Contents
“Anatomy
of a Revived Christian” - Jan.2/22 ~ 2Pet.1:3-11
“Delightful Destiny: What Are You Living For?” -
Jan.9/22 ~ Eph.1:3-14
“Amos 1-2: God Holds ALL to Account” - Jan.16/22 ~ Amos
2:1-8
“Amos 3-4: Finding Purpose in Our Problems” - Jan.23/22
~ Amos 4:6-13
“Amos 5-6: Luxurious Living or Rewards for the
Righteous?” - Feb.6/22 ~ Amos 5:6-15.
“Pictures of Peril: The Danger of Spurning God’s Love” -
Feb.13/22 ~ Amos (chapters 7-8) 7:1-9.
Amos 9: “Shaken in God's Sieve, to be Restored” - Feb.
20/22 (Amos 9:5-15)
“Redeemed & Reborn: Obedient Love that Bleeds” -
Mar.6/22 ~ 1Peter 1:17-25
"Heart Condition: The Secret for Being a
Blessing" - April 3, 2022 - 1Pet 3:8-16
“The Great Swap - and Reversal” (1Pet 3:17-22) -
Palm/Passion Sunday April 10, 2022
"A Stitch in Time" - Funeral of Sandy Garnet -
April 11, 2022 - Mark 2:18-22
“Called to Follow our Suffering Healer” - 1Pet 2:15-25
Good Friday April 15, 2022
“What’s Easter Mean?” - 1Peter 3:21-4:11 - Easter
Sunday, Apr.17/22
“Are We Really Ready to Follow Jesus?” - Lk 9:51-62 May
1/22
“Good News for Moms who Can’t Do It All” - Lk 10:38-42
May 8/22
“The Unsuspecting Helper” - Lk 10:25-37 ~ May 15/22
“Praying For Real” - Luke 11:1-13 - May 29/22 - Day of
Prayer for Camp
“What are You Counting On?” - June 12/22 - Luke 12:13-21
“A Father’s Priorities: No Divine Deadbeat Dad” - June
19, 2022 - Lk 12:32-40
“Jeremiah's Call and Confidence” - July 10, 2022 - Jer.1:4-19
“Seasoned with Salt” - Funeral of Jim Whytock - July 14,
2022
“God’s Shock at Our Fickleness” - July 17, 2022 - Jer.2:1-13
“Consequences for Conceit” - July 24, 2022 - Jer.8:7-20
“The Unfairness of Injustice -- and God's Impending
Response” - July 31, 2022 Jer.12:1-13.
“Gone to Pot: God's Mercy in Warning – and Our
Resistance” - August 7, 2022 - Jer. 18:1-17
“A Marvelous Hope Offsetting Temporary Troubles” -
August 28, 2022 - 2Thess.1(1-12)
“Doom-Man’s Portrait and Prevention” - September 4, 2022
- 2Thess.2(1-17)
“A Model Life: Protection, Perseverance, Productivity” -
Sept.18, 2022 - 2Thess.3(1-18)
“Rich Treasures Offsetting Serious Struggle” -
Thanksgiving Sunday Oct. 9/22 - Col.1:24-2:5
“Are You Ready?” - 1st in Advent - Nov.27/22 - Mt.24:36-44
“Sowing for the Master” - Funeral of Susan Howson -
Dec.9/22
“The Wrapping of a Christmas People” - Dec.25/22 Titus
2:11-14
GETTING
GOOD NEWS OUT OF THE BOX
Last
Sunday was Boxing Day, also related to St.Stephen’s
Day. Centuries ago, there were alms boxes collecting donations for the poor in
the narthex of churches; these were opened and distributed on Boxing Day. The
Oxford English Dictionary notes allusions from the 1830s in Britain: “the first
weekday after Christmas day, observed as a holiday on which postmen, errand
boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas box”. A diary
entry from 1663 records it was customary for tradesmen to collect
"Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after
Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. Probably before that,
wealthy people sent their servants home for a day off with their families,
since the servants would have had to work on Christmas Day itself, and these
servants were given gifts and perhaps leftovers to take with them to share with
their respective families.
Isn’t it interesting that the celebration
of the birth of Jesus is associated so closely with a day marked by a tradition
of generosity? Grace begets graciousness and generosity. Is this something that
gets at the heart of what Christ came for, to spark love and giving and
kindness that people want to share with others?
On December 12 my daughter Emily’s family
‘unboxed’ the gospel. They drove about an hour and a half into one of the camps
of homeless people in the city of Edmonton. They passed out Bibles along with
Christmas Cards and Tim-Cards to those living in the homeless camps. Not a
long-term solution for the predicament of the homeless people facing harsh
winter conditions in a cold northern climate, no doubt, but still a
well-meaning gift with the potential for someone to hear the Good News about
Jesus along with a small gesture of tangible caring!
Thom Rainer is a well-known church growth
and revitalization consultant who has studied that topic for years and written
many books. He customarily spoke about 150 times a year. Recently I enjoyed a
free eBook from his ministry called “Anatomy of a Revived Pastor: Traits of
Pastors who have gone from Discouraged to Difference-making”. I was struck by
the practical advice backed by experience and success of pastors whose churches
have become healthy and thriving as they applied the gospel in their local
context. Rainer concludes: “In this post-COVID world, there is a lot of
frustration and discouragement. Pastors are clearly among those who are
frustrated and discouraged. But take a look again at these pastors who moved
from discouragement to difference-making. The key characteristic was their
outward focus. They shared their faith with intentionality. They developed
relationships with the unchurched. They kept the focus on evangelism in their
churches.”
In short, they were intentional about
getting the Good News out of the box!
So today I’d like to examine with you
whether these same principles apply to revived CHRISTIANS not just revived
PASTORS. As we look at the second letter of the Apostle Peter, we’ll see there
is a lot of overlap: a growing Christian allows the Lord to flavour their
relationships, resulting in outreach to the unchurched and practical
expressions of love for those in their neighbourhood.
PETER’S
PATH OF PERSONAL PROGRESS IN PIETY
The
scope of our passage, 2Peter 1:3-11, is vast: it goes from the past into the
present and peers into the future.
He starts out in the PAST. Verse 3B says
God “CALLED US by His own glory and goodness.” You were PICKED, selected,
called and chosen. Not because you or I deserved it, but purely ‘by His own
glory and goodness’ – because of God’s own excellence, His loving nature, His
sovereign choice and authority. Titus 3:5 “he saved us, not because of
righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.He
saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit...”
Praise the Lord for new birth and the Spirit’s renewal!
You who believe were PICKED, and you were
POWERED and PROVIDED FOR. Verse 3, “His divine POWER has given us EVERYTHING WE
NEED for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his
own glory and goodness.” The power that set the sun in place, the moon and
planets in their orbits, that holds galaxies and atoms and molecules together,
that keeps water flowing over Niagara Falls and winds to bring the elements –
that same power has provided EVERYTHING you need for ‘life and godliness’ -
how? Through knowing Him. Having a relationship with your Creator / Redeemer /
Sustainer.
Also from the past, we have been blessed
with God’s PROMISES. V4 “Through these he has given us his very great and
precious PROMISES, so that through them you may participate in the divine
nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” The Old
Testament prophets foretold a Suffering Saviour who would rescue His people, in
passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, not to mention other passages from which
the Jewish leaders could inform King Herod that the Christ would be born in
Bethlehem. Following His resurrection, Jesus was able to go back through the
Old Testament Scriptures and explain to His disciples all these promises that
pointed to Him, which He had brought to fulfilment before their very eyes. The
New Testament in many ways is a book of promises for Christ’s followers,
assurances that as we trust in Jesus He will be present with us, indwelling us
with His Spirit, guiding us and teaching us what we need to know. 2 Corinthians
1:20A “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.”
Now Peter’s passage passes from the PAST to
the PRESENT, what the faithful in the church can be enjoying right now. For
starters, we can be PARTICIPATING in God’s very nature. This comes about
through those precious PROMISES as we begin to act on them. V4, “Through these
he has given us his very great and precious PROMISES, so that through them you
may PARTICIPATE in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world
caused by evil desires.” The key word translated ‘participate’ is the Gk koinonia, sharing,
having in common. We come to participate in or exhibit and experience God’s
nature as His Holy Spirit indwells us and starts to transform us to be like
Jesus. Romans 8:13 “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will
die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will
live...”
By God’s grace we have already come to
POSSESS various godly qualities. 2Peter 1:8 “For if you POSSESS these qualities
in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and
unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What qualities do we possess?
Peter has just gone through a list of eight qualities in verses 5-7.
First, FAITH. V5a “For this very reason,
make every effort to add to your FAITH, goodness...” The Christian journey
starts with faith. Unless you believe Jesus suffered and died and rose again to
pay for your sins and give you new righteous life, you can’t share in what He’s
purchased for His people. 1John 5:13 “I write these things to YOU WHO BELIEVE
IN THE NAME OF THE SON OF GOD so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through FAITH— and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God...” When you hear the Gospel and
commit your life to Jesus, He will come into your life and start His renovation
project.
Second quality: Peter says “add to
your faith GOODNESS...” Some translations put this “virtue” – in other words ‘Moral power, moral
energy, vigor of soul’.
The most basic table grace starts out, “God is great, God is GOOD, and we thank
Him for our food.” If God were not good He would not be worthy of worship, but
instead would be some kind of monster. Let God’s goodness infuse you, start to
flavour your thinking and purposes.
Goodness and virtue would be the
opposite of the vile lifestyle of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine
Maxwell, architects of a lavish me-centred pleasure-driven pattern that
plummeted to become parasitic on young women, a pyramid scheme that preyed on
those already involved so they would in turn recruit other victims to satisfy
selfish and perverted lust. Thankfully this week a court brought justice to
some of those victims.
The third quality Peter mentions is
KNOWLEDGE. This means insight, understanding, from the God who reveals His
thoughts to humans (Amos 4:13). Peter was writing during the early period of
Gnosticism: these mystery cults purported that you needed to be ‘let in on’
secret teachings, whereas in Christianity the teachings were being proclaimed
publicly. Jesus wants us to know His Father’s will, and understand the Big
Picture, God’s will for us. John 15:15 “I no longer call you servants, because
a servant does not know his master’s business.Instead,
I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have
made known to you.” Christ Himself is the divine Logos, making-known or
explanation, God unpacking and revealing His very nature to us.
Fourth quality is SELF-CONTROL, also
known as ‘temperance’, holding oneself in. It’s the finally-listed Fruit of the
Spirit in Galatians 5:23. Those mature Christian men qualified to be leaders in
the church are described in Titus 1:8 thus: “Rather he must be hospitable, one
who loves what is good, who is SELF-CONTROLLED, upright, holy and disciplined.”
Fifth, Peter says to add to our
self-control PERSEVERANCE or ‘patient endurance’ (NLT). Now there’s one you
can’t add in a hurry! Perseverance is developed slowly, repeatedly, over time.
It doesn’t come easily. James 1:3 “because you know that the testing of your
faith develops perseverance.”
Peggy Noonan once said, “The wisest
words I ever heard on the subject of patience were from a born-again Christian
whose husband was an agnostic. She loved and believed in Jesus, but her husband
was in turn derisive and dismissive. A Christian friend gave her this advice:
'Don't talk to your husband about God: talk to God about your husband.'” Yes,
that takes patience and perseverance!
Sixth Peter lists GODLINESS.
Godliness is related to reverence, respect, piety toward God; if you have a
high regard for the Lord, you’re conscious of Him in everything you do, it
profoundly affects your decisions. NIV Study Bible commentary puts this, “A
genuine reverence toward God that governs one’s attitude toward every aspect of
life.” Can we say like Paul, Acts 24:16 “So I strive always to keep my
conscience clear before God and man”? Do we practise that momentary pause to
submit our choices to God in spirit, so we’re not just defaulting to our
fleshly preferences and appetites?
Seventh, Peter says to add to our
godliness, BROTHERLY KINDNESS, NLT ‘brotherly affection’. This is the Greek
word from which Philadelphia gets its name (I’m talking about the city, not the
cream cheese!) - ‘city of brotherly love’. This can be described as “warmhearted affection toward all in the family of faith”
(NIV SB). In his first letter Peter admonished the church, 1Pet 1:22 “Now that
you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love
for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” Does that describe
our church? What can we do personally to make that more accurately describe our
fellowship? What fences do we need to mend?
Eighth and last in this list comes
LOVE, i.e.AGAPE – not romantic love, or affection for
one’s best bud, but love that sacrificially loves even those who seem unlovely,
toward whom we have no natural affinity. Remember, it’s agape-love that’s
described in Romans 5:8 - “But God demonstrates his own LOVE for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And it’s agape-love in John
15:13 when Jesus says, “Greater love [greater AGAPE] has no one than this, that
he lay down his life for his friends.” How have you been a recipient of that
kind of laying-down-life love?
So Peter says we POSSESS all those 8
qualities. But it’s not static, it’s growing! V5 “...make every effort to ADD
TO YOUR FAITH goodness; and to goodness, knowledge...” (Etc.etc.
- keep on adding) It’s continual, it never stops, you’re never ‘done’. And out
of this POSSESSING qualities we become PRODUCTIVE: V8 “For if you POSSESS these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unPRODUCTIVE in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Show me a person who’s increasing in all those ways, bursting out in holiness –
faith goodness knowledge self-control perseverance godliness brotherly_kindness love – and I’ll show you a person who’s
bound to be PRODUCTIVE in their Christian walk. People will see they’re onto
something REAL, something very special. “What’s your source?” “How do they do
that?”
And Peter points to the future, to a
reward awaiting Jesus-followers who grow in these qualities. Note the promise
in verses 10-11: “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your
calling and election [YOUR BEING PICKED!] sure.For if
you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive A RICH WELCOME
into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” A RICH WELCOME -
not just ‘a welcome’, as in ‘It’s nice you showed up’ - but ‘a RICH welcome’,
as in let’s roll out the red carpet, make ready a banquet, give this guest the
place of honour, let’s really celebrate they’ve come! Which is what Jesus is
getting at in Luke 15 with the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and
the lost son(s). A PRODIGAL welcome, a super-POSITIVE RECEPTION. As Jesus described
it in the illustration of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25(34), “Then the
King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the
world.’” Or as the Psalmist expressed it in the context of God’s priceless
unfailing love for those who know Him in Psalm 36:8, “They feast on the
abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.” Now
THAT’S a positive reception, the warmest welcome!
A
REVIVED CHURCH OF REVITALIZED MEMBERS
I
mentioned at the outset Thom Rainer’s book Anatomy of a Revived Pastor: Traits
of Pastors who have gone from Discouraged to Difference-making”. Rainer
mentions 15 lessons learned from pastors in reaching the unchurched. What
stands out to me is that several of these 15 lessons relate to the 8 qualities
mentioned by the Apostle Peter. Let’s briefly touch on these.
Lesson One: Authenticity. “Over nine
out of ten of the pastors interviewed told us that their own personal integrity
was a major factor in reaching the unchurched “The unchurched look at leaders
just like anybody else does,” said Sam P., A Methodist pastor from Texas. “if
they don’t see authenticity in our own lives, how can they expect the church to
be real?” I would relate ‘authenticity’ to Peter’s number 2 ‘Goodness/virtue’
and number 6 ‘Godliness’.
Lesson Two Thom Rainer calls “The
Imperative of Personal Evangelism”. A formerly unchurched man from Tampa
Florida said, “I thank God that my church sent people out to share Jesus with me.I thank God they were trained how to share the gospel
with me.I thank God they loved me enough to be
obedient to the Lord.” I would relate this to Peter’s number 7, Brotherly
Kindness. If we don’t care about the lost, if it makes no difference to us that
they’re bound for hell in eternity unless they receive Christ, we won’t bother
to share with them the good news about Jesus.
Also related to Peter’s number 7
(brotherly kindness) is Rainer’s Lesson 3, “Relationships Again”. Rainer notes,
“More than eight out of ten of the pastors we interviewed indicated their keen
awareness of the impact of reaching the unchurched through relationships...Such
relationships are the result of the “overflow” of God’s presence in a
Christian’s life.” We could add in here Rainer’s Lesson 5, “The Pastor must
model Personal Evangelism”. A Louisiana pastor said bluntly, “I think most
church leaders are basically stupid about reaching the unchurched. You know
what they need to do? Tell lost people about Jesus. Witness to them. I mean,
what kind of idiot expects to reach lost people without telling them about
Jesus?” (What kind, indeed?!)
Rainer’s Lesson 4: “An Atmosphere of
Love and Acceptance.” He says, “A Nevada pastor told us: ‘The stories of
hurting people who come to our church are incredible. We have no advertising
budget, but people just keep coming. We do not compromise our beliefs
whatsoever. But we do tell people over and over again that Jesus accepted them
where they were, that He forgives sinners.” I would fit this into Peter’s
quality number 8, Agape-love. An atmosphere of love and acceptance, welcoming
hurting people, assuring them Jesus accepts them where they are.
Rainer’s Lesson 6: “Enthusiasm and
Joy are present in churches that reach the unchurched.” I wasn’t sure where to
fit this in to Peter’s list, but maybe number 1 - ‘Faith’, because trusting God
brings enthusiasm and joy. Those also are multiplied when you see the Gospel
working in others’ lives! An Evangelical Free Church pastor told the
researchers, “It feeds on itself. A joyous church motivates people to invite
the unchurched. And when the unchurched are reached, the joy grows. It’s a
great cycle!”
Rainer’s Lesson 7: “Do not compromise
the Essentials.” He reports, “We heard similar stories from over 60 percent of
the pastors we interviewed. Not only does an unchallenging message fail to
attract the unchurched, but we learned from the formerly unchurched that such
an approach actually deters them from returning. The formerly unchurched are
attracted to churches with a strong belief system.” So I would slot this into
Peter’s number 1 (faith), number 4 (self-control - there’s discipline), and
number 6 (godliness).
Rainer’s Lesson 8 and Lesson 12
relate to Peter’s number 3, ‘knowledge’. Lesson 8: “Have small group
opportunities available;’ and Lesson 12: “Utilize a Discover Class to Reach the
Unchurched”. In both areas, there’s opportunity for KNOWLEDGE to be shared in a
group setting. That’s why small group / LifeGroup
ministry is so important! The researchers found most church leaders ‘agree that
some type of small-group organization must be in place both to reach and to
assimilate the unchurched.’ They found there was a ‘strong desire of the
formerly unchurched to learn doctrine, to know more about the church, and to
learn biblical issues.’
There are several other lessons
Rainer found that I would connect to Peter’s quality 8, Agape Love. These are
Lesson 9 “Reaching People in Crisis”, Lesson 10 “Reaching the Unchurched
through Quality Child Care”, Lesson 11 “Focus Evangelistic Efforts on Children
and Youth”, and Lesson 14 “Marketing Tools Alone are Ineffective.” Think of all
the energy Huron Chapel has devoted to its VBS and Heirborn
midweek children’s program in the past. Those programs are a HUGE amount of
work, involving a great sacrifice of volunteer time! Think of the coordination
and commitment required to offer quality child care each week – a Nursery
co-ordinator, Nursery Volunteers and Helpers, sign-in and Plan To Protect
training - it’s a total package. It must be LOVE for the unchurched as well as
those already attending that motivates our programming for children and youth.
We’re making it a priority again in our Annual Plan To Protect Refresher
Training coming up Monday January 17th.
Thom Rainer comments: “In my role as
a church consultant, I tell church leaders that quality preschool
and
children’s facilities are imperative. Bright and safe modern rooms with new
furniture, equipment, and toys, along with unquestionable security features,
are demanded by discerning parents today, including unchurched parents.” [and]
“Our research team’s studies indicate that 81 percent of those who accept
Christ do so before the age of twenty. Whether this number is an indicator of
receptivity to the gospel at a young age or the ineffectiveness of the church
to reach adults, the case for focusing evangelistic resources on young people
is compelling.”
I was contacted this week by a young
mom with a relative newborn inquiring about child dedication. She said her New
Year’s resolution (even though she lives at quite a distance) is to attend in
person twice a month and watch virtually twice a month. I’m thinking to myself,
‘Will we have nursery available when she shows up? Do we have enough
volunteers?’ The promise we make as a congregation when children are dedicated
is to support those parents in nurturing the faith of their young ones. That
takes sacrificial love.
Rainer’s Lesson 13 is ‘Find an
evangelistic leader.’ The team found, “Four out of ten revived pastors we
interviewed indicated that through an intentional process or by an unsought
blessing, an evangelistic leader has emerged.” I would connect that to Peter’s
quality 1, Faith. Who is the lay person that can be an ‘evangelistic champion’?
