?
Remember the good news.
God has made it impossible for us to be sinless but he has sent Jesus to teach us that we need God in our lives and we are redeemed through his sacrifice.
After the ten commandments, God gives the Israelites the laws in Leviticus. If you read the laws in Leviticus you will see what God demanded of them. Punishment for sins, even capital punishment, was how the people of Israel handled those who broke the law.
Leviticus was a contract between God and the Israelites. Another word for contract is covenant. That’s a word you may be familiar with. There is much debate amongst Christians on whether or not we are to follow the laws stated in Leviticus. I personally don’t believe we are because we have a new contract.
A new covenant that was put into place by our Lord Jesus Christ.
That new covenant tells us very simply what God is asking us. Simple to understand, but in some ways more difficult to follow. A new way to deal with sin. Jesus says we must love everyone and we must forgive everyone. All that we do should be based on those two simple commandments. As Jesus said, and we say almost every week in church when we hear the summary of the law.
Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. And our neighbor is everyone else in the world whether we know them or not. So sin to a Christian is not loving others the way God loves us. Not showing God our faith and doing what God has asked of us and not doing what God has told us not to do.
So to reduce sin in our lives we need to love. We need to show our love to Gos, to Jesus and to the world around us.
So to sum up.
We are sinners and we always will be.
We should strive to become better people and reduce the sin in our lives
We should love God and Love all mankind, though we may not always love the actions and should reject sin in all its forms.
We should not judge ourselves or others for their sins for we are all forgiven.
We should do what we can to show our love for God and his children around the world.
First the good news, Jesus died on the cross so that all our sins would be forgiven.
Now the bad news, there is no bad news. We are forgiven. We are forgiven for all the sins we have committed and all the sins we will commit.
But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t sinners and shouldn’t strive to reduce sin in our lives. Notice I didn’t say eliminate sin in our lives, because that would be impossible. Only Jesus was sinless, only Jesus was perfect. We can only strive for perfection. We can never attain it.
But in order to reduce sin, we need to know what sin is.
In the same way faith is a response to God’s word, sin is the opposite. It is ignoring God’s word. Ignoring what God has told us not to do and ignoring what God has told us to do. It’s believing that we are in control of our own lives and we don’t need God.
There are Sins of action and Sins of inaction.
Let’s look at the original sin as Jodi read to us.
God tells Adam that he should not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice that it isn’t an apple tree or any other kind of fruit we know of today. It is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now, the bible doesn’t tell us how eve is told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She is created after God tells Adam no to eat of it, but she apparently knows as she explains to the serpent that God said they can eat of all trees but the tree in the middle of the garden. We can assume that she heard it from Adam and not God directly, because as we read from the bible, the serpent asks her, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ He questions her knowing the God did not tell her directly.
Did God say?
Notice that the serpent went to Eve and not to Adam. Adam would have been sure of what God said, and probably sent him away. Instead he goes to Eve and seduces her with how appealing the fruit looks. That eating the fruit will make her like God and so she eats the fruit.
In this way he deceives Eve into eating the apple thus ignoring God’s will and committing the first sin.
Now, Eve gets a bad rap through history. She did sin and it was the first sin, but she was deceived.
Adam, on the other hand, jumps into sin fully knowing what he was doing. He did it out of the love for Eve, knowing that God will punish her and he will lose her. So Adam joins Eve in her sin.
The punishment for their sin is harsh. They are expelled from the Garden of Eden, they need to work to survive, Eve, and all women, are punished with the pain of child birth. Death enters the land and more if you care to read it in Genesis chapter 3.
So that was the first sin. The second sin speaks to is when Cain kills Able and the punishment placed upon Cain.
The bible then jumps to the story of Noah. Sin becomes so rampant throughout the world that God has to wipe out all mankind with the exception of Noah and his family to start again. But in doing so, God promises that the next time he destroys the world will be judgment day.
God expects mankind to obey his commands but it’s not until Exodus and the 10 commandments that we get a clearer idea of what is expected of us.
Lets look at them quickly.
1- You shall have no other gods before me.
This includes any type of addictions. Drugs, alcohol etc. Addiction only serves to separate you from God.
2- You shall not take the lords name in vain.
3 - Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
To the Israelites that was Saturday. For us, everyday is Holy. Everyday belongs to God.
4 - Honour your father and your mother.
5 - You shall not murder.
6 - You shall not commit adultery.
7 - You shall not steal.
8 - You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. No lying.
9 - You shall not covet your neighbour’s house;
1 0 do not covet your neighbour’s wife, or anything else for that matter.
