Topic: year C. Labels

I am a Church of Scotland minister. St Andrew is the “patron saint” of Scotland. ----- Seek the Lord. The Word of God is spoken - ‘Seek the Lord while He may be found...’ (Isaiah 55:6-7). No one seems to be listening. What are we to do? We must remember God’s promise: ‘My Word will not return to Me empty’ (Isaiah 55:11).

The prophet calls us to worship the Lord, walk with Him and witness for Him. Micah speaks to those ‘who hate good and love evil’ (Micah 3:2). He calls upon them to change their way of living. He calls upon them to worship the Lord - ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’ (Micah 4:2). He calls upon them to walk with Him - ‘We will walk in the Name of the Lord our God for ever and ever’ (Micah 4:2, 5).

Looking beyond the harvest to the Lord of the harvest Ruth meets Boaz. It seemed like a ‘chance’ meeting - ‘she happened to come...’ (Ruth 2:3). It was more than that. God was at work. Ruth had committed herself to the Lord (Ruth 1:16-17). She was being guided by the Lord (Psalm 37:3-5; Proverbs 3:5-6).

* God calls us to worship Him. The Lord is ‘majestic’ (Psalm 8:1, 9). He does not remain remote. He does not keep His distance. He shows us His greatness, the greatness of His love. We feel forgotten. He remembers us. We feel unloved. He cares for us (Psalm 8:4). We are tempted. He will ‘still the enemy’ (Psalm 8:2).

* God is calling us on to glory. What a contrast there is between those who belong to Christ - ‘My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts’- and those who have refused to come to Christ for salvation - ‘You will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit’(Isaiah 65:14)!

* Call on the Lord. Each of us is ‘in the valley of decision’ (Joel 3:14). We must make sure that we are prepared for ‘the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord’ (Joel 2:31). God has given us His promise: ‘Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved’ (Joel 2:32). The Lord promises great blessing to those who call upon Him.

Jerusalem had fallen into hard times. Her sad situation is described for us in Lamentations 1:1 – “she who once was great among the nations... has now become a slave.” In their difficult and distressing situation, God’s people were forced to ask the question: “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”(Psalm 137:4).

Serve the Lord. Keep on serving the Lord. Preach the Gospel. Keep on preaching the Gospel. God was not pleased with his people - “My people are fools; they do not know Me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding.” They had sinned against Him – “They are skilled in doing evil; they do not know how to do good” (Jeremiah 4:22). They had brought judgment upon themselves - “Now I pronounce My judgments against them.”(Jeremiah 4:12).

Christ calls us to be different. He calls us to be saved. He calls us to be holy. * Christ calls us to be different. When Christ was here on earth, he met plenty of religious people. He wasn’t impressed by their religion. They liked to think that they were different from other people. They were different – but not in a way that pleased the Lord. He looked at them and He said, “Hypocrites!” (Luke 12:56).