YOU ALREADY KNOW

Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.  So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, (Genesis 18:1-2)

Genesis 18 is a theophany, an incident before Jesus came to Earth, when God appeared through a literal physical form, which seems weird but shouldn’t.  God invented the human body.  He made a body for Eve using on a tissue sample from Adam’s ribcage, and He constructed Adam’s body from the latent chemicals in topsoil.  And, the incarnation of Jesus demonstrates that God can form a biologically human form into which the Divine presence can be grafted.  So, yeah.   Since God can do ANYTHING. God can and did do a theophany in Genesis 18.

So, there was God and two angels, walking past Abraham’s campsite in a Sodom-and-Gomorrahly direction. Somehow, Abraham the patriarch and prophet sensed the Lord’s presence and started singing “Do Not Pass Me By.” 

[Abraham] said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.” (Genesis 18:3)

So God stopped, ate --- because as Jesus demonstrated after His resurrection, glorified but biologically human bodies can eat (Luke 24:39-43)--- and then God reminded Abraham of the imminent promises of their covenant.  

And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:10)

Now, I don’t know if Abraham told Sarah about the conversation he’d had with God in chapter 17, but clearly she was unprepared for that news because when she heard that she, at 90, was supposed to give birth for the first time, Sarah burst out laughing.  In verses 13-15, God was like, “Abraham, dude, what does your woman think is so funny.”
Sarah was like, “Nothing.  I didn’t laugh.”
But the Lord was like, “Uh-huh.  I’m God.  I have excellent hearing.  Bye,” and the visit was over.

Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way.  (Genesis 18:16)

Have you ever been with people who all knew something you didn’t know while they were discussing, right in front of you, whether to tell you what the thing is that they know that you don’t know?  That’s what Abraham experienced --- with God and two angels.  (Genesis 18: 17-19)

 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? 

God decided to tell him.  “Abraham,” God said, “I’m going to Sodom and Gomorrah to conduct a review of their sinfulness.”

Abraham replied, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?”

Soooo, in none of the preceding verses did God say that He planned to destroy Sodom and/ or Gomorrah.  Abraham knows that God is righteous and just, and Abraham knows how deeply messed up Sodom and Gomorrah are,  so Abraham already knew.    They’re doomed.

This story’s got me looking at my life kinda side-eyed.  Among all the different pieces of me which

ones are so clearly, objectively, and historically out of line with God that I “already know God isn’t pleased?   What blessings am I postponing because they seem too wonderfully, ridiculously, laughably great for me?   I already know.  Am I consistently going hard on my other job, or am I sliding by some days, waiting for that next move of God?  I already know.  Am I disciplining my body in submission to my will, or am I submitting to the call of maple-iced donuts and glorious naps?  I already know.

Most of us don’t need a fresh word from the Lord about the state of our lives.  We only need to see where God is looking because when we compare where we are to where we already know God wants us to be, revelation is unnecessary.   We already know.  

So we do what Abraham did. Preemptive negotiations. 

Before the angels could make it to Sodom on foot, Abraham asked God to waive the destruction of the valley if they could locate 10 good people.  God agreed, not because 10 was the appropriate minimum for a judgment-deferment but because God like Abraham.  

For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” (Genesis 18: 19)

There weren’t 10 good guys in Sodom and Gomorrah, but we’ll get into the consequences for that next time. 

I’m encouraged though because God likes you, and despite all reasons to the contrary, He likes me, too.   So I’m going to preemptively negotiate with my Heavenly Father.  I’m going to prayerfully set some clear goals and priorities for the places in the valley of my life where I already know I’m off track.  But, unlike them dudes in Sodom and Gomorrah, I’m going to get right.  I’m going to do my 10 or 20 or 5 or whatever things that I need to do today.  And tomorrow I’m going to repeat the process.  

Because, I already know what God has promised me.  I already know what I'm supposed to accomplish.  I already know that it's crazy, wonderful, and hilariously better.  So, I already know what I have to do.  

