IN CHRIST ALONE!: FROM OUR BRETHREN... A CHRISTIAN DENOMINATION THAT IS IN UNION WITH US IN OPPOSING THE FALLACIES OF THE RH/RP "LAW": “All Men Now Are the People of God"

“All Men Now Are the People of God"

February 3, 2013

The 4th Sunday of the Christian Season of Epiphany

Jeremiah 1: 4 – 10/Psalm 71: 1-6; 15-17/1 Corinthians 14: 12b – 20/Luke 4: 21 - 32

His Excellency

The Most Reverend Bishop Ricardo "Dick" Alcaraz D.D.

Bishop of Visayas

for 

the 

Archdiocese of Manila

National Church in the Philippines 

and 

the Territorial Church of Asia

International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church

Praise be to God! We are grateful that we are in the Season of Epiphany. The Season of Epiphany is a Season of manifestation, a revealing.  We are grateful that God has revealed His plan of salvation towards us, but at the same time I believe this Season is also calling each and every one of us to reveal and to display the greatness, the glory of our Lord our God through our lives. 

We are the Church, and according to the Holy Scriptures, God intended that His manifold wisdom would be displayed throughout the Church.   We are grateful that He has entrusted to us this responsibility.  In entrusting this responsibility to us, He has given us everything that we will ever need in order to fulfill whatever He wants us to do. 

We are grateful that there are so many things that we could learn from the readings today.  Today, this is what the Spirit of the Lord is emphasizing to us:  just as God’s grace is given to us all, so we must respond to His grace.St. Paul said that he did not receive the grace of God in vain.  He responded to that grace.  He did not let it go to waste.   He did let it lie idle.  He responded and allowed that grace to work in and through him to do the works of Christ. 

While Paul was counseling with Timothy, he wrote, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Draw your confidence, your boldness, and your strength from the grace that is ours because of Jesus Christ our Lord.  These things have been given to us already. 

Last week, we heard the Lord declare to us the year of the Lord’s favor.  His favor has been given unto us.  Every time we come by December 31, people will get excited because there is going to be a countdown.  The secular year will change, another number will be added.  People get excited because they are saying, “We are grateful that the previous year has finished and we have this year coming to us.  We hope that this year would be better for us.” 

I say that just because the year changes number, it does not guarantee the year will be good or bad.   There is nothing magic with the changing of the year.  It is not the year itself that brings forth the good things in our lives.  If we will respond to the grace of God, if we will act on the things that He has already been teaching us, if we will walk in the things that we have learned from Him, then the power within the principles that we have been taught will be released in and through our lives.  This is what is going to change things for us. 

When Joshua went to God, he said, “Lord, you made me the leader of Israel. How can I succeed where Moses did not? Yes, you delivered us from captivity from Egypt, but you also promised to us that we will enter into the Promised Land.  Moses is dead.  How can I succeed where Moses did not?  I don’t have the number of miracles under my belt that he did?  My face doesn’t shine like he did.  He is one hundred twenty years old and is stronger than some of the youngest man here. How can I succeed?”

The Lord simply told him, “Be strong and be courageous.  Don’t fade away.  Don’t faint.  Don’t draw back.  Don’t be intimidated with the assignment that I have given to you.  I want you to be strong.  You are not going to be strong because of your will power.  You are not going to be strong because you were born strong and some are not.  You are not going to be strong simply because you got a strong personality.   I tell you, Joshua, how you can be strong.  The word of the Law shall not depart from your mouth and you shall meditate, reflect, contemplate, and think upon the things that you are learning day and night, continually, constantly.  Getting your guidance from me.  Getting your advice and your counsel from Me.  Making values and priority based on what I have given you.  Speak My word and meditate on it day and night that you might observe to do it accordingly.  Don’t just study that so that you can give a good explanation.   Don’t just study that just so that you can give a good argument.  I want you to think on, meditate on, and study the system that I have given you that you might observe to do according to all that is written therein.  Then, you shall act wisely.  You will do wisely.  You will cause your way to become prosperous, and then, you will have good success.” 

In other words, God is saying, “I have given you everything that you will need.  All you have to do is act on these things that I have given to you.  Take that which I had given to you.  Act on that, then, you will act wisely.  You will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”  It does not mean that God is not part of the equation.  It simply means that we walk with God.  We cooperate with Him.  We coordinate with Him.  Sometimes we want something from God but we don’t want to coordinate. 

