Where’s the “Amazing Grace” in this ministry?

I had the rich privilege today of conducting a funeral for Mrs. Betty Hollywood whom I met in 1982 at High Park Baptist Church.   Betty (a pet form for Elizabeth) is a Hebrew name meaning “God’s promise” or “God is my oath.”  According to one website ‘Elizabeth’ has 152 variant forms.

After a brief introduction of Scripture reading and prayer, we sang “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven!”   What a profound message is in this hymn.   It was as if we were laying the tribute of a godly life at the feet of the King of Heaven.

Sharon Norris and Mark Hollywood then shared anecdotes of their mother and as Proverbs 31:28 indicates “rise up to call her blessed.”   Such honesty, such love, what grace in the life of Betty who had been adopted into a family at an early age.   58 years of marriage to Syd brought some disagreements yet love won out and our brother will miss this wonderful help-mate!

My meditation was simple

“A Hope, A Saviour, A Destiny!” – I Thessalonians 4:13-18

1.   She has a hope v.13

God doesn’t want us to be ignorant or uninformed of what lies ahead for ourselves or our loved ones.   When death comes, do we sorrow?  YES – we will miss her as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a relative, a friend, a fellow believer.    Acts 8:3 reminds us “Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply.”  Sometimes believers minimize the depth of grief which “rolls over us at times like sea billows.”

Comparing Ephesians 2:12; Titus 1:2 “we have the hope”; Titus 2:13 “the blessed hope,” I noted the wonderful hope that believers have within them.   Concluding this point I cited 3 hymns “My hope is in the LORD,” “My hope blessed Jesus is anchored in Thee,” and “My hope is built on nothing less….”

2.  She has a Saviour v.14

Paul cites a creedal statement in I Thessalonians 4:14 “We believe that Jesus died and rose again.”  Paul uses this creed to give us hope and then affirms that if we believe this, then we also have assurance of Christ’s return and His bringing His saints with him.

How certain are we that Jesus Christ died and rose again?   Check out the 1) evidence of eyewitnesses; and 2) the power of changed lives.  Praise God for such a Saviour!

3.  She has a destiny v.15-17

“so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Psalm 23:6 reminds us that those who know Christ as their Shepherd will “dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”     I challenged the congregation with the question, “Where will you spend eternity?   Do you know?”

If you don’t know – you can know with certainty today!  Whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.

If you do know the Lord – take the truth and comfort one another “with these words.”

As we closed in prayer I rejoiced greatly at the joy that lies ahead for those who have trusted in God and served Him well.   Praise God for a life well-lived – for God’s glory and for the good of a multitude of people.

Here’s the text of her obituary from Turner & Porter funeral home.

Elizabeth Hollywood (nee Hewlett)

Born: January 01, 1900 Date of Death : October 11, 2009 Services: Wednesday October 14, 2009 at 1 p.m. Visitation: Friends may call at the Turner & Porter Yorke Chapel, 2357 Bloor St. W., Toronto, at Windermere, east of the Jane subway, on Wednesday October 14, 2009 from 12 noon until the time of Funeral Service in the Chapel at 1 p.m. Hollywood, Elizabeth (nee Hewlett) Peacefully, went into the presence of her Lord, at Christie Gardens Nursing Home, with her husband by her side on Sunday October 11, 2009 at the age of 86. Beloved wife of Sydney for 58 years. Dear mother to Mark Hollywood, his wife Linda, Sharon Hollywood and her husband Douglas Norris. Loving Gramma to Karis, Chris, Jon, and Beth and their families, and to Erik, and Allyn. Elizabeth will be fondly remembered by her friends and extended family. Friends may call at the Turner & Porter Yorke Chapel, 2357 Bloor St. W., Toronto, at Windermere, east of the Jane subway, on Wednesday October 14, 2009 from 12 noon until the time of Funeral Service in the Chapel at 1 p.m. Interment Resthaven Memorial Gardens. If desired, remembrances may be made to Memorials: If desired, remembrances may be made to the Parkinson Foundation Cemetery: Resthaven Memorial Gardens (Map) Location: Turner & Porter Yorke Chapel (Map)

Twenty-six years ago today Ruth Anne Cosman declared her love to me and I to her in the sight of God and the presence of many witnesses.   Many of those witnesses have since died yet there is still a huge group who heard us promise “For better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish and to be faithful to you alone…” in the beautifully decorated High Park Baptist Church.

What were we promising?  What did we really know about making a vow?   Praise God for His grace and His keeping power.    As Don Francisco sings, “I could never promise you on just my strength alone, that all my life I’d care for you and love you as my own….”