So do you.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

Click here to support this ministry with a donation.  Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

DO YOU KNOW OR DO YOU JUST THINK YOU KNOW?

The title of the message is DO YOU KNOW OR DO YOU THINK YOU KNOW?

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

BECOMING A CHURCH THAT MAKES JESUS SHOUT!

Let me tell you about the time Jesus started shoutin’.  Not raising His voice in anger, though that happened several times, but the time that Jesus was with the church rejoicing and and praising God because of what He saw.

With the ongoing controversies and challenges in the church, here is a Word of reminder of who we the church are, an invitation to what we can become.  Learn how we can once more be A CHURCH THAT MAKES JESUS SHOUT!

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

BEYOND WHAT YOU KNOW

My great-grandmother used to say, “Some people know all and no nothing.”  This was the problem among the disciples on Resurrection Sunday.  They were so sure that they knew all they needed to know about what happened to Jesus that they almost missed the most important Truth in history.

Hear how they came to accept the Resurrection and learn how we can experience powerful revelation in our lives, even what God is doing goes beyond what we know. It’s a message for Easter and every day called BEYOND WHAT YOU KNOW.

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

NO. ACTUALLY, YOU DON'T KNOW

It’s popular say, “You don’t know my story.  You don’t know my struggle.”

Well sometimes we do.

For example, we all know the professional and personal life of actor and comedian Robin Williams.  You and I know the story of his life.  We can download a list of his struggles.

We know his story and struggles so well that when he committed suicide, we assumed that it had to do with his past struggles with drugs, or the past story of depression off-setting his manic stage presence, or the old story of an ego crushed by waning popularity.  We knew that these were problems he’d faced repeatedly in the past.   So people speculated and pontificated based on what they knew of his story and his struggles.

But we didn’t know until days after he died that Robin Williams had Parkinson’s disease.  This incurable, degenerative disease of the central nervous system gradually robs its victims of control of their body, their voice, and their mind. Advanced Parkinson’s brings dementia, but every stage of the disease causes depression.

So maybe Robin Williams wasn’t too “weak” to stay off drugs.  Maybe he wasn’t too much of a “coward” to deal with being less popular on camera.  Maybe he was, in the most basic, literal, physically observable sense of the word, just SICK.

Maybe Robin Williams wasn’t looking back at the stories and struggles we commonly knew of his past, but ahead at the new struggles and the impending story we didn’t suspect were in his future.

Robin Williams lead a very, very public life.  We knew his story.  We knew his struggles.

But we really didn’t know.

We didn’t know his whole story, and the struggles we knew weren’t the toughest struggles he had to face.

Which is true for EVERYone. 

No matter how well you know someone either publicly or personally, you never really know their whole story.    You may know what they HAVE struggled with; but until (and unless) they tell you, you don’t know what they ARE struggling with.

But we assume we know, don’t we?  At a certain point, we have so much information about them already that we stop listening. 

 

They start a sentence and you finish it for them----- but do you see the look in their eyes, a pained look that says, ”No.  That’s not what I’m feeling”?

They tell you what they feel and you waive it off because you’re certain it’ll pass like all the other times, but do you see the hurt in their eyes that says, “It’s not going to pass this time,” and maybe, “It’s NEVER passed.  You just stopped paying attention”?

Jesus’ disciples knew His story.   They’d been to His hometown of Nazareth.  They’d met His mom and siblings.  They’d heard the stories of His birth and early years in Bethlehem and Egypt.  Some of them were there,\ the day John baptized Him.  They witnessed the Pharisees' attacks.  They sat with Him at night and reviewed each long day of healing and preaching.  They asked Jesus about what he did in the years not recorded in the gospels.  They watched His every move for 3 ½ years.  The disciples knew Jesus’ story.  They knew Jesus’ struggle. 

But they really didn’t.

