Month: May 2022

            Today, our scripture reading from Isaiah 50 is a conversation between God and Israel. To be more specific, it is Christ the Son of God who speaks, and His words reflect His divine ministry when He became incarnate. There are two verses that caught my attention and prompted further meditation.

            The first is verse 4: “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” I think of the compassion of Christ who felt every sorrowful experience we encounter. Whether the sorrow is physical, mental, or spiritual, Jesus knows the exact words to speak that comfort our hearts and lift our spirits. I am reminded how difficult this is for me when I speak to the desperately ill and those who are dying. I am often without perfect words and am left in silence. And yet I know which words are not helpful and are of no comfort. I am aware that some things said are not helpful and may be taken wrongly.

            For example, it is hard to criticize the attitude of those who are sick. When people have extended illnesses, they often become despondent and depressed. Perhaps we believe Christians should never come to this state, but if they didn’t the Lord would never say He knew how to comfort the weary. He realizes this human frailty. I don’t remember reading any passage in scripture in which the Lord rebuked the sick for a less than stellar attitude in their illness. I see the apostle John and the Lord’s brother James calling for love and compassion and prayer, but never chastisement. To hear God’s word and to know people pray for you are the means God uses to lift the spirits of the weary. Be cautious how you deal with the distressed. They do not need to be driven to deeper despair.

            The second verse that caught my attention is verse 7: “For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.” This is the determination of Christ to do His Father’s will. Despite the criticisms and forces of hell that would deter Him, He soldiered on. He set His face like a flint—that is with steadfast determination not to quit. It is the hardness and resoluteness of hard rock to continue though humanly everything told Him He should not. Imagine Satan offering Him the kingdoms of the world in exchange for the shame of the cross. How does He withstand except the Father gave His Spirit to help Him?

            The cross was not only a cruel way to die, it was utterly shameful. Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. It was an abomination to the Jews and shouted the worst criminality to the Gentiles. Yet, Christ knew He would not be ashamed. He would be vindicated by the Father’s promise. He would be raised from the dead and restored to His throne in heaven.

            Isaiah 50 is a wonderful picture of Christ. “Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.” (v. 50). Always trust God. Who has suffered by obedience and has not been rewarded abundantly? Take heart that following the Lord with all its difficulties will end in the ease and peaceful rest of God’s sabbath in His heavenly kingdom.

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

            Preaching God’s word to God’s people is often a lonely job. It shouldn’t be, but often it is because it requires telling people what they should do and how they should live when they don’t want to. The apostle Paul made an interesting statement in Galatians 4:16. He wrote, “Am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth?” He said this after remembering how the Galatians were blessed and overjoyed when he gave them the gospel. They received his word as if he were an angel of God. He said they treated him as well as if he were Jesus Christ. Then he added they would do anything for him, even if he asked for their eyes, they would pluck them out. What caused their attitude to change and made them think of Paul as their enemy? He called them on their sin and told them they had returned to the weak and beggarly elements of the law. He said they had turned back to the bondage they escaped. He called them on it and then he wasn’t as popular as he was before.

            This happens too many times to the pastor of the church. Most love him and support him and will do anything for him until he takes on his friends and tells them they need to change. He sees them turn to old ways and they aren’t as enthusiastic about the church as they once were. When he tells them the truth, it goads them, and listening isn’t fun anymore.

            The truth is, when the pastor comes down on your sins in his sermons and when he steps on your toes, it is never to harm you. He is a friend that loves you and wants you to be blessed and prosperous because you follow Christ. His years are filled with the experience of Christians that gradually dropped out of service—the same people who thought they never would.

            The enemy of truth is the one who refuses to hear truth. One author wrote the enemies of truth refuse to hear in two forms: not listening to someone tell the truth or refusing to accept it. Accepting truth requires repentance. It means you are wrong, and you need to change your ways. It means you must go against your flesh, to reject the old nature and to live within the new. In Galatians 5:17, the apostle wrote: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary…” Simply stated, to refuse truth and not correct errors is to reject the Holy Spirit. Am I your enemy if I tell you not to reject the Spirit? Your best friend is the one who tells you, “If you live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:13-14).

