Messages

A message from the series “Upside Down.” Sermon Manuscript: Upside Down Message 5- Blessed Are The Merciful
Sermon preached by Dr. Rick Mandl, Eagle Rock Baptist Church, July 18 & 19, 2020Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
 
Hey church family, how are you doing? And I what I mean by that is “How are you doing?” How are you doing in terms of adjusting to this newest installment, of what we are reluctantly having to accept as “The New New Normal.” A week ago, many of us were grumbling about the way things were in the age of COVID19. But some of us tried to find comfort in the thought that as bad as things were, they could be worse. And today, we don’t find a lot of comfort in being able to say, “I told you so! – See they are worse!” As someone once said, “It’s like you’ve been traveling through this long dark tunnel, and all you want is to get out. And finally, you start to see a light at the end of the tunnel. And you move toward it, only realize that that light is in fact, an oncoming train.” This is a great time to remind ourselves of the fact that when things are out of our control, they are not out of God’s control. He is still in control. He is still at work. And although he doesn’t phone ahead to tell us how he is going to work these things for our good, and His glory, we still believe he will. And we rest in that confidence. As continue to adjust to all the things that are changing, we realize that some things don’t change.
 
God’s Word tells us that as his people, we are to “Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.” We do those two things, whether we’re able to gather together physically, or whether we’re having to come together from a distance. This past Thursday, the oldest member of our ERBC family, a man by the name of Richard Morgan, Went to be with the Lord. Richard was 102 years old. And if you’ve been a part of our church family for any length of time, you knew Richard. Richard made his living as a master chef. As a much younger man, he was a chef on the railroad, cooking on dining cars as they travelled the country. In more recent years, he was a Chef at the Brown Derby on Wilshire, and then in more recent years, just up the road at the Anandale Country Club in Pasadena. Richard was always committed to using the gifts that God gave him for his glory. And so for many many years he did all the cooking here at our church. Whether that was for church dinners, or for Men’s Breakfasts, our for our monthly food serving ministry to Skid Row that we called Street Kitchen.
 
When you live to be 102, you gain a lot of wisdom, and I remember once asking Richard, what he had learned through those 102 years, and he told me that he had learned that in life, only two things mattered. I was surprised by that – and asked him to clarify. I said “Really? – Just two things? – – Well, what are they? And he told me, “The only two things that matter in life are GOD and PEOPLE.” He said, “If you make friends with both, you’ll do just fine.” Richard didn’t just share that wisdom, he lived by it. As we celebrate Richard’s graduation into glory, we extend our love and condolences to his family and friends, and we rest in the assurance that we if we took Richard’s words to heart… If we made friends with God and People… Well, we know that we’ll see Richard again. If you knew Richard, you know that he loved to hear God’s Word preached, and so to honor that, I want to move on to that right now.
 
We’ve been in a series looking at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount and that part of the Sermon that’s known as the Beatitudes. These are the statements that all begin with the words “Blessed are…” In each statement our Lord was saying, “If you want to be blessed by God, here’s the life that you’ll be living.” Today’s verse… Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). That’s what we’re going to be looking at today. And I want to begin with the question… What Does It Mean To Be Merciful? Maybe the best way to understand what Mercy is, is to look at what it’s not. There are TWO PASSAGES IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL where MERCY IS CONTRASTED AGAINST ITS OPPOSITE. If you’ve got your Bibles, open up to Matthew 9:10-13. If you don’t have your Bible the verses are on your notes and they’ll also be up on the screen.
 
The first thing we’ll see in this passage is that… Mercy is Not MECHANICAL. What to I mean by that? Well take a look at Matthew 9, verse 10 – there we read, “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and SINNERS came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Let’s stop right there. In that story the OPPOSITE of MERCY IS SACRIFICE. And the words of Verse 13 – “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” are actually a quote from an Old Testament passage. And since Jesus told his hearers to “go and learn what it means” That might be good advice for you and me as well. If you look up the passage that he’s referring to, you’ll see that it comes from Hosea 6:6. And there God tells his people that…. Their love for him is like the dew on the grass. It’s there for a little while in the morning and then it’s gone — As soon as the sun comes out – – – it’s burned away – – – and the only thing that’s left as evidence that it ever existed are the ashes from their burnt offerings. That’s not the kind of MECHANICAL DEVOTION that God wants from his children.
 
In the passage we’re looking at, in Matthew 9 – Jesus was doing something THAT HE OFTEN DID that infuriated the straight-laced religious leaders of his day. He was eating with those people that He knew mattered to God – but that the religious leaders thought didn’t. He was eating with TAX COLLECTORS AND SINNERS. And the REASON HE DID THIS was because HE SAW THESE PEOPLE as those who were sick and in need of a physician — THEY WERE SICK — HE HAD MEDICINE. The Pharisees who criticized Jesus for who he was eating with couldn’t see any further than their own ceremonies — the fact that He was eating with sinners — and therefore was becoming CEREMONIALLY CONTAMINATED — They were enslaved to MECHANICAL RELIGIOUS RITUAL. RELIGION BY THE NUMBER.
 
