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The Truth is the Light!

May 27, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Mark 10:17-18:

And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.

Our text from Gospel of Mark is the story of a sad encounter between Jesus and a rich young man. This young man was challenged to take inventory of his faith.

Many retail organizations take an inventory of their stock, at least annually, to assess the true value of their assets. The inventory process normally is in at least three distinct phases. There is a count performed to determine the amount of finished goods in the warehouse. Next, a value is set on all the materials in the plant that are used to create the finished products. Finally, an assessment is made to determine the value of land and equipment. The second phase determines “goods in process” and the final stage is capital assets. The sum total of the physical inventory, assessment of materials used, and value of land and equipment represents the company’s value.

Taking inventory is a tedious process that involves climbing, counting and digging in order to make absolutely sure every “thing-a-ma-jig” and every “do-hickie” is counted. It is, however, a very worthwhile and necessary undertaking as it is the only way to determine true value. The inventory is complete when leadership receives a financial report of the company’s worth. The final report is considered very valuable as it can be used to prove net worth when needed to secure loans, borrowing against the company’s value.

In our text, we find the rich young man trying to borrow against the value of his faith. He wanted a guarantee that he would inherit eternal life. Jesus challenged him to take inventory of his faith to determine if he had sufficient assets to make the withdrawal on judgment day. The final assessment shows that the man actually came up short, merely posing as a man of faith, having a flaw in his relationship with God. In other words, the man had insufficient “faith assets.”

The man’s faith lacked hope. By addressing Jesus as ‘Good Master,” the same courteous title everyone gave to all the religious teachers, we see that the man did not believe Jesus was the awaited Messiah. The man lacked a repentant heart. He already thought he was perfect. The man revealed his unrepentant position, replying “Master, all these have I observed from my youth.” In essence, he was telling Jesus he was already ‘walking the walk.’

We cannot be too hard on this man. The truth of the matter is the man is very much like folk we know. He is like the many Christians who think they don’t have to come to church every Sunday, or study the Word of God with their church family, or pray at the prayer service. They don‘t think they have to, because in their mind, they’re already perfect.

When we begin to think our relationship with God is perfect, it is time to take inventory. When we have convinced ourselves we have done all we need to do to inherit eternal life, it’s time to take inventory. When we begin to think we are already walking the walk, it is time to dust off our spiritual shelves and assess the commitments we have cast off, the projects we have not completed, and the ministries we have left unattended.

It is easy to appear to be perfect. However, Jesus knows the real deal, the real us. He knows our heart. He already knows if we have taken an honest inventory of our faith.

The Truth is the Light!

May 21, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Exodus 24:12:

And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

I think we have reached a point where our spiritual vision has gotten lazy. What I mean is, I think we have a problem understanding the things of God because we don’t take the time to distance ourselves from our troubles and get alone with God. We need to put some distance between our troubles and take the time to be one on one with God. The truth is that we tend to confine the truth of our own finite understanding, and in doing so, we limit the Divine to what we know.

The question for us is, when was the last time we stretched the limits of our understanding of God? The truth of the matter is, many of us are muddling our way along this Christian walk, hoping to make it on what we learned of God when we were at our mother’s knee or in Sunday School. If we were asked to recite a scripture verse from memory, a lot of us would quickly respond with, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me.” Some of us would still use that old familiar “Jesus wept.”

Unless we have the Spirit of God in us, we have no might within and no means without to battle our storms. We will be like an unfinished building with no roof on it. We can attempt to live in it, but storms will keep raining on us. In order to put a roof on our faith, we have to get alone with God.

It is a fact that nothing can come out of us that has not been deposited in us. In other words, it is a requirement that we receive before we can give. We must be equipped for our task. We are on a journey and what we do to equip ourselves for our journey will largely determine our success or failure. Before God sends us out to do the work He has purposed for us, He first wants to equip us. The equipping process must include time alone with God. If we would be all the Lord would have us to be, we must first be willing to develop a probing, venturesome theology that solicits God’s wisdom above all else.

If we are to be all the Lord would have us to be, we must get alone with Him. We must develop an open line of communication with Jesus that will, in time, reveal His purpose for our life, and give us new direction. We must refrain from putting a time limit on God and just get alone with Him and learn of Him.

