ST. PATRICK - TROUBLE TO TRUST

On St. Patrick’s Day, we often thing of shamrocks, leprechauns and pots of gold. I believe there is much more to St. Patrick than luck. He was a man confronted by much trouble but learned to place his trust in God. He was born in Roman Britannia in what is now Scotland in 385 A.D. His father and grandfather were active in the church.

Patrick was kidnaped by Irish pirates when he was 16 and held captive 6 years until he escaped Ireland and returned home. He became a priest and had a tremendous burden to reach the people of Ireland with the Gospel. After a time of religious training he returned to Ireland, preaching and planting churches. He eventually led the pagan king to Christ and evangelized Ireland. He died on March 17, 461 A.D.

Let’s look at trouble and how to deal with it through the lens of Scripture. First, trouble is a part of life. Consider Job 14:1, Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. Also, 1 Peter 4:12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. Second, we can look around and see raging fires, floods and mud slides destroying homes and businesses. There are thousands of government employees losing their jobs, and the possibility of retirees losing government payments on which they depend.

Consider our spiritual condition rightly observed by St. Augustine, You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You. Also, C. S. Lewis declared, Our longing is for intimacy with God...What we want is what we were created to have. To be who we were created to be. To live and laugh and love with the One who created us to do all of that - and more! Yet, how can we overcome trouble that can seemingly overwhelm us? Let’s see how St. Patrick went from trouble to trust.

Too often, we think we need a break. Maybe it is playing the lottery and hoping for a big payoff. Or, maybe it is finding a 4-leaf clover. St. Patrick came to say that we must trust God. He did not focus on 4-leaf clovers but on the ordinary 3-leaf clover which illustrated to him the Trinity. He would take up a three-leaf clover and ask, Does it have one leaf or three? Those responded Both. Patrick then explained, And so it is with the Trinity - Father, Son and Spirit are one God. Three persons in one. There is one stem, one nature, but 3 leaves, 3 persons within the triune God. His trust was solidly in God, not luck. The Bible calls us to trust in God. Consider Isaiah 26:3, You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust is the application of faith. It is faith in action.

St. Patrick understood the workings of trust within the 3 in 1 God. He trusted the person and work of Jesus Christ. I am certain he proclaimed the following verses and many others. Acts 16:31, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. John 5:24, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. We must trust the One who sent His Son, Jesus, to make payment for our sins and restore us to Himself.

Can we trust God, yes! He is trustworthy, Isaiah 12:2, Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation." We are to trust Him not because of circumstances (sometimes pleasurable and sometimes painful) but because He never changes. Elisabeth Elliot, You will never understand why God does what He does, but if you believe Him, that is all that is necessary. Let us learn to trust Him for who He is.

We can trust God because He will accomplish His good plans for us. Proverbs 30:5, Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Bryn Austin Rees, Have faith in God, my heart, Trust and be unafraid; God will fulfil in every part, Each promise He has made. If I know Him Who is true, I don’t need to know the why, unless He wants me to.

We can trust that God will recreate all things. Philippians 1:6a, And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. There will be a day when trouble will be no more, Revelation 21:1-6, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

The following is called St. Patrick’s Breastplate and is attributed to St. Patrick.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit up, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

St. Patrick declared trust in Christ all the time, everywhere and for every trouble. He believed in trust not luck. Trust in Jesus alone overcomes every trouble, for now and all eternity. St. Patrick’s Day is a great day to trust God and pass from trouble to trust. The verse God used to turn me to trust is Psalm 34:4, I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. May that be the verse that turns you from trouble to trust.

THE VALUE OF VALENTINE’S DAY

Valentine’s Day was named in honor of Saint Valentine, a 3rd-century Roman Christian. He ministered to persecuted Christians and was martyred on February 14 which has been observed as Valentine's Day since 496 AD. The value of Valentine’s Day is that it reminds us of the importance of love.

The Bible says much about love. It is interesting that the Apostle John wrote more about love than any other disciple. The Gospel of John and the First Epistle of John are full of information concerning God-love. Probably, the Scripture passage on love most familiar to people is in 1 Corinthians 13 written by the Apostle Paul.

Take a moment and consider biblical answers to questions on love.

What is love like? Love is visible.

The Apostle Paul gives characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13;4-7, Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Saint Augustine of Hippo (430), What does love look like? It has hands to help others. It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.

Where is love from? Love is from God.

1 John 4:16, So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. The primary word for love in the Old Testament is steadfast love. Richard Baxter, It is but right that our hearts should be on God, when the heart of God is so much on us.

How do we know God loves us? God’s love is revealed in His actions.