When Jesus said, “I’m going to be killed.”  They said, “No, you ain’t.” (Matthew 16: 21-23)

Jesus told them and showed them who He was.  They affirmed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” but they didn’t really see Him for Who He is. (John 6: 69; 14: 1-12)

Jesus told His disciples what He needed from them as followers and as friends, but they assumed that it wasn’t that big a deal or that it would pass like every other previous storm had passed.

 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”…

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. (Matthew 26: 37-38, 40)

They didn’t see; they didn’t understand.    This wasn’t just a passing request.  This was it.  This was what it has always been, but you think you know me so well that you don’t take me seriously anymore.

“What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”(Matthew 26: 40)

The night Jesus was taken away to be killed, He was alone.  He was in a garden with his 11 closest friends just a stone’s throw away, but He was alone because His friends didn’t really know His story.  They didn’t really know His struggle.

The disciples only really learned Jesus after His death and resurrection.

The public is learning Robin Williams after his death.

So sad, that we wait that long to really know someone’s story and struggle.

We don’t have to. 

Listen to the ones you love. Hear them for who they are not just for who you already automatically know they have been.

Give them the space to tell you what their story IS, what their struggles ARE.

You never know when morning will come and they won’t be there to tell you.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to  

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

BLANK-AND-MISDIRECT

Good classroom teachers develop an armory of looks. 

There’s the child-if-you-don’t-sit-your-butt-down-right-now look, the no-before-you-even-ask-NOOOOO look, the I-dare-you-I-double-dog-dare-you-to mess-with-her-one-mo’-time look, and of course the forget-about-them-you-can-do-this-I-got-your-back look.

But my favorite look is the blank-and-misdirect.

The Look

Ask a kid a question they're unsure of or  feel vulnerable (because they have to take a public stand on some topic) and the kid will look at the teacher for clue. The student will watch your facial expression and body language, trying to figure out which answer you WANT to hear.

So when I asked those question I’d immediately blank my facial expression and adopt neutral body language.  No clues. No cues.  BLANK.  When the student started answering, whether the answer was right or wrong, I’d twist my face to look like they were uttering the most ridiculous thing in the history of uttering. MISDIRECT

And if I felt really mischievous, I’d phrase the question to make it seem like the wrong answer was the right answer.

I’d ask something like, “Moses and Aaron were brothers, but only one of them came back to save his people from slavery.  Aaron was the oldest, so it wasn’t Moses, was it?”

Oh, yeah.  I still use blank-and-misdirect when I teach adult Bible study.

I didn’t develop the blank-and-misdirect look to torture my students (that was an unexpected bonus).  I want my students to KNOW their stuff, not just know my face.  I want them to study themselves into confidence, to KNOW the right answer for themselves no matter how people look at them.

And that’s what God wants for us.  Which is why some of the greatest leaders of the Bible also used the blank-and-misdirect.

Joshua’s Blank-and-Misdirect

Joshua, protégé of Moses and general of the Israelite armies that took possession of the Promised Land, gathered the leadership of Israel and offered what seemed like a blankly neutral choice.

If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. (Joshua 24: 15)

When the people answered the way they figured Joshua wanted them to answer, Joshua misdirected.

They said, “We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” (Joshua 24: 18-20)

Despite Joshua’s blank-and-misdirect, the people stood by their answer. 

So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”

And they said, “We are witnesses!” (Joshua 24: 22)

Jesus’ Classroom Review

In Matthew chapter 13, after a long day of teaching and preaching a series of parables, Jesus pulled His disciples aside for a review and asked, Have you understood all these things?” (Matthew 13: 51)

            The disciples immediately auto-replied, “Yes, Lord.”

And I think that Jesus’ expression at that point said, “Yeah, right.  Of course you don’t,” because Jesus didn’t just accept their answer. 

Good teachers know that “We understand” may really mean, “We don’t want you to ask us anymore questions.”

The Lord pushed His disciples to demonstrate mastery of the concepts He’d taught. 

