He Appeared Also to Me - 2/6/22
Call to worship:
L: At a time when rulers are shouting threats, a mighty chorus ever swelling,
P: Holy, holy is the Lord, their idle boasts dispelling!
L: So we come together in Christ’s name, the spirit with us dwelling,
A: And join the choirs of heaven and earth, our humble praises telling!
Opening Hymn: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty #139
1. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy
health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Now to His temple draw near;
Sing now in glad adoration!
2. Praise to the Lord, who o’er all
things so wondrously reigneth,
Who, as on wings of an eagle,
uplifteth, sustaineth.
Hast thou not seen
How thy desires all have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
3. Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully,
wondrously, made thee!
Health hath vouchsafed and, when
heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief
Ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.
4. Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper
thy work and defend thee,
Who from the heavens the streams of
His mercy doth send thee.
Ponder anew
What the Almighty can do,
Who with His love doth befriend thee.
5. Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that
is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come
now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again;
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
Opening Prayer:
O God, whose majesty rules the heavens above and whose glory fills the earth below, whose goodness no saint can approach and whose grace no sinner can defeat, we come together to acknowledge your majesty and rejoice in your glory, to affirm your goodness and claim your grace. Deliver us, dear Lord, as we bow before you uin prayer, from pride in our achievements and from guilt over our transgressions, so that, in humble faith and with pure hearts, we might worship you in truth and serve you in love.
Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Hymn: Make Me a Captive, Lord #421
1. Make me a captive, Lord,
and then I shall be free.
Force me to render up my sword,
and I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life's alarms
when by myself I stand;
imprison me within thine arms,
and strong shall be my hand.
2. My heart is weak and poor
until it master find;
it has no spring of action sure,
it varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move
till thou hast wrought its chain;
enslave it with thy matchless love,
and deathless it shall reign.
3. My power is faint and low
till I have learned to serve;
it lacks the needed fire to glow,
it lacks the breeze to nerve.
It cannot drive the world
until itself be driven;
its flag can only be unfurled
when thou shalt breathe from heaven.
till thou hast made it thine;
if it would reach a monarch's throne,
it must its crown resign.
It only stands unbent
amid the clashing strife,
when on thy bosom it has leant,
and found in thee its life.
Prayer of Dedication:
Almighty and gracious God, who towers over us with such majesty that we cannot but acknowledge our insignificance, and yet who draws close to us with such mercy that we cannot deny our significance, we adore you. We adore you for who and what you are. And we thank you for who and what we are – and for who and what we can become.
Enable us, we pray, to spread the good news to all who will hear it. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Luke 5: 1-11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He
got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to
put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the
crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So
they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and
so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with
Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will
be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Sermon Title: He Appeared also to Me
The appearance of Jesus Christ to people in the era that he roamed the earth was a very special thing. When he was traveling, people would follow or even anticipate his next stop and meet him there, hoping for “good seats” so that they could see him or possibly even get close to him so that he could perform one of his wonderful miracles on them. They also wanted to hear what he had to say; it was encouraging and they had been waiting so long for the news that he brought. But after his death and resurrection, it was especially wonderful and amazing if he appeared to us mere mortals who were unable to escape the bonds of death.
In our reading from 1 Corinthians this morning, we hear Paul sharing the news of Jesus’ resurrection; the GOOD NEWS of our Lord and Savior and how he is able to give us mere humans eternal life through his grace and mercy. He is telling us about the people who were able to capture a glimpse or more of the risen Christ; including himself. As always, he mentions how unworthy he feels that Jesus gave him any mind at all. He refers back to when he persecuted the church of God. In the same breath, however, he also mentions that he was saved by that same mercy and grace that we are all offered. It is true that none of us are worthy. We may not have persecuted the church like Saul did; heck we may not have done much wrong at all according to society, but we are all sinners and we are not able to redeem ourselves.
Paul is making sure that it is widely publicized that Jesus appeared to more than 500 people after dying and then being resurrected and before being taken up into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
Obviously, this is good news, that one so unworthy as Paul, is still considered by Jesus Christ to receive his grace; but that is not where this message of love ends. Paul does not say to that he got in, but that we cannot. He is giving us this message because he knows that this offer applies to all of God’s peoples. Each of us has the option to accept the gift of grace and mercy that is offered by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
There once was a man who purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake's glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a plan as to how to escape the certain death he was about to experience.
So what did the terrified creature do? He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem.
The solution, however, came from outside. The man took pity on the silly little mouse and removed him from the cage. No matter how hard we try to cover or deny our sinful nature, it's fool's work. Sin will eventually awake from sleep and shake off its cover. Were it not for the saving grace of the Master's hand, sin would eat us alive.
So many of us think that we can escape our sinful nature and come out smelling like roses. But the truth is that we can not reverse what sin has already done to us because of our sinful human nature. We are born sinners and sinners we remain until we are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ and in order to be saved, we must accept the gift of that grace from him.
I suppose that the real question is why do we sin at all? Why do we choose to sin rather than choose what we know God wants us to do? Here are some biblically based answers:
1. Some would point to Romans 8:16 and explain that Christians who willfully sin have forgotten their true identity as "children of God." While it is true that Christians can forget who they are and sin as a result, Christians can also be well aware of who they are and sin anyway.
2. Some say Christians choose to sin because they have lost sight of what God has done for them. 2 Peter 1:9 indicates that Christians can be "blind or short-sighted, having forgotten [their] purification from [their] former sins."
3. Some wisely state that Christians consciously choose to sin because they have forgotten that God will severely discipline disobedient believers.
4. Some have said that Christians who consciously sin have lost their focus on the future. These Christians have forgotten that God will reward in heaven only those who have lived faithfully for Him here on earth (1 Cor 9:24). Christians who fail to keep eternity in mind often sin in the here and now.
Yes, we are mere humans and prone to sinning, but the truth is that God is willing, able, and wants to save us through the actions of Jesus Christ. Perhaps we need to remember that he has appeared also to us.
Amen.
Closing Hymn: Precious Lord, Take My Hand #474
Precious Lord, linger near-ear
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my ha-and lest I fa-all
Take my hand, precious Lord
Lead me on
Lead me on, let me stand
I am tired, I'm weak, I am worn
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my ha-and, precious Lord
Lead me home
And my race here is are run
Let me see by the light
Thou hast shown
That fair city so bright
Where the lantern is the light
Take my ha-and, precious Lord
Lead me on
Lead me on, let me stand
I am tired, I'm weak, I am worn
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my ha-and, precious Lord
Lead me home
In this place your healing has begun. Now begins the healing of the world. Go in peace.
