The Plowman

 

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An exposition of Matthew 15:21-39. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, August 29, 2010.

Introduction
I hate it.  When I go I make sure I don’t have anything extra on me.  I’m not carrying anything I don’t have to have at that moment.  Because the first thing they make me do is step up on that scale!  I know it is good and it’s necessary – but I don’t have to like it.  Check ups.  They are intended to prevent major disasters.  A regular visit to the doctor is designed to spot potential problems before they are definite problems.  So even though I don’t like them – I go.  I listen.  I sometimes do as I’m told.  Job evaluations are the same way.  No one likes to be told what they are doing wrong.  No one looks forward to having their work scrutinized.  But yet again it is a necessary evil if your goal is to do your best.  For any evaluation there must first be a standard.  For a medical check up the doctor begins with an understanding of what is healthy.  For a job evaluation you must begin with a job description.  You cannot determine if something is being done well if you do not know what’s supposed to be done.

The same is true when we seek to determine how we are doing in ministry.  We are inundated with books, tapes, seminars and conferences on how to “do church.”  One positive trend in the last few years has been a shift from a “church growth” model (which evaluates solely on the basis of numbers and size) to a “church health” model.  Understanding that numerical growth is not as important as spiritual health.  If the church is spiritually healthy – growth will take care of itself.  What has been discovered is that some churches have grown incredibly but are not healthy.  But how do we determine health?  How do we determine what the church is to look like?  How do we determine what the church is to be doing?  What ministries should we have?  How many committees should there be?  How many deacons should we have?  How many staff members?   Should we even have staff members?

I must tell you that this gets to be a complicated issue.  I do not believe there are simple answers to these questions.  I take that back, I think the answer is simple but its application is difficult.  Because the simple answer is – we are here to carry on the ministry of Jesus.  But before we can even begin to address the issue of what form that takes we have to deal with a more fundamental issue.  What was the ministry of Jesus like?  For some answers we turn to Matthew’s Gospel and the 15th chapter.

Text: Matthew 15:21-39
Jesus has just finished a dispute with the leaders from Jerusalem.
He argued with them over what constitutes genuine spirituality.
Jesus made it clear that it is not a mere matter of external conformity.
Rather the issue is an internal transformation that results in external acts.
Following that exchange our Lord once again withdraws for a time of renewal.
Yet again crowds follow.

As we reflect on our Lord’s interaction with the crowds we learn some things about his ministry.  Some things we would do well to consider as we ask ourselves –

1. Is His ministry our ministry?  Is our work marked by what marked His work?
2. The ministry of Jesus responds to the heart of persistent faith.  (15:21-28)
3. The ministry of Jesus meets the needs of the hurting.  (15:29-31)
4. The ministry of Jesus is driven by compassion.  (15:32-39)

Conclusion
This is the work we are called to.
A work that responds to the persistent faith of the desperate.
A work that responds that meets the needs of the hurting.
A work that is driven by compassion.

Is this what we are about?  Is this what we are known for?  By God’s grace may it be so!

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 5:1-20. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 29, 2010.

Introduction
Don’t you find the news depressing?  Whether you are talking about television, radio or the paper it just seems there is so much “bad” news.  Shootings, stabbings, abuse, war, financial crisis, terrorism and that’s just the school news!  Don’t eat eggs, don’t drink the water, 100 degree temperatures returning…enough already.  You reach a point where you just don’t want to hear it anymore.  “I’m tired of the bad news - give me some good news for a change.”  So you come to church and your pastor is preaching through Ecclesiastes.  You just can’t catch a break.  But you see Ecclesiastes is good news.  It is the good news that there is real joy and lasting satisfaction and it can be had here and now in this sin-sick, twisted world.  It is God’s gift to His people.  Don’t take my word for it, listen to Solomon:
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Did you catch it?  God gifts His people with the ability to enjoy life.  Now, we are talking about joy not happiness.  There is a difference.  Happiness is a feeling of elation when everything is as it should be.  Happiness is that which happens to happen with things happen to happen happily.  But if things happen to happen unhappily - you ain’t happy!  Joy is a deep, abiding sense of satisfaction regardless of the circumstance.  We are not assured of happiness in this world.  In fact we are told to expect heartache and tribulation but we can know joy because it is rooted in the person of the Lord Jesus who is an ever-present help in time of need.  Oh, the book of Ecclesiastes is a book of real, robust and resilient joy.  Our text this morning is found in the fifth chapter.