            Be careful of the way you respond to truth. The way you react may tell you more than you want to know. Either way, when you hear the truth, it is always a friend who tells it. He is not your enemy. He is the guardian of your soul.

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

            This morning in our worship service we continue to examine Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica. These past few weeks of study have shown the heart of the apostle from the viewpoint of pastoral leadership. The striking lesson learned is the deep personal affection Paul felt for those he brought to faith in Christ. They were converted and then assembled into new bodies of Christ that were united in fellowship centered in the gospel of Christ.

            When a believer comes to faith in our Lord, he receives a new nature, one that is recreated in the image of God. The original image was marred by sin when Adam fell. Before he sinned, Adam had the perfect image in him which included the ability to love as God loves. Because God is love, the character of man’s godly image was also to love. Adam was able to love his wife with a perfect love.

            This marital love was emblematic of the love Christ has for His church. It is also a reflection of the love each member of Christ should have for each other. The scriptures teach that love should abound in us and this was one of Paul’s petitions of prayer when he prayed in chapter 3:12, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you…” The last part of the verse emphasizes Paul’s pastoral love. His love was exemplary as it abounded toward them.

            My personal takeaway from Paul’s desire is that pastors enter a unique relationship with the people they are given to shepherd. The greatest joy for a pastor is to experience reciprocal love flowing back and forth from him to the people. Paul’s feeling at times was to experience love as a one-way street. Yet, still he said I love you though the less I be loved. I am thankful today that rarely have I experienced less love than I have given. If anything, I am deeply in debt to the members of Berean because you have given far more love and support than I have returned.

            These past months I’ve often alluded to the love and support given during my wife’s illness. We approach Thanksgiving this year with hearts full of gratitude for kindnesses and considerations in this trying time. This illness has restricted much of my ability to look after the physical and emotional needs of the congregation. But once again, there is considerable help from our deacons and others of our leaders. Some have gone beyond the call to help care for the sick and hurting among us.

            This help is invaluable. I often feel inadequate for this ministry. Thankfully, the Lord has helped me keep up my studies. I am relaxed and strengthened as I study and prepare for sermons, and then have the pleasure of giving you the fruits of this labor.

            Though I have no right to ask, I humbly request for more prayers and indulgences. It does not appear our struggles will end soon. Only by a miracle of God’s grace can we expect an immediate change. God does not promise this, but we do claim His promise to be with us in the trials and to sustain us daily with His mercies.

            God works through His people, which for us means His mercies become real through your love and support. We are thankful for the Lord and for you His faithful servants. We cannot continue without your willingness to stand with us. We look for better days, but we are content to be used in whatever ways God sees fit. What shape this will take we do not know. We trust the Lord to reveal this in His good time.

                                                                        Pastor V. Mark Smith

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: ^[13] But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. (1 Peter 4:12-13)

Today in our study of 1 Thessalonians we consider the opposition of the world that hates Christ. The persecution of Christians is a theme common to the apostles. Suffering is often addressed by the writers of the New Testament because of the terrible persecution inflicted on them by an empire that was hostile to Christianity. One of their greatest challenges was to get new converts to buy into it as the badge their faith was real. In 1 Peter, Peter hits on the theme in every section of his letter. He tells his readers to rejoice in their salvation even though they experience terrible trials.

When Jesus called twelve men to be His disciples, He warned that following Him and witnessing for Him and remaining true to the faith would not be an easy path to follow. Although the gospel of Christ is the only hope for a world awaiting the wrath of God, people reject this message and they often do it with hatred and sometimes with violence.

The tone of 1 Peter makes it clear that suffering for Christ is not to be unexpected. Peter says, “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” The explanation for these trials comes in 4:13 and is attributed to the sufferings of Christ. To paraphrase Peter, he tells persecuted Christians, “Don’t be surprised when people hate you and want to kill you. If you desire to follow Christ, you will not receive better treatment than He received.” The reason for this should be easily discerned even if we do not consider the natural negative disposition of men towards the gospel. We can approach the problem from another angle which is simple deductive reasoning in the comparison of our lives to Jesus Christ.

