SUNNY THOUGHTS FROM SUNSET by Rev. Vance Drum 6-22
Sunday was Father’s Day, and we honored our fathers with a small gift package for each one. Happy Father’s Day!
All of our fathers have been less than perfect. All have participated in the fall of our first father Adam.
My father was a good man, an elder in God’s house, but he also had his faults.
I too have my faults and flaws. Thank God He has been merciful.
The main thing is that our heavenly Father shares none of these faults. He is only loving, only caring, and only helpful, paying attention to our every need. When we come to him, he walks beside us, and sometimes, if we’re especially needy, He carries us.
The Sunset pastor continued our “Raised with Christ” series with a message, “Hollow and Deceptive.” The text was from Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy….”
The pastor made two points: (1) Hollow and Deceptive Philosophy; (2) Life Rooted in Christ.
(1) Hollow and Deceptive Philosophy. The Colossian church had a problem with relying on “hollow and deceptive philosophy, rather than on Christ.”
As in the First Century, the world’s wisdom — without Christ — today is hollow — empty. It does not satisfy our souls, and leads also to physical hardship and poverty.
It is also deceptive. It is a host of lies from the evil one. Jesus said the devil is (John 8:44) “a liar and the father of lies.” What are some of his lies in our day?
(a) God is not the Creator. There is no God, and life just happened by processes of evolution. Therefore, life has no divinely-bestowed value. Modern British philosopher Stephen Hawking has said, “The human race is just a chemical scum….” in a big universe.
(b) Life, it is said, has no intrinsic value, so it’s not a problem if you allow the hungry to starve to death, or if you stop the beating heart of your preborn child.
The underworld says: If you don’t like the way someone looks, acts or talks, go ahead and kill him. Kill yourself if you want to. You have no value anyway. So, homicide and suicide in our country are way up.
(c) God is not the Creator, so even though God made us male and female, in our human wisdom (as I heard some medical professionals say recently), we need to stop talking about gender as male and female, because there are many genders. I asked, “Do these other genders have names?” The answer: “No.”
It’s said that God is not the one who made us male and female, so if you don’t like how you were born, change your gender! In the world’s wisdom, a boy can become a girl, and a girl, a boy.
So, the previous presidential administration sent an order to public schools: Allow children to use the restrooms and gym showers of whatever gender they identify with, instead of their birth gender. This is fallen human wisdom.
I got a frantic call in the prison recently: “Emergency! Two men want to get married!” I replied (tongue in cheek): “The Supreme Court of the United States, in its fallen human wisdom has said if Rick and Tom want to get married, not a problem. What’s the emergency?” In the prison a man or woman may marry a same gender person on the outside, per our Supreme Court. Thankfully, chaplains are not permitted to do the ceremony.
(2) Life Rooted in Christ. V6: “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught….”
Jesus has a better way. Rooted in Him, the tree of our lives speaks truth, and produces the good fruit of life, love and blessing.
“Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it… Let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness….” [Psalm 98:7-9]
May the Judge of all the earth find us ready on that great Day — our prayer for you from your friends at Sunset Christian Church.