Last, Lesson 15 that Thom Rainer
heard from revived pastors was, “Patience is Required.” Patience – that sounds
like Peter’s quality 5, Perseverance or Endurance. Rainer writes, “We rarely
met or interviewed church leaders who said that becoming a revived pastor was
easy...Yet those who remained faithful and persistent in their places of
ministry told us about breakthroughs on some occasions and slow but steady
growth at other times.”
EYES
ON THE HARVEST
Peter
sums up his list of qualities in verse 8 in the New Living Translation, “The
more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word behind ‘productive’ has a root
meaning ‘fruitful’ – we want to bear fruit for Jesus as His Holy Spirit bears
increasing fruit in our personal lives. We want others to come to know this
same grace we are enjoying.
Thom Rainer concludes, “There was no
magic formula these pastors used to have a different outlook and a renewed
focus. They simply and obediently focused more on reaching others. The key word
in all they did was intentionality. And since there was no magic formula, you
too can make the move from discouragement to difference-making. Remember how
Jesus responded when He saw the masses of people without hope: Matthew 9:36-38
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused
and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, ‘The
harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge
of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.’”
“That’s it [Rainer says].That’s the
“secret.” Get into the harvest fields. Focus outwardly. Do so with
intentionality. You will influence lives eternally for good. And if you are
discouraged, your attitude will change. You will become a difference-maker.”
Let’s pray.
Lord,
this is Your church; we are Your disciples. Thank You for calling us, providing
for us, empowering us, giving us everything we need, including the privilege of
sharing in Your very nature. Make us increasingly productive and fruitful by
means of these excellent qualities that reflect Your glory and goodness. Grant
that by our witness other hungry souls may likewise taste Your goodness! Lead
us on together in brotherly affection. In Christ’s name, Amen.
SAVOURING
THAT CHRISTMAS CAKE
Isn’t
it fun to get gifts of baking at Christmastime? Or to see the special foods
that are only available at that time of year in the store? Things like Egg Nog,
and my favourite, that PC Chocolate Crackle Candy Cane Ice Cream. You can also
get sugar cookies and shortbread; sugar cookies can be so light that you
practically inhale them. Then at the other end of the range is Christmas cake,
whether gumdrop cake or that darker raisin- and fruit-chocked traditional
Christmas cake. You can’t inhale that! You have to chew it slowly, savouring
the flavour in each bite, it’s not something to be hurried.
Our Scripture passage today is a bit like
that. It’s not something to be hurried through. Paul the Apostle has packed it
chock-full of spiritual richness and goodness, so it’s best digested slowly,
thoughtfully, meditatively. Verses 3-14 of Ephesians are just one long sentence
in the Greek, yet they address our past, present, and future as believers. In
contrast to those who point out the word ‘Trinity’ is not found in Scripture,
you can nevertheless see references to God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit with their ministries interwoven.
It’s also a good passage to meditate on
given the current state of unrest and low-grade anxiety in our society. January
6 marked the anniversary of a significant protest and incursion at the US
capital, and continues to expose the polarization between factions in our
neighbour to the south. There is a vague feeling of DISORDER, there are
divisions within families and amongst friends over pandemic policies.
Here, there is continuing UPHEAVAL due to
the unsettling effect of the pandemic. New restrictions announced by the
province this past Monday affect whether people go into work or work from home;
students needing to stay home and study online rather than attend class
in-person; you can’t go to certain places like the theater or gym as you
usually might.
There is a lot of ISOLATION currently due
to restrictions. Winter itself can be isolating, with bad weather closing highways,
disrupting school bus schedules, trouble starting your car and getting out the
driveway, and so forth. Those with Seasonal Affective Disorder can find January
and February to be particularly ‘dark’ months. Then we have our physical
distancing, masking, quarantining, gathering size limits, and ‘close contact’
measures that also prevent us from getting together in more friendly and
intimate ways as we normally might.
In this passage Paul reminds us that Jesus
addresses these upsetting factors of Disorder, Upheaval, and Isolation.
Concerning Disorder: God’s purpose in the long run is to bring about cohesion
through submission to Jesus, as verse 10 says – “to bring all things in heaven
and on earth together under one head, even Christ”. Concerning Upheaval: we are
assured of a lasting purpose and coherence to existence – according to verse 9
God has “made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good
pleasure, which He PURPOSED in Christ...” And concerning Isolation, v10 also
emphasizes God’s purpose is eventually “to bring all things in heaven and on
earth TOGETHER” – the Greek verb is one used for adding up a column of numbers,
God will eventually ‘sum things up’ relative to Jesus. This is good to know
when we look around and currently things just don’t seem to ‘add up’ or make
sense.
TEN
THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF – IN CHRIST
Throughout
these dozen verses you will find over and over again one little phrase or
variation of it that points us in one direction. Maybe you’ve driven by a car
dealership and they have a couple of vehicles raised up on mounds or platforms
to draw your attention, they’re on special display. Paul accomplishes the same
thing here by repeating this little phrase. What’s the writer drawing attention
to? Where’s he want our focus to be? On Jesus Christ. The little phrase is the
two words ‘IN CHRIST’ or some variation of it that amount to the same thing.
Can you find them? There are twelve altogether.
V3 ‘every spiritual blessing IN CHRIST’. V4
‘for He chose us IN HIM’. V5 ‘to be adopted as His sons THROUGH JESUS CHRIST’.
V6 ‘which He has freely given us IN THE ONE HE LOVES’. V7 ‘IN HIM we have
redemption’ and ‘THROUGH HIS BLOOD’. V9 the end - ‘which He purposed IN
CHRIST’. V10 ‘UNDER one head, even CHRIST’. Then right away in V11 ‘IN HIM we
were also chosen’. V12 ‘we who were the first to hope IN CHRIST’. V13 ‘you also
were included IN CHRIST’, and the twelfth instance, ‘you were marked IN HIM
with a seal’.
So, it’s Jesus that ties this whole
passage, this big long run-on sentence in the Greek – it’s HIM that ties it
together. And it’s not just ‘Him’ but ‘IN HIM’ – and who’s that? Who’s the
apostle saying is ‘in Christ’? We are! You are, if you have trusted in Him as
your Lord and Saviour and are intent on following Him daily. So, not only is
this passage about Jesus and what He’s done; it’s about YOU, too! You are here
in Ephesians 1. These dozen little phrases ‘in Christ’ or ‘in Him’ are in fact
pointing out ten precious truths about all believers, when you get right down
to it. ‘In Christ’ Paul says we are: blessed, chosen, adopted, graced,
redeemed, have purpose, are connected, have hope, are included, and marked. Bet
you didn’t come here this morning expecting to read about yourself, dug deep
from some first-century AD manuscript, did you?! But that’s true for everyone
who is ‘in Him’, this passage is about what God has done for YOU, and Paul is
praising God for it all. Let’s look at each of the ten briefly in turn.
1)
BLESSED
To
begin, we find we are BLESSED in v3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS BLESSED US in the heavenly realms WITH EVERY
SPIRITUAL BLESSING IN CHRIST.” How comprehensive is that?! ‘EVERY spiritual
blessing...’ That does not mean a new car in your driveway, or unexpected deposits
in your bank account – though in general following God’s commands in Scripture
such as being diligent in your work, not overconsuming substances or being a
sluggard, will help you materially more than behaving the opposite. The
blessings here Paul says are ‘in the heavenly realms’ – in the eyes of God,
waiting for us to enjoy them when we are resurrected. Remember the Beatitudes
in the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus says those can consider themselves ‘blessed’
who are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, who are persecuted on account of
righteousness and who hunger and thirst for it, those who are meek, who mourn,
who are poor in spirit. Now you probably wouldn’t normally consider such people
‘blessed’! But in terms of God’s Kingdom, God is aware of them and will be
responding to them, supplying comfort, filling them regarding righteousness,
God will show them Himself and show them mercy, His Kingdom will belong to
them. Paul notes in Galatians 3:9, “So those who have faith are blessed along
with Abraham, the man of faith.” Faith in the Lord can turn your burdens into
blessings.
2)
CHOSEN
We
talked recently about how God has ‘picked’ or chosen His people. Eph 1:4 says “For he chose us in him before the creation of
the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” It’s good to ask the
“W5" questions to help you digest this rich Christmas cake - who what when
where why and how. WHEN did God choose you in Christ? “Before the creation of
the world.” Even before earth was made, before the universe existed, God the Father
was loving Jesus the Son (as Jesus says in John 17:24), and if you are ‘in
Christ’ God was loving you and choosing you even back then.
‘For what’ has God chosen you? There are a
couple of spots in this passage that address that. V4 “He chose us in Him...to
be holy and blameless in His sight.” Some ultra-reformed folks may harp on
predestination and election but let’s not miss what we are chosen FOR: to be
holy and blameless in His sight. How’s that going for you? On the one hand God
views us who believe clothed in Jesus’ own righteousness since He was our
substitute; on the other hand, we are aware of our daily ongoing battle with
sin and temptation, needing to keep praying the Lord’s Prayer, ‘forgive us our
trespasses’... Sanctification (holy-fication) is both
positional and progressive. But He’s chosen us to BE holy!
Later in vv11-12 we’re told, “In him we
were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who
works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that
we...might be FOR THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY.” What are you chosen for? To glorify
God, to make Him look good, so when other people see you and your actions they
will be drawn to praise God and admire how good God is. You are picked for the
purpose of praising Your Maker.
3)
ADOPTED
A
few years back I had the privilege of attending an adoption ceremony at the
local courthouse. It was a big deal! Two parents were officially bringing into
their family two daughters from a completely different household. These girls
then took on the family name, they call their new parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’. It’s
a huge commitment and something to celebrate, there’s a new family unit, they
belong formally in that household from then on.
Paul describes something similar for you
when you commit your life to Christ and receive Him as your Saviour. V5 “In
love he predestined us TO BE ADOPTED AS HIS SONS through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with his pleasure and will...” Those who believer are adopted as
God’s very own sons and daughters! You’re part of the heavenly ‘family’. John
1:12f observes, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural
descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Adopted
with the rights of God’s own sons and daughters.
4)
GRACED
Through
Jesus Christ, we have been adopted v6 says “to the praise of his glorious
GRACE, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” And v7, “...in
accordance with the riches of God’s GRACE that He lavished on us..” Grace means
you, though a sinner, are now accepted by a holy God. Mercy is not getting the
punishment we deserved; grace is getting the forgiveness and inheritance we did
not deserve. Paul elsewhere acknowledges that he was ‘the worst’ of sinners,
having been a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man; yet, 1Timothy 1:14
“The GRACE of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith
and love that are in Christ Jesus.” Praise God for His grace!
5)
REDEEMED
I
received an offer in the email from a fuel company offering me a 20% discount
if I booked a stay at a certain hotel. To take advantage of the offer I would
have to ‘redeem’ the coupon. To redeem means literally to ‘buy back’. We’re
quite familiar with ‘redeeming’ things that cost money because we like saving
on expense. No doubt it costs the hotel company something but in return they
get some advertising and promotion.
In Biblical times, the slave trade existed;
even people were bought and sold for bonded labour. It was an exchange, like
today you would hand over money for a grapefruit or bag of salt for your
driveway. It’s this language the Bible uses to describe how Christ ransomed or
redeemed us from evil, buying us back for Himself. V7 “In him we have
REDEMPTION through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the
riches of God’s grace...” How was our forgiveness of sins purchased? What price
was paid? Was it money that was used? Bitcoin? Shekels? Denarii? No, it was
redemption ‘through His blood’. That’s how Jesus bought you back for Himself –
at the cost of His own life! The Apostle Peter wrote, 1Peter 1:18f “For you
know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you
were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your
forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or
defect.”
V14 also talks of our ‘redemption’ but in a
future sense: V14 “who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the
REDEMPTION of those who are God’s possession— to the praise of his glory.” Here
is the completion of the process for which we were bought: when we are raised
from the dead to live forever in fellowship with our Lord; bought back from
death to eternal life.
6)
PURPOSE
This
passage emphasizes Christians have PURPOSE, something to live for, it’s not
just an aimless clashing of molecules with no ultimate goal or destiny. V9 “And
he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure,
which he PURPOSED in Christ...” There’s another little phrase that Paul repeats
3 times in this passage that informs us what that purpose might be. V12 “...in
order that we...might be for the praise of His glory.” Vv5f “...in accordance
with His pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace...” And the
end of this long winding sentence in Greek, v14 “to the praise of His glory”.
You have not been put on this planet simply
to have a good time. You are not here just to use up air, water, and food. You
were created and saved by faith for a definite purpose: for the praise of God’s
glory, to lift Him up, extol Him, point out to others who good and gracious and
loving and faithful He is. Do that and you will feel at your core your reason
for existence, as the Lord pours into your gifts and abilities and expands your
sphere of influence, because you’re doing what you were put here for. And He
will give you more reasons to praise Him, more evidence to share with others.
7)
CONNECTION
In
Christ we are given new CONNECTION and accountability. V10 tells us God’s
ultimate aim: V10 “to be put into effect when the times will have reached their
fulfillment— to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under
one head, even Christ.” Scientists have searched for some unifying theory or
principle; one website notes, “From the time that 19th century
physicists...attempted to unite disparate physical phenomena, the search for a
grand unified theory that would conjoin every known force and physical law has
always been an implicit or explicit dream of physicists.” Well, Paul’s unifying
theory is that God will bring together or ‘sum up’ all things under Christ as
head. See 1Corinthians 15:24f,28 “Then the end will come, when he hands over
the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority
and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his
feet...When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him
who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” Part of Jesus’
Lordship is our accountability, our being subject to Him; through Him we will
have proper connection to other things in heaven and on earth.
8)
HOPE
Sometimes
listening to the news these days you get the feeling that hope is a scarce
commodity. As Christians, we’ve been given a glimpse of the big picture, we’ve
been able to peek ahead to the last chapter in the book, and that gives us
HOPE. That hope is not in streets of gold or endless bliss playing harps in the
clouds, but in a person named Jesus. V12 [we were chosen and predestined] “in
order that we, who were the first to HOPE IN CHRIST, might be for the praise of
his glory.” In Paul’s famous ‘love’ chapter (1Corinthians 13), hope is one of
the things that abides alongside faith and love.
Our hope is tied to a historical fact, not
some philosophical theory. Paul admits in 1Cor 15:17,19 “And if Christ has not
been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.If
only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all
men.” Then he adds, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.” (1Cor
15:20) So hope has a real basis.
9)
INCLUDED
Apparently
there’s an expression today to describe the angst of people who are limited not
immortal and omnipotent; this is called FOMO, “Fear Of Missing Out”. You can’t
be everywhere and do everything, there are often timetable conflicts, you can’t
make it to every party or event you might like to go to. But Jesus takes away
our FOMO in terms of spiritual things: He has made it possible for us to be
INCLUDED.
V13A, “And you also were INCLUDED IN CHRIST
when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.Having
believed...” Someone shares the good news with us, explaining our need of a
Saviour, how God sent Jesus to die for our sins, how He rose again and is going
to return, and how we can be saved by putting our wholehearted trust in Him and
yielding control of our life to Him. And we believe that simple message. We
hold as true and apply to ourselves verses like Romans 10:9, “That if you
confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” We’ve heard ‘the word of
truth’ and it struck a chord with us, we have faith in the message so commit to
Christ. That’s how we are INCLUDED in Him, how we’re saved. We become part of
His forever family called the church. No longer alone, never again feel all
alone in the universe, cut off from meaning and purpose; we are part of a
fellowship that has existed through many countries for centuries, and that
finds its focus and future in the Son of God.
10)
SEALED
Finally,
Paul points out that we have a sign of new ownership imprinted on us. V13b-14,
“Having believed, you were MARKED IN HIM WITH A SEAL, the promised Holy Spirit,
who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of THOSE WHO
ARE GOD’S POSSESSION— to the praise of his glory.” Remember how we said you can
see the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - interwoven through this
passage? Here’s the “Holy Spirit” segment. Paul is saying the Holy Spirit marks
us, makes us identifiable, helps us stand out as belonging to God; the Spirit
is a ‘down payment’ as it were assuring us of our eventual inheritance in the
future – including that part about “every spiritual blessing” “in the heavenly
realms” Paul started this passage referring to.
The apostle said something similar to the
church at Corinth: 2Cor 1:21f “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand
firm in Christ.He anointed us, set his seal of
ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing
what is to come.” A seal in those times represented security, authenticity,
ownership, and authority. As God’s children through faith, we are deepened in
all those areas through the Holy Spirit’s influence in our lives.
AN
INHERITANCE MISSED
In
closing, we can praise God that He has indeed ‘blessed us in the heavenly
realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.’ (V3) We can live bolstered
knowing, as the New Living Translation puts it, “When you believed in Christ,
He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit...The Spirit is
God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He
has purchased us to be His own people.”
Yet – do we live conscious of these
blessings? Are we confident and assured knowing an inheritance awaits,
guaranteed?
A man who had been a drunkard on Chicago’s
Skid Row for many years came to a half-way house ate a meal and went to bed.
That was his last night on earth. He died poverty-stricken and friendless,
never to see another day.
What he did not know was that he had an
inheritance of over 4 million dollars waiting for him in England. The
authorities had searched for him but were unable to find him because he had no
address. Here was a man who had all the material wealth he could want, but he lived
and died in poverty.
Are we like that at all? God does not want
us to live in poverty because we aren’t fully aware of our wealth in Christ.
Let’s pray.
Thank You Father for choosing us before the
creation of the world, for letting us hear the truth that can save us, for
making Jesus real to us as our Saviour and Lord. How precious to know our sins
are forgiven!
God, for any listening who don’t know that
reality, who have not yet trusted Christ, help them take that step. Help them
know for a certainty You have loved them and provided for them and drawn them
to Yourself through the cross. Convict them of their need, and help them
recognize the solution You have so richly and graciously provided.
Holy
Spirit, empower us to live in the light of these truths. Help people to see by
our behaviour and our speech that we are in fact belonging to God, sold out,
blessed in the heavenlies, living on purpose. Be
pleased to continue Your saving work through us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
THE
BEST OF TIMES – THE MOST UNETHICAL OF TIMES
Today
we start a 4-part series on the book of the prophet Amos. So we are travelling
back in time about 28 centuries – Amos prophesied about 760-750 BC. You might
suppose times were very different back then. Yet there are definite parallels
to our setting today, in affluent Western society. By the way did you hear
that, according to US News & World Report, in 2021 Canada scored
the highest ranking of the countries in the world in terms of best place to
live? (We were #2 out of 78 countries in 2020.) We also placed in top spot in
the categories of "Quality of Life" and "Social Purpose.”
So, with that in mind, let’s hear about the
setting in which Amos came on the scene to prophesy to the Northern Kingdom of
Israel in the eighth centurey B.C. It was a golden
age unlike any period since King David and King Solomon back around 1000 B.C.
To set the stage, here’s an excerpt from The Expositor’s Bible Commentary...
“...Elisha was able to leave behind him the
promise of a new day of victory (13:17 ff.). It was in the peace and liberty of
this day that Israel rose a step in civilization; that prophecy, released from
the defense, became the criticism, of the national life; and that the people,
no longer absorbed in their own borders, looked out, and for the first time
realized the great world, of which they were only a part.
“King Joash,
whose arms the dying Elisha had blessed, won back in the sixteen years of his
reign (798-783) the cities which the Syrians had taken from his father. (2Ki
13:23-25) His successor, Jeroboam II, came in, therefore, with a flowing tide.
He was a strong man, and he took advantage of it. During his long reign of
about forty years (783-743) he restored the border of Israel from the Pass of Hamath between the Lebanons to
the Dead Sea, and occupied at least part of the territory of Damascus. This
means that the constant raids to which Israel had been subjected now ceased,
and that by the time of Amos, about 755, a generation was grown up who had not
known defeat, and the most of whom had perhaps no experience even of war.
“Along the same length of years Uzziah (circa 778-740) had dealt similarly with Judah.(2Ki
15; cf. 2Ch 26) He had pushed south to the Red Sea, while Jeroboam pushed north
to Hamath: and while Jeroboam had taken the Syrian
towns he had crushed the Philistine. He had reorganized the army, and invented
new engines of siege for casting stones.
“On such of his frontiers as were opposed
to the desert he had built towers...
“All this meant such security across broad
Israel as had not been known since the glorious days of Solomon. Agriculture
must everywhere have revived: Uzziah, the Chronicler
tells us, "loved husbandry." But we hear most of Trade and Building.