But… MERCY IS NOT MECHANICAL. It’s also not. . . . It’s not MEASURED. You see that in Matthew 23:23-24 it’s there that Jesus says, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). “You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24). “Straining out a gnat, swallowing a camel” That’s talking about RELIGION BY THE MILLIMETER — Today it would be the person who reads what the Bible says about tithing and then gets stressed out because they can’t figure out whether they are supposed to tithe on their net or their gross income — Or if they receive cash as a birthday gift do they owe God 10% from that? Our Lord warned these religious leaders that a preoccupation with measuring our devotion to God can cause us to MISS OUT on what he calls the MOST IMPORTANT MATTERS — and listed among them is MERCY.
 
If mercy is NOT MECHANICAL and it’s NOT MEASURED. Then what is it? A simple definition would consist of three words – “Mercy is…… LOVE IN ACTION. And it’s probably seen nowhere more clearly than in the Parable of the GOOD SAMARITAN — a story our Lord told to a lawyer who came to him asking two questions. The first question is recorded in Luke 10:25, “An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘WHAT MUST I DO to inherit eternal life?” The question was MECHANICAL. He came to Jesus looking for SOMETHING THAT HE COULD DO — SOME ACTION — SOME RELIGIOUS DEED — so that WHEN IT CAME TO THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT he could RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE. Something else you see in this encounter is that JESUS DEALT WITH THIS QUESTIONER ON THE BASIS THAT HE CAME TO HIM. This man CAME ASKING FOR SOMETHING MECHANICAL — SOMETHING THAT HE COULD DO – to earn God’s favor — and THAT WAS THE BASIS UPON WHICH JESUS ANSWERED HIM. He answered the man’s question with a question… ‘What is written in the Law?’ he replied. ‘How do you read it?’ (Luke 10:26). This man answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. If you want something to do – then… ‘Do this and you will live.’
 
The next question that this inquirer asks isn’t about MECHANICS but about MEASURING… “But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” You think about it, and you realize – – It’s AN IMPORTANT QUESTION because IF loving his neighbor was PART OF WHAT IT WOULD TAKE to gain God’s mercy, THEN this man wanted to be ABSOLUTELY SURE that it was CLEARLY DEFINED IN ADVANCE as to who that neighbor was, SO THAT he could be sure that he DIDN’T WASTE ANY LOVE on someone that he didn’t have to. And it was in response to the first question that was MECHANICAL and the second one that was MEASURING that Jesus spoke a parable that demonstrates the MARKS OF MERCY. We know it as… The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).
 
The story goes like this beginning with Luke 10:30… “In reply Jesus said: ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.’ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise’” (Luke 10:36-37).
 
This story illustrates, not only mercy, but also its opposite. YOU SEE MERCY in the actions of the Samaritan. YOU SEE THE OPPOSITE OF MERCY in the response of the Priest and the Levite. It’s interesting that as Jesus tells this story which so powerfully portrays what mercy is not, he chooses a Priest and a Levite… A PASTOR and a MINISTER OF WORSHIP to illustrate what Mercy isn’t. I don’t think it was by accident – I think it’s a WARNING to any of us who spend a lot of time in serving the Lord, to beware of getting so caught up in the MECHANICS of doing things for God — religious activity – – – that we become blind to the needs of others around us. Sometimes the good can be the enemy of the best. We can get so caught up in preaching, or praying, or teaching, or tithing, that we fail to cultivate hearts of compassion for the hurts of others. What does mercy look like?
 
From this story that Jesus told we see three things… “If I’m Merciful, I’ll SEE those who are SUFFERING. Even though it says that all three – the Priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan saw the injured traveller – it was obviously a different kind of vision that the third of these had when he saw the hurt. I think that this message is important for us because… There is so much hurt in our world that it’s easy to become blind to the needs around us. We drive the freeways and every day at the off-ramps you see homeless standing with signs that say “WILL WORK FOR FOOD”. And you drive those freeways often enough, those people disappear — we don’t even see them. Some are scamming – others are in legitimate need – both situations are sad. Sadder still is when they become invisible to us.
 
If I’m Merciful… One, I’ll SEE those who are suffering. And then secondly,  I’ll FEEL COMPASSION for those who have FALLEN. All three of the travelers on that Jericho road may have seen the wounded traveler but ONLY ONE OF THEM FELT COMPASSION — the first two passed by on the other side of the road BUT…. And this is a BIG BUT… a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. Notice… Mercy starts with AWARENESS – You see the need. It next issues forth in an ATTITUDE – You feel compassion… But it also involves taking ACTION.
 
If I’m merciful…. I’ll SEE THOSE WHO ARE SUFFERING. I’ll FEEL COMPASSION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN. And then third, I’ll HELP those who are HURTING. Mercy is more than AWARENESS, It’s more than ATTITUDE, It’s also an ACTION — it’s DOING SOMETHING FOR THE PERSON IN NEED TO RELIEVE THEIR DISTRESS. That’s what the Samaritan did… “He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out (Some Money) and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ When you FEEL SORRY FOR SOMEONE that’s not being like Christ — when you DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT — that’s being like Christ. 1 JOHN 3:17-18 says, “If someone who is supposed to be a Christian has enough money to live well, and sees a brother in need but won’t help him – how can God’s love be in him? … Let’s stop just saying we love people…let’s show it by our actions!”
 