You see my strength is finite….very finite and now that I am on the home stretch towards 50 I find how finite I really am.

Today I redeclare my love to my wife – God’s gracious gift to me.    She has been a great wife and has taught me much through her walk with God.  She has been a great mom to our 2 daughters, Carolyn and Jane and has welcomed Becky Pope(when she was only 6 or 7) as a foster child and now under a kinship family agreement.

She is an incredible hostess.   She can make limited quantities stretch and present them on our dining room table with elegance.    She is always trying new recipes and gaining great ideas from her roster of magazines and “decorating shows.”

She is an incredible teacher.   Few Junior Departments have such a rigorous instructor who passionately wants her students and teachers to grow in grace.   Women’s bible studies, individuals and different groups have benefited from her Spirit-given gift of teaching.

She is a woman of prayer.    With God, she knows and has proven all things are possible.   God’s touch and help is sought for even the smallest details of catering, of teaching, of dealing with specific situations.

I am phenomenally blessed.    Who can find a virtuous woman?   A sinner like me who has been treated abundantly much more graciously than I will ever deserve by an amazing God.

Happy Anniversary, Ruth!  I love YOU more……

Last night I had the joy of preaching/teaching at Bayfair Baptist Church in Pickering.  I have spoken there on several occasions in the past and it was a joy to renew fellowship.  The pre-service prayer times have always been a blessing to me and I have left those “in faith” truly expecting God to bless.

Following a great time of singing God’s praise, I was invited to speak.   My assigned topic – “God’s Grace in Sanctification!”  Due to a scheduling conflict I had to combine 2 sermons into one.   We began with a comparison/contrast between LAW and GRACE in relationship to Salvation.   To achieve righteousness following the Law, one must score 100%, 100% of the time.  The LAW keeps crying after us “Do this, Do this, Don’t do that, Don’t do that!”  Should we fail in one point (as James writes) we are guilty of the entire law?   Is there hope?

Yes, God in His grace has provided another plan.   While the LAW says “DO”, Grace says “DONE.”  Jesus Christ is and was the only person who could say “I always do those things which please the Father.”  I contrasted Abraham, the friend of God, Moses, the mediator of the covenant, and David the man after God’s own heart!   They didn’t please the Almighty God 100% of the time, yet God declared them righteous.   Abraham BELIEVED God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

Having laid this foundation I then wrestled with the congregation through the work of Sanctification.

#1  The Christian Life begins and ends with grace.

Note Paul’s structure even of his letters to the churches and individuals he wrote.   Romans 1:7, 16:20; I Corinthians 1:3; 16:23; 2 Corinthians 1:2; 13:14; Galatians 1:3; 6:18; Ephesians 1:2, 6:24; Philippians 1:2, 4:23; Colossians 1:2, 4:18; 1 Thess. 1:1, 5:28; 2 Thess. 1:2, 3:18  all show the great need of grace.   Before Paul instructs or corrects, before he encourages or exhorts, he implores God to pour out his grace upon the recipients.   Having concluded his letter he commends them to God’s grace.

God’s children need God’s grace not only in SALVATION but to grow in SANCTIFICATION.  The God who began a good work in us will complete that work.   But will we work OUT what HE works IN?

#2 Grace alone can restrain the sinful nature.

No man-made rules (illustrated in Colossians 2:20-23) can restrain evil.   Commandments incite rebellion (e.g. Romans 7).   When I know what God wants me to do, do I do it?  I need the grace of God through the word of God by the Spirit of God to deal with this sin-loving, sin-producing evil nature.   I cited an old hymn – (one of my favourites) “I need Thee, O I NEED THEE, EVERY HOUR I need Thee, O bless me now my Saviour, I come to Thee!”

#3 Believers need to grow in grace

There is no exhaustive list of the means of grace.   God ministers His grace to us through a variety of means.   If there is a lack of grace in our lives, it is because we have not availed ourselves of God’s provision.

In conclusion I cited 2 quotes from John Piper.    I conclude today’s blog with one of them

“There is a kind of paradox here:  ON the one hand I say, I need you.  God has appointed you as a means of grace to help me endure to the end.  But on the other hand, I must say that the only way you can really help me is by saying something or doing something that will cause me to depend on God and not you.”  (John Piper)

The joy of preaching on God’s grace was matched with the grace God provided me to do so and the joy of sensing God’s grace in worship, fellowship and prayer with others who are moving forward with Him.   To all who read these scattered thoughts, “Grace to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Honored by a special congregation

My mom would have been 90 years old today.   August 2005 she entered into heaven having trusted in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour when she was a teenager.