With quarters in Damascus and a port on the Red Sea, with allies in the
Phoenician towns and tributaries in the Philistine, with command of all the
main routes between Egypt and the North as between the Desert and the Levant,
Israel, during those forty years of Jeroboam and Uzziah,
must have become a busy and a wealthy commercial power. Hosea calls the
Northern Kingdom a very Canaan—Canaanite being the Hebrew term for
trader—...Amos exposes all the restlessness, the greed, and the indifference to
the poor of a community making haste to be rich. The first effect of this was a
large increase of the towns and of town-life. Every document of the time—up to
720—speaks to us of its buildings...Vast palaces— the name of them first heard
of in Israel under Omri and his Phoenician alliance,
and then only as that of the king’s citadel—are now built by wealthy grandees
out of money extorted from the poor; they can have risen only since the Syrian
wars. There are summer houses in addition to winter houses; and it is not only
the king, as in the days of Ahab, who furnishes his buildings with ivory. When
an earthquake comes and whole cities are overthrown, the vigor and wealth of
the people are such that they build more strongly and lavishly than before.
(Isa 9:10) With all this we have the characteristic tempers and moods of
city-life: the fickleness and liability to panic which are possible only where
men are gathered in crowds; the luxury and false art which are engendered only
by artificial conditions of life; the deep poverty which in all cities, from
the beginning to the end of time, lurks by the side of the most brilliant
wealth, its dark and inevitable shadow.
“In short, in the half-century between
Elisha and Amos, Israel rose from one to another of the great stages of
culture. Till the eighth century they had been but a kingdom of fighting
husbandmen. Under Jeroboam and Uzziah city-life was
developed, and civilization, in the proper sense of the word, appeared. Only
once before had Israel taken so large a step: when they crossed Jordan, leaving
the nomadic life for the agricultural; and that had been momentous for their
religion. They came among new temptations: the use of wine, and the shrines of
local gods who were believed to have more influence on the fertility of the
land than Jehovah who had conquered it for His people. But now this further
step, from the agricultural stage to the mercantile and civil, was equally
fraught with danger. There was the closer intercourse with foreign nations and
their cults. There were all the temptations of rapid wealth, all the dangers of
an equally increasing poverty. The growth of comfort among the rulers meant the
growth of thoughtlessness. Cruelty multiplied with refinement. The upper
classes were lifted away from feeling the real woes of the people. There was a
well-fed and sanguine patriotism, but at the expense of indifference to social
sin and want. Religious zeal and liberality increased, but they were coupled
with all the proud’s misunderstanding of God: an
optimist faith without moral insight or sympathy.
“It is all this which makes the prophets of
the eighth century so modern, while Elisha’s life is still so ancient...With
Amos we stand among the conditions of our own day. The City has arisen. For the
development of the highest form of prophecy, the universal and permanent form,
there was needed that marvelously unchanging mold of
human life, whose needs and sorrows, whose sins and problems, are today the
same as they were all those thousands of years ago.”
AN
EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY GUY
The
Lord uses ordinary people. The Apostle Paul was very aware of this when he
wrote to the church at Corinth. At that time people used to hide valuables in
clay jars, which themselves had little value or beauty and so did not attract
attention to themselves and their precious contents. Paul said, 2Cor 4:5-7 “For
we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of
darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure
in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from
us.”
Jars of clay. If you’re feeling a bit like
a ‘cracked pot’, the light of Christ may be able to shine out through the
cracks! Paul Goes on to admit feeling hard pressed on every side, perplexed,
struck down - yet sustained by the Lord. If you’re feeling a bit ‘beaten up’ or
worn down by life, take heart – God’s power is available and brings Him glory
shining out through folks like you when you lean into Him!
Anyway, back to Amos - who was a rather
‘ordinary Joe’. In the first verse of his book he identifies himself as one of
the shepherds of Tekoa. Later in chapter 7 he admits,
Amos 7:14f "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a
shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.But
the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my
people Israel.’” Amos’ awareness of Middle Eastern geography and politics shows
he was not an ignorant peasant, but neither was he middle- or upper-class. God
used a shepherd, a horticulturist, to head out of the country (the southern
kingdom of Judah) to go to the worship-centre of the Northern Kingdom (Israel,
the breakaway ten tribes) to deliver God’s warning and call them back to
Himself.
You’ve got to admire Amos’ pluck and
bravery and dedicated obedience. He was taking a real risk, challenging the
prosperous and powerful national leaders of a neighbouring country to repent.
Today it might be like a dairy farmer from Huron County heading to Washington
DC to challenge practices there. But Amos was faithful to God’s call.
THE
COMING FIRE: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Chapter
1 and the start of chapter 2 address the surrounding pagan nations. Amos uses a
repetitive format to convey a judgment on each of them. For example, 1:3-4
“This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of ___, even for four, I will
not turn back [my wrath]. Because she ___, I will send fire upon___that
will consume the fortresses of ___.”
What’s this “for 3 sins, even for 4"
business? It’s a rhetorical style that emphasizes the quantity he’s talking
about. As in, “Three would be enough to fill it: but four means it’s going to
overflow!” Thus Amos proceeds through a list of 7 surrounding nations to
highlight their transgressions before zeroing on Israel as the final target.
God is about to send fire upon their fortresses, their proud defences they are
trusting in. Within just 3 decades, at 722 BC, Assyria would sweep through the
region and Israel as a nation would be obliterated, its people exiled, foreign
immigrants brought in forcibly to replace the local population. About 30 years.
Think about the length of time from 1990 until now – that’s all the time that’s
left for Israel to go from its greatest height of power to being (essentially)
wiped off the map!
HEATHEN
NATIONS NOT EXEMPT
Amos
places Israel’s judgment plunk in the middle of judgment upon foreign pagan
nations. 1:1-2:3 lists 6 heathen nations that do not have God’s law: Syria
(capital Damascus), Philistia (Gaza), Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. God is
holding them responsible even though Moses did not convey the Ten Commandments
or other Jewish laws to them. God holds ALL people to account. God our Creator
has wired humans to possess the faculty called ‘conscience’, which helps us
know the difference between right and wrong, and signals guilt in our inner
being when we’ve treated others poorly or refused to acknowledge the Creator
who put us here.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the
church at Rome talks about how all people are accountable to God and subject to
His judgment by virtue of what should be obvious to them because of the innate
abilities God has given them. We have no excuse for going against God, we
cannot plead ignorance! Romans 1:18-20 “The wrath of God is being revealed from
heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth
by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because
God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s
invisible qualities— his eternal power and divine nature— have been clearly
seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without
excuse.”
Then in the next chapter Paul identifies
the special inner capacity people have to gauge ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, what we
call ‘conscience’. Romans 2:14f “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the
law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even
though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the
law are written on their hearts, their CONSCIENCES also bearing witness, and
their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.”
So, even though these neighbouring heathen
nations have not had the benefit of knowing the law revealed through Moses, God
nevertheless warns them of coming doom on account of various trespasses. What
have they done wrong?
In a couple of cases, they have been
BARBARIC AND BRUTAL in conflict. 1:3 “This is what the LORD says: "For
three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because
she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth...” Heavy sledges pulled by
horses were pulled over wheat and barley to separate the kernels and cut up the
straw. Can you imagine heavy sledges with iron teeth being pulled over human
victims? Barbaric.
Even more grotesque is what the Ammonites
did. 1:13-14 “This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Ammon, even
for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because he ripped open the pregnant
women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, I will set fire to the walls of
Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war
cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day.” Absolutely
BRUTAL! Not only merciless on the poor pregnant women, it totally disregards
the value of the life of the unborn.
We’ve come a long way today, haven’t we? We
have codes of conduct in warfare. We have the Geneva Convention to dictate how
prisoners of war should be treated. We have...legalized abortion in Canada,
essentially throughout the whole term of pregnancy! Brutal. Barbaric.
Thankfully, where there is repentance, Jesus heals and forgives. That is grace.
Another sin Amos calls out amongst the
pagan nations is lack of compassion, particularly where there should be
consideration for previous relationship. Look at the judgment against Edom in
1:11. You may recall Edom means ‘red’ and stands for the descendants of Jacob’s
twin brother Esau, who were neighbours of the Jews on their southern border.
1:11 “This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Edom, even for four,
I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because he pursued his brother with a sword,
stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury
flamed unchecked...”
Not having compassion on our own relatives.
Maybe we don’t pursue our kinsmen with a sword. But have you noticed how easy
it is to be nice to those outside your home, yet reserve your moodiness and
grumpiness and harshest criticism for your own family members? Can you think of
any families in the community that are at odds because of estate squabbles, one
party perceives things did not get divided up fairly when the parent died? Are
there cases where a son or daughter has been ‘written off’ because they got
into drugs, or the wrong crowd, or acted out sexually? Sometimes we may find it
hard to be compassionate to those who are our own relatives. Lord, have mercy!
A couple of the nations are called out on
account of human trafficking – dealing in slavery. There’s the Philistines in
1:6, “This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Gaza, even for four,
I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because she took captive whole communities and
sold them to Edom...” And the nation-city of Tyre in 1:9, “This is what the
LORD says: "For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back
[my wrath]. Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom,
disregarding a treaty of brotherhood...”
Human trafficking is still a big problem
today. The American Civil War may have ended outright oppression of
African-Americans in traditional slavery, but sex trafficking continues all
over the Western world today. Prince Andrew was in the news this past week, no
longer to be called “His Royal Highness”, having relegated any remaining royal
privileges and honorary military positions back to the Crown on account of a
civil case brought against him by a woman who was purportedly trafficked by Ghislaine Maxwell, years ago in his association with Jeffrey
Epstein. Charges the prince continues to deny. Afflence
and power bring with them expanded opportunities for temptation and “using”
other people. We’re supposed to love people and use things, not the other way
around - love things and use people.
ESPECIALLY
ACCOUNTABLE IN LIGHT OF GOD’S TRUTH
By
beginning with half a dozen neighbouring pagan nations, Amos makes it clear God
is not unfairly singling out the Northern Kingdom for judgment. ALL people will
be held to account. The Apostle Paul in his sermon before the court at Athens,
the Areopagus. Acts 17:30-31 “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but
now he commands ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE to repent.For
he has set a day when he will JUDGE THE WORLD with justice by the man he has appointed.He has given proof of this TO ALL MEN by raising
him from the dead.” Note the emphasis on universality of judgment: ‘commands
ALL people EVERYWHERE to repent...He will judge the WORLD with justice...He has
given proof of this to ALL men...” Christianity isn’t just relevant to those
who call themselves Christians. Jesus took on the form of humanness, of ALL
people, to be the Judge of all and Saviour of those who repent, for whom He has
purchased forgiveness from their sins.
Now Amos turns to Judah and Israel, the tribes
of Israel that received God’s special revelation in the Scriptures and OUGHT to
have known better. Unlike the pagan nations who had to rely on conscience not
well-communicated specifics. This rejection of the law by Judah is the basis
for God’s pronouncement of a warning: Amos 2:4f “This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath].
Because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees,
because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors
followed, I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses of
Jerusalem."” They rejected God’s law, disobeying His teachings, and were
seduced by worshipping false gods. Still today, when we reject what God has shown
in the Bible, we become more susceptible to the deceptive false gods culture at
large worships – gods of sex, money, power.
As for the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the
northern ten tribes that broke off from Solomon’s son Rehoboam
and formed a distinct political entity, Amos provides a short list of ways
they’ve broken God’s laws and failed to love their neighbour. He’ll expand on
this in later chapters, but here’s a broad overview. Amos 2:6-8 “This is what
the LORD says: "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn
back [my wrath]. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair
of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the
ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and
so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in
pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.”
Remember the historical setting here:
business is booming! People are building private palaces, adding cottages to
their regular homes, merchants are maximizing profits from the lucrative trade
routes over which the government has control. But riches have not translated
into righteousness. Instead, it’s just like Moses warned the Israelites back in
Deuteronomy 8 when they were standing at the brink of the Promised Land: Deut 8:11-14 “Be careful that you do not forget the LORD
your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am
giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build
fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your
silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will
become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of
Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
When times are tough, we are more inclined
to turn to God, to cry out to Him. But when times are easy, when the money’s
flowing and affluence is building and our assets are increasing, it’s easy for
our heart to become proud, it’s all too easy to FORGET God and suppose we can
do it on our own. Is that true for any of us today? What’s our ‘need of God’
gauge reading?
And when we become proud and
self-satisfied, we become selfish, less generous, less caring. The northern
kingdom saw justice and righteousness being eroded. Bribes greased palms and
swayed verdicts. Debtors were sold into slavery for the mere price of a pair of
shoes. Poor people were ignored in court; judges pandered to the wealthy and
were rewarded for it outside the courtroom. Fertility cult worship was popular;
the ancient Baal religion taught that sex with shrine prostitutes helped
guarantee a fertile harvest in the field, so many males used the same woman
sexually as part of the fertility cult rituals. The law of Moses taught a poor
person’s garment taken in pledge was to be returned to them by nightfall, and a
widow’s garment was not to be taken under any circumstances, but this rule was
ignored – and then those garments were used as bedding beside the altars to the
fertility gods. Fines were extorted from victims in corrupt court processes,
then that money used to buy wine to drink as part of pagan worship – a sort of
double slap in the face against the Lord.
ARE
WE FORGETTING GRACE?
At
this point in the pandemic, seeming ‘round 2', it’s easy to have a case of the
COVID Grumps. The darkness and coldness of this time of year doesn’t help. It’s
easy to be less patient with people, to snap at them, to feel those who don’t
see things our way are our enemies. It’s easy to forget God’s GRACE and be
grumpy instead of grateful.
I close with some verses in which Amos
reminds the unfaithful nation of the ways God has been their Saviour and shown
them much grace. Amos 2:9-11 “"I destroyed the Amorite before them, though
he was tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots below.I brought you up out of Egypt,
and I led you forty years in the desert to give you the land of the Amorites. I
also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your
young men. Is this not true, people of Israel?" declares the LORD.”
Today we might say after making our point,
“Isn’t that right?” Totally true! God had brought them out of slavery, into
this fruitful land, and raised up leaders who gave them spiritual guidance
based on His laws. They had received much grace; they owed Him their obedience.
It was an indisputable fact.
From our vantage point in history, how much
more grace have we been the recipients of? God sent Jesus to teach us His Great
Commandment and Great Commission and a wealth of other divine truth by which to
live our life. God raised up Jesus from the dead to give us righteousness in
His sight to replace our guilt and rebellion. How much more grace have we
obtained as sheer gift! What response does such an abundance of grace call
forth? Let’s pray.
Righteous God, in Amos’ prophecy we see a
mirror held up to our own society. We have been intent on building our palaces
instead of protecting the poor. We have overlooked shabby treatment of justice
as long as it meant we could get ahead, whether wearing clothes made in
sweatshops or getting our manufacturing done overseas so we didn’t have to
breathe the fumes. We tolerate a little bit of immorality in our entertainment
as long as the kids aren’t around to watch it. We show disregard for Your day
and Your laws then wonder why society is falling apart. Forgive us, Lord. Thank
You for Your grace made so very real in Jesus Christ and by Your Holy Spirit
coming into our lives, pricking our conscience, turning us to You. We want to
heed Your warning and wake up to Your call, and the needs of others around us.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
THE
TROUBLE WITH TROUBLES
In
case you hadn’t noticed – life has its troubles. Some troubles are of our own
making. Some are not. How can we make sense of our troubles? Is there a purpose
in our problems? In the book of Amos we find that the nation of Israel was
about to bring a lot of trouble on itself, and God was trying repeatedly to get
their attention so they would be spared that pain.
Speaking of troubles...Tommy Lasorda,
former coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers, once said, "I found that it's not
good to talk about my troubles.Eighty percent of the
people who hear them don't care, and the other 20 percent are glad you're
having trouble."
Maybe that’s part of the problem with
troubles? People are either indifferent, or secretly take delight that you’re
in difficulty? We’ll see the hardness of the human heart had a part in the
troubles into which the Israelites were headed.
WHY
THE LION IS ROARING
You
may recall that last Sunday we introduced the prophet Amos, who was not a
prophet by way of career – he’d been a shepherd in the southern kingdom of
Judah, who also tended sycamore-fig trees. Your down-to-earth kinda guy. Judah and Israel were enjoying times of relative
prosperity and expansion during the long reigns of their kings Uzziah and Jeroboam II, respectively. Amos responded to
God’s call to go prophesy at the political centre of the northern kingdom,
about 30 years before the Assyrians would invade and destroy it in 722 BC. So,
the clock is ticking. Amos’ prophecies are blunt and vivid, but will the
flourishing northerners pay any attention before it’s too late?
As a shepherd, Amos had likely had to fend
off wild predators from the flock he tended. So it’s not surprising to hear him
use the analogy of a lion roaring. 3:4 “Does a lion roar in the thicket when he
has no prey? Does he growl in his den when he has caught nothing?” It would
have been a sound that made the hair stand up on the back of your neck if you
were tending sheep and you heard a lion roar and all you had was a stick or a
club! But in this case, the lion that’s roaring is much more powerful than any
earthly creature. 1:2 “The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem...”
3:8 “The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken— who
can but prophesy?” It’s God Himself who is roaring and threatening destruction,
so Amos’ hearers had better pay attention.
Why is the lion roaring? Because God cares
about His people and wants to warn them to change their ways and be spared
disaster. God is not like those 80% the Los Angeles Dodgers coach was talking
about, who don’t care about your troubles! God does care. The Lord has an
investment in your past and your future.
Amos 3:2 gives a clue why God even bothered
to send Amos miles and miles from the southern kingdom of Judah up to the
north, to Israel. Amos 3:2 “You only have I chosen of all the families of the
earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.” See the investment, the
ownership, the taking responsibility there? “You only have I chosen of all the
families of the earth...” God explained through Moses, back before they even
received the law at Sinai, that they were to play a particular role among the
other nations. Exodus 19:5-6 “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.Although
the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation.” Holy; a kingdom of PRIESTS – not existing for themselves, but to be
mediators, priests for other nations, interceding and ministering as liaisons
to the Divine.
They were a chosen people, which was a high
privilege – but that also entailed a responsibility. Their family ALONE had God
chosen of all the families of the earth – so He was paying close attention to
their conduct. And it seemed lately Israel had forgotten their special role,
forgotten God’s laws, and were living only to please themselves. So, v2, God
says: “Therefore, I will punish you for all your sins.”
But not just for the sake of punishment.
God had a purpose in roaring: He wanted them to return to Him. Five times in
4:6-11 God identifies disciplinary actions He has taken – empty stomachs, lack
of bread, withholding rain, striking the gardens with blight and mildew and
locusts, sent plagues, killing their young men in conflict, overthrowing them –
but what’s the constant refrain each time? 4:6-11 “...yet you have not returned
to Me.” The purpose of the prophesying and punishments is to draw the people
back to Himself, to win their hearts back into relationship with the God who
initially delivered them out of slavery in Egypt.
EVEN
PAGANS ARE SHOCKED
Behaviour
- who we are on the outside, how we act – has a lot to do with who we are on
the inside, our inner being. The Israelites were behaving so badly at this
point in their history that even surrounding pagan nations would be amazed at
how low they had sunk.
During Laura Schlessinger's
syndicated call-in show, some fifty thousand people attempted to consult her on
the air while an additional seventeen million tuned in to listen. Her
poke-at-the-conscience style was part of a revival of the notion that how you
behave says something about who you are. Dr.Laura
exhorted her followers to abandon self-indulgence. "You don't lower the
bar because you are human," she says. "You rise to the occasion –
that's what elevates you to full humanity."
However the Israelites ‘lowered the bar’
and caved in to self-indulgence at the expense of others. The Lord beckons
other nations to come watch His indictment of His people. These other pagan
nations didn’t have the advantage of God’s revealed law given at Mount Sinai.
You might recall from last week how in chapter 1 Amos pronounced God’s judgment
on surrounding nations: they only had the natural ‘law of conscience’ in
contrast to Judah and Israel which also had the law of Moses. Yet God held them
to account on the basis of their conscience.
Note verses 9-10 in Amos 3: Amos 3:9f
“Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod and to the fortresses of Egypt:
"Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest
within her and the oppression among her people.
"They
do not know how to do right," declares the LORD, "who hoard plunder
and loot in their fortresses."”
Here “Ashdod” is one of the cities of the
Philistines; Egypt is invited to watch as well. These old enemies of the
Israelites, even though they were pagan, were shocked at some of the behaviour
of the Israelites. Verse 9 mentions “unrest” - the word can also be translated
‘tumult, confusion, disturbance’. As time progressed, kings were assassinated
and coups became commonplace. There was not respect for authority. Our society
today risks becoming more fractured and polarized due to disagreement about
news sources, what’s your preferred social media ‘echo chamber’, whether we can
trust the government, do institutions really have our best interests at heart?
Younger generations may be more suspicious of organizational authority than
previous ones. There are protests, rallies, division, unrest.
Verse 9 “See the great unrest within her
and the OPPRESSION among her people.” And 4:1 talks about those (4:1) “who
oppress the poor and crush the needy...” Oppression happens when ‘might makes
right’, when the economic heavyweights are free to throw their weight around,
squeeze out the little guy. Canada is currently experiencing high inflation
rates; that can make it hard for lower income earners to afford groceries or
necessities. A ‘connection centre’ for the homeless is being looked into as a
possibility for Wingham, because homelessness is
becoming more apparent even in our rural area – during a pandemic, people are
more hesitant to let others couch-surf.