We cannot fight the good fight unless we get to know the Battleaxe. We will have a problem telling the story until we have spent time with the Author and Finisher of our faith. We will be unable to face our storms without our ship’s Captain. There is no way to expect light in the midst of our darkness, unless we spend time with the Bright and Morning Star.

The Truth is the Light!

May 14, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Isaiah 40:11:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd

To fully grasp the meaning of this, we must first understand the role of shepherds. Shepherds are committed to the welfare of the flock. The shepherd is always with his sheep using his staff to protect them against anything that would seek to harm them.

The shepherd is no good to us if we don’t follow Him. In other words, if we dismiss ourselves from the shepherd’s presence, wandering off to do our own thing, we are defeating the purpose of having a shepherd. A question we should consider is – why do we need a Shepherd, if we worship Him on Sunday, but we are back “in the world” on Monday? We pray on Wednesday, but spew venom on Thursday. Isaiah prophesied about the Shepherd more than 700 years before His arrival. The Bible says, “He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd.” The truth of the matter is, we are less likely to leave the shepherd when we know what he does for us and how it is that Christ feeds us.

Christ, our provider, is our limitless resource for salvation and sustenance. He reminded the disciples, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). We could hardly imagine Christ would have much more to give than to sacrifice himself for our sins, and create for us a path of reconciliation to His Father! The fact is, we needed a Savior! We needed someone whose passion for His people is greater than His love of life. We needed someone who could overcome the sins of the flesh by the power of His Father, and once and for all, pay the price for our salvation.

Christ doesn’t just rescue us and provide for us; He is our Perfector. The fact is, He improves on us. In other words, He takes our tattered, corrupt, sinful flesh and molds and shapes us like clay on a potter’s wheel. The Bible says, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21).

We need to understand that the “Great” Shepherd’s purpose is to make us perfect in all that we do for Him. His purpose is to teach us, by example, how to live righteously, so we will be pleasing to God. To that end, Christ can peel away our vain conceit and teach us how to put others first. Christ can strip us of our self-centeredness and teach us how to live a God-centered life. The Shepherd doesn’t just save us; He improves on us. The Shepherd (Christ) gives us a common focus, a desire to serve and work together. Christ gives us a common reference point, moving us to live in harmony with each other, pursuing our common goal of offering Christ’s salvation to the world.

If we trust Jesus Christ as our Shepherd, He will teach us how to fight the good fight, bear our cross, obey His commands, and gain the victory. Because “He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd!”

The Truth is the Light!

May 4, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: John 15:13:

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I submit that the word friend is one of the most loosely interpreted and most frequently used words in our vocabulary. Friend is used to describe so many kinds of relationships that it makes it difficult to verify the true meaning of the word. We find in the dictionary friend is one who is attached to another by affection, regard, or esteem. Friend is also described as an intimate acquaintance or an ally and a supporter of a cause.

We can agree that these definitions may be scholarly and academically sound, but I think we can also conclude they are somewhat limited. Many of us have to admit that we have used the word friend in more situations than these definitions include.

We find even in the Bible the word friend is used to describe various relationships. A good example is when Brother Job was dealing with his trials. The Bible says some brothers stopped by who were called friends. We find that these “friends” were not as much help lifting Job’s spirits as they were a bother adding to his burden. It is a little confusing characterizing these brothers as friends when instead of lifting Job with encouragement, bringing light to the situation, they crushed him with false accusations and sarcastic insinuations, contributing to his darkness.

We can agree that it is quite interesting how friendships are formed. Friends sometimes come together in a common bond as a result of some sickness or tragedy. Friends grow up in the same neighborhood and never lose contact. Some become friends meeting at church finding that they enjoy working together. Folk may serve on the same committee, or sit in the same pew, Sunday after Sunday eventually discovering they have forged a friendly relationship.

Lamentably some friendships are formed for evil reasons. Some folk with nothing in common at all, bond together simply because they share the same enemy. We find an example of that evil alliance in Pontius Pilate and King Herod. They were bitter enemies until they were both confronted with the man called Jesus Christ. They had absolutely nothing in common but their shared fear of Jesus. They collaborated in order to execute their common enemy. These are the types of friendships we need to be wary of!