Someone once asked the late comedian Flip Wilson – “What’s your religion?” He said “I’m a Jehovah’s Bystander” – I don’t want to get involved. Mercy gets involved – it helps those who are hurting. If I’m Merciful… 1) I’LL SEE THOSE WHO ARE SUFFERING. 2) I’LL FEEL COMPASSION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN. 3) I’ll HELP those who are hurting. And let me add something to that. I’ll help those who are hurting… even if they are my enemy. You see that in verse 33. This story that our Lord told was made even more powerful by the cast of characters that he selected. The two who passed by – – – The ones who didn’t stop to offer assistance – – they were Jewish leaders. The one who did help was a natural enemy of the one in distress – He was a half-breed Jew with a warped religious tradition – – and yet he was the one who stopped to help the Jew who hated him. If I’m merciful, it means I’ll help those who are hurting even if they’re my enemy. And there was powerful example of this that took place near Philadelphia this past Father’s Day. And just in case you missed the story, I want to share it with you now…(VIDEO about Daylan McLee)
 
There are a few things that I can imagine that would be worse than spending a year in jail. One of those would be spending a year in jail, if I knew I was innocent. That year that Daylan McLee spent in jail was a year away from his children. It was a year away from his mother, who was ill at the time and passed away last year. Nevertheless, McLee said it wasn’t a complicated decision to help another human being. He said. “There is value in every human life. We are all children of God and I can’t imagine just watching anyone burn,” He said, “No matter what other people have done to me, or other officers, I thought, ‘This guy deserves to make it home safely to his family.’” And thanks to Daylan McLee he did.
 
In Luke 6:33-36 Jesus said, “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even `sinners’ do that!….But love your enemies, do good to them…then your reward will be great…Be merciful, just as your Father is!” If you want to be like God – the way to do it is to be merciful – to do good to those who do evil to you. That’s the exact opposite of what society says. Society says when people hurt you – you hurt them back. You don’t get mad – get even. God says – “You not only forgive that person – you look for ways to be nice to that guy.” Why? Because the best way to eliminate an enemy is to turn him into a friend.
 
Mercy is love in action — it’s THE WAY THAT GOD TREATS PEOPLE because He is slow to anger, merciful, compassionate, and rich in love. Now maybe to you, this SOUNDS GOOD, but you’re not sure how to get there from here. You look at your life, and if you’re honest, you’d have to admit that mercy is not a dominant characteristic. How can I become merciful? The first thing you need to do is… RECOGNIZE your need for mercy. James 2:13 says, “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” I need to RECOGNIZE MY NEED FOR MERCY. NOT JUST at the moment I come to Christ for salvation but DAILY. When you think about the people in your life who really give you a hard time – those people who make your blood boil — if you’re having a hard time being merciful to those people – stop for a moment and think about what a hard time you have given God. Think about all the flack you’ve given him – think about all the stuff you’ve done your own way — all the times you have said “God I know that this is what you want me to do but sorry I’m going to do it my way” And yet in spite of all of that God still loves you. Why? Because he’s MERCIFUL and YOU NEEDED THAT MERCY. You want to be a person who is merciful? You RECOGNIZE YOUR NEED FOR MERCY and then… RECEIVE the mercy God offers. Why?? Because you can’t give away what you don’t have. Titus 3:4-5 says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Mercy is not a natural quality — it’s a gift from God. And the receiving of that mercy isn’t just A COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION – – – -it’s something you have to experience in your heart.
 
There is a Parable in Matthew 18. It’s a Parable about A MERCIFUL KING and AN UNMERCIFUL SERVANT. And that servant owed his king an enormous debt, and he pleaded with the king to give him time to work to repay that debt, even though there was no way on earth that he could live long enough to work it off. Do you know what the king did? The king offered him MERCY – He didn’t just offer him time to work off the debt… He cancelled the debt. But sadly, that servant RECEIVED THAT MERCY IN A COMMERCIAL WAY – It never penetrated his heart and as a result he didn’t have it to pass on to one of his fellow workers who owed him a small debt. I need to RECOGNIZE MY NEED FOR MERCY. I need to RECEIVE THE MERCY THAT GOD OFFERS.
 
And then I need to… RISK being merciful to others. There are some of you watching today who have people in your life that you feel you CAN’T FORGIVE. You’re saying “You don’t know how much this person hurt me! They have hurt me and they continue to hurt me. And I just can’t forgive them.” What I would say to you is… If that’s true – that You can’t forgive them. Then “I hope you never sin” — because forgiveness and mercy is a two-way street. When you REFUSE TO FORGIVE OTHERS and you REFUSE TO SHOW MERCY to others – – what you’re doing is you’re burning the very bridge you have to walk across to get to heaven. The Bible says THOSE WHO SHOW MERCY RECEIVE MERCY – those who don’t, do not. You need to show mercy because you’ll need mercy. Is there a cost to being merciful? Absolutely. That’s why I say you need to take the risk… to pay the price… The Bible pointing to Jesus as our example says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). When God wanted to show mercy to us he didn’t just say “I want to sympathize with you.” He said “I’ll put skin on.” WAS THERE A COST INVOLVED? Absolutely – our Lord had to lay aside the glory of heaven and take on the limitations of a human body. He had to follow a path that culminated in a painful death on a Roman cross. But he PAID THAT PRICE- he TOOK THAT RISK in order to extend mercy to us.
 
