By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
April 28, 2024
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Click to read in Swahili
Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili
Acts 8:26–40 (ESV)
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Today’s reading is one of those passages that I really do not know what to do with. It is filled with so much interesting information that I spent the greater part of this week just reading about several different aspects this passage. When I say that Bible study is my favorite pass time, I am not just saying that to look like a really good pastor. I mean it. I can get lost for hours at a time just reading about a word and how it is used in a passage, how it is used elsewhere in scripture, and in wider literature of that time. I can read about a person and what they accomplished, where tradition says they went, and what we can prove historically. There are so many interesting facts, concepts, perspectives, and interpretations surrounding scripture that I could be quite content just reading all day.
I like history, but I am not a historian. When I read something about history, I might know more than some, but I have not developed the discipline to be an academic in that field of study. When I speak about the history, I encourage you to look things up for yourself. I relay concepts that I have read and find interesting, but I know that there is a great deal more that I do not know.
When it comes to this passage. There is much going on. Who is Philip? Who or rather what is Candace? And why was it important to include this story about the Ethiopian?
“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’”
Initially we might think that this is Philip the apostle, at least that was my first thought when I first read the book of Acts. But I was wrong. We really do not hear much about the Apostle Philip. We only hear of him a couple of times in all the Gospels and never in the book of Acts, which I find odd since the Apostle Philip was usually included in the list of the closest of the apostles. He was Peter’s brother Andrew’s friend. Just like the Apostle Philip. Philip the Evangelist is also rarely mentioned. Which is why we often get them confused.
Shortly after Pentecost, the church began to rapidly grow and with this growth came persecution. The Apostles were going around as they did with Jesus, teaching and performing miracles. They were brought before the council and they were concerned that they were distracting people from worship at the temple. Yet the Apostles continued to preach.
In the Gospel of John we are told that the followers of Jesus were often threatened to be removed or cast out of the synagogue. We may not fully understand this threat, but it was serious. It was to be removed from the community, labeled as an outcast. Many that faced the reality of this threat lost all family connections, and were often unable to sustain their lives because the community would not do business with them.
This caused social hardship, but the church rallied. Everyone did what work they could. Those that had property used their resources to help those that did not, and some even sold their property and gave the money to the Apostles so that they could provide for the needs of those who were unable to provide for themselves. They shared all they had. We often look at this first century church in awe. They had everything in common, we are told, but they did not live in unity.
Eventually this community grew to the point that twelve people could not oversee everything, and some complained of favoritism. It is refreshing to know at times that the people in scripture were not so different than us. Those of Hellenistic background claimed that the apostles were favoring those of Hebrew origin, so the apostles chose seven men from the disciples to serve the tables and assist them in the ministry. Philip was one of these seven.
Philip was appointed to this position that would later be known as a deacon. Each of these seven assisted the apostle with the day to day ministry of the church as well as assisting in discipleship. Shortly after these appointments there was increasing tensions between the followers of Jesus and the rest of the Jewish community. Stephen one of the other deacons was stoned to death, and a man by the name of Saul was given authority to seek out all the followers of Jesus to arrest them.
This intense persecution cause some of the followers of Jesus to leave Jerusalem and travel into the surrounding regions. Philip was one of those that began to travel, going to Samaria. While in Samaria he gained a great deal of attention. He boldly taught about Jesus. As he spoke unclean spirits fled and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. This attracted the attention of local showman named Simon. He once wowed the crowds with his magic, but once Philip came to town the crowds no longer came to watch him. Simon was upset at this so he went to see who this Philip was. He too was amazed, and he believed in power in Philip.
Philip had a great ministry going in Samaria, and because so many were receiving the Word, the Apostles sent Peter and John to pray with them, because they had not yet received the Spirit. When the Apostles came to pray the Spirit moved throughout Samaria, and Simon saw the power. He too wanted that power, so he went to Peter and John and said, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
We might think this is amazing. God had turned this practitioner of magic to himself, but that is not what the Apostles saw.
They refused to pray with Simon, instead they commanded him to repent and pray. They saw something that others were unable to see, they saw that Simon wanted the power. He wanted the attention. He wanted people to look at him and see his greatness. Simon only believed in the power but did not see that the only reason for the power was to bring light into the darkness, and hope to the hopeless. The gifts of the Spirit are not intended to bring honor and glory to us but to point people to God.