There is a way however we can determine who our real friends are! The truth of the matter is the folk who are willing to tell us the truth about ourselves without fear of reprisal are our true friends. These are the folk who display a genuine spirit of love and concern when we are doing something wrong. These are our real friends!

We can also determine who our genuine friends are by recognizing how consistent they are. Folks, who are only loyal as long as we are popular, are not our real friends. Folk who hang around only when we have money in our pocket are not our real friends.

Truth be told, true friends are a rare commodity. We live in a world of cutthroat competition where folk will drop us like a hot potato to gain an advantage over us. In fact, the friend we may have counted on the most will disappoint us and not be there when we need them.

The preacher in me has to say right here, I know somebody who is a real friend by any standard. His name is Jesus! He passed the supreme test of friendship when He gave His life for you and me! In fact, Jesus discussed the subject of friendship on the very night before He was crucified. He had just experienced a triumphant ride into the City of Jerusalem, where throngs of people gathered to wave palms as He passed by.

In the Upper Room Jesus is giving His disciples a few parting instructions, before the tragic event of Calvary is to take place. Jesus says, (paraphrasing), “Now that I am about to make my departure, I want to call you, not my servants, but my friends. And when I call you my friends, I want you to know exactly what I mean. I want you to understand the depth of my love for you. We have an unbreakable bond, you and I. Love and friendship are like Siamese twins; inseparable. One cannot live without the other.” “I have been displaying my friendship ever since I called you to be my disciples. And not only have I been a friend to you, I have shown my friendship to all with whom I have come in contact. And now I am about to demonstrate the ultimate act of friendship. In fact, greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

The Truth is the Light!

April 28, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Numbers 21:8:

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. .

John 3:14: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

I guess the first thing we need to consider is what it is like to be bitten by a snake. Many of us have not had that unfortunate experience. However, those that have tell us that it is a painful experience. I am told that even if the snake is not poisonous, his teeth are so full of bacteria that we are certain to get sick from the bite.

The truth of the matter is, many of us don’t even consider the dangers of snakebite until it happens. Think about it, we often work in dangerous territory without a weapon for defense. It is not until the snake bites that we are concerned about a cure. At that point we are frantic!

The text occurs during a time when Moses dealt with snakes while trying to find safe passage from the Red Sea to the Promised Land. The journey was so tough that folk started complaining. Mind you, these were the same people who a short time ago had witnessed God parting the Red Sea to save them from Pharaoh’s army. The same people, I might add, who had been in bondage for over 400 years before being set free.

The people got tired and began complaining. The Lord, tired of their mumbling and complaining, sent fiery poisonous serpents into their camp to bite them. They did not have an antidote or cure for snakebite so many died. Moses petitioned God for mercy and He gave him the cure. “And the Lord said unto Moses, “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” It proved to be the perfect cure as those who looked at the fiery serpent on a stick did not die.

This writing speaks to those who have been so dissatisfied with their situation that they have become a complainer. Warning, complaining is, for the most part, futile. The truth of the matter is that eighty percent of the people we complain to don’t care about our situation anyway, and the other twenty percent feel that somehow we deserve what is happening to us!

Complaining can be dangerous, but complaining to God can be fatal. Do we dare complain to the One who provides the very air that we breathe, or the water that we drink? Imagine for a moment what would happen if God withdrew His divine protection from us and left us to the consequences of our own vices. Yes, we shudder to think of the consequences yet, we bite the hand that feeds us. We complain that we are not getting enough, and then we wonder why we suffer so many snake bites.

Please understand that Satan is a snake, and he bites. When God lifts His divine protection from us, Satan bites. Job is a great example. When God lifted the hedge of protection from around him Satan bit, but when God put the hedge back, God blessed. This lesson clearly warns that the Snake, Satan, is a formidable enemy. His venom is powerful and poisonous. And if we are not careful, he will bite us when we are not paying attention.

Complaining to God is dangerous, because He has the power to lift His protection from us. Satan is a formidable enemy, and not to be played with. We should learn from this text that it is wise to carry our snakebite cure with us.