A relative of mine, a year ago, asked for prayer.  She is having bronchitis.  Every month, she seems like she is sick.  She asked for healing.   We prayed for her – my sisters and I.  Eventually, she got relief.   Then, here comes the request again.  Every month she seemed to be always sick. I asked what the matter with her was.   She did not like to give up smoking.  She works the night hours.  After work, she should be sleeping, but the adrenaline is still there so she has to do the other things that she has to do, and eventually get some sleep.    It doesn’t help that she is smoking.  We are praying for her lungs to be healed, but she keeps on smoking. 

Somehow, people see prayer as a magic – something a person does and violate the things of God and escape the consequences.   We need to be able to walk with God.  We need to be able to cooperate with Him.  The Lord said, “This is the year of His favor.”  I always have said that a long time ago.   In Isaiah, it says, “This is the day of the Lord’s vengeance.”  Salvation first, judgment later.  We have today what God has given us, and God is saying to us that while grace is given to us, we need to respond to His grace. 

St. Paul says, “Be strong in the grace and the grace is there. I want you to act strong. I want you to draw strength.  I want you to draw power.  I want you to draw stability.  I know you are living in the midst of dangerous times.  I know that the Roman Empire is taking your young men. They are taking the people of the Church and doing all kinds of nasty things against them so that they would re-camp.  Timothy, I know that some of the people that you are praying for have run away and they have abandoned you.  You are wondering what you are going to do.  You think you are failing.  Timothy, don’t despair.  Don’t be afraid, but be strong in the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

We are in Christ, and because we are in Christ, we are where the grace is.  When we talk about grace, we often say that it is God’s unmerited favor.  God decides to give us good things, gives us salvation not because we did something to earn this.  It is because God is good!  God is gracious.  It is because of who He is that He decides to give us these particular things. 

Grace is also the willingness of God to use His power in our behalf.  In Ephesians, St. Paul prayed that the eyes of our hearts be opened that we would know what is the hope of our calling, and what is his riches in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who would believe.  An Old Testament Scripture says that those who know their God shall be strong and they shall do great exploits. 

We need to know our God.  We need to know what He has done for us.  We need to know what He has spoken to us.  We need to know what He has given to us and act like He said the truth.  Act like He gave it to us. Act like what God said, declared, and proclaimed is really true. 

There are three thoughts that I would share to you.  In Verses 21-22:  don’t have a tomorrow response to God’s today gift.  Verses 23-27:  when God leads, we follow.  Verses 28-32:  do not resist God’s dealings. 

First thought:  don’t have a tomorrow response to God’s today gift. Verses 21-22 says, “And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And bore witness to Him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth and said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” This is good news to us.  God is telling us that time of waiting is over.  The day of salvation has been given unto us.  St. Paul said, “Let us not receive this in vain, but rather act on the grace of God.” 

With the grace of God, we have God’s favor.  This is something to be excited about.  Sometimes, we get excited simply because of the benefits that come with that.  We need to get excited not only because of these, but with the responsibility that comes with that.  Jesus Christ said, “To whom much is given, much is required.”

Hebrews 3:12-15, “ Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

There is that word “today”.  It is not just for today, February 3, but an eternal today. This is the time of grace.  This is the time of God’s favor.  Tomorrow will come, but the implication is if there is today, there will be a tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a time of reckoning and it is not very nice for many people.  Today is the time of grace and reconciliation and blessing.  Today, we need not harden our hearts.  We need to respond to the grace that God has made available to us. 

Will the grace of God ever run out?  It will be always be there. We need to understand that it is ours to enjoy, to take hold of, to live and to walk in, to immerse ourselves in while it is today.  Someday, tomorrow will come. When tomorrow comes, you should have taken advantage of the grace of God today because tomorrow is a day of reckoning.  Today is the day of blessing. 

St. Peter tells us, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and to godliness. – not will give, not thinking of giving.  It is past tense and done already.    Whatever we need in order to live as an overcomer – materially, physically, spiritually – God has given to us.  Are we making use of the grace of God?   Are we listening to what He says and we rationalize why it won’t work for us?   Do we hear what He is saying and say, “You know what, I have heard that before.” 

One of the reasons people don’t respond is because they bring it down to their level.  They bring it in the realm of the familiar.  They become over-familiar.  Jesus Christ was preaching these things and they were amazed, “Where did this guy learn these words?  Isn’t He the son of Joseph?  Didn’t we grow up with Him?” 