Philip and the Apostles returned to Jerusalem. While they were making that trip, “an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south.’” Notice the wording, the wording is very similar to the wording of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament we will often see the phrase, “The Angel of the Lord.” This is what is being said here. It can be translated an or The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip. The Angel of the Lord was how the prophets of old spoke of a visitation by the very presence of God. So we are seeing a transition between the Old Testament and New Testament phrases.
God Told Philip to go. God commanded Philip to rise and go. He commanded him to get up right now and start walking south out of Jerusalem on the road to Gaza, through the desert. Notice the obedience Philip exhibits. He heard the voice and he immediately went. He did not ask why he simply responded to the calling.
Philip did not know what he was supposed to do on this journey. If I were to think about this I would question the wisdom. Things were going good in Samaria. Why would I want to go south when clearly the Spirit was moving in the north. He might have wondered what was going on yet he did go. And as he walked along this path down out of the mountains leading to the coastal plain, he saw a chariot in the distance. This chariot was carrying an important figure.
“And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.” This man had been in Jerusalem to worship and was returning back to his country.
We could rush through this sentence and miss what is being said.
He is Ethiopian, not Jewish. Actually the term used here is not actually Ethiopia, as during this period of history Ethiopia as we know it did not exist, this would instead refer to Cush or the kingdom of the upper Nile. At this time it was most likely the kingdom of Meroe. This place is important because this is the portion of Africa that remained unconquered by Greece and Rome. They were outside the Empire. They were unconquered they were mysterious and a source of curiosity, but to the Hebrew people this place held even more importance. In Isaiah it is said that, “In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.” This prophecy speaks of the time when God will reverse the curse of rebellion and sin and bring all nations back to him. In the Hebrew mind Cush was near the edge of the world, everything beyond Cush was uninhabited wilderness.
This man was not only a man from this mysterious land, but he was the treasurer of the kingdom. He servant of Candace the queen. Candace is not the name of the queen, but it is a title. Some say that it is a term that means Queen or Queen mother, but as they have learned more about this region we are beginning to realize that this is a hereditary title within this culture much like Pharaoh was to Egypt. The difference though is that Candace was female, this culture gave the title not to the males but females. I do not know why this is but I find it interesting and something to look into. Their culture is like the polar opposite of what we traditionally see as the structure of power.
This man was the servant of a queen of a completely foreign land to Philip’s understanding. He was not only a servant but he was the servant that was responsible for the treasury. Every transaction, every expense, every purchase made by the this unconquered kingdom went through him. He knew the strength of their military because he approved the transactions for weapons and food. There was probably no one, except Candace, more important in the land of Ethiopia higher than him. This man had earthly power. But there is something we still need to consider.
He was a eunuch.
This is a major issue in the Hebrew community. In Deuteronomy, it says that emasculated males are not welcome in the community. But later Isaiah wrote,
Isaiah 56:3-5
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
This gives us mixed messages. The law said they should not be accepted in the community and yet the prophet says that those, including the eunuchs, that join themselves to the Lord will not be separated from his people. And we have a eunuch from Cush, reading in the book of Isaiah while he is traveling home from worshiping in Jerusalem.
The man is not a Hebrew, he is a foreigner, and he is a eunuch. Everything about this man would cry out to us that he was and would not be accepted as a God fearing gentile. This has lead many scholars to think that maybe we have misunderstood what the eunuch means.
Some commentaries have suggested that it might be possible that this man might have taken a vow of celibacy, or maybe he was just unable to have children. I thought about this as I was studying. It does sound nice in our minds except that is not how the ancient people thought. They did not have the same medical knowledge that we have today, and some of the practices they utilized even children today would find strange. In the ancient world it was believed that the women was unable to bear children, and that the males planted the seed of children. So to believe that they were speaking of a man that was unable to become a father would be hard to believe because there is only one way for that to occur in their minds. They would be unwilling to plant the seeds of life. The idea of celibacy though is a possibility because of Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 19, but this seems unlikely in this case.
The reality of the situation is that in most ancient cultures the practice of emasculation was common and it was done for various reasons. The first was to shame captured warriors. A second was for men to be able to participate in the temple rituals to pagan goddesses. And a third was for slave that were to serve women.
The Hebrew culture would frown upon each of these practices, especially in reference to the emasculation for goddess worship. As I researched this topic it was goddess worship that several commentators saw as the main drive for the law written in Deuteronomy. This man is a servant to the Candace. The female ruler of Ethiopia or Cush. He is her trusted financial advisor. The idea that he was a physical eunuch is the most likely case.