Big business does not always look out for
the interests of its workers. An article about legal challenges arising over
vaccine mandates noted cases are more likely to be looked on favourably by the
court in the particular instance where workers that lost their job because they
chose not to be vaccinated were denied severance. Oppression tries to take
advantage, not give someone their due.
Amos 3:10 “"They do not know how to do
right," declares the LORD, "who hoard plunder and loot in their
fortresses."” These people were well enough off to be able to afford
‘fortresses’ yet apparently they cheated and stole from others in order to
acquire such wealth.
And perhaps those who tend to laziness and
love of being ‘at ease’ are referred to in 3:12, “those who sit in Samaria on
the edge of their beds and in Damascus on their couches.” Ethics questions were
raised this past week about one federal leader who accepted the gift of a
rocking chair worth a couple of thousand dollars then posted to social media a
photo of their family sitting in it and tagged the donor company. A rocking
chair became a bit of a hot seat! (Generally parliamentarians are advised NOT
to accept gifts.) Sigh – we do love our Lazy Boys! “Hand me the remote and the
bowl of chips, please!”
In chapter 4 the shepherd-prophet denounces
some of the wives of the rich; these women are compared in a most
uncomplimentary fashion to livestock that grazed in the lush pasturelands of
northern Transjordan. Amos 4:1 “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount
Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your
husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"” Their priorities were living a
consumer lifestyle, not caring about the rights of the have-nots. “Bring me
another beer from the fridge, Freddie!” But is that not the general direction
of an affluent society – after a certain point, you’ve got your winter house
and your summer house checked off, you start to live for the pleasures you
consume day-to-day? The alcohol and drugs take the edge off the ‘ennui’.
Scripture holds a mirror up to that emptiness, that vacuity – our souls were
designed for more than that! Jesus calls us to discipleship not dissipation.
Their sin extended to the realm of worship,
which had become insincere, more a formality, for show. Amos 4:4f “"Go to
Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more.Bring
your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. Burn leavened
bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings— boast about
them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do," declares the
Sovereign LORD.” Bring, burn, brag, boast – these are said as commands but in
an IRONIC way: the worshippers were performing the rituals in order to show
off, to look good in front of others, to be able to boast. Even though the
bread was actually supposed to be UN-leavened. They were not trying to ascribe
worth or value to the Lord: they wanted to look worthy themselves, big-shots.
The Lord wasn’t fooled, He could see the real motives of their hearts.
ON
WHAT TERMS WOULD WE MEET GOD?
How
can we find purpose in our problems? Sometimes as in the case of the book of
Job, God has His own inscrutable reasons, which we can’t see at the moment.
Sometimes our problems are the result of sin, whether our own or others, even
stemming back to Adam and Eve and eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of
Eden. When we yield to temptation, we may end up reaping what we sow: part of
the perverseness of sin is that temptation never delivers what it seems to
promise. Sometimes problems are God’s way of growing us, helping us mature in
our character. James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial,
because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God
has promised to those who love him.”
Here in Amos though, the Israelites had
been encountering a whole host of problems, with the purpose of being drawn to
RETURN TO GOD. Five times in 4:6-11 God is identified as sending significant
problems that should have caught their attention, “‘...yet you have not
returned to Me,’ declares the Lord.”
What’s your attitude when problems arise?
Do you allow them to become a wedge which would intrude BETWEEN you and the
Lord, creating distance, widening the gap? Or do you position yourself so that
the problem forces you closer to the Lord, causing you to rely on Him even
more?
Chapter 4 ends on kind of an ominous note.
The people of Israel have ignored the famine, the drought, the blight, the
mildew, the locusts, the plagues, the military defeats – nothing has worked to
induce them to call out to God. Their options have been exhausted. All that’s
left now for them is the option of obliteration.
Sidebar: Never waste a good PLAGUE! What
has the pandemic been teaching you? Has it caused you to lean into God more, or
instead made you bitter, resentful, impatient, questioning whether God really
knows what He’s doing? Problems can precipitate repentance. Jesus takes on our
pain, in healing the leper He becomes the outcast.
Amos’ words are both vague and ominous.
4:12 “"Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will
do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel."” OH! What could that
mean?! They would find out soon enough, when the Assyrians led them out as
captives by ropes tied to hooks through their lips and noses. Yikes.
4:13 reminds Amos’ hearers this is not some
trivial deity they are dealing with, like one of the local Baal fertility gods.
Throughout today’s passage the prophet has referred to God as “the Sovereign
LORD” (3:7f,10; 4:2,5) or “the Lord [Adonai], the LORD [YHWH] God Almighty”
(3:13) – both titles which emphasizes God’s supreme power and control and
accountability. But 4:13 is epic in describing God’s power and depth and
intelligence and majesty, in just a few simple phrases. Amos 4:13 “He who forms
the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns
dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth— the LORD God
Almighty is his name.”
‘Forms the mountains’ - did you see some of
the photos of the volcanic explosion in Tonga this past week? Before the
explosion, there was this huge crater, which then sank under the ocean’s
surface before exploding in a huge thermal/chemical reaction, leaving just the
highest parts of the land mass remaining afterwards out at the two extreme
ends.
God ‘creates the wind’ - sovereign over
invisible forces as well as the ones we see.
God ‘turns dawn to darkness’ - He is in
charge of solar and universal and cosmic powers. Gravity and Kepler’s laws that
govern the heavenly bodies are God’s idea.
God ‘treads the high places of the earth’ -
far greater and more immense than our mere limited mortal human frame, like
some giant wearing seven-league boots.
Yet also God ‘reveals His thoughts to man’
– this one stands out in contrast to the other descriptors. God is relational,
communicating, talking to us, making it possible for us to even understand and
contemplate Him! In Jesus God has come among us in human form, a person like
us, someone we can relate to (not just some impersonal cosmic force). He loves
us and invites us to repent, to receive Him, to have fellowship with Him.
Revelation 3:20 [Jesus says] “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If
anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and
he with me.” And John 14:23, “Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will
obey my teaching.My Father will love him, and we will
come to him and make our home with him.”
Can an Almighty God who rules the cosmos
and treads earth’s high places also “make His home” with us? Absolutely! The
Lord Jesus calls you to believe, repent, and obey. He will prove His promises
to you.
ONE
FOR THE ROAD
Unfortunately
the women of Samaria, the so-called ‘cows of Bashan’, did not give up on
oppressing the poor and calling their husbands to bring them another drink.
Before many decades passed, they were being cast out through breaks in the wall
they had trusted in for security. When you hear God calling, warning you to
repent and receive Him, don’t delay.
In George Whitefield’s journal, he records
that during his first voyage to Georgia, the ship’s cook had a bad drinking
problem. When the cook was reproved for it and other sins, he boasted that he
would be wicked until the last two years of his life, and then he would reform.
Whitefield ads that within six hours of the
time the cook made his boastful statement, he died of an illness related to his
drinking. He had left reform too late. Let’s pray.
Lord, we don’t want our worship here today
to be fake – bringing offerings so we can brag and boast and congratulate ourselves
on being religious. We need you to poke a hole in our self-righteousness, as
Amos rebuked the people of Israel, calling them out on their oppression, their
uncaring, their idolatry, their empty lifestyles. Let’s not go home today
without inviting You to make Your home within us, loving You who have spelled
out Your commitment to us at the cross of Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.
MY,
WHAT A STRONG FAMILY RESEMBLANCE
If
there’s one thing the younger generation is hungry for these days, it’s
authenticity. We want people to be real, not fake. We have no time for people
who lie to us, try to put one over on us, aren’t being genuine and truthful
with us. Deceit destroys relationships.
Unfortunately it’s all too easy to ‘fake
it’ convincingly these days. We sort through our photographs carefully and post
only the complimentary ones to social media. That way people only ever see the
‘best’ side of us. Meanwhile our family and closest coworkers we’re around most
of the time get the joy of putting up with the REAL ‘us’.
Comedian Tommy Smothers was a great actor –
which comes with its own level of professional phoniness. He once observed,
"The best thing about getting older is that you gain sincerity.Once
you learn to fake that, there's nothing you can't do."
French student Jean Louviot
traveled for several months through Europe with a fake photograph on his
passport. He was never detained, even though the photograph was of his cocker
spaniel. Said a red-faced border official: "It's the way kids wear their
hair these days."
And did you hear about the restaurant in
Alberta that last month was forced to close for a few days? Public health
inspectors say some of its staff accepted photos of patrons’ dogs instead of
their vaccine passports to dine inside. Yes, that’s right – two test shoppers
were allowed to dine inside the restaurant at separate times after showing a
photo of a dog and personal identification. In both instances, a staff member
made it appear as if they were scanning a QR code before checking ID.
Apparently the underage host would be getting some mandatory ‘retraining’
before the restaurant reopened.
“Wow, Mrs Smith,
your hair has certainly been getting pretty long and shaggy lately, hasn’t it?
Must be that new shampoo you’re using.”
Jesus reminds us that Satan is a deceiver,
there is no truth in him. John 8:44b “When he lies, he speaks his native
language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Jesus accused those who
opposed the truth He taught of being children of the devil, sons of Satan. When
we ‘fake it’ and are hypocritical, we are showing a resemblance not to God but
to the evil one.
In our passage today from Amos chapters 5
and 6, the prophet points out how fake the Israelites were being in their
worship, and how falsely and corruptly they were treating their neighbours. Yet
the Lord was beckoning them back to follow Him with truth and repentance.
IT’S
YOUR FUNERAL!
Amos
begins this section as if he were preaching a funeral sermon for the
Israelites, as if they were already lying dead there in the casket and he were
preaching mournfully about their demise. I don’t think Robert Schuller would
have invited Amos to speak at the Crystal Cathedral – not really the most
positive approach!
Amos 5:1f “Hear this word, O house of
Israel, this LAMENT I take up concerning you: "Fallen is Virgin Israel,
never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her
up." This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "The city that marches out
a thousand strong for Israel will have only a hundred left; the town that
marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left."” It’s a LAMENT, a
funeral dirge. The northern nation is FALLEN, done for, never to rise again.
It’s DECIMATED: from a thousand to 100, from 100 down to ten. And that’s
exactly what would happen a few short decades later: Samaria the capital would
fall in 732 BC, the whole nation exiled in 722 BC.
Remember Amos is predicting this when
everything’s rolling along great guns, the economy is booming, Jeroboam II has
succeeded in recapturing cities and restoring the country’s boundaries to the
greatest extent it ever had, back to Solomon’s time and its Golden Age. So
predicting a funeral makes quite a contrast. Amos’ word ‘Woe’ seems not to fit:
Amos 6:1 “WOE to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on
Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of
Israel come!” They were feeling secure in their mighty fortresses and huge
mansions, they had lots to eat and drink so thought they could afford to be
complacent.
But Amos’ vivid word pictures present a
different time, one that would come true after the Assyrians invaded. Amos
5:16-20 “Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says:
"There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every
public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail.
There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your
midst," says the LORD. WOE to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do
you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. It will
be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered
his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will
not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of
brightness?”
Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it? You
escape from one thing only to fall prey to another – escape the lion but meet a
bear; arrive at your house breathless only to be bitten by a snake. The “Day of
the Lord” they supposed would bring victory for them would turn out to be quite
the opposite. Wailing, cries of anguish all over town, farmers weeping, even
sadness in the vineyards.
God would ‘pass through’ their midst
(5:17). Israel’s foundational story was the Exodus from Egypt at the time of
the Passover; back in Ex 12:12 God ‘passed THROUGH’ the Egyptians in judgment
and struck down the firstborn, but ‘passed OVER’ the Hebrew slaves. This time
would be different, He would ‘pass THROUGH’ them bringing death and exile.
The gloomy prediction continues in 6:8-11 -
“The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself— the LORD God Almighty declares:
"I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up
the city and everything in it." If ten men are left in one house, they too
will die. And if a relative who is to burn the bodies comes to carry them out
of the house and asks anyone still hiding there, "Is anyone with
you?" and he says, "No," then he will say, "Hush! We must
not mention the name of the LORD." For the LORD has given the command, and
he will smash the great house into pieces and the small house into bits.”
That sounds like some scene out of a Zombie
movie. Normally bodies were buried in Israel, not burned; but if all ten in a
house were killed, and that was happening everywhere, it might be necessary to
burn the bodies because there wasn’t time or labour available to give them
proper burial. Rotting corpses could bring disease and epidemic. And when the
collector comes, the warning is not even to mention God’s name even in prayer,
because the judgment is so severe.
The disaster would overtake the whole
northern nation. Amos 6:14 “For the LORD God Almighty declares, "I will
stir up a nation against you, O house of Israel, that will oppress you all the
way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the
Arabah."” In other words, all the way from your northern to your southern
extremities, the entire territory!
FLOURISHING
BY FORCE
Amos
painted such a dire picture! Was this funeral necessary? How come the nation
would go from flourishing at its historical best to total destruction in just a
few short decades? For you mystery-lovers, what’s the anatomy of this crime? Whodunnit? How could this grisly death have been averted?
Our passage sums it up in three broad
areas: Flourishing by Force; Fake Worship; and, Fouling what’s formed for good.
Economically, the nation was flourishing at
this time, under the long and successful reign of Jeroboam II. But the ‘little
guy’ at the bottom of the economy was footing the bill. Amos 5:10-12, “you hate
the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. You trample
on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built
stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush
vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you
deprive the poor of justice in the courts.”
Yes, they lived in impressive mansions made
of stone, and drank freely from lush vineyards, but they twisted justice in the
court system, accepting bribes, grinding the poor to extract grain even though
the rich were already living lavishly. They despised anyone who was truthful,
and oppressed anyone who tried to live in a righteous way. They ran roughshod
over justice. Their motto in managing their affairs might have been, “Just get’er done” – regardless of how many bodies were thrown
under the bus.
See a further description of their
lifestyle in 6:4-6, “You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your
couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your
harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the
bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of
Joseph.” Hm - ‘drink wine by the bowlful’? Today we
might say they drank it ‘by the bucket’! Well, why not – when all your physical
needs are looked after and you’re ‘set for life’, why not ‘live it up’ and sink
into the anesthetic of liquid pleasure? ‘Finest lotions’ would hint at slaves
satisfying every whim in massage parlours. Chomping on choice lamb, sleeping in
on beds inlaid with ivory, spending your day idly listening to the Top 40 –
these fat cats ‘had it made’!
But their consciences were inoperative;
they did not ‘grieve over the ruin of Joseph’ – it didn’t bother them that the
courts were so corrupt, or that the lives at the other end of the economic
ladder were tangled in such misery. Consequently these in ‘first class’ would
be first to go when judgment happened: 6:7 “Therefore you will be among the first
to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end.”
FAKE
WORSHIP
Part
of the reason they didn’t grieve over the country’s ruin, and were so
oppressive to the lower classes, was because their worship was off-base.
Worship anchors values. What we worship, we treasure. If we worship a righteous
and holy and loving God, we’ll want to be like that. Worship informs values,
which inform choices, daily decisions.
When the northern kingdom split off from
the south, from Solomon’s son ruling Judah, the first king Jeroboam created
alternate worship space at Bethel, calf idols that would be a focus for
religious ceremonies, so people wouldn’t have to travel to Jerusalem in the
south. Subsequent kings drifted even further into idolatry. Think, for example,
of the notorious King Ahab, who interacted with the prophet Elijah about a
hundred years before Amos. 1Kings 21:25f “(There was never a man like Ahab, who
sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife.
He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the
LORD drove out before Israel.)” The viler the better – maybe he excused it
under the banner of ‘entertainment value’?
So by Amos’ time, religion was a formality,
for show, not sincere. People were hypocrites, faking it. But they weren’t
fooling God for one minute! Amos 5:21-23 [God speaking] “I hate, I despise your
religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me
burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring
choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the
noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” Their
behaviour and attitudes when they WEREN’T at worship undercut anything they
might try to do in religious ceremony. God hated it! He DESPISED their
religious activities, He couldn’t stand the hypocrisy any longer. Even the
songs were just ‘noise’ to Him.
We see their duplicity and deceitfulness
pointed to in 5:25-26, “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years
in the desert, O house of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god—which you made for
yourselves.” They had made god in their own image, so essentially were bowing
down to and worshipping themselves. The nouns in the original language may
refer to actual gods in the Middle East: Molech was
associated with the worship of Saturn and the stars, and the sacrifice of
children.
Here in Canada we tend to be critical of
the so-called “American Dream” – but do we buy into it nonetheless? What cloud
are we chasing? Do we think to ourselves, “If I only do this or attain that,
I’ll be all set, then I can sit back and take it easy?” Pay careful attention
to any little-g ‘gods’ you may have picked up along your journey. We become
what we worship! Any lesser gods will consume you and leave you bankrupt,
enslaved, without hope. Revere Jesus as Lord: He calls you to costly
discipleship but delivers eternal life already in this mortal life through a
relationship with His Heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit. Jesus still
calls out to us: John 7:37b-38 “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and
drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living
water will flow from within him.”
FOULING
WHAT’S FORMED FOR GOOD
The
third area Amos takes aim at in this passage, besides the Israelites enriching
themselves at others’ expense, and practising idolatry, is their polluted
attitude toward what matters in life. They FOULED what was ethical, they
couldn’t stand what was right, they had to muddy things and twist it to their
advantage. Note the words “turn into”: what effect did they have upon what was
going on around them? Amos 5:7 “You who turn justice into bitterness and cast
righteousness to the ground...” See also 6:12 “Do horses run on the rocky
crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness...” They turned what SHOULD have
been good into something bad, they spoiled it, they fouled the pure waters and
made it evil. To review: they turned justice into bitterness, they cast
righteousness to the ground, they turned justice into poison, they turned the
fruit of righteousness into bitterness. Part of evil’s deceptive depravity, its
inner twistedness and corruptness, is that it can worm its way into something
meant for good and turn it to its own selfish advantage. Courts didn’t deliver
just decisions because judges accepted bribes. Rich landowners somehow extorted
grain from poor tenants who were near starvation.
One of Amazon’s free eBooks this month was
a memoir about a man from Ghana who succeeded eventually in making his way to
Spain. But at one point, the human smugglers that were guiding them abandoned
them in the desert. Out of forty people who started out, only 6 survived. That
is evil at its vilest that manipulates and steals from those who are refugees,
migrants, who have very little to start with – and abandons them to fend for
themselves in a hostile environment.
Foul indeed! Yet when we examine our own
heart, we can find inclinations that are likewise unloving, uncaring, words
blurted out that attempt to bolster our own status even if they leave others
looking or feeling bad. Business dealings that aren’t exactly a ‘win’ for both
parties – maybe we didn’t quite tell the whole truth about that item we sold on
Kijiji. We get infuriated when others don’t keep their appointments yet let
ourselves off the hook rather easily when something comes up last minute and we
have to cancel on someone else. It’s part of evil’s deceit that it never seems
quite as bad when it’s US doing the action compared to when someone does it to
us. So the perversion of the Golden Rule, our self-preserving unspoken approach
becomes, “Do unto others BEFORE they can do it unto you.” Ethics fouled up.
By contrast, this passage highlights what
God has power to TURN things INTO. 5:7 talks about humans turning justice into
bitterness, but 5:8 shows God’s goodness opposing such fouling: “(he who made
the Pleiades and Orion, who TURNS blackness INTO dawn and darkens day INTO
night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of
the land— the LORD is his name...” God is the one with REAL transforming power!
2Cor 5:17,21 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old
has gone, the new has come! ...God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Through Christ, God
turns our fallen sinner selves into righteous new creatures.
FINDING
GOD BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
The
clock is ticking towards doomsday for the Israelites, the ‘Day of the Lord’
when they would be overrun by the Assyrians. Yet even in this passage we find
God’s appeals for them to turn back to Him. It’s not too late to repent and
change and get right with their Maker.
Amos 5:4,6 “This is what the LORD says to
the house of Israel: "Seek me and live...Seek the LORD and live, or he
will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel
will have no one to quench it.” When they seek and find Him, it will affect how
they treat others! Amos 5:14f “Seek good, not evil, that you may live.Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as
you say he is.Hate evil, love good; maintain justice
in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of
Joseph.”
If they seek the Lord, they will live; when
they seek good instead of evil, God will be with them, and have mercy. Their
seeking Him will be evidenced by court proceedings that are just and fair, not
tainted by bribes and corruption.
The classic verse in this passage reveals
that God at His core is passionate about justice and righteousness, rather than
formalized worship routines. Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!” What a vibrant word-picture!