MERCY ALWAYS INVOLVES A COST – There was a COST FOR THAT SAMARITAN on the Jericho Road as he INTERRUPTED HIS SCHEDULE… TOOK THE TIME TO BANDAGE THE WOUNDS of the injured traveler… And then TOOK A DETOUR in order to get him to an inn where he could pay the price for his lodging and continued care. MERCY IS ALWAYS COSTLY – WE TAKE A RISK WHEN WE EXTEND it because WE GIVE UP SOMETHING and we’re NOT SURE IF WE’RE GOING TO GET ANYTHING BACK IN RETURN. One man was reflecting on his marriage and he said… “Every time I get in any kind of argument with my wife she gets so HISTORICAL — NOT HYSTERICAL BUT HISTORICAL.” We like to HOLD ON TO HURTS because it gives us A SENSE OF POWER over the person who has hurt us. WHEN WE FORGIVE — WHEN WE SHOW MERCY we are RELEASING THAT POWER. WHEN SOMEBODY HAS WRONGED ME AND I GRANT FORGIVENESS there is a DRAMATIC POWER EXCHANGE. The WIFE WHO IS HISTORICAL is holding on to power. WHEN YOU REALLY FORGIVE you give up that power. THERE IS A RISK INVOLVED – but when you think about it — it’s A RISK YOU CAN’T AFFORD NOT TO TAKE.
 
Matthew 25 says that the thing that Christians are going to be judged for at the judgment is how they treated other people… “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me'” (Matthew 25:35). And we’re going to say… ‘Lord, when did we do all of that to you? And he will say – “In as much as you have done it to anybody else – you have done it to me?” Matthew 5:7 says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
 
In the age to come – when we meet God face to face – the people who will receive mercy from him are the people who have been merciful. It’s NOT THAT WE EARN HIS MERCY BY OUR MERCY — if that were the case it would be A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS – it wouldn’t be mercy. What God will look at on that day is not A PUNCHED TIME CARD that says you’ve worked so hard at being merciful and therefore deserve so much of a reward. Instead what he will look at is YOUR MEDICAL CHART. The record of how you trusted him as your GREAT PHYSICIAN, and how the MEDICINE OF HIS WORD, and the MINISTRY OF HIS SPIRIT took effect in your life and HEALED YOUR UNMERCIFUL DISPOSITION. When he sees that HE WILL COMPLETE THAT WORK OF HEALING and WELCOME YOU INTO HIS KINGDOM FOREVER. Let’s thank him for that as we bow together… Let’s pray.
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
 
 

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Pastor Rick shares truths from Yellowstone, Proverbs 6 and Psalm 119:105 to remind us that when we ignore the warnings in God’s Word, we may risk something worse than ‘death-by-selfie.’

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Pastor Andrew continues to look at Philippians chapter 2 and reminds us that we were created to reflect Christ’s glory.

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Raquel and Sam share with us from Psalm 117 and challenge us to take some time today to Praise The Lord!

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” What Do You Do When Life Doesn’tGo The Way You Hoped?Wednesday July 15, 2020
 
Hey church family. How are you doing when it comes to the latest chapter in this book that is being written that we’re reluctantly calling “The New Normal?”
 
One of our church members summed up the feelings of a lot of people in an email she sent me this week. I had reached out to her asking if there was anything we could be praying for, for her and her family. She had been away from church for a few weeks and had just been able to be back with us for our live service for the first time this past Sunday and she wrote…. I really enjoyed being on the church campus and seeing smiling eyes… and singing under my mask. She confesses “That is my rebellious side.” She says I am so sad that our church will be closed again.  Please pray for me because I am exhausted by this quarantine/social distancing.  I am getting depressed because I cannot do what I want to do.  Even going to Target is such a task, and seeing bare shelves worries me. I try very hard to be thankful for everything but the feeling creeps up every now and then. My husband does not worry about anything so he is ok. And then she thanked me for reaching out.
 
In reflecting on her words, it started me thinking… what do you do “When Things Don’t Go The Way You Hoped?” And that started me thinking about an incident that took place on that very first Easter Morning. The incident is recorded in Luke 24:13. I’d encourage you to read it for yourself, but until you do, I’ll give you the summary. The story opens with two individuals traveling on a road outside of Jerusalem on that very first Easter Sunday Morning. As they’re walking along they were talking about everything that had happened back in Jerusalem that weekend. Specifically, they were talking about the crucifixion of Jesus. As that point in their conversation, Jesus himself came up and began walking with them. But the text tells us that they were kept from recognizing him. Jesus engages in conversation with them, and asks them what it was that they were discussing. One of the two asks Jesus – and remember this one doesn’t know that he is talking with Jesus – he asks him if he’s the only one visiting Jerusalem who doesn’t know about the things that have happened over the last few days. Jesus, asks, “What are these things, or which you speak?” And they tell him that they were talking about Jesus of Nazareth. They refer to him as a prophet who was powerful in word and deed – They recognized that the hand of God had been upon Him. And then they shared some words that were very telling.
 