Who can find a virtuous woman?    Her price is far above rubies.    My dad found a virtuous woman by God’s grace.    They met through special meetings with the Gospel Hall and carried on a long-distance writing relationship for several years before marrying on June 17, 1942.

It is amazing that my mom married!  Her home growing up was filled with tension, in fact her parents separated – something that must have been quite shocking to the community and a great burden to bear for my mom.

God directed my mom’s steps through employment to a genuine, caring Christian couple.   Mom saw that there was a different way for husbands to treat wives and vice versa.

What a hard worker Mom was.  Someone has said, “The devil finds work for idle hands…”   He would have had to pass my mother’s hands because she was always (or almost always) crocheting, knitting, sewing, quilting, planting or harvesting vegetables, canning, making jam, cooking dinner, cleaning up, washing, ironing….shall I continue?

Mom was not a complainer.   In the 1970s my brother Gord and I were “fighting” over our responsibilities in haying on a beautiful August day.  Mom came out to see why our voices were being raised and returned to her kitchen to find her double-boiler (filled with wax in the upper pot) on fire.  She attempted to carry the pot out into the driveway but the breeze from the door spread the flames and burned her body.   The pain must have been intense but Mom never complained.  She never blamed us though we had been the true source of the problem.   She spent time in hospital and God remarkably healed her.   Her one and only mildly-expressed complaint was due to the abudance of egg-nogs she consumed that summer under doctor’s orders to bring about the restoration of all of her burned skin.

I close with the mystery of my own birth.  In 1960 when I was born (July 9th), the doctors announced to her that she was fortunate that I was fine since her blood type and my dad’s were incompatible.    Blood-types weren’t tested in 1942 when they married and despite the “incompatibility” all 7 of us have enjoyed great health.    God is truly sovereign!

Honor your father and MOTHER, God instructs me.   This surely is an easier command when I reflect on the amazing grace of God shown through my mom’s life.

I found a card sent to my father the Christmas after his mother had died.   Written by his uncle (my great uncle) it reminded me of the impact one life can make.

Jack Taylor wrote

“Dear Chester

We think very frequently of you and the loneliness you must feel sometimes.  But all that was best in your mother’s life lives on in you and your children.  Ever since your Dad let me read her letter, I have felt that her life was an investment that has borne rich dividends of loyalty and love.  Others may have wealth and fame but you had the devotion of a noble mother.  Her gentleness and fairness make me feel very humble.   Sincerely yours, Jack Taylor”

I used my paternal grandmother, Sadie Edwards, as an illustration this past Saturday night as I spoke to a group at a marriage seminar.   My grandmother faced huge challenges when my grandfather headed off to serve the country in World War I in Europe.  My dad, aunt and uncle all told me of nightly kneeling by their bedside and having their mom (my grandmother) guide them in praying for their dad.  He returned safely from World War I, deeply impacted and altered as a result of his experience of front-line conflict.

While Granddad was overseas, the beautiful home he had built for his bride and their young family burned to the ground.  No lives were lost but what sad news to have to convey to the front lines through military postal service.

My grandmother was a woman of prayer – she prayed not only for her children but their children and the future generation.  Remarkably, by God’s grace, almost all of us are Christ-followers!

Although she did not cope well with declining health and dementia, her prayers are still bearing fruit today.   I thank God for her, although we never met.   Certainly she illustrated the text, “Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised!”  Today’s blog is in praise of this god-fearing woman, my grandmother. God used her life as an investment and today she, being dead, still speaks.

Hymn #816 in Sacred Songs & Solos is today’s meditation.    I don’t know the tune and did not look it up the accompanying book which contains the tunes.

The words of this hymn remind me of what was said of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.   “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoking flax He will not quench…”    O to be like Him in this area….

Speak gently, speak gently, oh grieve not again

The hearts that are breaking with sorrow and pain;

We not not how bitter the trials they share

We know not how heavy the burdens they bear.

Tenderly, tenderly, lovingly speak;  Tell them of Jesus, the lowly and meek;

Patiently waiting, He longs to receive All who are willing on Him to believe.

Speak gently, speak gently, oh pity and pray

For those who in darkness have wandered away;

A word kindly spoken the captives may free;

A word may reclaim them–oh speak it, and see!

Speak gently, speak gently, wherever you go,

In tempest, in sunshine, in sorrow or woe;

Speak gently, reposing your trust in the Lord,

And joy without measure will be your reward.

Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight.    Remind me by your Spirit that “the power of life and death is in the tongue.”    Remind me of the deadly poison resting dormant in my tongue (James 3) and set a guard over my lips.   Amen!

Demas is a Bible character about whom 2 verses were written yet from whom profound lessons are learned.

In Colossians 4 Demas sends greetings via Paul to the Colossian believers.   It seems at this point in his life he is devoted to God and to others.  With Paul he has taken an interest in the lives of other believers and is included by the Holy Spirit in this Christ-centred letter. Why would he send greetings? Because true believers greet other believers.  True believers love others and openly confess their love for all the saints. I must confess I have visited churches where I have wondered if they love anyone who does not dot all the correct i’s and cross all the correct theological t’s.  In the New Testament believers were commended for their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for ALL the saints (not just those of the same theological hue).

In 2 Timothy 4 Paul sadly notes that “Demas has deserted/forsaken/abandoned me having loved this present world….”   What happened to the devoted leader? What side-tracked him? What cut him off from bearing fruit and left him side-lined, disqualified for the prize?

I’ve wondered about Demas.  I’ve been mystified about leaders I’ve known who once served God but through some crisis, some issue, some challenge they turned away.  I’ll leave the discussion of “perseverance” for another post, but I offer this warning – Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall!

As I noted to students when I shared these thoughts as part of my chapel message last Thursday, it doesn’t take much bait to catch a mouse. Had Demas never known I John 2:15-17 “Love NOT the world…”   Had he ever met Peter who urged believers to live as “ALIENS and STRANGERS in this world?”  He may not have met John or Peter but his team leader in Colossians 4 (Paul) also wrote “Don’t let the world pour you into its mould.” (Be not conformed to this world but be transformed.)  Lord may today be transforming day not a conforming day!

Go, labour on; spend and be spent–Thy joy to do the Father’s will:

It is the way the Master went; Should not the servant tread it still?

Go, labour on; ’tis not for naught; Thine earthly loss is heavenly gain:

Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not; The Master praises–what are men?

Go, labour on; enough while here, If He shall praise thee–if He deign

Thy willing heart to mark and cheer:  No toil for Him shall be in vain.

Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice!  For toil–comes rest, for exile–home;

Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom’s voice, The midnight peal:  “Behold, I come!”

With Labour Day having just ended in Canada I’ve been reflecting on the theme of work. When my brother Gord and I were much younger (last century to be exact), we would speculate after dinner about some idea of making money.   My dad would often cite, “In all labour there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”   Dad often quoted from the King James Version though he certainly used a variety of translations.    What was he saying to us?   Talk is easy, talk is cheap, it takes hard work to generate something profitable.

As I enter into my 6th year here at Toronto Baptist Seminary, I am reminded of a verse in Philippians chapter 1 which God used to guide me here.  After declaring, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain,” Paul goes on to declare his willingness to serve.    He indicates “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me!”

Ministry is hard work.   Whether you teach a class of 5 year olds, or preach to a crowd–whether you serve meals to the homeless or co-ordinate an evangelistic outreach, ministry takes labour.    Those afraid of work and those unwilling to work hard should declare themselves now and quit pretending to labour when they really are expending little energy.

Our prayer is not for more work but rather for fruitful work – work that produces lasting fruit – work that results in God’s blessing in the lives of those served.

So as you take up the mantle of responsibility God has draped upon your shoulders, re-read the hymn above – Go labour on, spend and be spent–May it be our joy to do the Father’s will!

A theme I had chosen for a series of men’s meetings some years ago came to my mind as I listened to this  year’s Orientation speaker, Rev. Lawson Murray, who serves with Scripture Gift Mission.

The psalmist asks, ” When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

My answer is to remain “Anchored to the Rock – Tuned to the Times!”   We must remain anchored to the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ.   God is our rock and we must anchor ourselves to Him and to His Son who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

We must face the challenge of being “tuned to the times!”    Two examples from the New Testament illustrate the importance of knowing culture.   In Acts 17 Paul knows the Athenian culture and having toured the city engages the citizens in a presentation beginning with God as Creator and ending with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.   He cites quotes from the culture proving his knowledge of the literature of the day.    In Titus 1 Paul again cites a quote from a philosopher, not a complimentary statement but accurate in describing Cretan culture.

We must know our culture.   We must know the challenges we face so that we bring the unchanging Word of God to a constantly changing culture.

As I take up responsibilities in helping to train leaders for the 21st century again this fall I am seeking to be anchored to my Rock but am seeking to unpack details of our culture so I can communicate the truth as an ambassador of Jesus Christ.