For many people at that time, Jesus was like a prophet to them.  There was an attitude of awe with dealing with the Lord.  Here, in their place, for them, this was just a local boy who went abroad and did good.  While others may be in awe of Him, we really know who He is.  They don’t want to see Him the way others did.  As far as they were concerned, He is just a local boy who did good, not really different from them.   They just wanted to be casual to Him. 

The problem with the familiar when we continually focus on that is we might miss what God wants to bring forth.    The familiar is comfortable.  The familiar feels safe.  In the familiar, there is really no risk involved.  The familiar is convenience.  It is when we start acting on what God said that we are breaking out of the familiar that threatens us.  It is like, “You need to tithe first before you prosper.”  It is like, “You need to pray in the Spirit, pray in tongues, and your mind does not understand what you are saying.”  It is like when Jesus Christ said, “When you pray, believe that you receive them, and then you shall have them.”  This is when things become a little shaky for us.  We step out of the realm of the familiar into the realm of the unknown where we need to navigate our lives not by familiar things or familiar circumstances or familiar landmarks.  We need to be able to navigate our lives by faith in what God said.  It is like walking in the dark and you can’t see anything, and there is a voice that is telling you, “There is a step over here.  Turn left.” 

Many of the people in the gospel wanted the familiar.  They were threatened by the image that the others had of Jesus. The problem with the familiar is that you can’t take it for granted.  You tend to feel okay to ignore the familiar.  We say, “We know that.  We have heard that already.  It is just the same message.  I have heard that so many times.”  “Oh, it is Epiphany again.  I know that Scriptures.”  St. Peter says that it is a good thing for us to continually and repeatedly hear what God is saying.  We need to take the attitude that we should be receiving them in a fresh way. If that is not our attitude, the moment we finish reading the Bible, we drop it.  

Many of us continually read the Holy Scriptures.  We’ve read from Genesis to Revelation; and Genesis again to Revelation.  For us to succeed in that, we must approach it with fresh eyes and fresh heart and not say, “I have read about this, ‘In the beginning…’ I have been there. I have done that.”   You can’t have that attitude and receive anything because you are not really expecting anything.  Sometimes, when people just treat it as a message, they are not expecting to receive anything from God.  Then we wonder why things feel dry.

I received a call the previous year from some people that I grew up with.  I knew them in my childhood, in my high school years.   They know me from my childhood.  At first, they couldn’t take me seriously when I told them what I was doing.  Eventually, they saw it wasn’t a gimmick, a hoax or a racket.  They called me October and they said, “Could you pray for us?”  They wanted to pray for their business because it was going down. They owned a building and they rent offices and the tenants are leaving.  I asked, “Why are they leaving?”  They said, “Some of the businesses could not sustain themselves so they had to leave and find a better place.” 

We prayed for them. Every now and then, the call, the personal message, and the email would come. In November, they sent me a text and said, “Please continue praying. There is a deficit. We have a loss for November.  Half of our clients are gone.”   We prayed.  Early December, we received from them a check.  I called them, “What is this for?”  They said, “You’ve taught to us about praying.  You’ve taught to us about giving.  You’ve taught to us about tithing.  You’ve taught to us about believing God and taking the steps.”  I said, “Didn’t you just have a loss?” They said, “Yes, we did, but we are planting the seed for your Church.”  They did not go to our Church.   They are here in Manila and they belong to another Church. 

I said, “You are supposed to give to your Church.”  They replied, “We did, but because you are the one who taught us about these things, we decided to give also to your Church.”  I thanked them and planted the money in our Church.  They said, “Please believe with us for a return.” 

In the first week of January, I received again another check from them for the Church.  I called them and asked, “What is this again?”  They said, “We had a loss in November, but we had a very small profit for December.  It is not quite big, but we were thinking how it would go – the loss in November, the loss becomes smaller in December, a break-even in January, a little profit in February. We were surprise that there was a profit.  It is not much, but we were quite glad things are working out.  Half of the profit, we gave to our Church, the other half we are giving to your Church.”   I did not ask for that.  Just a few days ago, I talked to them and they said, “Good news!  All the rooms that have been vacant, we now have all the clients to fill them. We are grateful how fast God hears and answers prayer.” 

I just told them about these things. They could have just taken what I have told them. They could have ignored what I told them, but they didn’t.  They acted on it, and now they are seeing results from that.   They could have said, “Let us just wait before we put this into action. It is not the favorable time right now because things are kind of shaky.  We are not there yet where bankruptcy is, but the way things are going, it won’t be long before we get there. Let us just be careful.”  They acted on this grace.  They responded to this grace that they have received from the Lord. Now, they are seeing the result of this grace manifested right before their eyes. 