He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13: 52)

When you, the scribe/ scholar/ student,  understand what God is saying out of His Word, when you really get it then you’ll have some evidence.  You’ll be able to show your work as treasure:  new treasure and old treasure.

Your new treasure will be revelation and applications for your specific life in this particular moment.  Like when you read the Sabbath laws in Leviticus and you realize how to reorder your financial practices to achieve prosperity without working yourself to death, compromising your integrity, or waiting to hit the spiritual lottery.

The old treasure is a deeper reassurance of God’s Word.  You read 1 Thessalonians and come away knowing that Hell is as real as Heaven.  You don’t like that old truth, but you receive it because you really studied.  You didn’t just look around at your teacher or your peers and repeat what you think their faces say they want to hear.

Joshua wanted for his people what I want for my student, which is what Jesus wants for all of us who call ourselves His disciples.

We want you to KNOW the truth in the Bible. We want you to know FOR YOURSELF that the Bible is true for always and true for right now.  We want you to stand on that Truth and for that Truth no matter how many blank stares you get.  We want you to stand on that Truth no matter what forces try to misdirect you into compromise or quasi-intellectual rejection of God’s Word.

Because when you can stand for God’s Truth against the blank-and-misdirect, then you will discover the treasures of the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore prepare yourself and arise,

And speak to them all that I command you.

Do not be dismayed before their faces,

Lest I dismay you before them.  (Jeremiah 1: 17)

And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.  You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. (Eekiel 2: 6-7)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

HOW MUCH FAITH DOES A DEMON HAVE?

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!  (James 1: 19)

I have three questions for you.

Question #1:  How much faith does an angel have?

The correct answer is NONE.

You see, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  (Hebrew 11: 1)

Angels live every moment in the direct experience of God’s presence.  They don’t hope to enter Heaven.  They live there.  They don’t BELIEVE that the unseen God is real; they SEE Him every day.  Therefore, angels don’t have faith.  They don’t need faith. They KNOW.  And because they KNOW, angels OBEY.

Question #2:  How much faith does a demon have?

That’s a little more complicated.  Demons are, after all, former angels.  They have seen God directly.  They’ve spent time in Heaven.  And, according to Job chapter 1, demons (or at least the head demon) have been called before God on multiple occasions since their fall from Heaven.  

But according to James 1: 20, demons BELIEVE in God.  So maybe,  for the angels who’ve fallen, Heaven is something they can’t see anymore.  God’s direct presence is lost to them, and all they have to convince them that what they once knew was really real is ------ faith.

So the answer to question #2 is:  Demons have as much faith as you and I do.

Which brings us to -----

Question #3:  What makes us humans better than angels or demons?

Demons believe in God,  but they disobey Him.   They have faith but not good works.   Angels obey God, but they don’t  have faith. (Faith isn’t necessary when there’s certainty.)  They have works but no faith.

Human beings, among all known sentient life forms, are capable of both faith AND works.

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?   (James 1: 18-20)

In the resurrection we will, as Jesus said in Matthew 22: 30, be like angels of God in heaven.   We will KNOW God, and faith will be fulfilled and finished.

But in this life, we get to be more than angels---- the fallen ones and the glorified ones.  In this life we get to trust God even when we can’t see Him.  We get to listen hard and hear God’s voice through all the static of earthly life.  We get to obey God’s Word in an environment that has evolved to get us to do anything except obey God’s Word.  We get to show the angels and the demons how it’s done.

When you look at it like that, we’ve got a pretty cool opportunity here.

Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6: 3)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can help support this ministry by clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

Part 2: THE SCRIPT-FLIPPING CHURCH

We continue our walk through the early days of Jesus’ public ministry as we review how the Lord organized His disciples into the world-changing movement that was the early church.

In part 2 of what is now a series of messages on the SCRIPT-FLIPPING CHURCH,  Pastor Anderson Graves II follows Jesus through His first preaching circuit.  The Lord’s journey draws our attention to details in the gospels that we often miss and confronts us with some challenging questions about ourselves, our motives, and the reasons why we the church fail to be all that God called us to be.