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:1-20
Solomon is thinking out loud.
He is looking back over a lifetime and seeing what lessons he has learned.
Where does one find real joy?
Is it through knowledge or intellectual pursuit?
Is pleasure the path to satisfaction?
How about wealth, power, influence or achievement?

No, all that amounts to “striving after wind.”
They are vain pursuits - hollow, empty, meaningless.

• Chapter 3 = trust God.
• Chapter 4 = the vanity of life apart from God.
• Chapter 5…

Thesis: Only a clear vision of God and a corresponding response of faith can produce lasting joy.

I want to point out three things as we make our way through this text.

1. Foolish worship distorts your vision of God and disrupts genuine joy.  (5:1-7)
2. Frustration over corruption and a preoccupation with wealth distorts your values and destroys any chance for lasting joy.  (5:8-17)
3. Trust in a good and sovereign God enables a rich, robust and resilient joy.  (5:18-20)

You were made to be in relationship with God.
You will be restless until you find your rest in Him.
Only a clear vision of God and a corresponding response of faith can produce lasting joy.

 

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A Wednesday-evening Bible Study from Genesis 29:1-30. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on August 25, 2010.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 4:1-16. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 22, 2010.

Intro:

Well he was no Joel Olsteen that’s for sure!  In fact I’m certain he wouldn’t have a large church today.  His message is a little hard to listen to.  He just seems so negative.  He seems to be soured on life.  How are you going to build a crowd when your whole message seems to be summed up with, “Life stinks?”  Who would drag themselves out of bed on a Sunday morning to come hear a preacher say, “Life is hollow, meaningless and empty?”  There are sections of his book, when reading it, you have to keep reminding yourself, “All Scripture is breathed of God and is profitable.”  The truth is, Solomon is not as negative as it may seem.  Keep in mind the book of Ecclesiastes was written late in his life.  He is looking back over a lifetime and evaluating the life he has lived.  He is seeking to “make sense” of it all.  He desires to pass on some insight for living.  Where is it a man finds real, lasting joy and satisfaction?  It is not to be found in intellectual pursuit.  It is cannot be had by indulging one’s appetite for pleasure.  Nor is it to be found in career advancement, the acquisition of power or the accumulation of wealth.  Real joy and lasting satisfaction is the gift of God’s grace to His people.

Apart from Him life is meaningless.  Apart from Him there is no real joy, no lasting satisfaction.  There is only temporary pleasure and momentary relief.  Life under the sun is a vain existence.  If you take God out of the equation and then set out on a quest for joy you are on a fool’s errand.  Our text this morning is found in Ecclesiastes the fourth chapter.

Text: Ecclesiastes 4:1-16
In chapter 3 we discovered that joy and satisfaction are the fruit of trusting wholly in God’s person and work.  It is to acknowledge His sovereign rule over all things.  It is to rest in His providential working.  It is to trust in His righteous handling of all things.  That’s good.  If you can do that you are well on your way to a life of joy and real, lasting satisfaction.  In chapter 4 Solomon seems to take a step backwards.

Chapter 4 is a miserable chapter!
Chapter 4 reads like the confession of a soured, jaded, hardened skeptic.
He points out problem after problem but offers no solution.
“It’s striving after the wind.”
“This also is vanity and an unhappy business.”
Until he concludes the chapter with, “…this also is vanity and a striving after wind.”
What happened?
Did he forget what he just said?
You have to read the whole book.

What is the book about?
It is about joy - real, lasting, robust, resilient joy and where to find it.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20: Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.
19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.
20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

What is chapter 4 about?

Thesis: The disturbing words of the preacher serve to underscore the futility of life apart from God.

There are 4 things I would like to point out from our text.

1. The cares and troubles of this life are often so overwhelming that death or better yet nonexistence seems preferable.  (4:1-3)
2. Driving ambition and endless pursuit of success and prosperity can lead to a crushing loneliness.  (4:4-8)
3. Selfish ambition and rugged individualism leaves you alone and vulnerable.  (4:9-12)
4. The adoration of the crowd and the popularity of success are sorry substitutes for a genuine friend.  (4:13-16)

Joy, peace and lasting satisfaction are to be found in Christ and in Him alone.

