Twelve Weeks in Spring

By James Montgomery

There is a fundamental Christian virtue which today has been all but abandoned by the evangelical Christian church in the Western World. It is unpopular because it does not rest comfortably with our success-driven, survival-of-the-fittest, consumer society. It is distasteful because it is perceived to require us to be less than we really are, when we wish to appear more than we really are.

I am referring, of course, to the virtue of humility (Matt. 5:3) which is not easy to define but in practical terms can often mean little more than giving place to others and showing them respect and courtesy, whatever the circumstances. This little book is about what can happen when humility is completely cast aside and what I believe Almighty God has to say to us on the subject.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490857077

James Montgomery

Pastor James Montgomery, BD, MTh, is retired from the preaching ministry and now devotes his time to reading, writing, gardening, cooking, DIY, keeping fit, and spending time with his grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2014 James Montgomery.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-5708-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5709-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5707-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014919137

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/03/2014

Contents

Introduction

1. Who Is Jesus?

2. Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

3. A Glimpse of His Glory

4. The Hard Times

5. The Final Mission

6. Mary and Martha

7. How to Pray

8. The Triumphal Entry

9. Resurrection

10. The Victory of the Cross

11. Judas Iscariot

12. God’s Throne in Heaven

Introduction

On Sunday, February 7, 2010, a bitter quarrel broke out in a youth fellowship meeting following the evening service in a small church located on the edge of a large city somewhere in the English-speaking Western world.

For some time the church had been struggling to survive. Meetings were held in a temporary wooden building with limited facilities, and Sunday-morning services attracted no more than thirty-five souls, including children. However, there was a shared vision for a new church building with better facilities, which would encourage growth and lead to a viable local ministry. There was a healthy and growing building fund, ample building space, and a favorable location in an area of new housing development. There was some faith and optimism that better times lay ahead.

Because it was such a small congregation, almost everybody was personally involved in the issues that caused the quarrel, so the very survival of the church was at stake. The leadership went to prayer and fasting to seek God for a way out of the crisis. All the usual steps were taken to get to the root of the problem and find a basis for reconciliation, but as the weeks went by, relations between the parties continued to deteriorate. After the morning service on Sunday, April 25, there were further bitter exchanges, everybody left, and the church closed.

As the pastor I have to accept responsibility for the failure of the work to which I was called, and since that day I have struggled with the questions, Why did God allow this to happen? Why did God not speak to all concerned so that they might seek a solution?

There is nothing unique or unusual about this story. All over the Western world, Bible-believing churches are at war within themselves. Christians are offended with each other to such an extent that their behavior is no different from that of the people they are trying to win for Christ and in some cases far worse. Self-justification seems to be more important than reconciliation.

One day not long ago, I sat down and reread the twelve Sunday morning sermons I preached during that twelve-week crisis. As I did so, God showed me that he had indeed spoken at that time, but nobody was listening. I was reminded of the fundamental truth that even when God speaks, clearly calling to repentance and faith, man still has the freedom to ignore him and walk away.

These twelve messages are reproduced here with the prayer that they will be of some help to other churches where there is conflict and division.

It doesn’t have to end in disaster. There is a better way.

1

Who Is Jesus?

Sunday morning, February 7, 2010—the calm before the storm.

Text: Luke 9:18–22:

And it happened, as he was alone praying, that his disciples joined him, and he asked them, saying, Who do the crowds say that I am? So they answered and said, John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said, The Christ of God. And he strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one. Saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

Let us first consider the context of this conversation Jesus had with his disciples. Chapter 9 of Luke begins with an account of the first evangelistic outreach by the disciples. They had completed their initial training program so Jesus gave them spiritual power and authority and sent them out in twos to preach, teach, heal the sick, and cast out demons. All that they had seen Jesus himself doing, they would now do on their own. Probably it was a challenging, even frightening situation for them, but they discovered to their great joy that the power of God went with them. Everywhere they ministered the Word as Jesus had taught them to do there was a positive response. The sick were healed, devils fled, and the people responded to the call to believe. They were greatly encouraged both in their faith and in the call upon their lives to the ministry. A little later they witnessed the great miracle of feeding the multitude. Five thousand men, besides women and children, probably over ten thousand in all, were fed from five small loaves and two fish. Jesus was demonstrating to the apostles that in their future ministry, he would meet their needs as they obeyed his command to take the gospel to all the world. Since this account has been written down and preserved for us to read today, we believe the same promises are for us. As we obey God’s commands to serve him in the place where we are, or where we are sent, then he will both equip us and provide for us. The apostle Paul wrote, My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19 AV).

This is a great comfort to all God’s people—not just to apostles and missionaries who have given up the comforts of civilization to take the gospel to remote parts of the world but to each one of us as we go about our daily lives trusting in him. We are assured repeatedly in Scripture that God watches over us and sends his angels to minister to us, and his ear is ever open to our prayer. When we call upon him in distress or need, the answer is already on the way. God said, Before they call I will answer (Isa. 65:24).

It was at this point that Jesus had a serious discussion with his disciples. He started it with the question, Who do the crowds say that I am?

At that time everyone was talking about Jesus, and everyone wanted to see him. When he came into a town, word would spread quickly, and in no time a crowd would gather. Herod the king, who had beheaded John the Baptist, wanted to see him, but Jesus stayed out of his way. The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, the priests, and the Pharisees would send spies to listen to him and report all they saw and heard, and there was plenty to report. When Jesus spoke, devils were evicted. When he touched the sick, they were healed. When he preached, the crowds pressed in to hear every word. He didn’t only speak to people; he spoke to the winds and they were stilled. He spoke to the dead and they were raised to life. It was reported that he could walk on water and disappear at will.

So everyone was asking the question, Who is he? There were different opinions. Some said he was Elijah, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. There was good scriptural backing for this. Through the prophet Malachi, God said to Israel:

Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. (Mal. 4:5–6)

Another view was that he was the prophet foretold by Moses who declared:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. (Deut. 18:15)

It is apparent