Listen well.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer, and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to:
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

WHAT GOD NEEDED FOR HIS SON

God is omniscient.  He knows everything.

 

He’s aware of every event, every thought, every subatomic particle in every dimension and universe.     God even knows the all of the certainties and possibilities of every permutation of future events, actions, and thoughts.

After all, God created matter, energy, life, space, and time.  He composed the rules by which all things seen and unseen operate. 

God knows. 

But.

The Old Testament declares that  God is not a man, …, nor a son of man  (Numbers 23: 19)

Until the Incarnation, the Son of God, had never personally experienced life as a human male.  True the Old Testament refers to God taking on human form from time to time to communicate with His special servants, but those were singular events not day-in-day-out life.

When Jesus was born as a babe in Bethlehem,  the omniscient 2^nd person of the Trinity was encapsulated by the flesh of a human infant.    Jesus knew all of the biological processes at work in human labor and birth.  As the Word made flesh, Jesus knew what was occurring at the subcellular level when Mary pushed.  He understood the responses of His own neurons to the muscular contractions moving His fetal form through the birth canal. Better than any mother or any doctor who would ever live, Jesus knew what childbirth was.

But Jesus didn’t know what it was like to be born until He came as a baby.

Pause.  Take a breath.  No, I haven’t become a heretic.  I am not disputing the doctrine that God knows EVERYTHING.

I believe that God’s omniscience is superior to our experience. (Just look at how we continuously screw up situations even when we have experience dealing with them.)   Omniscience is superior to experience, but omniscience isn’t the same as experience.  God knows everything, but He did not know what it was like to personally go through the things He knows.   God has all knowledge, but He had not had every personal experience.

Just think about it.  God knows all about the human body and the process of hunger.  The Lord created the human body. He created food, and He created the human body to need food(Genesis 1: 29).  God knows all about it, but God had never actually been hungry.  Not until He came to us as Jesus and was ahungered.

Omniscient God knows everything about adolescence and relationships, but God had never been a 14 year old boy dealing with girls in the village who think (or don’t think) he’s cute; not until Jesus came and lived as a 14 year old boy.

That’s why with Jesus we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  (Hebrews 4:15)

Now, if you’re past the point of wanting to burn me at the stake, let me explain why I’m thinking about this at CHRISTmas time.

Joseph.

Joseph, husband to Mary and stepfather to Jesus.

God chose Joseph to be Mary’s husband.  The Lord even sent an angel to overcome Joseph’s (reasonable) decision to call of the wedding after discovering Mary pregnant an not pregnant by him (Matthew 1: 20).    God selected Joseph over all of the other descendants of King David living at the time, and there were at least enough sons of David to fill up every motel in Bethlehem.(Luke 2: 3, 4, 7)

Why Joseph?  

Mary conceived as a virgin, so God didn’t need Joseph’s genetic material. 

So why Joseph?

Because though Jesus knew everything about men and manhood, He had never actually been a human male before.  He needed a model with experience.

Joseph was Jesus’ model for manhood.

Joseph was the kind of man that God wanted His Son to be like.

Ruminate on that for a minute.

Now, brothers, ask yourself:  Am I?

Could God trust you with His Son?

O.K., bring that down a notch.   Can God trust you with YOUR SON?

When your son is born he has never been a human male before.   Genetics and instinct will only take him so far.  He needs a physically present model of manhood to imitate.  He needs a model with experience.

If your son grew up modeling your moral, spiritual, and personal behavior would God look down on him when he is grown and say, “In him I am well pleased”?

There are (I guarantee you that there are) boys around you who do not share your genetic material but they do look to you as an example of manhood.

Can God trust you to be a good example to them?  

Not just from time to time when you feel like schooling the young boys, but day-in-day-out when you don’t even know they’re watching?  

Can God trust you with His sons?

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116