To Covet. To wish for earnestly, to desire.
To even wish for something you don’t have that others have is a sin. Even if you live in a monastery devoid of any material possessions and have achieved true enlightenment you can’t get away from sin. We can get close, but God has made it impossible for us to be sinless. Why?
Remember the good news.
God has made it impossible for us to be sinless but he has sent Jesus to teach us that we need God in our lives and we are redeemed through his sacrifice.
After the ten commandments, God gives the Israelites the laws in Leviticus. If you read the laws in Leviticus you will see what God demanded of them. Punishment for sins, even capital punishment, was how the people of Israel handled those who broke the law.
Leviticus was a contract between God and the Israelites. Another word for contract is covenant. That’s a word you may be familiar with. There is much debate amongst Christians on whether or not we are to follow the laws stated in Leviticus. I personally don’t believe we are because we have a new contract.
A new covenant that was put into place by our Lord Jesus Christ.
That new covenant tells us very simply what God is asking us. Simple to understand, but in some ways more difficult to follow. A new way to deal with sin. Jesus says we must love everyone and we must forgive everyone. All that we do should be based on those two simple commandments. As Jesus said, and we say almost every week in church when we hear the summary of the law.
Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. And our neighbor is everyone else in the world whether we know them or not. So sin to a Christian is not loving others the way God loves us. Not showing God our faith and doing what God has asked of us and not doing what God has told us not to do.
So to reduce sin in our lives we need to love. We need to show our love to Gos, to Jesus and to the world around us.
So to sum up.
We are sinners and we always will be.
We should strive to become better people and reduce the sin in our lives
We should love God and Love all mankind, though we may not always love the actions and should reject sin in all its forms.
We should not judge ourselves or others for their sins for we are all forgiven.
We should do what we can to show our love for God and his children around the world.
What is Faith
What is faith?
Is it just believing in God?
Is it believing that God sent Jesus to die for our sins?
Is it believing that God will take care of us?
It is all of this, But it is so much more.
Faith is a response to what God tells us.
The patriarchs of the bible from our readings today responded to Gods calling. They were given almost impossible tasks and even though God spoke to them directly, it was still hard for them to respond.
Bill Cosby – How long can you tread water
Noah was given the impossible task of building an ark and filling it with 2 of each animal in the world. Can you imagine the abuse he took from his neighbors and friends. The ridicule as he tried to explain that God had spoken to him. The hard work, The issues between himself and his family. But unlike Bill Cosby’s representation of Noah arguing with God, Noah did exactly as God asked of him.
Abraham followed Gods word and went out, but it wasn’t always easy for him to accept Gods word. When Abraham and Sarah were told they were to have a son when they were already in their 90’s, Sarah laughed. She believed God would deliver, but she thought God needed help and she gave her servant Hagar to Abraham. Hagar did give Abraham a son – Ishmael, who became the father of all of Islam, but that’s not what God had in mind and he did give Abraham a son through Sarah. This was a lesson in faith for Abraham, Sarah and for us. And Abrahams faith grew so much that when God asked him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham went to do it without question.
Moses was told to go to Pharoah and demand that he “Let Gods people go.” How did he respond, he complained and tried to convince God that he was the wrong person. That God was making a mistake.
Of course, he eventually started believing God knew what he was doing and the Israelites were freed.
The Israelites had their own lessons in faith that took 40 years to complete before God gave them the land promised to Abraham and to them.
So, if faith is a response to God, what does it mean for us to respond to the word of God
You were told that we would have service today and that I would be preaching. You responded to that by coming this morning to worship. But if you come tomorrow believing that I’ll be here to preach you’ll be standing outside by yourself.
It’s the same with God. To believe that God is going to do something he hasn’t said he will do, well, you can believe all you want, it isn’t going to happen.
God said he will take care of us and give us what we need.
If you need transportation to get to work, you can have faith that God will provide. But if you believe that God is going to provide a Mercedes to get you back and forth to work and turn down other, less prestigious forms of transportation, God might present then you’re just being foolish.
There’s a story about a man drowning etc.
So what does God tell us he wants from us that we must respond to out of faith.
First, we must try to resist the temptation to Sin. God provided the 10 commandments to guide us. Of course we realize how weak we are and how much we need God’s forgiveness. Which is another thing God told us that we can have faith in.
God calls us to worship so we show our faith by gathering together and worshiping together as we are today.
God calls on us to give back what he gives to us. We have all been under the misconception one time or another that we are in charge of our own lives. That the money we make and the gifts we receive are actually ours. That we worked for them , so of course they are ours.