 

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A Wednesday-evening Bible study from Genesis 28:20-22. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on August 18, 2010.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 3:1-22. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 15, 2010.

Introduction
I saw in the paper this week that Tulsa has had 21 homicides since May 1.  During this same period there have been 311 shootings.  There was a time, not so long ago, that we expected such things to be happening in large metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago or Los Angelus but not here.  Not in the buckle of the “Bible Belt.”  Life here was good.  People were friendly.  Church played a prominent role but times have changed.  Pessimism has replaced optimism, skepticism has replaced hope and life has become meaningless.  This didn’t happen overnight.  It’s been coming for a long time.  I think this quote sums up the majority opinion today, “There is no reason to suppose that a man’s life has any more meaning that the life of the humblest insect that crawls from one annihilation to another.”  Catchy don’t you think?   A nice uplifting thought.  Have we really become that jaded?  What may surprise you is that quote is from an English professor at Columbia University during the 1940s!  What was thought in the halls of academia in 1940 is being lived out on the streets of our city in 2010.

It is the notion that individuals are not unique and therefore not important.  Life is without meaning and if life is without meaning it isn’t worth living.  Let’s all just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.  To quote the ‘preacher,’ “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”  Empty, hollow, nothingness - what is?  Everything…under the sun.  If you consider life apart from God it is empty, meaningless.  Life apart from God and the things of God is unsatisfying.  Oh there may be a moment of joy but it doesn’t last.  There may be happiness but it is fading.  The party ends.  The money gets spent.  The music stops.  The crowd gets bored and moves on.  You will go down to the grave and be forgotten.  Nothing lasts.  Nothing ultimately satisfies.  Nothing that is under the sun.  Our text this morning is found in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes.

Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
Solomon states his conclusion from the very beginning - 1:2 - “Vanity of vanities all is vanity.”
Life is empty - under the sun.
He sought for meaning through intellect and discovered it wasn’t there.
He sought it through pleasure and came up empty.
Then he tried to find satisfaction through work and the accumulation of stuff and learned it was a fool’s errand.

Where does one find true satisfaction and lasting joy?
It is the gift of God’s grace.
As we explore the 3rd chapter we discover that…

Thesis: Deep, genuine satisfaction is the result of trusting wholly in God’s person and work.
There are three things I want to call to your attention from our text.

1. Lasting joy and genuine satisfaction demands that you gratefully acknowledge Gods’ sovereign rule over all things.  (3:1-8)
2. Lasting joy and genuine satisfaction demands that you rest in God’s providential working.  (3:9-15)
3. Lasting joy and genuine satisfaction demands that you trust in God’s righteous handling of the end of all things.  (3:16-22)

Conclusion
What is it that brings lasting joy and genuine satisfaction?  It is the knowledge of God’s sovereign rule over all things, it is resting in His providential working, and trusting his righteous handling of the end of all things.

Deep, genuine satisfaction is the result of trusting wholly in God’s person and work.

 

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A look at Genesis 15:1-6. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, August 11, 2010.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 2:12-26. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 1, 2010.

Introduction
It seems to me it starts earlier and earlier.  We start asking kids, at a young age, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  It’s one of the fruits of living in a free and prosperous society.  We condition kids early on to understand, “You can be anything you want to be.”  In many parts of the world you won’t find kids dreaming of what they will be when they grow up - they just hope to live long enough to grow up!  As a young person moves toward high school we expect them to have a plan.  “What are your goals?”  “What college are you plan to attend?”  “What do you want to do with your life?”  What is interesting is to see how things change.  I love to go to high school homecoming and senior recognition and hear what the students’ plans are.  “After graduating Susie plans to attend MIT with a double major in nuclear physics and medieval renaissance theology.”  A couple of years later you learn Susie is taking some night courses through TCC and working at Wal-Mart.  My point is youth is filled with optimism and hope and it should be!  I bring it up because it is important to note Solomon did not write Ecclesiastes as a young man but rather as an old man looking back on a life of experience.  When you ask a kid what he or she wants to be when they grow up - they do not answer, “I hope to be a bitter, disillusioned failure.”  The goal, regardless of what path they may choose to follow, is to be happy, successful and live with meaning and purpose.  That is why it is critically important for us to hear and heed the message of “the preacher.”  Solomon’s years of empty experience taught him that experience is empty.  Life under the sun is filled with bitter disappointment and is unsatisfying.