This man had many barriers place in front of him. He was a foreigner, non-Hebrew, and a eunuch. Everything about him points toward rejection, yet he traveled from a distant land to worship in Jerusalem. He wanted to worship so badly that he purchased scripture to take with him to his home. This is not something to take lightly, because scrolls were cherished and expensive. He was so eager to learn that he was willing to read while he was riding in a chariot through the Judean mountains.
And Philip is walking along that road, at that moment. He sees the chariot. He hears the man reading aloud. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” Philip began to run to catch up to this man and as he approached he cries out, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The steward says to Philip, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
As I was studying this week, that phrase struck me differently than it has before. I used to think the man is reading Isaiah it is a book of prophecy of course it is hard to understand. But this week as I read I felt a sense of rejection. This man traveled all the way from a distant country with one desire, to worship God. His desire to know God is so great that he spent a fortune to purchase scripture. And when he approached the place of meeting, he was turned away. “How Can I, unless someone guides me?” I hear him crying out to Philip, I have traveled to learn about this God, but no one will teach me.
Philip could see who he was, it is clear that this man was a eunuch because we have been told this is how he is described. Philip hears the words coming from this man’s mouth and he can still hear the voice of the Spirit telling him to join this man on the chariot. He likely has mixed feelings. He too had lived his entire life being taught the same law and traditions that barred this man from the assembly of Israel. His feelings may have been mixed but He was commanded to go and join this man on that chariot, so he was obedient to the Spirit of God.
This man was reading from Isaiah. He and he asked was the prophet speaking of himself or someone else. Philip from that moment had an opening to tell this eunuch about Jesus. They continue to talk and travel down the road, and in this desert they come to a place where water had accumulated. God commanded Philip to rise and go. He commanded him to go and join. And now they approach, in a desert, a pool of water.
And this I think is the key to this entire story. God provided that pool of water, where normally water would not be. This eunuch, see the water after hearing the stories told by this man of God and he asks an important question. “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
What prevents him from being baptized? What would bar him from being accepted into the family of God?
I began by telling the story of who Philip was, and what he did. He was the first missionary of the church. He went to Samaria and many believed, and he faced a problem there. He had a person wanting to join the church for their own profit and the apostles rejected him. Now he has a man that is earnestly seeking God, he has made great sacrifices seeking God while facing rejection all along the path. What does Philip do?
In the English Standard version they make a note that some of the manuscripts had a verse added that was not in all the manuscripts, that if you notice would be verse 37. That verse contains what is believed to be an ancient baptismal confession. “’If you believe with all your heart you may.’ The eunuch answered, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’”
What prevents a person from participation in the assembly of Christ? So often we can get caught up in being right about everything, instead of listening. So often we focus on an appearance. But this Ethiopian eunuch cut to the heart of faith. What prevents me from being accepted?
John 3:16-21
For God so loved the world that he sent his one Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world and the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
“What prevents me from being baptized?” the eunuch asks? And the chariot stopped, and Philip takes this man to the water and he baptized him. The most important thing is true belief and a true relationship with God. Simon the magician wanted power. This powerful man just wanted acceptance. What bars? What prevents? Is it God or is it us and our desires. Rise and go, go and join, be obedient to the call of God, and speak the word to all who seek.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
April 21,2024
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1 John 3:16–24 (ESV)
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
There is something remarkable about the Apostle John, or in this case John the Elder. I love John. And although the author if this letter to the churches does not tell us that it is the John that wrote the Gospel, we can make that leap based on how he speaks. There is something interesting about speech and writing styles. Although we may not be able to know for certain that this was the Apostle John, we do know that this letter emerged out of a community that was greatly influenced by John. The writing style is so similar to that of the disciple that Jesus loved that very few people can substantiate a denial. And I like John. I like him because I understand the way he thinks.
He opens his Gospel in a manner that is very different from the other Gospel writers. Matthew and Luke begin with the birth of Jesus, Mark jumps right into the ministry of Jesus. John, well he is different. John starts with, “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 any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
I love the way John begins his gospel because John begins with hope. He begins by telling us that we are part of something that is much larger than ourselves. Something that has been going on from the very beginning of time, and we right here and now have the opportunity to participate in a cosmic epic.
When I was first entertaining the idea of entering ministry, the first Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies came out. And I still remember, introduction to that first movie. “The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.” Those introductory words sent chills down my spine; they drew me in. That is the same feeling I get when I begin reading John.