Torrents of truth, a river of righteousness. You can keep your stone mansions,
your summer and winter houses, your fancy beds decorated with ivory. Justice
and righteousness are beautiful and impressive in the eyes of the Lord.
JUSTICE
– AND MORE
In
closing, here’s a story to illustrate justice, mercy, and grace in a courtroom
setting – probably not like what went on in Amos’ time!
A man was caught and taken to court because
he had stolen a loaf of bread. When the judge investigated, he found out that
the man had no job, and his family was hungry. He had tried unsuccessfully to
get work and finally, to feed his family, he had stolen a loaf of bread. Although
recognizing the extenuating circumstances, the judge said, "I'm sorry, but
the law can make no exceptions. You stole the bread, and therefore I have to
punish you. I order you to pay a fine of ten dollars."
The judge continued, "But I want to
pay your fine myself." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a ten-dollar
bill, and handed it to the man. As soon as the man took the money, the judge
said, "Now I also want to cancel the fine and remit the sentence to time
served." That is, the man could keep the money and go free.
"Furthermore,” said the judge, “I am going to instruct the bailiff to pass
around a hat to everyone in this courtroom, and I am fining everyone in this
courtroom fifty cents for living in a city where a man has to steal in order to
have bread to eat." The money was
collected and given to the defendant.
Here, justice was meted out and paid in
full—while mercy and grace were also enacted in full measure. We sinners were
condemned in the pure eyes of heaven’s court: yet Christ paid the price of our
forgiveness on the cross. Now His Spirit empowers us to likewise live lives of
grace and mercy! Let’s pray.
Holy God, we see ourselves to some degree
in Amos’ accusations – lounging about on couches, investing in our beds, trying
to take advantage of others in our dealings, not having our heart totally ‘in
it’ when we gather to worship. Have mercy on us! We know we’ve fallen short in
many ways. Help us seek You that we may live. Pour out Your Holy Spirit that we
may live Christ-shaped lives full of justice and righteousness, a passion for
doing what’s right and honouring to You in every situation. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
LOOKING
THROUGH THE LENS OF LOVE
It’s
St.Valentine’s Day tomorrow. Historically it may be
that more than one man named Valentine was martyred on February 14 in various
years before 500 A.D. The Christian Church in promoting this date may have been
attempting to civilize the customs associated with the pagan festival of
Lupercalia. At any rate, February 14th has become associated with
celebrating love. Now, love Biblically understood is quite different from
romantic love, in which you become ‘smitten’ or ‘twitterpated’
frequently due to attraction based on rather superficial features such as
physical beauty and rampaging hormones.
Love understood Biblically has more to do
with one’s sacrificially giving of oneself on behalf of the one who’s loved.
Let’s let the Lord define our categories regarding love! Such passages as John
3:16 come to mind - Jn 3:16 “For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.” Love GAVE, love made FORGIVENESS possible. Or
take the same reference in the Apostle John’s first letter: 1Jn 3:16 “This is
how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought
to lay down our lives for our brothers.” Doesn’t that sound like a definition?
“This is how we know what love is...” Love lays down its life for the beloved.
Jesus gave His life for sinners; when we follow Him, we come to lay down our
lives, make sacrifices for, our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Of course there’s the ‘love chapter’,
1Corinthians 13, especially verses 4-7 - 1Cor 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is
kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.It
is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs.Love does not delight in evil but
rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Not a word about being bowled over by
the other person’s sex appeal! Somehow it doesn’t seem to have to be anchored
in the other person’s meriting or deserving it at all. In fact it OVERLOOKS the
other’s shortcomings, it’s not based on or powered by physical chemistry.
One of my favourite verses about what love
is comes from Romans 5:8 - “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” A person’s being sinful does
NOT attract God to them: yet God’s agape-love gets past the chasm of that
objectionableness and through Christ’s costly atonement makes the sinner holy
through their repentance and faith or ‘ownership’ of what Jesus accomplished
for them at the cross.
So let’s take this lens, these ‘spectacles’
(if you will) of the Biblical understanding of love, and see what we can find
about love in today’s passage, Amos chapters 7 and 8. It’s probably not a
passage you would normally pick for a sermon near St.Valentine’s
Day! But nevertheless we can see, with our New Testament eyes, hints that love
TREASURES; love COMMUNICATES; love LISTENS; love FORGIVES; love is TRUTHFUL;
and, love LIFTS UP.
LOVE
TREASURES
Love
VALUES the other, it treasures them, cherishes them. In a passage giving
instruction about marriage in Ephesians 5, Paul writes: Eph
5:25f,28f “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water
through the word...In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as
their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever
hated his own body, but he FEEDS AND CARES for it, just as Christ does the
church...” Usually we protect and look after our bodies pretty well because we
depend on them, we want to live a long time. New American Standard translates
‘feeds and cares’ as “nourishes and cherishes” - the second verb ‘thalpo’ means “to cherish with tender love, to foster with
tender care”.
What we love we value, we care for
and cherish, we attribute worth to and prize especially. In Amos 8 we see the Israelites
being condemned for prizing false gods, they treasured idols. Amos 8:14 “They
who swear by the shame of Samaria, or say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O
Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’— they will fall, never to
rise again."” The first king Jeroboam had erected calf idols at Bethel in
the south and Dan in the north. Here the phrase “the SHAME of Samaria” is in
contrast to Amos 8:7 - “The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will
never forget anything they have done.” The Lord is supposed to be Jacob’s
PRIDE, the One in whom they boast, the One they prize.
Because the Israelites worship idols
and don’t value the Lord, they begin to DEVALUE other people, they cheat and
oppress and sell into slavery those who are poor. They don’t treasure their
neighbour. Amos 8:4-6 “Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with
the poor of the land, saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may
sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?"— skimping the
measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor
with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings
with the wheat.” What are they valuing? Making money! They can’t wait for the
religious festivals to be over so they can open up shop and start selling
goods, shortchanging buyers, selling chaff with the wheat to lower the cost per
unit weight, even selling poor people into slavery for minor amounts they can’t
repay on a loan or come up with for a pair of shoes they bought.
Real love TREASURES. A wealthy old
man had just recently married a lovely young lady and was beginning to wonder
whether she might have married him just for his money. He asked her, "If I
lost all my money, would you still love me?" She said reassuringly,
"Oh honey, don't be silly.Of course I would
still love you.And I would miss you terribly."
LOVE
COMMUNICATES
Next,
love communicates, it gives expression to its thoughts, it articulates
meaningfully with the other person. Jesus is God’s supreme self-revelation,
God’s ‘making known’ of God’s very being. John 1:14 “The Word became flesh...” Jn 1:18 “God the One and Only...has made him known.” Jesus
prayed in John 17:6,26 - “I have REVEALED you to those whom You gave me out of
the world...I have MADE YOU KNOWN to them, and will continue to MAKE YOU KNOWN
in order that the LOVE you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be
in them.” Love expresses itself, love communicates, it shares itself verbally
and opens up to the other person.
In Amos 7-8 God shows the prophet
various visions that communicate God’s plans, or at least the threat of
judgment that may be coming. At the beginning of chapter 7 the Lord shows Amos
swarms of locusts He’s preparing; then (v4) a vision of judgment by fire that
“dried up the great deep and devoured the land”. At the beginning of chapter 8
the Lord shows Amos “a basket of ripe fruit” indicating “the time is ripe” (v2)
for judgment upon them.
Yet, the Israelite leaders are not
receptive to the messages God is communicating to them. About the middle of
chapter 7 the priest at Bethel accuses Amos of raising a conspiracy against the
king, and tells Amos harshly to get out and go back to the southern kingdom of
Judah where he came from. They don’t want to hear God’s warnings!
Consequently, the Lord warns that a
time will come when His loving communication will be withheld. Amos 8:11-12
“"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I
will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for
water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.Men
will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the
word of the LORD, but they will not find it.” He had sent them messages before,
but the people rejected the messages, so they would be exiled and not hear
words from the prophets anymore. Love communicates.
Sometimes the simplest things we say
convey the strongest messages to loved ones, says Boston marriage and family
therapist Ellen Dunn, Ph.D. Some of these powerful words and phrases are: “Nice
going! - Terrific! - I'm proud of you! - Wow! - Way to go! - I really
appreciate your help - You're the best! - Awesome! - Great job! - I know you
can do it! - Most excellent! - Couldn't have done it better myself!” Let’s try some
of those on for size this week, shall we? And communicate our love to the other
person. Not be like the stiff-lipped old Englishman who at long last confided
to his wife, “Darling, sometimes I love you so much, it’s all I can do to keep
from telling you.” (!)
LOVE
LISTENS
Next,
love not only communicates by venturing to share words out loud in speech, love
also LISTENS, it heeds what the other person is trying to convey. We have two
ears and one mouth for a reason. Proverbs 18:13 “He who answers before listening—
that is his folly and his shame.” And James 1:19 “My dear brothers, take note
of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become
angry...” It’s all too easy when in conversation with someone to be trying to
think up what you’re going to say next instead of actually listening to what
the other person is saying! How be we first respond in a way that lets them
know we really HEARD what they said? Love LISTENS.
At the beginning of Amos 7 we see
two remarkable instances of God LISTENING to the prophet, a mere man. First
there’s that vision of swarms of locusts. Amos 7:1-3 “This is what the
Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s
share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up. When they
had stripped the land clean, I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How
can Jacob survive? He is so small!" So the LORD relented. "This will
not happen," the LORD said.”
Isn’t that remarkable? The Lord
‘relented’, didn’t carry through, because Amos protested – Amos saw how
devastating that would be to the people.
Next comes another instance of the
Lord LISTENING. Amos 7:4-6 “This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The
Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and
devoured the land. Then I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How
can Jacob survive? He is so small!" So the LORD relented. "This will
not happen either," the Sovereign LORD said.” Consider the power of
intercessory prayer: God hears and responds.
LOVE
FORGIVES
In
these same verses we can see how LOVE FORGIVES. It says, ‘the Lord RELENTED’,
He didn’t carry out the planned judgment – at least not yet. It would happen
eventually, several decades later, in 722 BC when Assyria conquered the
northern kingdom. But in the meantime came a period of grace, God was showing
mercy.
In Scripture God’s love is
associated with His forgiveness, not requiring payment from us for sins
committed insofar as they are shouldered by Christ instead. We see this in John
3:16, “"For God so LOVED the world that he gave [Jesus] that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Psalm 86:5 “You are
FORGIVING and good, O Lord, ABOUNDING IN LOVE to all who call to you.” Or as
Nehemiah confessed in Neh 9:17 “They refused to
listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them.They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion
appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery.But
you are a FORGIVING God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and
ABOUNDING IN LOVE. Therefore you did not desert them...” Peter wrote, 1 Peter
4:8 “Above all, LOVE each other deeply, because LOVE COVERS OVER a multitude of
sins.” Love FORGIVES.
Parenting requires a lotta love, because our children mess up and tax us in many
ways, requiring patience and forgiveness. One night a two-month-old baby kept
his mother and father awake with his fussing and crying. The father was at
wit’s end and had lost all patience. The mother, though, in her deep maternal love,
picked up her son and, cuddling him, said, “That’s all right. I’m sorry you
don’t feel better!” What an object lesson in self-giving love.
I understand later today many will
be watching SuperBowl 56. I couldn’t find any Bible
verses with sheep and tigers – there are no tigers mentioned anywhere in the
Bible! So I guess it’s the LA Rams for the win, huh? Just kidding! Anyway, I
did find an illustration connected with an earlier SuperBowl
– one that illustrates love’s forgiveness or at least overlooking failure...
During the season of the first SuperBowl, the great quarterback Bart Starr really felt bad
about how he had played. He had a little
system of encouragement for his son: every time his son brought home a perfect
paper, Bart would give him a dime. After
returning from a rough game with St.Louis where he
felt he had played very poorly, he was tired and discouraged, he felt battle
weary until he got to his bedroom...There on his pillow was a note from his son
that said, “Dear Dad, I thought you played a great game, love. Bart Jr.”...with it was taped 2 dimes! That
lifted his spirits tremendously!
LOVE
IS TRUTHFUL
What
do we have so far? Love treasures; love communicates; love listens; love
forgives. Yet, love is also TRUTHFUL, it doesn’t ignore what needs to be said.
If someone won’t be up-front and truthful with us, if they dance around the
bush and won’t let us know what they’re really thinking, or worse still if
they’re using flattery towards us and being deceptive about what they really
feel – that’s not loving. Ephesians 4:15 “Instead, SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE,
we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
Likewise, Paul emphasizes in Romans 12:9a, “Love must be SINCERE.”
God had some strong medicine He
needed to deliver to the wayward Israelites, and Amos was the messenger He
chose to speak the truth to the northern nation. In chapter 7 after the visions
of the locusts and the fire which did NOT happen after all, there’s another
vision that ‘sticks’. Amos 7:7-9 “This is what he showed me: The Lord was
standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand.And the LORD asked me, "What do you see,
Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied.Then
the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I
will spare them no longer."The high places of
Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my
sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."”
God was being ‘on the level’ with
His people. Their actions weren’t ‘squaring up’ with His divine teaching. They
had gone off-course, off-kilter. So He would spare them no longer, their
sanctuaries and high places where they worshipped idols would be destroyed.
We need people in our lives who can
tell us the hard truth we sometimes need to hear. Hopefully lovingly and
gently. They are really doing us a service. The bonds of trust and caring in a
church should be so strong and lasting that Paul’s counsel in Galatians 6:1 can
be carried out: Gal 6:1 “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are
spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be
tempted.” Do we have that kind of true friend in our life? Who feels ‘safe’
that they can be completely honest with us – and vice-versa? Always, always,
ALWAYS in love!
LOVE
LIFTS UP
Finally,
love builds the other person up, lifts them up, so they feel strengthened and
supported rather than constantly criticized or cut down. Paul wrote to the
church at Corinth concerning a topic about which there was some variance of
opinion (and doncha know our world is rife with
‘disputable matters’ these days!), 1Cor 8:1 “Now about food sacrificed to
idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but LOVE
BUILDS UP.” The Greek verb means literally to build a house or erect a
building. If someone feels more torn down after we’ve interacted with them
rather than built up, even if it’s a matter of correction, somehow there’s love
missing.
In Amos 7 we see the priest of
Bethel, Amaziah, trying to cut down Amos the prophet,
telling him to get lost, go away, head back home where he came from, accusing
him of plotting conspiracy against King Jeroboam II. But Amos responds by
recounting God’s goodness in lifting him up from menial tasks down on the farm
to become God’s spokesperson to royalty: Amos 7:14f “Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son,
but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.But
the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my
people Israel.’” The Lord LIFTED UP Amos for the special task He had for him,
warning the Israelites about their impending doom. Amos was secure in God’s
love for him, because it was the Lord who had chosen him and lifted him up for the
task.
Our love for each other as
Christians should be lifting each other up and helping others in such a
positive way that outsiders are drawn to that kind of fellowship and community.
Tertullian was an early Christian apologist who lived about 155-220 AD. He
wrote, “It is our care for the helpless, our practice of lovingkindness, that
brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents.‘Look!’
they say, ‘How they love one another! Look how they are prepared to die for one
another.’”
Such love builds others up, as in
Christ together ‘the whole body...grows and builds itself up in love, as each
part does its work.’ (Eph 4:16)
LOVINGLY
ANTICIPATING
I’d
like to close today with a quote, not from St.Valentine,
but from Mother Teresa, whose life and influenced towered over the last part of
the twentieth century. She recalls the love she witnessed between her parents
in her own home growing up. It speaks of the way love TREASURES the beloved.
She said: "My own mother used to be very busy the whole day, but as soon
as evening came, she moved very fast to get ready to meet my father.At that time we didn't understand; we used to laugh;
we used to tease her; but now I remember what tremendous, delicate love she had
for him.It didn't matter what happened that day; she
was ready with a smile to meet him." Let’s pray.
Thank
You Sovereign God for Your vast love for us, expressed most clearly in Jesus’
self-giving for us! Where would we be without Your forgiveness, without Your
truth revealed to us in Scripture and shown so clearly in the life and teaching
of Your Son? Lord, forgive us for treasuring the wrong things in life, for
cherishing idols. For not loving other people or according them value. Your
plumb line hangs beside our life too, and we freely confess we have done
crooked things. Thank You that Jesus has taken our punishment already at the
cross. Help us get in line with Your Holy Spirit. Embed Your truth and love
deeply in our lives, we ask in Jesus’ name; Amen.
DO
YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!
Today
we complete our series on the book of Amos. In previous weeks we’ve seen how
this Shepherd / Sycamore-fig-tree-tending working class guy from the southern
kingdom of Judah was called by God to travel north and warn Samaria’s elite
that the northern kingdom would be destroyed unless they made big changes; that
destruction happened about 30 years later, when the Assyrians overthrew Israel
in 722 BC. They rebuked him for bothering to come and warn them, and basically
told him to get out of there, go back home, back to the farm where he belonged.
They were too proud and arrogant to heed God’s warning. This happened at a time
of great national prosperity, when Jeoboam II had
extended the country’s borders to its furthest-ever extent, and business was
booming. Who needs a prophet of doom at a time like that?
Pride makes people want to put themselves
first, makes them feel they can throw their weight around, that they deserve
priority over other ‘regular’ people.
A heavily booked commercial flight out of
Denver was canceled, and a single agent was rebooking a long line of
inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the
front and slapped his ticket down on the counter. "I have to be on this
flight and it has to be first class!" he insisted. "I'm sorry,
sir," the agent replied. "I'll be happy to help you, but I have to
take care of these folks first." The passenger was unimpressed. "Do
you have any idea who I am?" he demanded in a voice loud enough for the
passengers behind him to hear. Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and
picked up her public-address microphone. "May I have your attention, please?"
she broadcast throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at the
gate who does not know who he is.If anyone can help
him find his identity, please come to the gate." As the man retreated, the
people in the terminal burst into applause.
The people of the northern kingdom had that
same “Do you know who I am?” arrogant attitude. Probably because they didn’t
know who God was.
CHECK
ON PRIDE: GOD IS BIGGER THAN WE THOUGHT
There
was a popular book years back by JB Philips called “Your God is Too Small”. The
Israelites would have benefited from reading it! Amos at several points seeks
to explode their diminished view of God, they had made Him small enough to
safely be ignored. When we get a better appreciation of how great God is, it
helps protect us from the downfall of pride, becoming overconfident in our own
high estimation of ourselves.
These short descriptions of Amos’ great God
pop into the text almost parenthetically, as if they’re sidebars or
interruptions in the general flow. Look for example at Amos 9:5-6: “The Lord,
the LORD Almighty, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in
it mourn— the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of
Egypt— he who builds his lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on
the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face
of the land— the LORD is his name.” The Lord, the LORD Almighty - Adonai,
Yahweh, the divine titles pile upon each other, ‘God of hosts’ or ‘God of
heavenly armies’. The earth melts at His touch! He can make the land rise and
fall as in devastating earthquakes. He spans the vertical dimension: His palace
is in the heavens but its base or foundation is on the earth. He designed and
set the natural laws in place that govern the water cycle, wherein the waters
of the seas are drawn up to the clouds and poured out on the land, providing
fertility to crops and saving people and animals from dying of thirst. Yahweh
is His name - the God who brings things into being, is in charge of all that
happens.
Does this great, almighty God factor into
our daily planning? Do we orient our lives around the fact we will stand before
Him one day and give an account? Or do we just ignore Him and go our own way,
to our peril? Rev 20:11f “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was
seated on it.Earth and sky fled from his presence,
and there was no place for them.And I saw the dead,
great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.Another
book was opened, which is the book of life.The dead
were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” John who
wrote Revelation also had a big picture of God!
There were a couple of instances earlier in
the book where Amos inserted some asides about this great God he served. Amos
1:2 “The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the
shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.” 4:13 “He who forms the
mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn
to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth— the LORD God Almighty is
his name.” And 5:8-9 “(he who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness
into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and
pours them out over the face of the land— the LORD is his name— he flashes
destruction on the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin)...” This
cosmically great God who forms our topography, fashions the distant stars, and
is quite at home hiking earth’s highest spots – this same God nevertheless
reveals His thoughts to us, He makes His ways intelligible for us that we may
understand and get our lives in line with His purposes.
Pride can trip us up because it’s hard for
the proud person to admit any shortcomings. In Charles Colson’s book Born
Again, which details his experiences related to Watergate, Colson shares
one of President Nixon’s problems — he could never admit he was wrong in
anything. In fact, Colson says, even when Nixon obviously had a cold — nose
running, face red, sneezing, all the symptoms — he would never admit it.