Life without regard for God or the things of God is an empty, vain thing.
While there are momentary joys, times of peace and contentment, they do not last.
Thus the preacher cries, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity.”
He sought satisfaction through wisdom and found it empty.
He sought satisfaction through pleasure and found it was an illusion.
In the text we are going to explore this morning he reaches an end to the first section of his book.
Our text is found in the second half of the second chapter.

Text: Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
Keep in mind the preacher is “thinking out loud.”
He is bringing us along in a process.
He is walking us through his life experience and sharing what he’s learned.
I want to point out three things in this summary and then draw a final conclusion.

1. Wisdom while advantageous cannot, in itself, secure lasting joy.  (2:12-17)
2. Wealth and professional success, while providing momentary peace, ultimately falls short of lasting joy.  (2:18-23)
3. Lasting joy only comes through the gracious work of God in the hearts of His people.  (2:24-26)

Conclusion: Satisfaction is the gracious gift of God to His people.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 2:1-11. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, July 25, 2010.

Introduction
It’s one of life’s most disappointing experiences.  It is the kind of thing that leaves you jaded, skeptical and disillusioned.  Getting what you’d hoped for!  Have you been there?  Maybe it was your dream job but it turned out to be a nightmare.  Perhaps your dream house was, in fact, a money pit.   Your dream car?  A lemon.  That girl you had to marry…well we’ll not go there but you get the idea.  Life under the sun is filled with broken dreams, disappointing successes and unfulfilled expectations.  In short, satisfaction is just beyond your grasp.  Satisfaction is the “fulfillment of one’s wishes” or the pleasure derived from experiencing dreams come true.  In fairy-tales people live happily ever-after.  But, in case you haven’t noticed, life is no fairy-tale.  In the real world it seems we are forever on the trail of satisfaction.  It’s just around the corner.  Perhaps it will come with the next promotion.  Maybe if we get in the right neighborhood.  Surely when we get out from under this debt - but by the time we get there satisfaction has moved on.  It’s why the preacher cried, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity!”  Empty, transient, passing, hollow.  What is?  Everything!  Everything that is, “under the sun.”  When you evaluate life without regard for God or the things of God the logical conclusion is - it’s empty, meaningless, unsatisfying.

Solomon is looking back over his life and evaluating.  He sees his life as a grand experiment.  He has done a little bit of everything.  He has tried everything.  And he has come to this conclusion - “after all my I’ve experienced, after all I’ve accomplished, if you add up what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve accumulated, what do I have?  A great big jar of nothing!”  He is not saying he has not accomplished anything.  He isn’t suggesting that he has not enjoyed himself along the way.  He is saying, “ultimately it does not satisfy.”  The apostle Paul told the church at Corinth that the Old Testament Scriptures were written for their benefit.  They were to learn from them so as not to make the same mistakes.  We have the benefit of Solomon’s experience.  He’s been there, done that and he has the t-shirt but it seems we are determined to learn the same lessons the hard way - through our own painful experience.  Our text this morning is found in the 2nd chapter of Ecclesiastes and we will begin at verse 1.

Text: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Solomon leaves no doubt about where he is heading - 1:2-3.
He states his conclusion at the very beginning.
Keep in mind he is “thinking out loud” we are traveling this road with him.
Solomon shifts gears with chapter 2.  If wisdom proves to be ineffective then maybe the “good life” is the key to a good life.  If not wisdom how about pleasure?

It is here that we learn…

Thesis: Genuine, lasting satisfaction cannot be attained through human means.
This is something our culture needs to hear.  We have been raised to believe we can accomplish anything.  If you want it bad enough and you work hard enough you can have it.  We idolize the “self-made” man.  We love those rags to riches stories and want to believe it can happen to us some day.

In addition we’ve convinced ourselves that the “successful” are happy and fulfilled.  They must be because they have it all.  That’s not what Solomon says.

Let me point out three things as we work our way through this text.