The truth of the matter is we fool around with Satan as if he has no teeth. Some of us seem to be daring Satan to bite us. Warning, Satan does have teeth! If Satan gets his teeth into us it would behoove us to have our cure close at hand. Some may be asking, what is that cure? Well, for Moses and the Israelites, it was the image of a fiery serpent on a stick. However, for those of us who know the Lord in the pardon of our sins, we have Jesus and the cross, high and lifted up. We may have been bitten, but thank God we are still living, because Jesus is our cure for all of Satan’s snakebites.

The Word of God says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” We do not have to fear because we have the cure for whatever Satan threatens to bring our way. And that cure is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”

The Truth is the Light!

April 20, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text:1 John 3:18:

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

God speaking through the “love” disciple John, says to us, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue: but in deed and in truth.” Because John is so loving, his recorded words ring so sweet.

What John is trying to teach us is really quite simple. He admonishes us that if we say we have truly been transformed by the blood of Christ, the evidence of our transformation should manifest itself in the way we treat our brothers and sisters. In other words, our transformed life ought to be a clear demonstration of love and compassion.

God has challenged us from the very beginning to, “love one another.” However, the truth of the matter is many times we find the untransformed attitude still prevalent. We are quick to judge, quick to condemn and even quicker it seems sometimes not to forgive. It appears that in too many instances we exhibit, “I am not my brother’s keeper!” What should be a continuous and spontaneous love for each other sometimes appears not continuous and not so spontaneous. The love that identifies us as Christian needs to be pulled out of us as we have to be reminded constantly that we should be putting the feelings of others ahead of our own.

God loves us in spite of our faults. Knowing we are loved ought to make us more loving. What John is trying to get us to understand is the concept of agape love. In other words, the unconditional love that God has for us is the same love we ought to express toward each other. Yes, it is a love that goes against our carnal nature, which compels us to love only those who love us. In fact, it is the kind of love that says, “Love your enemies” and “pray for those who despitefully use you”.

We are called to express agape love in our most challenging and even most disagreeing moments. In these instances, we are encouraged to show an extra ounce of patience sometimes speaking less and listening and loving more. Agape love calls us to a point when we, in our sacrificial moments, might share more. Or in our vengeful moments, when we have the power to retaliate, agape love challenges us not to use it.

We will not know agape love unless we also know how to forgive. Agape love and forgiveness have to go together. The older saints remind us that it is near impossible to live in this world without getting bitten by one of Satan’s snakes. They warn us that “Hellhounds” are everywhere, riding the backs of the saved and the unsaved. The truth is if we are unable to return hate with love, we will soon find ourselves little more than a bitter wretch of a man or woman. I think we would rather be known for displaying the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith. We would rather be like Christ!

In our text we find John masterfully unraveling the truth of our salvation. John reminds us that the magnificent God we serve expressed His love for us through the gift of Jesus Christ. He admonishes us that we are to respond to that love by loving others. Later on we find John expressing it in another way saying to us, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

We must come to understand that God is not happy when a person claims to be a Christian, but is un-loving. The text puts us on notice that salvation and hatred do not mix. We cannot love Christ and hate our brother.
In other words, if we make a claim we should back it up. God lets us know that it does no good just to tell Him we love Him; we should show Him. Truly, actions speak louder than words. Don’t try to tell God we are a Christian. Show Him! A Christian is validated by the quality of their character.

The questions for us to ponder are simple. How do we handle life’s abuses? Are we forgiving? Are we patient? Are we considerate of other’s feelings? Can the Lord depend on us to hold our tongue and express His love in deed and truth? Are we a true Christian?

If we say we have truly been transformed by the blood of Christ, the evidence of our transformation should manifest itself. Christ has forgiven us; we should surely forgive others. Christ has shown us mercy, we should in turn show it to others. God has been patient with us the evidence of our transformation is that we are patient with others. God has blessed us to be a blessing to others.

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Mark 10:17-18:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Exodus 24:12:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Isaiah 40:11:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: John 15:13:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Numbers 21:8:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text:1 John 3:18:

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