He is calling us into an epic quest. He is reaching out to us, whispering, urging us to look around. Something is not quite right. Something is off. We were created for something different but somewhere along the way darkness crept in, confusion, manipulated language that has caused us to lose sight. But deep within us, like a primordial yearning we know. We know there is a way back, we need to find our way back.
I like John. I love John. When I get to heaven, right after I see Jesus and eat at that banquet that is prepared for us on the other side of that veil, I want to hear the story from John.
This beloved disciple, this son of thunder, this potentially youngest of disciples noticed things that the others just did not see. He wove the story together in a manner I wish I could do. He knew Jesus in a way that I wish to know.
I wish to know. I wish we could see the world as John saw it. This man, if tradition is correct, face trials that I do not even want to imagine, and yet he survived. He saw a vision that confuses us. Even today we still ponder the meaning of what he saw, we often live in fear of his words. We dread them because we see them as marking the end, which according to the internet the recent solar eclipse started that countdown, again. But I think we often miss the point of what John was saying.
John saw something. John was one of the few people that were given the privilege of seeing. He saw the full reality. He saw the beast within the powers and principalities we so often chase after to give us hope. He saw the vanity of our human endeavors. He saw the emptiness of our striving. And he saw hope. Cycling through all the darkness that seems to surround us, a light remains. He saw time from the beginning to the end and he proclaimed, “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 any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
He saw the darkness. He saw the true extent of the darkness. And he boldly proclaims, the light shines!
I love John. I want to know the story that John tells. I want to see the hope that John saw.
Today though we are not reading his gospel. We are reading one of his letters, which is something almost better. Imagine you lived in Ephesus, the city that many believe John lived later in life. Imagine you had sat listening to the stories that John told. Sitting before you is this man that was scarred by life. A man that had seen the worst of human depravity, yet this man’s smile would light up a room the moment he began to speak. Initially you were scared to even look at him but the hope that radiated from him drew you closer. For years you had listened to his stories, but now you are grown. John has been taken away. This person that was once your hope stone was no longer there with you. Darkness starts to creep back into your life, and then someone runs into your meeting for worship one Sunday morning. Runs and says John has sent us a letter.
The word goes out, everyone is gathered, pressing in to hear what this beloved disciple had to write.
“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
“By this we know love, that he laid down his lif for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers…”
At this time your mind has been transported, like so many times when John spoke. You once again begin to see the world, like a child. You want to again ask the million questions that come to your mind. Why, how, if? You once again hear your teacher laugh as he tells his story. In the Beginning…
I know that this week’s passage begins with the sixteenth verse of this chapter, but we need to start before that. We need to begin where John began. And we need to begin there because the story of Cain and Abel is the story that each of us find ourselves in.
This story begins shortly after the fall of our first parents. I would suggest approximately nineteen months after the fall. Adam and Eve left Eden, after they had eaten of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and not they must face the world with a different perspective. They must now labor. They must work to know what is good, they must endure the hardships of making a wrong choice. And to top it all off. “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain.”
I just want us to stop for a moment and really think about Adam and Eve. The world around them was foreign, there were dangers they never knew before, they had to find food, animals were no longer pets. The world was once bright and now it was scary. They were clueless and now they are clueless with a baby. Not just one but soon after Cain was born Eve bore his brother Abel.
I want the parents among us to remember back to when your first child was born. Remember the fear you had when that baby cried. Remember the confusion and complete worthlessness you felt when you did not know what to do. Remember the phone calls to your mother. Eve did not have that. She did not have someone to talk to except Adam. And Cain was crying and Adam got her pregnant again. What help he was.
Cain and Abel survived infant-hood, which is a miracle if you ask me. They grew. Cain began to work the ground and Abel became a keeper of sheep. I do not think we are amazed enough at this story. This family went from being able to just eat whatever they wanted to having to first find food that they could eat, and then domesticating that food.
Cain the older brother worked the ground. He took a stick and dug, he pulled thorny weeds. He gathered seeds, planted, them and tended the fields. I grew up on a farm, this makes my back hurt just thinking about it. But his brother, Abel. Abel ran around playing with animals.
I recently read in a book, that the first domesticated animal was the goat. Some of us know goats, others of us do not really know much about them. Goats basically begged to be domesticated. They do not require much work, they eat just about anything, and they are playful. Cain is trying to dig in the ground to grow food, Abel is playing with a goat. He is chasing them around watching them eat and take care of themselves, while Cain is sweating.