No, They are gifts from God and we need to respond to Gods request to give back.
God also asks us to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.
We all need to think, not about what we have done, but what more we can do for our fellow man because God has asked us to do so and we must have the faith that if we provide for those in need, God will provide for us.
Richard Sterns who wrote the book, The Hole in Our Gospel - told a story of a fund raiser they ran for World Vision International etc.
So ask yourselves, how will you respond to God and when you think about that also ask yourself
How long can you tread water?
Is it just believing in God?
Is it believing that God sent Jesus to die for our sins?
Is it believing that God will take care of us?
It is all of this, But it is so much more.
Faith is a response to what God tells us.
The patriarchs of the bible from our readings today responded to Gods calling. They were given almost impossible tasks and even though God spoke to them directly, it was still hard for them to respond.
Bill Cosby – How long can you tread water
Noah was given the impossible task of building an ark and filling it with 2 of each animal in the world. Can you imagine the abuse he took from his neighbors and friends. The ridicule as he tried to explain that God had spoken to him. The hard work, The issues between himself and his family. But unlike Bill Cosby’s representation of Noah arguing with God, Noah did exactly as God asked of him.
Abraham followed Gods word and went out, but it wasn’t always easy for him to accept Gods word. When Abraham and Sarah were told they were to have a son when they were already in their 90’s, Sarah laughed. She believed God would deliver, but she thought God needed help and she gave her servant Hagar to Abraham. Hagar did give Abraham a son – Ishmael, who became the father of all of Islam, but that’s not what God had in mind and he did give Abraham a son through Sarah. This was a lesson in faith for Abraham, Sarah and for us. And Abrahams faith grew so much that when God asked him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham went to do it without question.
Moses was told to go to Pharoah and demand that he “Let Gods people go.” How did he respond, he complained and tried to convince God that he was the wrong person. That God was making a mistake.
Of course, he eventually started believing God knew what he was doing and the Israelites were freed.
The Israelites had their own lessons in faith that took 40 years to complete before God gave them the land promised to Abraham and to them.
So, if faith is a response to God, what does it mean for us to respond to the word of God
You were told that we would have service today and that I would be preaching. You responded to that by coming this morning to worship. But if you come tomorrow believing that I’ll be here to preach you’ll be standing outside by yourself.
It’s the same with God. To believe that God is going to do something he hasn’t said he will do, well, you can believe all you want, it isn’t going to happen.
God said he will take care of us and give us what we need.
If you need transportation to get to work, you can have faith that God will provide. But if you believe that God is going to provide a Mercedes to get you back and forth to work and turn down other, less prestigious forms of transportation, God might present then you’re just being foolish.
There’s a story about a man drowning etc.
So what does God tell us he wants from us that we must respond to out of faith.
First, we must try to resist the temptation to Sin. God provided the 10 commandments to guide us. Of course we realize how weak we are and how much we need God’s forgiveness. Which is another thing God told us that we can have faith in.
God calls us to worship so we show our faith by gathering together and worshiping together as we are today.
God calls on us to give back what he gives to us. We have all been under the misconception one time or another that we are in charge of our own lives. That the money we make and the gifts we receive are actually ours. That we worked for them , so of course they are ours.
No, They are gifts from God and we need to respond to Gods request to give back.
God also asks us to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.
We all need to think, not about what we have done, but what more we can do for our fellow man because God has asked us to do so and we must have the faith that if we provide for those in need, God will provide for us.
Richard Sterns who wrote the book, The Hole in Our Gospel - told a story of a fund raiser they ran for World Vision International etc.
So ask yourselves, how will you respond to God and when you think about that also ask yourself
How long can you tread water?
Nazarites
6The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When either men or women make a special vow, the vow of a nazirite,* to separate themselves to the LORD, 3they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink; they shall drink no wine vinegar or other vinegar, and shall not drink any grape juice or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4All their days as nazirites* they shall eat nothing that is produced by the grape-vine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 All the days of their nazirite vow no razor shall come upon the head; until the time is completed for which they separate themselves to the LORD, they shall be holy; they shall let the locks of the head grow long.
6 All the days that they separate themselves to the LORD they shall not go near a corpse. 7Even if their father or mother, brother or sister, should die, they may not defile themselves; because their consecration to God is upon the head. 8All their days as nazirites* they are holy to the LORD.
My Sermon today is going to be more of a history lesson than anything else. I was supposed to teach a class on the subject of the Nazirites back in April but it didn’t come together so Beverly asked me if I could preach on the subject instead, which is what I am going to do.