1 John 4:9-10, In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Romans 5:8, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Billy Graham, When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, “I love you.”

Why must I love? Love is commanded by God.

Matthew 22:37-39, And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 1 John 4:8, Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. Francis Schaeffer, Love of the creature toward the Creator must include obedience or it is meaningless.

Why is love so important? Love is how God intends for us to live.

Colossians 3:14, And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. John 13:35, By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (d. 1945), Give me such love for God and men as will blot out all hatred and bitterness.

How can we get this God-love? God’s love is received through His Son.

John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 1 John 3:23, And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ. It is a response of faith in Who Jesus is and what Jesus did by placing one’s trust in Him alone.

How are we to love? We are to reflect God’s love to others.

Ephesians 5:2; And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 1 John 3:18, Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Oswald Chambers, If my heart is right with God, every human being is my neighbor.

Consider some quotes on love from a Christian perspective:

On God’s love for us

Anonymous, The true measure of God’s love is that he loves without measure. John Blanchard, God loved us when there was nothing good to be seen in us and nothing good to be said for us ... There is nothing the Christian can do to make God love him more, or love him less. God’s love for his people is infinite and unconditional.

On man’s love for God

C. S. Lewis, Christian love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. John Owen, We are never nearer Christ than when we find ourselves lost in a holy amazement at his unspeakable love.

On man’s love for others

John Stott, Love is service rather than sentiment. Oswald Chambers, If my heart is right with God, every human being is my neighbour.

Love is at the very heart of God Who gives hearts of love to those who place faith alone in His Son. Love is forever, 1 Corinthians 2:9, . . . What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. Love is a special gift of God’s grace to a hurting world.

A Christmas Message from the Apostle John

The wondrous story of Christmas is told in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. I encourage you to consider the back-story of Christmas in the Gospel of John. His Christmas version could be called The Incarnation Story. The word incarnation comes from Latin, meaning in the flesh. He takes the Christmas story back in time before Bethlehem and to before time began.

Three things are needed for incarnation and all are explained by John in his Gospel: Why did God choose to enter His creation? How did God enter His creation? For what purpose did God enter His creation? The first may be found in a very familiar verse, John 3:16, For God so loved the world . . . God entered His creation out of love. George Whitefield (1714-1770), God could not, nor can, receive any additional good by our salvation. But it was love, mere love; it was free love that brought the Lord Jesus Christ into our world. What an amazing reason for the incarnation - God loves us! He does not need us but He wants us!

The second is in John 1:1-3, 14, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. God entered His creation through His Son. The baby Jesus in the manager existed before His birth in Bethlehem. He is God the Son, one person with two natures, human and divine. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The child in the manger is none other than God himself. Nothing greater can be said: God became a child. In the Jesus child of Mary lives the almighty God. Take time to contemplate the incomparable act of incarnation because the baby in the manager is so much more.

The third thing needed for incarnation is found in John 1:12, But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. God entered His creation to save it. Many misunderstand Jesus' reason for coming to earth. Some believe He was a religious fanatic confused by His zeal. Some believe He was a good man who is an example of how we should live. Christians believe He is God the Son Who came to save us from our sins. Anonymous, He came to pay a debt He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay.

It was a costly calling for that baby in a manger. For the only time, past, present or future, the Father turned from the Son because Jesus took our sins upon Himself. The most wondrous thing took place a few moments later when fellowship was restored. His payment for sin was accepted by the Father and forgiveness of sins is available based on Jesus' work alone. J. I. Packer (1926-2020), The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. Who Jesus is determined what he could do. Only Jesus who is fully God and fully man can redeem mankind, one life at a time.

How must we respond to the incarnation? Receive the gift of Christmas by faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Thomas À Kempis (1380–1471), The Lord is come; come and adore. Seek Jesus, and you shall find Him; knock at the door, and it shall be opened to you; enter the house and you shall see . . . Our King is arrived; Christ is born to us. Come, let us adore and fall down before Him, for He it is who made us.

Join Joseph Bayly (1920-1986), in a prayer of thanksgiving for the incarnation, the back-story of Christmas.

Tonight I will sing praise to the Father who stood on heaven’s threshold and said farewell to his Son as he stepped across the stars to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. And I will sing praise to the infinite, eternal Son, who became most finite, a baby who would one day be executed for my crime. Praise him in the heavens, Praise him in the stable, Praise him in my heart.

A study of Christmas from the Gospel of John may be found under the Books of the Bible tab. Rejoice in the essence of Christmas proclaimed by John Wesley (1703-1791), The best of all is, God is with us!