They said… “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. We had hoped that he would be the one to restore the kingdom? We had hoped… “ But that was three days ago, and now he is dead, and now hope is gone. They had hopes… They had expectations as to how God would work things out. But God had not worked things out in the way they expected. And now they were without hope. They were hopeless. Upon hearing that, Jesus didn’t abandon them. But spent some time with them. Shared a meal with them. And explained to them that these things that had happened, including the death and resurrection of Jesus didn’t represent a thwarting of God’s plan for their Messiah, rather they were things that were absolutely necessary for the fulfillment of God’s plan.
 
And from that encounter, I was reminded, that when things don’t turn out the way that we hoped, that doesn’t mean that it’s a time to give up hope, but rather to realize that God may still be at work, working out something bigger and better than we could ever have anticipated. Remember, when it comes to hope, our hope is only as strong as the one we’re placing our hope in, and if we’re hoping in Jesus, the promise of God is that we will not be disappointed. Continue to hope in Jesus. He will never fail you!
 
 

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.”
Reflecting on the Psalmist’s words from Psalm 31:14-15 Judy Mandl shares God’s advice as to how we can navigate the journey from times that are uncertain to times that are even more uncertain.

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” Man Plans And God LaughsTuesday July 14, 2020
 
“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” is an old Yiddish adage that means, “Man Plans, and God Laughs.” That saying is a reminder that despite our most careful planning – life is unpredictable – and unexpected changes will inevitably occur. I was reminded of that at the beginning of this week.
 
Just this past Sunday, someone was telling me about a lawsuit that was about to be filed against our governor. The suit was prompted by the ban that Governor Newsom had issued last week, on Monday July 6th… A ban that said that to slow the spread of the Coronavirus . . . places of worship must . . . discontinue indoor singing. That was last Monday, July 6th. This Monday, yesterday July 13th things changed, and it would seem that it’s no longer necessary to worry about the Governor’s prohibition regarding singing in churches, because for the time being churches are not allowed to meet. In case you didn’t see it, in order to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, our Governor issued an order yesterday requiring statewide closures of a list of indoor businesses. Included on that list are… restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, zoos, bowling alleys, miniature golf courses, cardrooms, bars, fitness centers, hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors. barbershops, indoor malls, non-critical offices, and oh yes, places of worship.
 
There are some, within the church, who believe that all of those businesses that I named at the beginning of that list… Those are all just a smokescreen, to conceal the real agenda. And that this is all a part of a secret plan by the radical left to reshape society, and the church is their first target. Now of course, I have no way of knowing whether this is true, because it is after all, a secret plan. And no one on the inside has phoned me to tip me off as to the existence of this secret plan to reshape society but I do know that many people sincerely believe that this plan exists. I would imagine that there are others – – – specifically those who make their living operating fitness centers, who are equally sincere in their belief that, that by shutting down all of the fitness centers, all of the gyms, all of the places that people go to exercise and try and stay in shape, the governor has a radical plan to reshape society by keeping us from staying in shape. Again, who is right, and who is wrong? I have no idea.
 
What I do know is that the Bible tells us that as we look to the future, it’s a good idea to plan, but as we plan, we need to hold those plans loosely and always leave room for God to redirect. James 4:13-16 tells us, “Look here, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’ Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.” I think about those words, and I realize that we had plans to see some of you this Sunday at 11:00 for live worship here in our Worship Center, but God, not Governor Newsom, or the radical left, or anyone else had other plans.
 
So we’ll look forward to seeing you online this weekend. Saturday at 5:30, Sunday at 9:00, or 11:00, or 1:00 or 6:00, Or Wednesday at 7:00PM. Until then, keep praying that all of us will remember that God is in control and that no plan or purpose of this can ever be thwarted. God bless you church family.
 
 

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.” When Losing Control is a Good Thing Monday July 13, 2020
Hey church family. I want to share with you a story from Matthew chapter 8. In verses 5-10 we read these words, “When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly. Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
 
I wonder, have you ever thought about the fact that control and faith can’t co-exist. My need for control actually demonstrates my lack of faith. In that passage I read to you, the Roman officer understood control. He was familiar with being in control: control of others, control of decisions, control of situations, and control of himself. But no amount of control could heal his sick servant. He was out of control, and through faith, he handed control over to Jesus. The officer came to a faith conclusion and gave up control. He recognized that he wasn’t worthy…but Jesus was worthy. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
 
My guess is that Jesus isn’t amazed when you and I try to control and fix everything myself. Rather, Jesus is amazed when you and I give up control and by faith, turn it over to Him! Losing Control can be a good thing. Particularly when we’re losing it, because we’re surrendering it to the one who ultimately controls all things. May you and I learn to do that, and in the process grow to have the kind of faith that amazes Jesus.
 
 

A message from the series “Daily Devotional Videos.”
When you think about the biggest temptations that we face, what sort of sins come to mind? Sex? Immortality? Judy Mandl reflects on 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 and reminds us that the way of escape that God provides from our temptations, isn’t limited to what we think of as the “big” sins, but also covers every temptation that we face throughout the day.