Todays Passage was from the book of Numbers. Numbers is the fourth book of the Bible and continues the laws of Moses from Leviticus. You don’t hear a lot of sermons based on Numbers.
The versus Jodi read and the rest of the chapter, talks about a very special vow that a Jewish man or women could take called the Nazarite vow.
The Nazarite vow was a very special vow that men or women could take and in doing so they were devoting themselves to God. Or as the reading states, separating themselves to the Lord.
They could take on the vow for as long as they wanted, but the minimum time was 30 days. During that time they could not drink any strong drink or wine. They were even to avoid grapes in any form or grape juice or even eat or touch grapes.
They were not go near a dead body which included a family member who may have passed away.
They couldn’t cut their hair. This is very significant. Long hair was not the fashion in Israel, in fact, long hair was a sign of submission to another person. Men had short hair and women were to keep their hair long to show they were submissive to their husbands. So the long hair on a man would tell people they he had taken the Nazarite vow and were completely submissive to God.
They were to be an example to all others to devote themselves to God. In fact, the town of Nazareth where Jesus lived, is named for a type of tree that had branches that hung down like a willows and resembled the long hair of the Nazarite.
After the vow was completed the individual would go to the “tent of meeting” They would make several animal offerings to the Priest who would offer them up to God. They would cut their hair and burn it. Then would eat a special meal, made from one of the animal sacrifices. The whole ritual is mapped out in Numbers chapter 6 versus 13-21 if your interested.
Once they were done with there vow they can again drink wine and be near a corpse if necessary and go back to their lives hopefully a little different.
As I said before, the minimum time for the vow was 30 days, but it could be much longer. In fact, it could be for life.
There are three examples of Nazarites for life in the Bible. Sampson, who, when his hair was cut, lost all of his strength. This is because is strength came from his vow to God and when his hair was cut it ended the vow.
Samuel, who was the last of the Judges of Israel and John the Baptist.
Sampson and John are always presented as having long hair.
And then, of course, there is the ultimate Nazarite, Jesus.
Jesus also had long hair to show his devotion to God and while other Nazarites were not allowed near the dead nor to drink wine, Jesus showed himself to be the master of both.
Remember his first miracle was the changing of water into wine at the wedding of Cana. Later, in his ministry Jesus raises Lazareth from the dead.
Jesus showed what it meant to be totally devoted to God.
So what does all this mean to us?
In the same way the Nazarites were examples to the people of Israel, Jesus, through his teachings has taught us what we need to do to be devoted to God.
In the same way the Nazarites showed what it meant to be devoted to God, We need to be examples of what it means to be Christian.
We don’t have to grow our hair long or avoid wakes and funerals or even give up wine but through Jesus Christ we can be little Nazarites. We can have a personal relationship with God and show others what it means to be good Christians.
What does it mean to be devoted to God. What does it mean to be submissive to God the way the Nazarites were. Well, first we have to admit to God and ourselves that we are nothing without him. How can we do that.
Most people, are like teenagers in there relationship with God. We think we know everything we need to know to get by. We can’t admit that we need our parents to live, we think we can do it all on our own, but when we need or want something, that’s when we turn to God and we act as if we deserve it. We sometimes, forget to thank God for what he gives us and what he does for us. We argue with God when we don’t get our own way.
We need to be more like a five year old. Think about what it was like to be 5 years old. For those of you with young children it shouldn’t be hard. In fact I still know some adults that act like they’re five.
A five year old has a personality. They know a little of the world around them. Their house, school, the playground etc. They know what they like and what they don’t like and it’s very hard to convince them otherwise. “Try the spinach, you’ll like it. No it’s yucky.
And though they may not realize the difference, they depend completely on their parents for food, shelter and clothing and especially love.
Five year olds are always looking to their parents for love and affection, but unlike most parents and I was guilty of this as well, God never says, Not now I’m on the phone or I’m watching the game.
We need to realize that we are like that five year old when it comes to God. We need to realize how much we need him in our life, that, even though we sometimes feel very independent and we can take care of our selves, the way young children sometimes do, we are lost without him.
So become like a little Nazarite, become 5 again and work to become devoted to God.
And let me end by saying the biggest reason we should be devotd to God is because He is devoted to us.
The LORD bless you and keep you;
25the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
26the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
5 All the days of their nazirite vow no razor shall come upon the head; until the time is completed for which they separate themselves to the LORD, they shall be holy; they shall let the locks of the head grow long.
6 All the days that they separate themselves to the LORD they shall not go near a corpse. 7Even if their father or mother, brother or sister, should die, they may not defile themselves; because their consecration to God is upon the head. 8All their days as nazirites* they are holy to the LORD.