CHECK
ON PRESUMPTION: GOD WILL PURSUE HIS OPPONENTS MINUTELY
Not
only does Amos serve a BIG God; this immense deity that fills the universe to
its greatest extent also knows every little nook and cranny, there is no
escaping Him, no hiding from His accountability. Chapter 9 begins with a
startling vision of God’s impending judgment: He’s ready to smash the
worship-space at Bethel on those who were sacrificing to idols. Amos 9:1 “I saw
the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Strike the tops of the
pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the
people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away,
none will escape.” As if that picture of calamity isn’t startling enough, the
passage goes on to describe how there’s no hiding ANYWHERE from this
all-knowing God. Amos 9:2-4 “Though they dig down to the depths of the grave,
from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from
there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the
bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. Though they
are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay
them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good." Can’t
escape His pursuit anywhere! Not in the grave or the heavens, not in the caves
and forests of the Carmel mountain range that rose 1800 feet above the
Mediterranean. Even if there were a mythological sea serpent which in legend
opposed the Creator, God has control even of it and could direct it to carry
out His sentence.
We see the INTENSITY of God’s being as well
as His IMMENSITY - the God of the furthest stars, of the Pleiades and Orion, is
also the God of the smallest atom and molecule, the subatomic forces. Amos’ God
is not only BIG, He is PERVASIVE. Much better to have Him ‘fix His eyes’ upon
you for good, not for evil!
Jesus was getting at something similar
about how God knows us down to the most intimate detail and we are accountable
to Him in Matthew 10:28-30, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and
body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will
fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs
of your head are all numbered.” God’s knowledge of the universe He created is
PERVASIVE. That acts as a check on our PRESUMPTION, we can’t assume we will
escape His scrutiny.
CHECK
ON PRIVILEGE: GOD CARES ABOUT OTHERS TOO
People
who are proud may also be susceptible to prejudice, considering themselves
superior to others. The humble person doesn’t count themselves better than
others, but is ready to serve them, build them up, help them however they can.
When we have a proper estimation of who we are in light of God’s grace, it
helps us have a posture that’s ready to bless our neighbour instead of look
down our nose at them. As Paul admonished in Philippians 2:3f, “Do nothing out
of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better
than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but
also to the interests of others.”
Some people seem to think they
automatically rate privilege and perks. Ivor Spencer manages a butler placement
service. He teaches young butlers-to-be how to iron a newspaper and serve
salmon, and all the other details of the profession. He has placed butlers with
some of the richest and most powerful people in the world. He tells a story of
when Leona Helmsley was an American businesswoman whose flamboyant personality
and reputation for tyrannical behavior earned her the nickname ‘Queen of Mean’.
She once called Mr.Spencer to request a butler. She
did not want to pay his commission. Instead, she said to him, "Think of
the prestige you'll get from placing a butler with the Queen of New York."
Spencer replied to Ms.Helmsley, "Madame, I have
placed butlers with real queens, and they always paid me." He then hung
up.
The Israelites viewed themselves as God’s
“Chosen People”; in fact, He had chosen them to be His witnesses to other
nations – but that did not give them licence to transgress against Him. Some
apparently figured they had a ‘get out of jail free’ card, that God would never
punish them. Amos 9:10 “All the sinners among my people will die by the sword,
all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’” That’s
presumptive, they’re assuming they have a privilege that puts them out of reach
of condemnation.
But see how God brings them back to ground
level. Yes He had brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt under Moses; but their
disobedience put them on the same footing as any other people. Amos 9:7f -
“"Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites
[Ethiopians]?" declares the LORD. "Did I not bring Israel up from
Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor [Crete] and the Arameans from Kir? Surely the
eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from
the face of the earth— yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,"
declares the LORD.”
Just because you call yourself a Christian
doesn’t mean you are exempt from keeping God’s laws. When you trust in Him,
your past sins are forgiven, and the Holy Spirit comes into your life and
begins to transform your sinful tendencies. But we stay accountable to the Lord
for our actions. His grace ought to empower us to live on a higher plane, not
receive an automatic exemption. His love motivates us to please Him instead of
just pleasing ourselves. 2Cor 5:9f “So we make it our goal to please him,
whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him
for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
CHECK
ON PURPOSELESSNESS AND DESPAIR: GOD HAS A BETTER DAY COMING
So
you’ve hung in there for 9 chapters of warnings of imminent judgment on
prosperous, profligate Israel. Yet even though they’ve been behaving so cruelly
towards the poor and needy, even though they’ve built mansions with ivory
carvings through swindling common workers and have drunk so much wine they can
hardly drag themselves off their comfy couches, Amos still has a message of
hope for the repentant. The last 5 verses in this last chapter hold out
definite hope.
Amos 9:11-12 “"In that day I will
restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its
ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of
Edom and all the nations that bear my name," declares the LORD, who will
do these things.” Here we see God will rebuild after the destruction that’s
coming. David is referred to; in Jesus “the root of Jesse” we see David’s
descendant according to human reckoning. When Jesus comes back and brings in
His millennium reign, we can expect to see a restoration of Israel.
The picture of prosperity and fruitfulness
that can happen at that time is practically miraculous. God repeats “I will...I
will” about 5 times in these verses emphasizing He’s bringing about something
very special. 9:13-15 “"The days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the
one treading grapes.New wine will drip from the
mountains and flow from all the hills.I will bring
back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they
will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD
your God.”
What a startling picture of fertility and
fruitfulness! The seasons bumping into each other so that while the farmer’s
still plowing the previous crop, it’s time to get the next one in the ground.
Wine ‘dripping’ and ‘flowing’ from the mountains and hills. God can heal the
land even after its ‘scorched earth’ discipline under the Assyrians.
So, is this all just about Jewish people,
or do we find ourselves here, too? Does this passage point to us at all? The
Apostles in the New Testament apparently thought so. The Jerusalem Council in
Acts 15 was a critical moment when early church leaders were deciding whether
Gentiles could rightly be part of this move of God, as Peter, Barnabas, and
Paul had been witnessing non-Jews receiving the Holy Spirit. At a crucial
moment, James, the Lord’s brother, reaches way back in his memory of the Hebrew
Scriptures and sees in Amos’ prophecy God’s endorsement, that Gentiles who were
turning to God should be welcomed into the church. James said, Acts 15:15-18
“The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
"’After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I
will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,
and ALL THE GENTILES WHO BEAR MY NAME, says the Lord, who does these things’
that have been known for ages.” There James was quoting Amos! And, THERE YOU
ARE! God’s promises are for you, too, as you trust in Jesus, the Messiah,
David’s descendant.
This pandemic has been a long, grinding two
years! We are VERY ready to be done with it. But ultimately our hope is not in
timing of pandemics being over and restrictions lifted. Our hope is ultimately
in Jesus, the New Order He will bring, and the New Life His Spirit is already
awakening and growing in our lives. There will always be trials as you go
through life; you need a hope that transcends this fallen order to keep you
going. This vision of wine flowing and the plowman overtaking the reaper hints
at the wonderful things God is waiting to bring about in our experience, and
through our trusting Him through even the toughest times.
THE
DECEITFUL ART OF BEING A BIG SHOT
In
closing, Howard Butt was a prominent Christian businessman who wrote an article
titled “The Art of Being a Big Shot”.Among many other
insightful things he said were these words:
“It is my pride that makes me independent
of God. It’s appealing to me to feel that I am the master of my fate, that I
run my own life, call my own shots, go it alone. But that feeling is my basic
dishonesty. I can’t go it alone. I have to get help from other people, and I
can’t ultimately rely on myself. I’m dependent on God for my next breath. It is
dishonest of me to pretend that I’m anything but a man—small, weak, and
limited. So, living independent of God is self-delusion. It is not just a
matter of pride being an unfortunate little trait and humility being an
attractive little virtue; it’s my inner psychological integrity that’s at
stake. When I am conceited, I am lying to myself about what I am. I am
pretending to be God, and not man. My pride is the idolatrous worship of
myself. And that is the national religion of Hell!” Let’s pray.
Heavenly
Father, thank You for calling Amos to warn the proud northerners of their
shortcomings, most of all that they had forgotten who You are. Forgive us our
pride, our trying to do it all ourselves, our failure to realize life itself is
a gift and we depend on so many others. Save us from our self-delusion. Help us
have a big view of Who You are, to bow our knee before You as the Lord
Almighty, God of heaven’s armies – and in that awareness to yield our whole
life to pleasing You and reaching others with Your love and goodness. In Jesus’
name, Amen.
INTRODUCTION:
PEP TALK TO A PUMMELED TEAM
Imagine
you’re the coach of a minor league baseball team. Your team has played hard but
they’re up against some stiff opposition. Sure there have been a few slip-ups:
a couple of overthrows that resulted in unnecessary runs for the other team;
your pitcher has been having an off day, though trying their hardest; and your
best hitter has only managed to connect for a base run at best. So your team is
down a few runs by the bottom of the seventh. The outcome of the game is not a
foregone conclusion - yet! – but your team has got to pull it together for
there to be any hope of them to come out on top. You gather the players for a
pep talk. They gather around you, panting heavily, faces streaked with sweat
and dust, tiredness from exertion starting to show. What are you going to say
to encourage them?
This has not been an easy week. Yes we are
thankful FINALLY for the easing of some restrictions regarding COVID measures.
We don’t have to physically distance any longer. Capacity limits have been
lifted. Vaccination passports are going away in many instances. And we can once
again actually SING OUT LOUD in church! Hurray!
But it’s been a heavy week in other
respects. The news is dominated by reports of Russian advance in Ukraine,
bringing death and destruction, forcing over a million refugees to flee to
neighbouring countries. From this distance we feel kind of powerless to
intervene, apart from trade measures and other economic sanctions. Perhaps like
me you know someone who is related to someone of Ukrainian background. In Ontario
only 3% of the population is Ukrainian, but in Alberta it’s 9%, Saskatchewan
13%, and Manitoba almost 15%. You can’t help but feel sympathy for people
fleeing for their lives, or sheltering in place despite constant bombardment.
There are other hardships. Inflation is
very high, with costs of some essentials like food and fuel shooting up. The
Bank of Canada is raising its prime lending rate to counteract inflation, but
that means mortgage rates will also rise. Stock market volatility has negatively
impacted people’s long-term investments. One day-trader I know figures he saw
his last three year’s earnings suddenly wiped out.
The Apostle Peter was writing in a
different time and place, but sought to write a letter of encouragement to his
fellow-believers who were suffering. Their hardships were different than ours,
but they were hardships nonetheless. So it’s as if a coach is delivering a pep
talk to a pummeled team, as it were.
Peter tells us his purpose in writing in
1Peter 5:12, “With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I
have written to you briefly, ENCOURAGING YOU and testifying that this is the
TRUE GRACE of God.STAND FAST in it.” See that? He
wants to encourage them. How? By helping them appreciate God’s grace, so they
can stand fast in it, be strengthened, anchored, supported knowing how much God
has done for them.
Guest speaker Keith Elliot got us started
in this letter of 1Peter last week, pointing out the HOPE God has for
Christians - past, present, and future. Let’s review who Peter was writing to.
The first verse lists several regions in Asia Minor, to which believers had
scattered following the initial persecution in Jerusalem and Judea. Peter calls
them “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered” – if they had fled
persecution, they probably felt like refugees, displaced people, having had to
uproot from their original homeland in order to escape to safety. Some of them
maybe had been through trauma, when hyper-Jews like Saul of Tarsus had sought
them out and thrown them into prison. Perhaps some had watched in horror as
Stephen was stoned before their very eyes, or others were beaten and dragged
off to jail. They had been hurting.
We know historically Christians were
persecuted during the reign of Roman Emperor Nero (54-68); Peter himself was
martyred during that time. So this letter was probably written between AD
60-67. A prominent theme is suffering. That will come up repeatedly in the
latter half of chapter 3 and through chapters 4 and 5, but you can also catch
glimpses of it earlier. 1:6 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a
little while you may have had to SUFFER GRIEF IN ALL KINDS OF TRIALS.” 1:11
“...He predicted the SUFFERINGS of Christ...” And 2:19-22a, “For it is commendable
if a man bears up under the pain of UNJUST SUFFERING because he is conscious of
God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and
endure it? But if you SUFFER for doing good and you endure it, this is
commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ SUFFERED for
you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
So, you can see the coach acknowledging the
hardships the team is experiencing. They’re getting pummeled. How can he
encourage them to keep on trying? What would you include in your ‘pep talk’ in
such a situation?
Peter takes 3 approaches. He helps them
perceive A REVOLUTION IN VALUES. Next he seeks to GROUND THEM IN GRACE – to see
how much they already have going for them. And he injects them with energy by
helping them recall they are NEWBORN and empowered to keep on loving.
A
REVOLUTION IN VALUES
It
seems Peter may have been addressing refugees, Christians who had been
scattered to various foreign lands through persecution for their faith. It’s
sobering to see pictures of Ukrainian refugees, some having traveled for 5 days
on a journey that normally takes just 8 hours, sleeping in their cars as they
wait to cross the crowded border, walking on foot carrying their worldly
possessions on their back, some even carrying their precious pets. They must be
feeling such a sense of loss and being uprooted.
Peter challenges his readers to recognize
that God has upended this world’s normal scale of values. What’s most treasured
in human eyes can actually be of little worth eternally. Paul warned Timothy,
1Tim 6:10,17 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil...Command
those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their
hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly
provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
Likewise Peter warns that money is not the
be-all and end-all. That can be taken away from us – and in fact many of his
hearers maybe had suffered considerable financial loss when they were forced to
relocate in a foreign land. But they still had something of much greater worth
that no one could take away. 1Peter 1:18-19 “For you know that it was not with
perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty
way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” Hear that? What’s precious,
and what’s perishable? The blood of Jesus is precious, because He’s our
Passover Lamb, spotless, unblemished, innocent of all sin. What’s perishable?
Silver and gold. Money and worldly wealth cannot make a person innocent in
God’s sight. It’s Christ’s sacrifice in our place that alone can justify us,
put us in right standing before God when we confess our sins and believe in Him
as our Saviour.
It’s understandable to fear soldiers and
armies. Yet Peter also points out to these persecuted folks, these trauma
survivors, that the most important One to fear is God not people. V17 “Since
you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as
strangers here in reverent fear.” Yes, you heard that right – FEAR. God is our
Judge, and has no favourites; He is impartial, His judgment is absolutely just
and right. It’s not something to be flippant about or take lightly, but to have
an attitude of ‘reverent fear’. While in love we call on Him as ‘Father’. Jesus
said, Matthew 10:28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot
kill the soul.Rather, be afraid of the One who can
destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Peter, like Jesus, calls us to a revolution
in values. To treasure Christ not wealth. To fear God, not people. And, to
glory in what lasts, not what’s temporal. In v21 Peter notes in passing that
God ‘glorified’ Jesus after raising Him from the dead. What do people commonly
‘glory’ in? A nice house? A fast car? Shiny jewellery? Becoming a celebrity?
What do you ‘glory’ in?
I’ve been enjoying Nicky & Pippa Gumble’s Bible In One Year with commentary. In
Wednesday’s introduction to the daily readings, Nicky Gumble
said this...
“In one of his last songs, Freddie Mercury,
the lead singer of the rock group Queen, asked the question: ‘Does anybody know
what we are living for?’
“In spite of the fact that he had amassed a
huge fortune and had attracted thousands of fans, Freddie Mercury admitted in
an interview shortly before his death in 1991 that he was desperately lonely.
He said, ‘You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man,
and that is the most bitter type of loneliness. Success has brought me world
idolisation and millions of pounds, but it’s prevented me from having the one
thing we all need – a loving, ongoing relationship.’”
Some might glory in becoming a rock star
and getting fabulously wealthy and well known, but that man found it was a road
to loneliness.
Peter compares this world’s type of glory
to that of cut flowers that you buy at Valentine’s but a few days later they
are no longer attractive and have to be thrown in the compost. 1Peter 1:24-25a,
“For, "All men are like grass, and all their GLORY is like the flowers of
the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord
stands forever."”
What do we glory in? Is it going to wither
quickly, or be like the glory the Father vested in the Risen Son who obeyed
God’s will to the point of yielding His very life?
GROUNDED
IN GRACE: RISEN CHRIST, LASTING WORD
Missionary
Keith Elliot pointed out that much of Peter’s letter consists of IMPERATIVES,
commands or orders that we are to obey. There is a side of us that is naturally
suspicious of authority, of other people telling us what to do. Peter will
address what our attitude should be to humans in authority in government later
in chapter 2(13-17). Spoiler alert – he uses words like ‘submit’ and ‘respect’!
But for now, think about the typical way a two-year-old might respond to an
‘imperative’. Such as, ‘pick up your toys’. At some point in their development
an invisible threshold is crossed and your son or daughter may look up at you
with a defiant look on their face and say, “Why?” Or maybe even that other word
characteristic of terrible twos: “No!”
It’s probably an aspect of fallen human
nature that we just automatically get our back up whenever someone lays an
imperative on us. So Peter doesn’t just write orders and things like ‘do this’
to the early church. He supplies several justifications, arguments, reasons WHY
we should obey such imperatives. He anticipates our toddlerish
‘Why?’ in advance. Recall that in 5:12 he said he was ‘testifying that this is
the true GRACE of God’ then adds, ‘Stand in it.’ Acknowledging the GRACE makes
it easier to OBEY.
In our current passage, two aspects of
God’s grace are highlighted: Christ crucified and risen; and the lasting WORD. We
can be grounded in Christ and the Word.
We already saw in verse 19 Peter emphasize
the preciousness of the blood of Christ – Jesus’ crucifixion and suffering and
painful death. Verse 20 emphasizes the timelessness of this self-giving, and
for whom Christ gave Himself. 1Pet 1:20 “He was chosen before the creation of
the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” This reaches
way back to before the world was made. Like in John 17:24 where Jesus prays,
“"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to
see my glory, the glory you have given me because YOU LOVED ME BEFORE THE
CREATION OF THE WORLD.” You just can’t get EARLIER than that!
V20 also says Jesus “was revealed in these
last times FOR YOUR SAKE.” The word ‘sake’ isn’t literally there in the Greek;
Bible in Basic English translates, “was caused to be seen in these last times
for you.” FOR YOU! Jesus is the Man for others, Jesus is the Man for me – for
you! He was nailed to that cross NOT for His own sin – He was, after all, ‘a
lamb without blemish or defect’ (v19) - it was His love for you and for me that
held Him there, not the nails.
1Peter 1:21 continues, “THROUGH HIM you
believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your
faith and hope are IN GOD.” Our faith is not ‘in God’ without going ‘through
Christ’, there is no other mediator, it all depends on Him. The resurrection
and ascension and enthronement of Christ are God’s ‘stamp of approval’
endorsing what Christ accomplished, which was obtaining salvation for those who
believe in Him. So Jesus is the basis of our faith and hope in God. We are
GROUNDED IN CHRIST, even when the bombs fly, even when friends betray us and
the economy seems to be falling through the floor.
Christ is our surety from before the
creation of the world; next Peter points to something that will last forever,
God’s WORD. V23 “For you have been born again...through the LIVING AND ENDURING
word of God.” V25 “‘...but the word of the Lord STANDS FOREVER.’ And this is
the word that was preached to you.”
God’s word is not like our mere human
words. It is ALIVE, empower us to become regenerated, born anew, born from
above. Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is LIVING and ACTIVE.Sharper
than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,
joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Besides being LIVING, it is ENDURING, it
STANDS FOREVER Peter says. When God makes promises to the patriarchs in the Old
Testament, He swears by Himself, for there’s nothing greater! He backs His
word, permanently. How did Jesus express this? Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth
will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Think about that. Isn’t
that a sentence to take your breath away? His words are more permanent than
heaven and earth. Stay grounded in God’s truth, God’s promises.
SIGNS
OF A NEWBORN: HOLINESS AND MUTUAL LOVE
Have
you ever seen a newborn baby up close? How can you tell a baby’s just been
birthed, freshly hatched? We smile when movies show us what are supposed to be
babies just born but it’s obviously not a REALLY new-born child.
I was privileged to be present for the
births of 3 of my 4 children (one came prematurely when I was halfway across
the country in Congo on mission work). As I recall, newborns tend to be rather
red; sort of wet and slimy; kind of wrinkly; and there’s usually an umbilical
cord attached. (You mothers are welcome to correct me or add other
characteristics afterward!) Oh, and back in the day they were often wailing,
because the doctor or midwife tried measures to get their lungs working once
out in the open air.
Christians are ‘newborns’ when it comes to
putting their faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. The Holy Spirit comes into
our lives and begins to re-fashion us, so the old self is crucified, and we are
re-made more and more in Christ’s likeness, complete with the Holy Spirit’s
fruit and gifts. In this passage Peter suggests there are at least two things
that are characteristic signs of newborns: HOLINESS and MUTUAL LOVE.