And then they bring an offering to God. Cain worked his fingers to the bone and Abel brings an animal that basically came to the alter of its own volition. And God liked Abel’s offering better.
The jealousy, the anger, the rage, that that might stir in us. You might not notice it in yourself, but you have it. You wanted a position that was given to someone else. You worked hard for it. You deserved it. Yet you were overlooked. What do you feel? Your friend just got a new car, you have been working and saving for one for several years and you just cannot seem to get a break. They have it and you do not. What do you feel? The CEO has a multi million dollar contract and you work for minimum wage. They get assistance and you have to pay taxes. They are getting married and you do not even have a significant other.
We know the story of Cain and Abel because we reenact it every single day of our lives. We are not noticed, people do not see what we have contributed, we are invisible and we just cannot take it anymore. But what does God say to Cain? “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
What are we going to do? How will we respond? This is the darkness that John saw in his vision. He saw the face of what was crouching behind Cain, whispering into his ear. It was the same sort of being that confused Cain’s mother and father. “Did God really say you would die?”
We all know that Cain did not heed God’s warnings. He was driven by his jealousy, his envy, his greed. Abel had something that he wanted. He had an easier life, he was accepted, he was wealthy, he was everything that you, Cain, were not. And Cain lashed out with violence. Cain thought that if he could remove Abel he could have everything that Abel had, but that desire was contrary to Cain. He allowed the darkness to come in and the darkness just intensified his fears and his weaknesses. The darkness just continued to scream out to him saying, “you are not accepted, you do not have enough, you are not…”
Death
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” I want us to consider this sixteenth verse in the light of the story of Cain and Abel.
I have spent a great deal of time thinking about these brothers. I think this is because i am the older brother and I have a younger brother that is capable of doing things that i wish i could. My brother can sing, and I am deaf. My brother can look at something and figure out how to fix it. And I watch YouTube videos over and over again and call my brother to tell me how to fix it. I feel like I get this stuff. And yes there are times something was crouching behind me too. My brother was loved socially, people liked him, they talked to him, they laughed at his jokes. And I…well I am me. I would rather pet the dog or cat than talk.
What began as sibling rivalries grew into tribes, and nations. It was Cain that built the first city. It was through Cain that civilization first emerged. Our heritage is influenced by Cain. Cain began the cycle of envy and violence. He embodied fear. And we all experience this. Will Israel and Iran go to war? Will Putin drop the bomb? Will our current election cycle become the last? Did the eclipse really start the timer on a forty day countdown?
We like those people centuries ago, are listening to this letter. A letter written by a man that was disfigured by the violence and fear. A man who experienced the most heinous injustice humanity could imagine. If anyone had a reason to become bitter, John would have been that man.
We want to do something. We want to fight. We want to force the people that oppose our view to change their ways. We demand our rights, while we restrict the rights of others. We want to retaliate, and get revenge. What does John have to say?
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
I want us to imagine John. John had watched his best friend hang on a cross. John had watch as one of his closest friends had betrayed his teacher in an attempt to force Jesus to rise up and take hold of the kingdom only to see the error of his thoughts and take his own life in his despair. John had watched or heard reports of each of his closest friends face terrible ends. Peter, as hung on a cross upside down. John’s own brother, James was executed by the king, the king who was supposed to be their Jewish king. We could spend all day talking about each of the Apostles and how they were mistreated. John knew them all and he knew more that faced similar treatment. He should hate. He should wish death to the tyrants. He should be demanding his rights. Yet this man tells us to love.
Love is a difficult word to wrap our heads around. You would think after centuries of human advancement we could understand this four letter word. But it is so easily twisted. The Greek language did not have it so difficult. What we use one word for they divide into four separate words. One means friendship, one means lustful passion, one is parental instinct, and the other is charity. Love here is this last form.
This form of love goes deep. It speaks to the deepest and most important value we place on anything. In God’s economy, and yes economy is the proper theological term when we are speaking of value, humanity holds the greatest value. It does not matter if the human is someone from the deepest jungles of the Amazon, or the coldest city of Siberia. It does not matter if they are from America or the slums of Calcutta. Each human life has value in the eyes of God. As we learn from another writing of John with the reference 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.” This is the same love, for the same people.