If today is the salvation, then today must also be the day of action.  Information mixed with action, there will be production.   Somebody quoted a church Father who said, “Belief without action is the theology of demons.”  James said that they believe and tremble.  Demons don’t care if you hear what the Word of God says as long as you don’t do it and as long as you become content with the knowledge of it.  We say, “Because I know this, I am exempt from this. I am above the Law.”  Knowing is not enough. You must act on what you know. 

The second thought: when God leads, we follow.  Verse 23, “He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” They were saying, “So You did that in Capernaum?  We know in Capernaum, there are a lot of Gentiles who are not as worthy as we are.  One, we are Jews.  We are God’s people.  We are the entitled.  Secondly, we are Your home-boys. You are one of us.   You did that in Capernaum where there are a lot of Gentiles?  The Jews says of a Gentile that he is not someone who is deserving. 

St. Paul gave us a glimpse in one of his descriptions in Ephesians, “Once you were without God.  Once you were aliens to the covenant of promise.  Once you were strangers to the common wealth.  Once you had no God, no Christ, no hope in the world.”  Basically, that is how they looked at Gentiles at that time.   They were not entitled to God’s gifts because they did not have the covenant that the Jews had with God.   You could understand this kind of attitude.  Jesus Christ was saying to them, “Physician, heal Yourself.  You did this in Capernaum.  If You did this work in Capernaum, how much more should You be able to do this with us? If You did this for them, You should do double for us because we are Your family, Your community, and fellow Jew.”    They were demanding.  They were like telling God how to work based on their terms.  Somehow, they forgot their place before God. 

This is what happens when we get too casual with God.  We lose reverence for Him.  We lose the sense of the sacred and we presume to tell God how to do His work.  Sometimes, we tend to judge the One who will judge us at the end of time. 

I watched a video of a Senator who supposedly took up theology and did very well.  At one point in time, we heard her undying faithfulness to God that she would never exchange God for her political career.  I saw her in an interview how she said, “This God, if he, she, or it exists, is an underachiever.” She called God an underachiever.  She said, “If I were the God, I would do a much better job than this.”  In other words, God should probably consult her!  She is saying, “I have a higher standard than God.” 

When we lose our sense of the fear of the Lord, we trivialize God.  We make Him a non-event in our lives.  We don’t consider what He has spoken to us.  Instead of speaking His Word, we speak our own words.  We desire once again to commit the sin of Adam. Instead of taking from the tree of life where we rely on God for life, for knowledge, for wisdom, we decide to strike it on our own by taking from the tree of knowledge. 

What is wrong with getting knowledge?  Nothing except for the fact that it is saying, “I take the right to decide for myself what is right and what is wrong.  If God says, ‘This is right,’ but in my opinion it is wrong, then it is wrong.  If God says, ‘This is wrong,’ and I think that in my enlightened, sophisticated, progressive mind, it is right, then it is right.  If God will not approve this, we will let the state approve it!  We will make it legal!  We will make it lawful and we will put God in the sidelines!” 

People are thinking they are so smart today that they can totally ignore God what He is saying and substitute their words for God’s word.  People are not ashamed of sin anymore. They are proud of it.  We need to understand who we are dealing with.  We can’t be overfamiliar with Him.  Yes, He is Father.  Yes, He is Friend.  Yes, we can be intimate and casual with Him, but He will never stop being Almighty God.   You cannot ignore; you cannot take Him for granted. 

They were presuming to tell Christ what He should do.  Christ just gives them two stories from their Scriptures which really make them feel uneasy.  They said, “Surely, no prophet is accepted in his own country.”  This is because a prophet cannot be loyal to in-crowd or in-groups loyalties.  A prophet cannot say, “Okay, this is my message to them because that is them. For you, that’s us, I will give you a different standard.  For them, repent.  For you and us, it is okay.  For them, judgment, for you and us, another chance.” 

The Book of Romans says in addressing the Jews says, “Beware, O man, you who practice these things that you stand in judgment over them.   You are not practicing these things, but rather, you are supposed to.  The Law was given to you. The covenant was given to you and you think you are higher and better than them, but you are not doing them.  You think you are exempt from judgment?” 

Jesus Christ gave a story, “But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”  Powerful stories! 