Let’s look at verses 22b-23a, and pay
attention to the logic behind what’s being said. “Now that you have purified
yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your
brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.For
you have been born again...” Think about the structure there. The preposition
“for” at the beginning of 23 is significant; you could substitute ‘because’. So
we could sort of flip the flow and take it to mean, “BECAUSE you have been born
again, (A) you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have
sincere love for your brothers, (B) now go further and love one another deeply,
from the heart.”
Peter implies that those who are born
again, who believe in Jesus, will (A) purify themselves and (B) love each other
deeply. So we might say HOLINESS and MUTUAL LOVE are two signs of newborns in
Christian faith. Perhaps as an aside or corollary, we shouldn’t be surprised if
non-Christians either don’t act in holy ways OR aren’t very loving. They don’t
have the Holy Spirit inside them empowering them to do either.
But if we’re born again, we should know
better! God’s word here is saying both holiness and mutual love are possible
for us. Let’s take these individually, one at a time.
V22 “Now that you have purified yourselves
by obeying the truth...” In other words, when we hear the Good News about
Jesus, we will ‘obey the truth’, we will repent and confess and submit to the
reality of what God’s word says we are, sinners in need of a Saviour. It’s not
a matter of “I’m okay, you’re okay.” If that’s the case, what’s HE doing up
there on that cross?
We obey the truth, we confess and humble
ourselves and seek God’s forgiveness and endeavour to live a new life. We leave
behind the old sinful ways. We “purify ourselves” as Peter puts it. That means
learning to be holy. Back up to verses 14-16 that Keith Elliot covered last
week: 1Pet 1.14-16 “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires
you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so
be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am
holy."”
The Bible is blunt about the importance of
holy living. Hebrews 12:10,14 “...God disciplines us for our good, that we may
share in his holiness...Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to
be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Peter was not being any
more radical about this than His Master, because Jesus called people to be
tough with themselves in avoiding sin – using hyperbole such as talking about
cutting off your hand or plucking out your eye if it causes you to sin (Mt
5:29f).
Recently a young man struggling with porn
asked me if I would be his accountability partner, which I was honoured to do.
We need more young men like that who are honest and willing to humble
themselves and ask for help with what is a rampant addiction in today’s
culture. Porn is so prevalent these days, it practically throws itself at you,
it’s not like the old days when the magazines were kept high on a shelf behind
brown paper. Nowadays it’s practically ‘baked into’ our social media apps, it’s
everywhere, and free. But it will cost you horrendously in other ways. Asking
someone to help hold you accountable is a big first step in winning the battle
over temptation. All part of what Peter calls “purif(ying) yourselves by obeying the truth.”
The other sign of a newborn Christian Peter
highlights is MUTUAL LOVE. V21 “...you have sincere love for your brothers” –
NRSV ‘genuine mutual love’, literally ‘philadelphia’
from the Greek word ‘phileo’ or friend-love. Peter
urges his readers to rack it up one more notch, “love one another DEEPLY, from
the heart” - KJV ‘fervently’. The verb for love used here is ‘agape’ not ‘phileo’ - ‘agape-love’ is the type of love God has for
sinners, love where there’s nothing that would attract you, love IN SPITE OF
whatever would stop you from wanting anything to do with that person. Love that
Christ showed for us, for those who ridiculed Him on the cross. Can we learn to
love like that?
LOVING
THE STRANGER
Rosa
Hwang (a CTV News correspondent) tells the story of Bartek,
a young Polish man who drove to the border with Ukraine 3 hours in order to
drop off relief supplies. But once there, he saw a greater need amongst the
refugees fleeing the war. After calling his father and grandmother (with whom
he lived) for permission, he wrote on a cardboard sign he had room for 3 people
to live in Krakow. He came home with SIX - a Ukrainian mother and her five
children, ranging in age from 17 to six months; the father had stayed behind in
Ukraine to fight. So the small Polish household of 3 suddenly ballooned to 9
people!
Isn’t that amazing love? Love that is
genuine, willing to pay a price, love that goes deep, to the very heart.
Aren’t you glad God loved us so much that
He has made a home for us sinners in heaven?
You were cleansed from your sins...How
might He now be prompting you to show sincere love to each other? Let’s pray.
Precious
Lord, we are blown away by Your grace and mercy. Jesus, You are our precious
Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world, You gave it all for US. Forgive
us for treasuring silver or gold more than You. Help our hope be focused in God
and what will last, not the passing glories of this age. Show us how You want
to be leading us in paths of holiness and love – even to those who are unlike
us. Thank You for taking us strangers into Your Kingdom! In Christ’s name,
Amen.
NOT
ALL ALONE
In
today’s passage from 1Peter 2, there’s an emphasis on being a royal priesthood.
One aspect of being a priest is making intercession for others. In Prayer
Meeting lately we’ve been working through the book of Exodus, and we saw Moses
‘stand in the gap’ for the rest of the people when they sinned by worshipping a
golden calf – he pleaded with God for their forgiveness, even to the point of
offering to have his own name blotted from the book God had written if they
were not to be forgiven (Ex 32:32). He was willing to be associated with their
sin, if it would mean they could be forgiven. Although his brother Aaron was
technically the high priest, Moses’ action was priestly in terms of interceding
for others who had sinned.
As Christians, part of our priestly role is
to sympathize with others, to come alongside them and plead to God on their
behalf. Jesus died, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God (1Pet
3:18).
Here’s a humorous story that sort of gets
at this aspect of standing with others so they’re not left all alone... A
priest was giving his homily, preaching to his congregation concerning heaven
and hell. To emphasize the difference between the two, he asked that all who
wanted to go to heaven to stand up. All the congregation rose. He then asked
all who wanted to go to hell to stand up. No one stood up. For full dramatic
impact he waited for several seconds before continuing. But during that pause a
small boy slowly rose to his feet. The astonished priest spoke to the boy:
"Surely a fine young man like yourself doesn't want to go to hell."
The boy answered, "Well of course not, but I just couldn't stand the sight
of you standing there all alone!"
SEEKING
THE AUTHOR BEHIND THE LETTER
We
live in an era of instant communication. You send a text or a Direct Message
and, ‘boom!’ the other person receives a ding and can read it right away. It
wasn’t always thus. Back in the old days people used to have to take a pen and
a piece of paper, laboriously write out what they wanted to say, put it in an
envelope, address it, walk it out to the mailbox, and wait for the mail carrier
to pick it up. Some days later the other person would receive it. Then you’d
have to wait until they went through the reverse procedure to get your reply.
If you were in love, those letters became
very precious to you, especially if you were far away and the mail took a long
time to come. We treasured the letters from our loved ones. It’s not that the
letter itself was that valuable, but it represented your girlfriend or
boyfriend or relative that couldn’t be there with you.
Peter begins chapter two by describing how
this applies in our relationship to the Lord. Why do we read the Bible? Is it
just to tank up on spiritual information? The internet is crammed full of
spiritual information from all kinds of sources, much of it not from God. Do we
read our Bibles solely to learn more ancient wisdom? There are many other
ancient writers, so that alone wouldn’t be motivating for a daily quiet time.
We read the Bible to connect with its Author. Note verses 2-3: 1Pet 2:2f “Like
newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your
salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Take that piece by
piece, backwards.
First, we have ‘tasted that the Lord is
good’. Before we were saved, our appetite for the things of Christ was lacking.
The Holy Spirit awakened in us spiritual ‘taste buds’ so our yearning for God
came alive, we could actually ‘taste’ that He was GOOD, He alone had the words
of life, we came to see Jesus alone was the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6).
Next, because we’ve tasted He’s good, we
then ‘crave pure spiritual milk’ as Peter puts it. The tasting feeds the
craving – we want more. The phrase ‘spiritual milk’ can also be translated
‘milk of the word’, rational feeding, we want to know more about Jesus and the
Christian life, how practically to live day to day, there’s a logical worldview
presented in Scripture about origins, destiny, morality, and meaning. That
takes time to understand and gradually it begins to come together to form a
meaningful worldview. We’re reading devotionally as well as intellectually,
getting to know God personally, hearing His voice, picking out His promises for
us. Peter says in this phase we’re like ‘newborn babies’ - we need desperately
to be fed and nurtured.
What’s that enable? Peter says at the end
of verse 2, “so that by it” (the pure spiritual milk) “you may GROW UP in your
salvation.” We don’t stay babies, spiritual infants; God wants us to be more
mature than tipsy toddlers. His Holy Spirit is transforming our character to be
more like Jesus. So craving the word is instrumental in making verse 1 possible
– 1Peter 2:1 “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit,
hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” That’s real behaviour change. We
become more real, less hypocritical, fake, deceitful, putting on a false front.
Craving Scriptural truth as a means to get to know God results in less envy,
jealousy, wanting things that aren’t for us. Taste that the Lord is good –
crave His pure milk in the word – thus satisfied in our core, we won’t need the
‘stuff’ other people have to try to make us feel like we’re ‘enough’, because
we’re already treasured by God.
GROWING
STONES: SUPPORTIVE, NOT STATIC
Ah,
spring! It will officially be here in about another week. Today the clocks did
their ‘spring ahead’ an hour to take advantage of lengthening daylight. We
anticipate seeing robins return soon (we hope).
On the farm growing up, one job that came
around every spring was picking stones. Dad had named our farm “Marlefield” from a Scottish term meaning “stony field”. So every
year us three boys and Dad would walk the fields behind the old blue flatbed
truck, tossing stones and larger boulders onto it to dump over by a ditch or
culvert. No matter whether we’d just done it the year before, every year there
were fresh stones to pick! Dad used to talk about one of his uncles who once
asked with incredulity, “Don’t you know stones GROW?!”
In verses 4-8 the Apostle Peter uses this
imagery of stones to communicate the stability and support Jesus gives to our
lives when we trust in Him – and in turn the substance our own lives can bring
to Christ’s church. Peter’s basing it on the Hebrew Scriptures, and Jesus’ own
self-understanding informed by the prophets. In verse 6 Peter quotes Isaiah
28:16 - 1Pet 2:6 “For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a
chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be
put to shame."” In this passage Isaiah is referring to the Messiah, Jesus
Christ; God the Father says Jesus is ‘chosen’ and ‘precious’, like the most
important stone in a house’s foundation, with reference to which all the other
stones line up and depend upon. Knowing Jesus, we can be assured our sins our
forgiven through His accomplishment at Calvary; in Him we have confidence, we
will not be ashamed or condemned.
Is Jesus the bedrock, the foundation of
your life? If not, what else are you trying to depend upon?
Peter goes on to quote Psalm 118:22, which
the Lord Jesus Himself cited when confronting those who opposed Him. Peter adds
Isaiah 8:14 which depicts the problems those who do not put their faith in
Christ will have. 1Pet 2:7-8 “Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.
But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has
become the capstone," and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a
rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—
which is also what they were destined for.” (It’s the stumbling for all who
disobey they were destined for, not necessarily the disobedience itself.)
Now, the picture we have in our minds of a
stone is probably STATIC – unmoving, a stone just kind of ‘sits there’. If you
walk into it in the dark you would stub your toe, if not stumble and fall.
That’s the connotation of strength and stability Peter’s conveying by talking
about a ‘cornerstone’. But Peter refers to Jesus AND us in a way that doesn’t
stop at being static: he talks about ‘LIVING stones’. Yes, that’s right. It may
take a moment for you to accept that combination mentally. A STONE that’s
actually ALIVE? (No, we don’t mean Dwayne Johnson!)
Such stones are more SUPPORTIVE in their
liveliness, meant to come alongside and be together, helping others, making a
contribution. See 1Peter 2:4-5 “As you come to him, the living Stone— rejected
by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are
being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Jesus is ‘the living Stone’
we come to by faith. He makes us to be ‘living stones’ – not to remain on our
own, alone, isolated, but to be put together, assembled, “built into a
spiritual house to be a holy priesthood...”
When stones are put together by a mason
into a building, they become a unit, working together, each one lending
strength and stability to the structure. The building becomes stronger because
of the many stones than it would be with just one stone. Think of the great
cathedrals in Europe and the UK.
Now back up a moment and think about the
‘capstone’ or ‘keystone’ the Psalmist referred to, which Peter quoted in verse
7. Consider the stone arch above a gothic stained glass window. The capstone at
the top of the arch is a weird shape, it’s not ‘square’ like many of the other
stones. It’s unique. Jesus didn’t fit the expectations many of His
contemporaries had of what Messiah would be like. They hoped for a conquering
king to restore ownership of their homeland; He came as a non-political
Suffering Saviour, very different from what they had been hoping for. Yet His
resurrection confirmed He was in fact the Messiah sent to deliver us from
slavery to sin.
This weird-shaped capstone is at the top of
the arch. Imagine it from a load-bearing point of view, like you have a roof
above with a heavy accumulation of snow or ice pressing down on the building,
or a high wind threatening to push the building over. What does the capstone
do? It distributes the load. The stones above it just have to transmit the load
pressing on them down to the next layer below, but the capstone has to divide
the load, distribute it sideways to the stones heading down the side of the
arch, without crumbling or getting budged this way or that.
Jesus bore the penalty that should have
come to us sinners, diverting it, sparing us the full weight of God’s wrath. A
most unique and irreplaceable role.
Head back now to verse 5 – 1Pet 2:5 “you
also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy
priesthood...” We’re to be ‘living stones’ like Jesus is. We’re ‘being built
into a spiritual house’ – we’re not just in it for ourselves! How can we help
others ‘bear the load’? What’s our role in ‘distributing the weight’ so the
building doesn’t crumble? Does the capstone imagery give you a more dynamic
understanding of what it means to be built together with others into a
‘spiritual house’?
What’s Paul getting at in Galatians 6:2,
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of
Christ”? Are we helping them shoulder their load somehow – or just concerned
about ourselves, ‘that’s their own business’? Consider Romans 15:1, “We who are
strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please
ourselves.” Ouch! “But - but - but - pleasing ourselves is what this culture is
all about!”
“Bear with the failings of the weak...”
Isn’t their weakness their own fault? That’s not the point. The apostle is
saying we should be using our strength to BEAR WITH others’ failings. To me
that sounds like capstone work, distributing the load, bearing more than just
my own ‘share’ at times.
We all have our own weak moments, and we
sure appreciate help then. An exhausted housewife dragged herself to the
telephone when it rang and listened with relief to the kindly voice on the other
end, which she took to be her Mom. "How are you, sweetheart? What kind of
day are you having?" "Oh, Mother," said the woman, "I'm
having such a bad day. The baby won't eat, the washing machine broke down, the
house is a mess, we're having two couples over for dinner tonight and I haven't
had a chance to go shopping yet, and to top it off, I just sprained my
ankle."
The mother was overwhelmed with sympathy.
"Oh, honey," she said, "sit down, relax, and just close your
eyes. I'll be over in half an hour. I'll do the shopping, clean the house, and
cook your dinner for you. I'll feed the baby and I'll call a repairman to fix
the washing machine. Now stop crying. I'll do everything. In fact, I'll even
call John at the office and ask him to come home and help out."
"John?" said the housewife.
"Who's John?" "Why, John! Your husband! . . . Isn't this
555-1265?" "No, it's 555-1264."
"Oh"
said the kindly person, "I must have the wrong number."
There was a long silence. Then the
overwhelmed helpless woman asked, "Does this mean you're not coming
over?"
YOU
ARE ON GOD’S “WANTED” LIST!
Remember
those “Wanted” posters in old Western movies – “Wanted, dead or alive, for
robbing stagecoaches” etc? Did you know YOU are on
God’s ‘most wanted’ list?!
In v4 Peter notes Jesus the living Stone is
“rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him.” Chosen and precious.
Chosen means picked out, selected especially; the other word can mean “held in
honour, prized, precious”. Do you have any ‘prized possessions’ that are most
dear to you? (I know what Gollum would choose!) What’s your ‘precious’? Jesus
was most dear to the Father; at His baptism God announced, Mt 3:17 “This is my
Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” And at the Mount of
Transfiguration Peter and the other two disciples present heard God say, Mt
17:5 “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
The Father seemed to be loving on the Son verbally whenever there was
opportunity.
But then Peter starts talking about US who
believe in Jesus in the same way – that we are God’s chosen ones, special to
Him. 1Peter 2:9f “But you are a chosen people...a people belonging to God, that
you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Hear that? You are ‘chosen’, selected,
picked especially. You ‘belong to God’, you are ‘God’s people’, having received
His mercy. When you are IN Christ by faith, the same love God the Father has
for Jesus becomes yours as well, in Him. Why? To what end? Peter says, “that
you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light.” Declare His praises - declare how PRIZED and PRECIOUS He is
to you!
What’s it like being in His light, compared
to former days being in the darkness, without forgiveness, without grace,
fighting to survive in the world just on your own merit? Paul wrote in
Ephesians 5:8-10, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases
the Lord.” We have tasted that the Lord is GOOD, and righteous, and true – now
we are ‘light in the Lord’, empowered to show forth His qualities to those
around us.
PRIESTLY
PRIVILEGE AND SACRIFICES FOR THE ERA OF GRACE
We
began with the story of the little boy standing up so the priest wouldn’t be
going to hell on his own (he thought). The boy’s impulse was priestly, wanting
to ‘be there’ for the other person, moving toward them in their plight.
We saw in verse 5 that, according to Peter,
we are being built into a spiritual house 1Peter 2:5b “to be a holy priesthood,
offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.” Peter comes back to
this in verse 9 when he says, 1Peter 2:9a “But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood...” What’s he getting at here? We know Jesus is our Mediator, our
great High Priest (see the letter to the Hebrews) – but what’s OUR priestly
role? What’s this business about ‘offering spiritual sacrifices’ he’s getting
at in verse 5?
Peter’s not alone in using these terms.
John writes in Revelation 1:5b-6, “To him who loves us and has freed us from
our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a KINGDOM AND PRIESTS to serve his
God and Father— to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” Peter’s
phrase ‘a royal priesthood’ could also be rendered ‘a kingdom of priests’ –
what would our priestly duties be?
In the Old Testament, the priest accepted
the sacrifice from a worshipper and offered it at the altar on their behalf.
The High Priest once a year entered the Most Holy Place to make atonement for
the people, sprinkling blood at the Ark of the Covenant, specifically its lid
the ‘Atonement Cover’ or ‘Mercy Seat’. Priestly duties also included tending
the lamps in the Holy Place, burning incense, and placing fresh show-bread on
the table daily. Priests pronounced blessings in God’s name, and declared
people clean when they were healed of skin diseases. So priests interceded for
the people and represented them, acted in their stead as go-betweens between
the people and God.
How might the Lord be wanting us to act as
go-betweens for our neighbours? To be interceding for them? To be representing
God to them in a world where media seems to avoid mention of God like the
plague? Do we even know our neighbours well enough to be aware of what their
concerns and fears might be? Are we there for them, or just preoccupied with
pleasing ourselves?
Peter says as priests we are to be
‘offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’. He
doesn’t mean burning livestock, does he, like they used to do in the Tabernacle
and at Jerusalem? No. Consider what Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I
urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to OFFER YOUR BODIES AS LIVING
SACRIFICES, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship.DO
NOT CONFORM ANY LONGER TO THE PATTERN OF THIS WORLD, BUT BE TRANSFORMED by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s
will is— his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Here one sacrifice we offer as ‘a royal
priesthood’ is our BODIES – living sacrifices! We put all we are on the altar,
figuratively. “I am Thine, O Lord...”
Another sacrifice is our THOUGHT-LIFE – not
conforming to the world’s pattern, but having our mind renewed by reading and
meditating on His word, in the Bible. Learn to think the way Jesus would think.
How would Jesus approach this situation? What’s most important to Him in this
scenario? What impact would ‘goodness, righteousness, and truth’ have?
Another helpful verse is Hebrews 13:15,
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of
praise— the fruit of lips that confess his name.” PRAISE is a sacrifice. Not
just when things are going well; it’s when things aren’t going the way you want
but you can still praise God anyway that it becomes a real sacrifice, very
special to your Heavenly Father, because it shows you’re trusting Him to bring
you through.
People’s New Testament Commentary
summarizes, “The sacrifices of the Christian priest are prayer, praise, good
deeds, the consecration of our bodies and substance to God’s service.”
YOU
PUT YOUR WHOLE SELF IN
A
couple of quick illustrations as we close...
In
a church service one Sunday, the offering plate came to a little girl at the
end of a row. She took the plate, put it down on the floor, and stood in it.
When the usher asked her what she was doing, she responded, "In Sunday
school I learned that I was supposed to give myself to God."
She was illustrating Romans 12:1, offering
her body as a living sacrifice!
And here’s some encouragement to be
carrying out the ‘priestly duty’ of prayer right in our own homes. Chaplain
Richard Halverson of the United States Senate told the story of a time when the
subject of prayer in schools came up just before a Senator was to give a speech
to several hundred men at a church's annual men's dinner. In response to the
Senator's question about how many of the churchgoers believed in prayer in the
public schools, nearly every man present raised his hand in the affirmative.