What kind of man was Jesus? He was kind, compassionate, considerate, supremely loving, temperate, patient, self-sacrificing, perfectly righteous, and a dozen other superlatives that could be added. How was Jesus treated? He was abused, accused, told He was from Satan, and run out of town. He was called a glutton and a drunkard; He was accused of sedition and finally cruelly crucified. All of this happened to the perfect God-man, and yet He never struck back at anyone that wanted to harm Him.

Now consider your life. How do you compare to Jesus in any of these areas? I am sure you have some good traits, but each of us even at our best falls far short of Christ’s example. The indignation we feel when treated badly is just one more example of our inability to match His standard. So, how will we be treated being imperfect as opposed to the perfect Son of God? Not for a minute should we expect better treatment.

Reading this you may say, “How depressing! Is it really worth it?” This is when you should remember Peter’s answer to this question. 1 Peter 1:6 says this is a temporary condition. In 4:13, he says Christ will appear in His glory and you will be exalted and honored with Him. The worst trial you face for the cause of Christ will be worth it when you come to the realization of your final salvation. Never fear what anyone can do to you. As Peter says in the last verse of the fourth chapter, you can commit the keeping of your soul to Christ. He is the powerful Creator who speaks the word and vanquishes all enemies!

                                                            Pastor V. Mark Smith

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  (2 Timothy 2:15)

The letter of 2^nd Timothy is one of three Pastoral Epistles written by Paul to instruct both Timothy and Titus in their duties as pastors of the Lord’s the churches. The term “pastor” means “shepherd.” The chief duty of a pastor is to shepherd the flock of God. When Jesus was speaking to Peter after the resurrection, He asked, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” Peter responded, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee,” to which Jesus rejoined, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15). This statement is equivalent to, “If you love me, shepherd my sheep.”

Our King James Version has rendered the first part of 2 Timothy 2:15 as “Study to show thyself approved.” This translation is good if we understand what “study” meant to the translators. Commonly, we take this to mean, study as in hitting the books to prepare for a final. This kind of study is implied, but the more accurate rendering of the word is diligence—Be diligent to show thyself approved unto God. Paul is instructing Timothy to be diligent about teaching the people of God. He is to use all physical and spiritual means to search the scriptures and impart truth to God’s people. This diligence will cause him to receive God’s approbation.

Superimposing Jesus’ words to Peter upon this text, Paul instructs Timothy to shepherd the sheep with the utmost care and concern for their spiritual welfare. A pastor wears many hats and is charged with many responsibilities, but the most important of these is teaching the Bible. Our spiritual strength comes from God’s word. Even regeneration itself is a product of the Holy Spirit’s work using the scriptures to bring us to repentance and faith. Peter wrote: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter 1:23). After salvation, the Bible continues to be the Christian’s strength for daily living. Later in 2^nd Timothy, Paul writes that scripture is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). The result of knowing scripture is that we become mature in the faith and equipped to perform every good work enjoined upon us by our salvation in Christ (2 Timothy 3:17).

With these facts in mind, the meaning of 2 Timothy 2:15 for the pastor, is unmistakably clarified. The pulpit ministry is the most important work of the church. We can do without programs if we must; we can do without socials if we must; we can do without any of the peripherals of ministry, but we cannot do without the Word. The pastor will stand before God and give an account of how faithfully and diligently he fed the people with the Word.

I am concerned that we are very clear about the doctrines of the Bible. We will not abandon the teaching of justification by faith alone; we will not abandon God’s demand for righteous, holy living. We will not abandon the call of complete repentance from sin, nor the wrath of God because of sin, nor the punishment of eternal hell for unbelievers. Accompanying these doctrines, this church will do its best to teach her people to know Christ better. Faith is increased by knowledge and knowledge comes from being a diligent student of God’s word.

                                                            Pastor V. Mark Smith