There was a time when there was a famine in the land.  Elijah went to this particular woman and says to this woman, “Where are you going?”  The woman said, “I am going to bake bread for me and my son.”  Elijah said, “Make one for me first.”  The woman said, “Sir, do you know that this is our last?  I am going to bake the last piece for me and my son?  Our plan is after we eat this, we will just sit in the corner and wait to die.  For us, there is no more. This is it!  There is no way for me to get bread.  Please, we are going to eat something good before we die.  This is going to be our last meal, and you are asking me to take a piece of our last meal to give to you first?”  Elijah says, “Just do this first for the Lord God said.”  She obeyed God and she ate for the rest of the famine or recession.  The barrel where she was getting did not run out.   Eventually her son died but Elijah prays for the son and the son comes back to life.  Powerful stories! 

Naaman the Syrian hears from a slave to go to Israel.  Elijah tells him to go jump in the river seven times.  He almost got offended, but decided to obey God anyway.  While he was dipping himself in the river, he was healed of his leprosy.  Powerful stories!  Obedience to God!  Faith in God gives powerful results! 

The Jews should be glad by these except for one thing.  There was only one thing wrong for them about these stories.  For us, it is not. The woman for whom God did this miracle for was not a Jew but a Gentile. Naaman was also a Gentile. They were hearing stories of Gentiles getting delivered and Jews suffering the judgment.  Why was there a famine in the land?  Elijah just declared to Ahab, who was a corrupt king, “If you do not stop violating the laws of God and offending God, these things will come.”   He declared famine in the land.  They would think, “God would send deliverance, but He should send it to one of us.” 

God said it to this woman who was a Gentile.  God healed Naaman, who was a Gentile.  The Jews suffered judgment, but the Gentiles – the people without hope, the people without God, the people who did not share the common wealth of Israel, the people who were aliens and strangers to the covenants of promise?  They were the ones that God healed and delivered.   This was an offensive story in their ears. 

I was probably thinking of them saying, “How dare God heal them and not us.  How dare God choose them, and not us.  We are the favored ones.  We are the entitled ones.  We are the good ones.  We are the people of God.  They are just dogs.  Why did God heal them and not us?” 

God is saying to us, “All of us must respond to His grace.”  We can’t say, “Because God loves me, I don’t have to do anything.  It has been given to you freely.”  Some people would say, “God loves me. I don’t have to pray because God loves me. I don’t need to go to Church because God loves me. I don’t need to read the Scriptures because God loves me.”  Yes, He does, but this has never been the issue.   It is not whether God loves you, but it is whether you love God back. 

Asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus Christ said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  All that you are and your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus Christ says, “If you love Me, you will send Me Hallmark cards.”  If you love Me, you will like all My statuses.  If you love Me, you will cry every time you sing about Me.”  This is not what He said.  He said, “If you love Me, you will obey.”  We say, “I hate that four letter word  ‘obey’.”  You better love that word!  “If you love Me, you will obey Me.”

Third thought says: don’t resist God’s dealings.  Verse 28, “So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the city.  Passing through the midst of them, He went His way.”

Christ was telling them the truth.  He was telling them something that would liberate them.  He was telling them something that would set them free.  He was telling them something that would enable them to live a powerful life; but what did they do?  They wanted to kill Jesus.  Sometimes we think, “That is really bad of them.” 

If we are so mad at someone and we hear the word of God speaking to us, and someone says, “You need to forgive,” do you suddenly change your thought and put on an ipod, earplugs, and listen to music just to drown out the voice of God?  In the middle of the night that the Lord is saying “I want you to do this and give this to someone,” do you just open the television and make it loud?  If God is dealing you to do something, do you suddenly open your Facebook and get lost in the statuses of your friends? 

It is like killing the voice of God while He is speaking to you.  We can be judgmental over these guys, but the question is, “We might be doing the same thing.”  Some things are not too pleasant in us when God is dealing with us.  This is okay because when He is through, we find out that we are grateful.  He did it because He takes away those things that are hindering us from a closer walk with Him, from that which will allow us to reach our full potential in Him.  We don’t realize that these things are holding us back.   He is dealing us.  Some things are out of the realm of the familiar, and you will find it.  Don’t drown out God’s voice by distracting yourself with so many things.  Listen. Say yes and obey God.  Let the grace of God be unleashed in and through your life. 

We have all received His grace. It is still yet today and while it is yet today, we must respond while it is yet today.  No tomorrow answers, but today answers for today’s grace.