My Sermon today is going to be more of a history lesson than anything else. I was supposed to teach a class on the subject of the Nazirites back in April but it didn’t come together so Beverly asked me if I could preach on the subject instead, which is what I am going to do.
Todays Passage was from the book of Numbers. Numbers is the fourth book of the Bible and continues the laws of Moses from Leviticus. You don’t hear a lot of sermons based on Numbers.
The versus Jodi read and the rest of the chapter, talks about a very special vow that a Jewish man or women could take called the Nazarite vow.
The Nazarite vow was a very special vow that men or women could take and in doing so they were devoting themselves to God. Or as the reading states, separating themselves to the Lord.
They could take on the vow for as long as they wanted, but the minimum time was 30 days. During that time they could not drink any strong drink or wine. They were even to avoid grapes in any form or grape juice or even eat or touch grapes.
They were not go near a dead body which included a family member who may have passed away.
They couldn’t cut their hair. This is very significant. Long hair was not the fashion in Israel, in fact, long hair was a sign of submission to another person. Men had short hair and women were to keep their hair long to show they were submissive to their husbands. So the long hair on a man would tell people they he had taken the Nazarite vow and were completely submissive to God.
They were to be an example to all others to devote themselves to God. In fact, the town of Nazareth where Jesus lived, is named for a type of tree that had branches that hung down like a willows and resembled the long hair of the Nazarite.
After the vow was completed the individual would go to the “tent of meeting” They would make several animal offerings to the Priest who would offer them up to God. They would cut their hair and burn it. Then would eat a special meal, made from one of the animal sacrifices. The whole ritual is mapped out in Numbers chapter 6 versus 13-21 if your interested.
Once they were done with there vow they can again drink wine and be near a corpse if necessary and go back to their lives hopefully a little different.
As I said before, the minimum time for the vow was 30 days, but it could be much longer. In fact, it could be for life.
There are three examples of Nazarites for life in the Bible. Sampson, who, when his hair was cut, lost all of his strength. This is because is strength came from his vow to God and when his hair was cut it ended the vow.
Samuel, who was the last of the Judges of Israel and John the Baptist.
Sampson and John are always presented as having long hair.
And then, of course, there is the ultimate Nazarite, Jesus.
Jesus also had long hair to show his devotion to God and while other Nazarites were not allowed near the dead nor to drink wine, Jesus showed himself to be the master of both.
Remember his first miracle was the changing of water into wine at the wedding of Cana. Later, in his ministry Jesus raises Lazareth from the dead.
Jesus showed what it meant to be totally devoted to God.
So what does all this mean to us?
In the same way the Nazarites were examples to the people of Israel, Jesus, through his teachings has taught us what we need to do to be devoted to God.
In the same way the Nazarites showed what it meant to be devoted to God, We need to be examples of what it means to be Christian.
We don’t have to grow our hair long or avoid wakes and funerals or even give up wine but through Jesus Christ we can be little Nazarites. We can have a personal relationship with God and show others what it means to be good Christians.
What does it mean to be devoted to God. What does it mean to be submissive to God the way the Nazarites were. Well, first we have to admit to God and ourselves that we are nothing without him. How can we do that.
Most people, are like teenagers in there relationship with God. We think we know everything we need to know to get by. We can’t admit that we need our parents to live, we think we can do it all on our own, but when we need or want something, that’s when we turn to God and we act as if we deserve it. We sometimes, forget to thank God for what he gives us and what he does for us. We argue with God when we don’t get our own way.
We need to be more like a five year old. Think about what it was like to be 5 years old. For those of you with young children it shouldn’t be hard. In fact I still know some adults that act like they’re five.
A five year old has a personality. They know a little of the world around them. Their house, school, the playground etc. They know what they like and what they don’t like and it’s very hard to convince them otherwise. “Try the spinach, you’ll like it. No it’s yucky.
And though they may not realize the difference, they depend completely on their parents for food, shelter and clothing and especially love.
Five year olds are always looking to their parents for love and affection, but unlike most parents and I was guilty of this as well, God never says, Not now I’m on the phone or I’m watching the game.
We need to realize that we are like that five year old when it comes to God. We need to realize how much we need him in our life, that, even though we sometimes feel very independent and we can take care of our selves, the way young children sometimes do, we are lost without him.
So become like a little Nazarite, become 5 again and work to become devoted to God.
And let me end by saying the biggest reason we should be devotd to God is because He is devoted to us.
The LORD bless you and keep you;
25the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
26the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
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