A message from the series “Upside Down.” Sermon Manuscript: Upside Down Message 4- Blessed Are Those Who Hunger & Thirst For Righteousness
Sermon preached by Dr. Rick Mandl, Eagle Rock Baptist Church, July 11 & 12, 2020Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
 
Hey church family, it’s great to welcome you today we continue our study through the first portion of the Sermon on the Mount. That section known as “The Beatitudes.” Speaking of the Sermon on the Mount… Pastor James Montgomery Boice once said, “Show me a man that claims he is living up to the standards of the Sermon on the Mount, and I will show you a man who has either never read it, does not understand what it’s teaching, or is lying.” This is especially true of the Beatitude we are looking at today. Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
 
But before we get into the specifics of this verse, let’s remember that when we look at this list of eight beatitudes, we shouldn’t look at it as a menu from which we are going to choose one or two of the characteristics and concentrate on perfecting those. Instead, we need to understand that all eight of these traits are describing one person, and all eight need to be present in us in order for us to be spiritually healthy. Even though we separate these eight characteristics, for the purpose of study, we really can’t divide them in our lives. They are inextricably bound to one another.
 
As we look at verse 6 we are at the halfway point of the list of these 8 beatitudes, and we can see the progression of thought. We can see how each one relates to the others. How each one flows into the others. And how each one builds upon the others.
 
In the first Beatitude, we saw that the person who comes to God must be poor in spirit, recognizing that they are spiritually bankrupt before God, and left to themselves totally helpless to improve their standing before God. In the second beatitude we saw that when we are conscious of our sin, when we’re aware of our guilt, and our spiritual poverty, we will mourn and will come to God for comfort. In the third Beatitude, we saw that when we become aware of our spiritual bankruptcy, and mourn over our sin, we will humble ourselves before God. We will be content with meekness, knowing that humility before God allows us to experience all the blessings of His Kingdom. This fourth beatitude, the one we’re looking at today… “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” follows in that same progression but with a slight change.
 
The previous three beatitudes all focused on man’s need, but here in the fourth, we are presented with God’s solution. The first three, saw us looking at our self, our helplessness, our weakness. In this fourth beatitude, the eye of our soul is turned toward God. Here, we’re told that if we will hunger and thirst after righteousness – after that perfect righteousness that we realize we urgently need, but don’t possess.. Then God will both declare us righteous, and fill us with righteousness. So, let’s break down the verse a little.
 
What does it mean to hunger and thirst?
 
Hunger and thirst are words that require more than a dictionary to define them, because they are words of human experience. My guess is, there are few of us here today who’ve ever known real hunger or real thirst. To us, hunger is something we feel when we watch a Burger King commercial. Or we say that “We’re starving” because it’s 1:30 and we’re used to eating lunch at noon. For most of us, thirst has probably never been more than a momentary experience.
 
The reality of our lives is that we can turn on a faucet and get clean water, but we’d rather pay extra, and get it in little plastic bottles. And for some of us, it’s not really water, if it’s not our brand. But in Palestine in the time of Jesus, things were much different. Christ spoke to a crowd of people to whom hunger and thirst were familiar companions. They knew the meaning of famine, of life-threatening hunger, of the kind of starvation in which a person had to eat or die. For them, hunger and thirst weren’t just passing feelings, but something deep, painful, and abiding that continued until it was satisfied.
 
The two Greek verbs that Jesus used here are words that convey intense desire. A deep hunger. The hunger of a starving man, the thirst of a man who would die without water.
 
A good picture of this comes from a book called The Romance Of The Last Crusade. It’s the story of British Major Vivian Gilbert and his troops who were traveling through the Palestinian desert during World War One in pursuit of the Turkish army. In His book, he describes the thirst they suffered. Here’s what he wrote:
 
Our heads ached, and our eyes became bloodshot and dim in the blinding glare, our tongues began to swell, our lips turned a purplish black and burst open. Those who dropped out of the column were never seen again, but we desperately battled on toward Sherea.
There were wells at Sherea, and we knew if we were unable to take that place by nightfall, thousands of us would have died of thirst.
So, we fought that day as men fight for their lives.
We entered Sherea on the heels of the retreating Turks and the first objects which met our view were the great stone cisterns full of cold, clear, drinking water.
It took four hours before the last man was able to drink.
Standing there at attention in that blazing heat all that time we could hear the water, smell it. 
 
Major Gilbert concludes by saying,
“I believe that we all learned our first real Bible lesson on that march from Beersheba to the Sherea wells. If such were our thirst for God, and for righteousness, and for His will in our lives – a consuming, all-embracing preoccupying desire, how rich the fruits of the Spirit would be.”
 
Did you notice how he described this thirst as “an all-embracing preoccupying desire”? Jesus said, “Blessed is that man who longs for righteousness as a starving man longs for food, and as a man dying of thirst longs for water. It’s not enough just to be a little bit hungry, we need to be starving.
 
Remember the story of the Prodigal Son? When he was hungry, he went to feed on the slop that was given to the pigs. It wasn’t until he was starving, that He turned to the Father. Not until we desire the righteousness of God that much will we find it.
 
Saint Augustine said it this way, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” If we haven’t known the spiritual longing that can only be satisfied by God through the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are yet to experience the hunger and the thirst that this Beatitude speaks of.
 