John tells us, “By this we know love.” We know love when we participate in it. Love is something that is shared. We cannot just receive love and not pass it along. Love must flow like a river. When we withhold love it is like placing a dam in a river. Everything slows down, builds up, and stagnates. But when we allow love to flow. When we become a blessing to others, when we use the resources we have available to us to encourage those around us, things begin to change.
Going back to Cain and Abel. Cain desired the blessing, he wanted what others had. He demanded it and was willing to take it. Abel was different. Abel gave the best. He did not withhold but freely gave. Cain worked, Abel played. Cain offered what he could, Abel did not hold back and offered the best he had. Cain looked at what was produced by the sweat of his brow and he decided that he could not possibly let go. It is his, he earned it. Abel gave cheerfully, knowing that there was not anything better remaining.
John tells us, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” I know that this term little children is a term of endearment. But sometimes we act like children when it comes to life. If we do not get our way we pick up the ball and leave. If someone hits us we want to hit back. If they take our toy we break theirs. Yes we love children, I love children, but we need to grow up. We need to learn to share. We need to learn to value the things that God values. But this requires something of us. It requires us to take a step back. It requires us to empathize. To value things that God values requires that we may not get what we want, because to honor that of God in the other person, our brother or sister in Christ, that fellow image bearer might mean that I need to give a portion of what I worked for so that they can survive.
We like this in theory. We like the idea of giving, but how do we give? Let us look again at Cain and Abel. Abel brought the firstborn of the flock and of their fat portions. Abel gave before he knew what to expect. He gave first. Cain gave of the fruit of his field. We are not told exactly what Cain brought, and because of this people make assumptions about the offering. We assume God accepted Abel’s offering because of the blood. We assume Cain’s was rejected because it was fruit and vegetables, and these were not enough to cover the guilt of their Father. We make these assumptions because of the history of Israel and the sacrificial system. But what if it is more simple, what if the value of the sacrifice had nothing to do with blood, what if it had everything to do with how and when the sacrifice was given? Abel gave the first. He gave with the hope that God would provide later. Cain gave out of his abundance. Abel gave without question, where Cain calculated the cost. Abel gave his life, where Cain merely contributed.
This passage might come across as dark, judgemental, and maybe even as if I am begging for resources to be given to the church. That is not what I am saying. This is an attitude and lifestyle. Abel lived his life as short as it might have been to be a blessing to others, while Cain lived according to his own profit. What good is having everything that this world can offer if we never use it? What good is a billion dollars sitting in a bank somewhere, that is never put into use? What good is a storeroom filled with food if there is not a plan for distrobution? We can participate in life or we can contribute to death. We can open the gates of blessing or we can be the source of damnation.
Love, John tells us, “by this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we outht to lay down our lives for the brothers.” But how do we love? We take on Jesus’s life and lifestyle. We make it our custom to worship, to withdraw often to pray, and we minister to the needs around us. We become a people Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. But we are these. We are like the rich young ruler to comes to visit Jesus asking what must I do to inherit Eternal life? What must we do? Abide in him.Listen to the spirit’s leading. Open our eyes and see what God sees. Then follow the leading within us.
Darkness is all around us and we are beacons of light. We want to shine bright but often we see that there is more darkness than we are able to overcome. Shine where you are. That is all we can do. Encourage the person next to you, and trust that through your encouragement, they too will shine where they are, and encourage the ones next to them. Not all are asked to travel to the darknest recesses of a foriegn land, most of us are called to simply abide where we are. We are called to be the best grandparents we can possibly be. We are called to teach, be representatives of justice, to provide service. Give the best you have to the person next to you, and Love them as Christ loves you. When we change our perspective from what we can gain to how we can bless, we will see a vast ocean of light overtaking the sea of darkness. When we change our perspective and abide in life instead of death, we will begin to see His kingdom come, his will being done on earth as it is in Heaven. We do not need to fear, we need to love.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
April 14, 2024
Click Here to Join Our Meeting for Worship
Psalm 4:1–8 (ESV)
1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! 2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. 4 Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord. 6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” 7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
There are some days when I really do not want to bring a message. This happens to be one of those days. It is not that I do not have anything to say, it is because the passage stirs within me so much that I do not trust myself.
The Psalms have a tendency to do this to me. The Psalms are filled with raw emotion. They will cry out to God in their distress. There are Psalms that yell at God for not doing what they expect. Psalms that speak of seeming isolation from God, and Psalms that demand that God rid the world of perceived enemies. Then there are Psalms of great joy and praise. Songs of love and devotion. Like I said raw human emotion.