1. The promise of satisfaction through pleasure proves to an illusion.  (2:1-3)
2. The notion that power, position and prestige brings peace and contentment is an empty dream.  (2:4-8)
3. Though the pursuit of pleasure and the accumulation of power bring momentary relief and provide a temporary distraction they do not, in fact, cannot satisfy.  (2:9-11)

Conclusion
He had a thousand women - 700 wives and 300 concubines (all them beautiful).
He had more money than a man could spend.
He had vast estates.
He had time and means to pursue every possible pleasure.
And it all amounted to what?  Nothing.  Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

Why is that?
Hebrews 9:27 - appointed unto man to die once and then comes the judgment.
Death comes to all and then what?

 

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An exposition of Matthew 11:1-19. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, July 18, 2010.

Introduction
It is part of who we are.  We can’t help it.  We are by nature curious.  Don’t you find yourself wondering and questioning things?  I mean, why do people without a watch look at their wrist when they ask you what time it is?  Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?  Questions, we wrestle with them everyday.  Some are important, others are not so important.  Some mold or alter our lives, while others have little or no lasting effect.  This evening I want us to consider one of life’s vital questions.  Webster defines vital as concerned with or necessary to the maintenance of life; something fundamentally concerned with or affecting life.  I’m certain that we can agree that there are some questions that are of vital importance.  I would suggest that life’s most vital question has to do with the Lord Jesus – is he indeed the Messiah?  Is he the Savior?  Is he who he claims to be?

We are going to look this evening at a crisis point in the life and ministry of John the Baptist.  John found himself imprison for his faithfulness in declaring the truth of God.  He had faithfully and consistently declared Jesus as the Messiah.  As reports reached him about the ministry of Jesus, John came to a crisis of faith.  Through John’s story we learn something about the response of the Lord Jesus to the questioning heart.  We will consider John’s story is it is recorded in Matthew chapter 11.

Text: Matthew 11:1-19
There is that part of us that thinks faith eliminates all questions and struggles.  Sometimes we get the idea that it is “wrong” to question or wonder why.  But Christianity welcomes honest questioning.  Truth always invites investigation.  The Gospel is not afraid of someone asking too many questions.  Faith does not eliminate doubt.  In fact doubting is a tool for building faith!

Os Guinness has suggested there are two dangers to be avoided when dealing with doubt.

1. Being too soft on doubt – never needing any kind of assurance.
2. Being too hard on doubt – equating all doubt with unbelief.

Alister McGrath adds, “Faith isn’t a product of absolute certain knowledge.  Faith is about being willing to live through trust in the existence and promises of God, knowing that one day his existence and those promises will be totally vindicated.  But for the moment, we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Our text is fascinating to me given the background of John the Baptist.  This is a remarkable question coming from this man.  Yet it is a question that each of us must deal with.  It is a matter of life and death.  It is a “vital question” – a vital issue.

“Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?”  “Are you the Christ?  Are you the Messiah?  Are you the long awaited Savior of the world?”  This question is at the heart of the Christian faith.  Mark it down.  Underline it.  Circle it in red.

Christianity is not primarily a teaching.  It is not primarily a philosophy.  Neither is it primarily a way of life.  It is a relationship with the Sovereign God of heaven and earth, through the person of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel is the story of the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God left the glory and splendor of heaven and was born on this earth.  His purpose in coming was to redeem fallen and broken humanity.  He and He alone is the savior of the world and there is no heaven apart from Him.  If that is true, then the most important question in this world is “What about Jesus of Nazareth?”

If He is who the Bible claims that He is, then there is no more important question.  The question then before the house is – “What are you going to do with Jesus?”  “How are you going to respond to Him?”

These are the issues/questions surrounding this snapshot out of the life and ministry of John the Baptist.  From this story we learn something about the questioning heart and the search for assurance.  In fact we discover that:

Thesis: The questioning heart finds assurance in the person of the Lord Jesus.
As this drama in the life of John unfolds before us we find three acts.

1. Act One: A crisis of faith.  (11:1-3)
2. Act Two: A clear word.  (11:4-6)
3. Act Three: A comforting reassurance.  (11:7-11a)

Have you ever struggled to believe?  You are in good company.  The questioning heart finds reassurance in the person of the Lord Jesus.