Jesus said, Blessed (or happy) is the person who knows that kind of hunger and thirst, but what Happiness is there in Hunger? The answer to that question is two-fold. First of all, hunger is a good thing, because… Hunger is a sign of life. That’s true physically and it’s true spiritually. Physically, dead men need no food, and they crave no water. Spiritually, those who have no cravings for God, no longings for Christ, no thirst for the things of the Spirit are, according to the Bible, “dead in their trespasses and sin.” As long as they remain insensitive to the voice of God’s spirit, and ignore His promptings, they remain dead. But the slightest bit of hunger in our heart for God and His righteousness is a sign of life, a sign that it’s not too late to be receptive to God’s voice and to respond to His call.
 
Happy are the hungry, for hunger is a sign of life. There’s a second blessing in hunger, and that is that… Hunger is a sign of health. Once again this is true physically and it’s true spiritually. Physically speaking, one of the first signs of sickness is the loss of appetite. And one of the first indicators that health has been restored is the return of appetite. A hungry person is a healthy person. In this case, what’s true physically is also true spiritually. The healthy person is one who has a spiritual hunger. The psalmist describes it this way in Psalm 42…As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” And then again in Psalm 63… “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”
 
What these verses are describing, should be the normal spiritual experience, the hunger of a healthy believer. Unfortunately, instead of being the rule, the Psalmist’s experience is all too often the exception. And the reason is, that people hunger and thirst for the wrong things.
 
This is true of those who don’t know Jesus Christ as their Savior as well as many of those who do. Among those who don’t know Christ, they make the mistake of putting the cart before the horse. They’re hungering and thirsting after happiness, without realizing that lasting happiness is a byproduct of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. The world is looking for happiness, but they’re looking in all the wrong places, and trying to satisfy their hunger for God with all the wrong things. The world is hungry! Jesus offers Himself as the bread of life, and yet people instead settle for “What is not bread” as Isaiah puts it. The world is thirsty! Jesus offers Himself as living water and yet Jeremiah describes the reaction. “They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” The world is trying to eliminate the pain, rather than to acknowledge the disease, and so they hunger for the wrong things.
 
And what is true of the world has a parallel within the church. Many Christians spend their lives seeking something they can never find, looking for a special kind of happiness or blessedness which they hope to gain through an experience. They seek it, they covet it, they hunger and thirst for it but they never get it because they fail to realize that what they’re looking for can never be found when it is sought as an end in itself – it only comes as byproduct when we hunger and thirst for something higher.
 
Just what is it that we should be hungering for? Our text answers that question. It is righteousness. The Greek word means justification or to be right with God. It is a two-fold experience. First of all it speaks of salvation. The initial hungering and thirsting that occurs within a person before they turn to Christ in faith. This aspect of righteousness is talking about a right relationship with God, a freedom from the penalty of sin. When we abandon all hope of saving ourselves and start to hunger for a salvation that we can only receive at the hands of God, it’s then that we’ll have experienced this righteousness and the blessing or happiness comes with it.
 
This righteousness that God gives to us, differs from the righteousness that we try to work up on our own effort, in that God’s righteousness is internal and man’s righteousness is external. The Pharisees were experts in external righteousness. Their life was one long list of do’s and don’ts. The result was neither holiness or happiness. Jesus warns us about following their example. In Matthew 5:20 he said… “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20) The Pharisees represented the height of human holiness, and yet Jesus says, “Not good enough!” God’s standard is higher. It’s a holiness you achieve only when you realize that YOU can’t achieve it. God has to give it? Why? Because He alone possesses it. It begins when we see His holiness, together with our sinfulness.
 
Our reaction should be like that of Isaiah. We should cry out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!” We see the holiness of God… We confess our own helplessness… And out of that experience we find happiness. We realize that all of our righteousness falls far short of God’s standard, and so we abandon any hope of becoming holy through our own effort, and instead cling to the effort God has made for us through the saving work of Christ. When we come to Him hungering for salvation, it’s then that He clothes us with His righteousness. This is the teaching of 1 Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That is the righteousness of salvation. I suspect that many of us have experienced that great exchange of our sin for the righteousness of Jesus. But that is not the full, or the only meaning of this beatitude.
 
There is a second aspect to this righteousness… And that is that the one who has longed to be saved BY Christ, now longs to be made LIKE Christ. It’s what theologians call SANCTIFICATION. SALVATION is something that occurs at a point in time. The time when we are born again, when we became a new creation. SANCTIFICATION, on the other hand is an ongoing activity, an increasing holiness, a hunger that never stops.
 
A.W. Pink, who was described as one of the most influential evangelical authors and teachers of the 20th century, explained it this way. “This Beatitude refers to the initial hungering and thirsting that occurs before a sinner turns to Christ by faith. But it also refers to the continual longing in the heart of every saved sinner until his dying day…it refers to a panting of the renewed heart after God, a yearning for a closer walk with Him.” 
 
Again… “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Notice, it does NOT say, blessed are those who HAVE hungered and HAVE thirsted… But rather blessed are those who hunger – present tense. We never get to the place where we can say, “I’ve arrived.” But instead, like the Apostle Paul we say, I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.  No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
 
I press on… I continue to grow… I move toward Christlikeness. Listen to Paul’s instructions to the Colossian church. In Colossians chapter 2 he writes, “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” It’s as if Paul is saying… “Accepting Jesus as your Lord is not the end of a journey, it is the beginning. Follow Him! Now isn’t the time to rest, it’s the time to grow.”
 