We are emotional beings. We were created with emotions for a reason. Our emotions are signs within our being that give us information to process. And we have trouble at times processing the information that our emotions give us. Why do we get a sense of discomfort in certain situations? Everything appears to be ordinary and yet something within us provides a feeling and we cannot figure out exactly what it is. Or maybe for some weird reason you simply feel like singing a song but there is not a reason for it, except you feel like it is what you should do. Emotions are strange.
We tend to want to push them down or in some cases we just let them reign supreme with little reflection. We do not understand them, and we are afraid of the things we do not understand.
I do not want to speak on this Psalm because it stirs emotions within me.
“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!”
I have been in a place like this. The conversations we are having seem to fall on deaf ears. We have asked our children to do a seemingly simple task and we have to repeat it over and over again until we are about ready to explode. Or we are facing some sort of deadline for a project at work or school, we need someone to provide some additional information. The deadline quickly approaches, and you are unable to move forward because this vital piece of information is yet to arrive. Or you pray.
You have listened to people all around you and they each advise you in your decision-making process to pray about it. So, you have listened to their advice, and you have prayed. You have prayed again and again. You have read through scripture about prayer, and you claim the power of the percipient widow who seeks justice. You pray with so much effort that you have even missed a meal because you are so focused. And the silence is deafening.
“Answer me!”
O God just Answer me!
“You have given me relief when I was in distress.” Where are you now?
“Are you even listening to me? Are you even there?”
Can you feel the raw emotion of this Psalm?
I know this, Psalm. I have felt it many times. I have stood on the edge of a cliff on the shore of the Black Sea looking off into the distance screaming at God while trying to make sense of what I was experiencing. And I have been in that same emotional state over and over again. Wondering, pleading with God, making some vain attempt to figure out what it is I am supposed to do.
Only to fall down on my knees in sheer exhaustion.
“O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?”
Do you feel the rejection? Do you sense disillusionment, the disenfranchised?
Selah
This one little word occurs several times within the Psalms, and after centuries of study we really do not know what it fully means. I can mean lift up or exalt because of the common structure of words similar to it. But it might also be a word to prompt a rest in music, like saying think about it for a moment.
“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
“O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?” Think about it!
David in this Psalm is tired. He is angry and frustrated. He is at the very end of himself. He feels as if no one cares about what he thinks, no one is listening to what he says. He feels as if everything that he has spoken, urged, encouraged only get turned around in the minds of everyone around him and they do the exact opposite of what he has tried to explain.
He was given a position. We are not told when or what position he had when he composed this song. Maybe he is talking about when he was trying to encourage his brothers when they went off to war with the Philistines and they wrote him off as a dumb kid. Maybe he is leading his men into battle, and they cannot seem to initiate the formation and breakthrough he explained in the tents the night before. Maybe it is from when the men were trying to convince him to take his place as king over Israel and challenge Saul or when his own men turned from him in favor of his arrogant son?
We do not know when David wrote this all we know is that he has urged one direction, and the people go the other and it seems as if God himself is not even listening.
And he sits in that awkward place of stagnation, rejection, and confusion.
He watches as people he once regarded as friends have turned. He observes as the people he respected seem to turn away from the truth. He watches the influence he once held in his hand slip away like sand. And in his tears, he pleads, “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness.”
It is in this Selah, this breath, this reflective rest that David once again gains composure. It is in that silence that he once again is reminded of who he is in God, and who God is to him.
“But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call him.”
“Be Angry.” Be Angry.
Yes, this is a command, it is an imperative verb. These are the verbs within scripture we should consider deeply, because they are a call to action.
In His pleas to God: Answer, Gracious and Hear are all imperative verbs, they are crying out to God to listen to him. Then after the silence of Selah David gains a different perspective.
The first imperative is to know. Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. This is a command to remember who we are in God and who God is to us. Know, Remember.
Who are we? We are the bearers of God’s Image. We are the ambassadors God place into his creation to connect that which was created to God. And to reflect God to creation. We need to remember and know who we are.
The second imperative is to be angry. Yes, be angry. But I want us to take a step back for a moment to understand what this means. The concept surrounding this verb is tremble or quake, it is to be spurred into action. The idea is that when we see an injustice it should move us, agitate us, prompt us to do something to remove the impediment from the path of those around us.
I find this interesting. Out of the silent rest of Selah, David is moved to remember, and he quakes with anger. Yet this command of agitation comes with a caveat, “Be angry, and do not sin.”