Peter said the same thing in his second letter: In 2 Peter 3:18, he wrote… “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The expectation of the Bible is that we will grow in our faith. We do this as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit who is transforming us into the image of Christ. This transformation happens as we are obedient to the commands of the Bible. But there is something unusual about Christian growth. And that is that… The more we grow, the more we will understand how far we still have to go.
 
J.I. Packer put it this way:
“It is, in fact, a law of the spiritual life that the further you go, the more you are aware of the distance still to be covered. Your growing desire for God makes you increasingly conscious, not so much of where you are in your relationship with Him, as of where as yet you are not.”
 
Through those words, Packer is reminding us of the fact that as we grow in our faith, we experience a holy dissatisfaction. But here is the paradox – This holy dissatisfaction creates in us a hunger and thirst for righteousness… And the end result of hungering and thirsting for righteousness is that we will be satisfied – -We will be filled, and yet the filling is so sweet, and so rich, and so full that we hunger for more.
 
And as we hunger He fills us… And we hunger again… And he fills us again, and on and on and on…. The wonderful thing is, we can never exhaust His supply. The only time we’ll be permanently satisfied is when we see Jesus face-to-face and we will be like Him. I think Jesus had that time in view on at least two occasions during His teaching. Once in a conversation with the woman at the well and another time in a conversation with His disciples. In John chapter 4 and verse 14 Jesus told the woman at the well, “But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again.” And in John 6:35 he said to his disciples, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.” For the one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, the filling will be Christ Himself. That is our inheritance, our birthright as believers, and we shouldn’t settle for anything less.
 
A few weeks ago, we looked at the account of Jacob and Esau from Genesis 25. Jacob and Esau were the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah, and the Bible tells us that Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Esau was the older son, and as such, he was entitled to the birthright – a double portion of the inheritance. However, one day after working out in the field, he was very hungry. He came in from the field, and discovered that his brother Jacob had cooked a stew, so he said to Jacob. “I’m starving. Please let me have some of your stew.” Jacob said, “Sure you can have some stew, all you have to do is trade me your birthright for it.” Esau said, “I’m about to starve to death and what good is my birthright if I am dead. You can have it, just give me some stew.” So the exchange took place. Jacob received Esau’s birthright, and Esau filled his stomach  with the stew. Unfortunately, Esau’s desire to quickly, but temporarily, fill his hunger, led him to give up what was truly valuable and long lasting.
 
We need to make sure we don’t do the same thing. We dare not try to fill that God-given hunger and thirst for righteousness, with anything less than Jesus. Doing so may provide temporary satisfaction… It may take the edge off our hunger, but ultimately it will be detrimental to us and to our relationship with the Father. Just as Esau’s stew, while temporarily satisfying his hunger, ultimately hurt him and impacted his relationship with his father.
 
Remember Augustine’s words? “Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” We will only truly be satisfied as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work to grow Christ’s righteousness in us. But, if I’m honest, I don’t always hunger and thirst after righteousness. I don’t always long to grow in my faith. So, what do it do?
 
A.W. Tozer came to know Christ as a teenager, five years later he became a pastor, and filled that role for over 40 years. He was considered by many to be a modern-day prophet, calling the church to faithfulness in the pursuit of Christ Among the more than forty books Tozer authored, at least two are regarded as Christian classics: The Pursuit of God and The Knowledge of the Holy. His writings impress on the reader the necessity to abandon worldly comforts in favor of the deeper life that comes from following Christ. Living out this simple and non-materialistic lifestyle, Tozer and his wife never owned a car, preferring instead to travel by bus and train travel. Even after becoming a well-known Christian author, Tozer signed away much of his royalties to those who were in need. Yet even A. W. Tozer, knew what it was to sense that he lacked the hunger that he needed for God. Tozer prayed this prayer, which many others in the years since, have found helpful. Tozer prayed… “O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.” I believe God answered Tozer’s prayer, as evidenced by the words that were chosen for his gravestone at his death. The marker on his grave simply reads… “A. W. Tozer – A Man of God.”
 
Do you desire to be a person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness? First we pray, we ask God to help us grow in our desire for Him and His righteousness. Second, we obey the simple command of Psalm 37:3 “Trust in the Lord and do good.” Trust God and do the next good and right thing that He puts in front of you, and then do the next one. There are no shortcuts to righteousness. We grow step by step, day by day, as we make right decisions and take right actions with a desire to do the things that please God as we learn them from His Word. Step by step, day by day, seeking His kingdom and His righteousness, we can be confident that we will be filled, and satisfied, as only God can fill and satisfy, and we will experience the truth that
 
Paul shared with the church at Philippi: “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Which, is just another way of saying… Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Let’s thank God for that promise as we turn to Him in prayer.
 
Lord, “Righteousness” in not a word that a lot of us use today. One of the reasons may be because we know it’s something that none of us has. We thank that what we don’t have is available to us in Jesus. It’s ours free, if we’ll accept it. May none of us be trusting in a righteousness of our own, or in the things we’re doing, but only in what Jesus has already done for us. We ask it in His name Amen.
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.