Remember who you are and who God is. Be angry, quake and be moved, these are the first commands that David receives in this time of reflective contemplation within his hour of distress. Two more commands follow, and these commands tell us how to be angry and not sin. The first is to ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and to be silent.
What does it mean to ponder? It is to think about the actions we take. But we are not only to come up with a solution on the spot, but we are also to consider them in our own hearts on our beds. It is odd how this is worded.
We live in a culture of action. When I worked at Walmart nearly every day I would be told to act with a sense of urgency. This was such a common theme within the culture of Walmart that it annoyed me. And I do not think they really knew what they were saying. They just simply wanted things to be done immediately and without a second thought. So often that is what our culture wants us to do. Act now! Right NOW! Do not think, just respond. This is why we get so troubled by our emotions because we are not given the time to consider what is causing our emotions to be triggered.
But David says Ponder. The root of this word is to say or communicate, yet we should first do it in our own hearts and in our beds. This means we should consider our words and our actions. We should be slow to speak, and maybe even sleep on it before we move. This is the exact opposite of our action-oriented culture. Slow down. Say it to yourself and consider how it could be taken before you say it to another.
We should ponder and then the next command is to be silent.
What is silence? This message is beginning to sound like a defense for being a Quaker, but it is not my intention. The word here is to wail, like the wailing wall. It is to pray. We are to ponder, talk things through in our mind and then to take that to God, and then there is yet another Selah. A contemplative pause.
We do not just wail, we listen and wait. We allow God to respond and direct our actions.
We cry out to God, we plead for his grace and his listening ear. We lament our frustrations with the world around us and we pause. We remember who we are in God and who God is to us. And we are agitated against the injustice we observe. But we must be careful before we act, we are commanded to think, speak in our minds and in our hearts, to sleep and think some more, and to pray again and pause.
Now in verse five we have the first command for movement. “Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.”
The first of these commands is to offer right sacrifices. The idea here is that we are to do what is right, honest, with equity and mutual profit. If we were to act on a whim, we can often cause more harm than good. We might in our attempts to provide ease to one injustice we might create greater injustice. But if we take the time to think, to ponder, to reflect before we act, we can consider the outcomes that may arise out of our actions. It may not be perfect but at least we are honest in our attempts, and we are considering the potential outcomes before we just act.
The second command it to trust. This is a call to belief, or to entrust. This is a call to have faith. We know that we will never have perfect knowledge even if we have taken into account every possible outcome we can think of. We must still acknowledge that we are imperfect creatures that do not have the omniscient power of God. So, we must trust that as we move forward into that area, we do not have full sight that God will be with us and will continue to teach and guide us as we navigate through this world.
I said that this is one of those days I did not want to speak. When I say this, I say this because it is true. I say this because this is exactly how I feel today.
I sat in my big blue chair reading through the various materials I have had on this passage, and my mind has constantly returned to David’s cry, “Answer me when I call, O God.” And my mind echoes the lament “How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?”
I want to stand here and scream at the top of my lungs; I want to plead with everyone I see to open their eyes and see the truth. And I have sat in my chair in tears as I read and listen to reports on the news about various troubles inside and outside of our nation.
I feel this, Psalm. I feel it in the marrow of my bones. I feel it because I want to be a leader. I want to encourage righteousness. I want to shine a light into the darkness that surrounds us all. But we all have other voices that are constantly speaking, directing and encouraging. We all listen to these voices, voices that divide and promote fear. Voices that cast blame and manipulate the truth. Voices that make me angry. They make me angry because I see people I love and care about spreading and sharing things that had they given it a second thought they would have seen things differently. But that is our culture. It is what the kingdoms of mankind want us to be. They want us to react and respond. They want us to be driven by fear and anger. They want us to see it as righteousness, and then leave us holding the bag of guilt as they walk away.
I feel this Psalm because it is real. We are angry, divided, manipulated and played. We are crying out, where are you God? Why aren’t you answering like we thought you would? The answer is right before us. In whom are we putting our trust? Who is guiding and encouraging our actions? In whom are we clinging to give us our peace? Is it a man or is it God?
Be Angry yes. Be very angry. Be so agitated that we quake with rage against the injustice we see, and do not sin. Ponder in your hearts, on your beds, wail to God and then take a contemplative pause. Who are we entrusting our lives to, and are we walking in the righteousness of Jesus? Are we loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit and living the Love of Jesus with others?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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