Then the Senator asked, 'How many of you pray daily with your own children in
your home?' This time, only a few hands were raised.
Let’s
pray. Lord, we have tasted, and we know You are good! Thank You for making us a
royal priesthood, for breathing life into these stony hearts so we can become
living stones. Help us keep our lives built upon Jesus Christ, the only really
reliable cornerstone. Help us see how we can ‘bear the load’ of others, rather
than just pleasing ourselves. Make us more conscious of our priestly privilege
- forgiven and counted worthy to access Your Most Holy Place. Give us hearts
that care about others and yearn to bring them to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
HAPPILY
INCOMPATIBLE
Relationships
require navigation. They’re not always smooth sailing, because people DIFFER
from one another: we each have our own preferences, our own likes and dislikes,
our histories and upbringing can be very different. So getting along with
another person requires navigation and often negotiation. Today much of the
message focuses on a marriage relationship, but much of it would also apply to
other relationships, such as friends and coworkers. Respect and a willingness
to cooperate go a long way toward getting along with those around us.
You might be surprised to find out that
such a revered and admired Christian as Billy Graham did not have a marriage that
was absolutely unruffled. In his autobiography Just as I Am, Billy
Graham wrote: “Ruth and I don't have a perfect marriage, but we have a great
one. How can I say two things that seem so contradictory? In a perfect
marriage, everything is always the finest and best imaginable; like a Greek
statue, the proportions are exact and the finish is unblemished. Who knows any
human beings like that? For a married couple to expect perfection in each other
is unrealistic. The unblemished ideal exists only in happily-ever-after fairy
tales. Ruth likes to say, 'If two people agree on everything, one of them is
unnecessary.' The sooner we accept that as a fact of life, the better we will
be able to adjust to each other and enjoy togetherness. 'Happily incompatible'
is a good adjustment."
In today’s passage from 1Peter 3 we look
into the dynamics that help a Christian’s marriage function better. Keeping God
in view goes a long way to helping us deal with others’ imperfections.
CONTEXT
#1: BOLSTERING ORDER IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS
Last
week we looked at the beginning of chapter two in Peter’s first letter, how
believing in Christ draws us to crave the pure milk of the word like newborn
babies; thus we are transformed to become living stones being built together in
to a spiritual house. We are also made a kingdom of priests: we’re no longer in
it just for ourselves, but conscious of living lives as God’s own people,
declaring His goodness to others.
I’m skipping the last part of chapter two
because I’d like to save it for Good Friday, as it ties in so well with Jesus’
suffering for us at the cross. But we should reference it briefly because it
begins a section with three parts describing how Christians can be flavouring
society by the way they get along with others. And today’s passage points back
to this larger context.
In all three areas, accepting others’
rightful authority is key. 2:13-17 talks about submitting to civil officials in
authority over us; not because they are the ultimate authority – only God can
be in that role! – but God is always in view as we submit to human authorities.
See 2:13,17 “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority
instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority...Show
proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor
the king.” We give respect to those to whom respect is due. We ‘fear God’
foremost and chiefly – all will in the end give account to Him. Putin and NATO
leaders alike will have to answer on the Judgment Day for their decisions.
Did you catch that little phrase in 2:13?
“Submit yourselves FOR THE LORD’S SAKE to every authority instituted among
men...” That’s important, don’t skip over that. Our ‘submitting’ or deference
to authorities is ultimately because we want to please the Lord. When we make a
turn and drive down the right side of the road instead of the left, we’re doing
it partly for the Lord’s sake, it’s the right thing to do. When we slow down
coming into a residential setting, same thing. When we pay our taxes, we’re
again submitting to human authority, but it’s also ‘for the Lord’s sake’ – part
of ‘living good lives among the pagans’ (2:12) for the purpose of honouring the
Lord because we’re His people.
In 2:18 Peter switches to the relationship
between workers and bosses, though back in that day slavery was still
practiced. 1Pet 2:18 “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all
respect...” A worker’s cooperative conduct, acknowledging the boss’ authority,
could be commendable before God.
That brings us to chapter 3, which turns to
relationships within the family, specifically that of a husband and wife. Note
the little phrase ‘in the same way’ in 3:1 and 3:7 - this is a connector
pointing back to 2:13, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority
instituted among men”. How a wife and husband relate to each other is part of
this bigger picture of how Peter exhorts believers in general to honour God by
their cooperative behaviour, enhancing the social order, living what others in
society would consider to be ‘such good lives’ (2:12).
CONTEXT
#2: EGALITARIAN WITH RESPECT TO WORTH
In
discussing relationships between women and men, evangelicals fall largely into
two camps. Egalitarians tend to view both genders as equal; complementarians
insist there are important differences between women and men, you can’t treat
them exactly the same.
Some cultures have been repressive toward
women, for example in some Islamic countries they are forced to dress a certain
way, can’t go out in public by themselves, can’t drive a car, and so on.
Generally Christianity has had a liberating effect for women bound in such
cultures. A classic egalitarian text is Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew
nor Greek, slave nor free, MALE NOR FEMALE, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus.” This verse emphasizes that, in God’s eyes, there is no difference in
intrinsic worth between men and women, one is not better than the other, we’re
not inherently superior or inferior just because of our gender. John 1:12 says,
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God—” to ALL, regardless whether you’re a girl or a
boy, a woman or a man, you can become God’s daughter or son through trusting in
Christ.
Egalitarians could also point out that
there are no caveats with regard to gender in Christ’s command to ‘love one
another’ - John 15:17 “This is my command: Love each other.” If we find
ourselves treating a fellow believer in a way that’s not loving, especially if
they’re the opposite gender to us, we’re not being true to Jesus.
When it comes to cooperation and mutual
submission, learning to get along and work together following common
leadership, egalitarians could also point to Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one
another out of reverence for Christ.” Note the ‘out of reverence for Christ’
bit: because we acknowledge Jesus as Lord, that helps us accept other
Christians’ authority. Same could be said for the many other ‘one another’
passages in the New Testament - they are ‘gender-blind’.
CONTEXT
#3: ADAM’S FALL, MALE ABUSIVENESS
Before
I go further into the complementarian aspects, it’s important to proceed with
caution, given fallen human nature. It’s all too easy for men to grab a
proof-text and try to twist it into a weapon to try to coerce women, to get or
claim some advantage over them.
This goes all the way back to the first sin
in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. God had done
a mysteriously beautiful thing by taking one of Adam’s ribs (from his side) and
fashioning ‘a helper suitable for him’ (Gen 2:18). But when God calls Adam up
on the carpet to account for the misdeed of eating from the one single tree He
had forbidden, Adam is quick to blame and distance himself from the woman he
had previously called “bone of my bone”. Genesis 3:11f “And he said, "Who
told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you
not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me— she
gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."”
Centuries later, before 2000 BC, the
esteemed patriarch Abraham - yes, Abraham, who made it into the Hebrews 11
“Faith Hall of Fame” - was all too quick to throw his wife Sarai under the
proverbial bus when it suited him. Fleeing to Egypt during a severe famine,
Abram persuades Sarai to lie and say she’s just his sister, because Abram is
afraid for his hide; this results in her getting taken briefly into Pharaoh’s
harem! Genesis 12:11-15 “As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife
Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you,
they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you
live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and
my life will be spared because of you." When Abram came to Egypt, the
Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh’s officials
saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.”
Thankfully the Lord intervened before anything worse happened to Sarai, so Pharaoh
gave her back to Abram. But Abram comes off looking pretty shabby in this
episode, demeaning his wife, treating her like some widget to be manipulated
for his own self-preservation.
COMPLEMENTARIAN
WITH RESPECT TO ROLE
With
those 3 contexts in mind, let’s consider what the New Testament sets forth as
the differences between the genders – NOT (mind you!) in regard to inherent
worth, as if one’s better than the other or superior in any way or more
valuable to God – but in regard to ROLE, the functions we play in co-operative
and stable relationships. Remembering the injunction to love one another; to
submit to one another; to, as 1Peter 2:17 puts it, “Show proper RESPECT to
everyone: love the brotherhood of believers...”
In 1Corinthians 11 the apostle Paul sets
forth a chain of accountability: 1Cor 11:3,11f “Now I want you to realize that
the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head
of Christ is God...In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor
is man independent of woman.For as woman came from
man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” There is a
flow of leadership and accountability. But Paul is quick to remind men that
it’s not about independence; and that men have an awe-inducing accountability
themselves, because Christ is their head.
Paul writes in other passages about the
relationship between wives and their husbands, so this is not a one-off
statement. Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.”
Colossians 3:18 “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.”
Titus 2:4f “Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and
children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and
to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”
He seems pretty consistent about this differentiation of roles.
THE
CHRISTIAN TWIST ON AUTHORITY
Mention
of the word ‘headship’ can cause dread for some, because it’s been so badly
misused in the past, forced into an excuse for wielding power and pain over
one’s spouse. Our Lord Jesus was quick to emphasize that “authority” in the
Christian family is meant to be exercised very differently than it is in the
world at large. Even Jesus’ disciples fell into spats about who was the
greatest. Jesus seized these as teachable moments to instruct them that being
‘chief’ was really about SERVING. Mark 10:42-45 “Jesus called them together and
said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord
it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. NOT SO
WITH YOU. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son
of Man did NOT COME TO BE SERVED, BUT TO SERVE, and to give his life as a
ransom for many."”
Luke records a similar instance, but with
an added illustration of a waiter serving a table as in a restaurant. Luke
22:25-27 “Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over
them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.
BUT YOU ARE NOT TO BE LIKE THAT. Instead, the greatest among you should be like
the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is
greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one
who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”
Are you catching His drift? Authority is
not something to be wielded like a club, it’s not a matter of throwing your
weight around or bullying in order to get your way. How can you best SERVE
those in your care? This may mean subordinating YOUR needs to THEIR needs.
THE
CONSIDERATE HUSBAND WOWED BY HIS CO-HEIR
With
those caveats in place, MAYBE we’re ready to take a look at today’s short
reading without jumping to conclusions and not actually hearing the intent of
the text. Let’s back into it, beginning with Peter’s counsel to husbands in
verse 7. 1Pet 3:7 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with
your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with
you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
Why take this approach? Because God is
watching all we do! Our believing wife is His daughter, so that makes Him the
protective father-in-law. If we want Him to hear our prayers, we will treat our
wives properly. Our wife will be more inclined to support our prayers and be
willing to pray WITH us if we’re dealing with her in a loving way.
Peter says our wives are “heirs with you of
the gracious gift of life...” It’s one big composite Greek word, ‘fellow-heir’
or ‘co-heir’: that hints again at mutuality, equal footing, a sister in the
faith. It harks back to 1:4 where God has given us new birth into a living
hope, 1Peter 1:4 “and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—
kept in heaven for you...” Your wife’s faith will result in ‘praise, glory and
honour when Jesus Christ is revealed’ (1:7) – can you begin to imagine how splended she will be in her eventual glory?!
Peter tells husbands “be CONSIDERATE as you
live with your wives...” Do you have a ‘box’ for that? Is it automatic to
consider her needs, her preferences, can you put yourself in her shoes for a
minute? The Greek phrase is literally ‘according to knowledge’. Have you read
any good marriage books lately? Yeah, I know, you’d rather read your technical
manual. But study your wife from time to time. What makes her tick? Do you know
her favourite things? How she likes her back rubbed?
Peter exhorts husbands, “Treat them with
RESPECT as the weaker partner...” Emphasis is on the ‘respect’ not the ‘weaker’
bit. Yes, it’s a fact of life that the Olympics and professional sports have
separate categories for men and women for a reason. But as NIV Study Bible
commentary puts it, “Not a reference to moral stamina, strength of character or
mental capacity, but most likely to sheer physical strength.” Us guys can
tolerate a bit of roughhousing – boys are often seen jostling each other, and
into contact sports – perhaps like a rough clay flowerpot will stand a tipping
over or a fall from a short height. Whereas the fine antique teapot may be a
‘weaker vessel’ but is actually far more valuable, it warrants being handled
with particular care. Key phrase is “treat them with respect”; NRSV “paying
honour to the woman”; NLT “Treat your wife with understanding as you live
together.”
A
WIFE ADORNED BY HER INNER MANNER
Verses
1-6 in chapter 3 are addressed to wives who are believers. Peter was aware some
of them had become Christians since getting married, while their husbands had
not; a goal in that case would be to demonstrate Christian living so
convincingly that their husbands would want to become followers of Jesus, too.
1Peter 3:1-2 “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if
any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the
behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.”
To ‘be submissive’ does not mean being a doormat, but being subject to, to
accept the other person’s authority. But John MacArthur points out there are
limits. God is still supreme, the husband is not to coerce her into doing
anything against conscience. MacArthur comments: “This precludes any coercion
to sin, disobedience to God’s Word, or imposition of physical harm.” There’s no
excuse for wife abuse. Get to safety; protect your kids; seek counseling, and
supports that may lead the abuser to consider the error of their ways. Sharon
Dowd writes in Women’s Bible Commentary, “Today many congregations
understand the provision of options for healing for the abused to be part of
their mission. Rather than encouraging victims to suffer passively, they
support shelters and counseling services to encourage movement toward wholeness.”
Verses 3-4 outline what true ‘beauty’ is
about as the apostle understands it. Not expensive jewellery or costly clothing
with the latest fashions or an over-the-top hairdo to turn everyone’s heads.
1Peter 3:4 “Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty
of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” Now,
there’s enough to turn the fashion industry on its ear! Can we turn off the
advertisements vying for our attention long enough to hear what Peter’s saying?
Your real adornment is an inside job, a type of beauty that will never fade
even when you’re 90; as God sees it, what’s ‘of great worth’ - NRSV ‘very
precious’ - is ‘a gentle and quiet spirit’.
Now, he’s not meaning timid and mousy! See
the end of verse 6 - 1Peter 3:6b “You are her daughters if you do what is right
and DO NOT GIVE WAY TO FEAR.” NRSV “...do what is good and never let fears
alarm you.” These gals are fearless as lions! How? Because they are trusting
God most of all, and fear Him more than any mere human. Remember Deborah, and
Jael, and Queen Esther, who faced enemies and death without flinching.
Fearless.
Peter adds concerning having a gentle quiet
spirit, 1Peter 3:5 “For this is the way the holy women of the past who put
their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to
their own husbands...” Then he holds up Sarah as an example, who referred to
Abraham as her ‘master’ or ‘lord’. When you look at Genesis 18:12 it’s what
John Piper calls “a throw-away line”, yet it shows Sarah’s default way of
referring to her husband was as ‘my lord’, showing deference to him (even AFTER
the Pharaoh incident).
In Scripture, it’s not external appearance
that matters so much – that can be very superficial! – compared to internal
character. Jesus emphasized that God sees our inner being, what’s happening in
secret. Matthew 6:4b Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will
reward you.”
MARRIAGE
IS WORK
In
closing, here’s a poem called ‘Marriage!’ by Ruth Harms Calkin.
I realize this isn’t everyone’s story - I’m sorry – but in many ways it
represents what Peter has in mind when he emphasizes consideration,
understanding, treating the other person with respect. Let’s learn and pray for
better marriages (and other relationships) as we listen...
MARRIAGE!
It's
rough. It's tough. It's work.
Anybody
who says it isn't
Has
never been married.
Marriage
has far bigger problems
Than
toothpastes squeezed
From
the middle of the tube.
MARRIAGE
MEANS…
Grappling,
aching, struggling.
It
means putting up
With
personality weaknesses
Accepting
criticism
And
giving each other freedom to fail.
It
means sharing deep feelings
About
fear and rejection.
It
means turning self-pity into laughter
And
taking a walk to gain control.
MARRIAGE
MEANS…
Gentleness
and joy
Toughness
and fortitude
Fairness
and forgiveness
And
a walloping amount of sacrifice.
MARRIAGE
MEANS…
Learning
when to say nothing
When
to keep talking
When
to push a little
When
to back off.
It
means acknowledging
"I
can't be God to you-
I
need Him, too."
MARRIAGE
MEANS…
You
are the other part of me
I
am the other part of you.
We'll
work through
With
never a thought of walking out.
MARRIAGE
MEANS…
Two
imperfect mates
Building
permanently
Giving
totally
In
partnership with a Perfect God
MARRIAGE,
MY LOVE, MEANS US!
Let’s
pray. Lord, we need you SO MUCH in all our relationships. Forgive us for
struggling with accepting others’ authority. Forgive us for abusing our own
authority when others depend on our care and we fall short or lose our temper
or are just plain negligent. Help us submit to You foremost so that we can have
a right attitude toward others, recalling Your grace in Jesus, seeking to
please You in secret whatever others may think of us or misunderstand us. Keep
us hoping in You, that we may share Your love with others, especially those
with whom we ought to be closest. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
TO
DWELL WITH SAINTS WE KNOW
We’ve
been studying the Apostle Peter’s first letter to the early church,
particularly those scattered throughout the region of Asia Minor. We sometimes
idealize the early church, imagining them to have been perfectly joined in
unity, but there are indications this was not always the case. Apparently
believers could disagree on various topics, back then as now. So today’s
section in 1Peter 3 begins with an admonition to “live in harmony with one
another”.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, two
women are named who could not get along with each other, Euodia
and Syntuche – or, has sometimes been rendered,
“Odious” and “Soontouchy”. Obviously they must have
had some trouble working together. Then and now, the church is too often
described in this little jingle:
“To
dwell above with saints we love,
O
that will sure be glory...
But
to dwell below with saints we know,
Well,
that’s another story!”
Another example... Three churches –
Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian – worked together to sponsor a
community-wide revival. After the revival had concluded, the three pastors were
discussing the results with one another. The Methodist minister said, "The
revival worked great for us. We gained four families as new members of our
congregation." The Baptist preacher said, "It turned out even better
for us – we gained six new families for our congregation." The
Presbyterian pastor in his turn beamed broadly and reported, "Well, we did
even better than that! We got rid of ten of our biggest troublemakers!"
In chapter 3 of 1Peter, the apostle
admonishes getting along with each other, fuelled by humility and the desire to
be a blessing. Honouring Christ in our hearts helps us not only get along with
other church members, but also even with those outside the church who may
direct insults toward us.
THE
LUBRICATION OF SUBMISSION IN RELATIONSHIPS
Verse
8 packs a lot in, it could be a sermon in itself. 1Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of
you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be
compassionate and humble.”
The word “finally” at the beginning does
not mean he’s getting to the end of his letter; it means it’s the final part in
a series of instructions that began back in 2:13, a series in which
“submission” plays a strong role right through to the end of chapter 3. 2:13-17
emphasizes submission to governing authorities. 2:18-25 advises submission of
slaves to their masters. 3:1-7 enjoins husbands and wives to get along – wives
submitting to their husbands, but similarly husbands being considerate and
respectful toward their wives. This last section in the series, 3:8-22, talks
about submission in general to other believers, and gentleness and respect
toward outsiders who ask us to explain why we have hope in Christ; the closing
words of chapter 3 speak of “angels, authorities and power IN SUBMISSION TO
Christ.” So the individual verse in this section are part of an overall
approach to relationships in various spheres of life grounded in SUBMISSION,
humbling ourselves to properly and humbly relate to others, seeking to serve
THEIR needs rather than advance our own interests. It’s instruction on how to
get along, how to cooperate, to put the other’s needs first.
Peter says, “Finally, ALL OF YOU...” -
addressing the whole church, whether slaves or masters, husbands or wives,
seniors, singles, everyone. He’s not aiming at anyone in particular, these are
admonitions for ALL of us who call ourselves ‘Christian’.
He says, “Live in harmony with one
another”; NRSV “Unity of spirit”; literally, “Of the same mind”. Adopt the same
outlook. Jesus prayed in John 17 that the church would have unity and be one,
even as He and the Father are one. In fact this would constitute an important
part of our witness, if we’re united. John 17:23b “May they be BROUGHT TO
COMPLETE UNITY to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even
as you have loved me.” Church squabbles and division hurt our witness to the
community.
Peter says next, “Be sympathetic.” The word
in Greek is very similar to our English rendering, meaning ‘to feel with’, to
suffer or feel pain together. Are our hearts sensitive enough to allow
ourselves to be affected or impacted along with them? Or do we shield
ourselves, erect boundaries, say inside “that’s their problem, not ours”?
Next Peter says, “Love as brothers” (today
we would add “and sisters”). Phil-adelphos (like in
Philadelphia). Family members can be pretty strong in standing up for one
another. Jesus taught His followers in John 13:35, “By this all men will know
that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” That’s supposed to be SO
BASIC for Christianity; again, our witness to those outside the church is
hindered if we’re not practising love to those inside the church fellowship.
Paul put it in Romans 12:10, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
Honor one another above yourselves.” Hear that ‘submission’ element coming
through in connection with loving? Honouring the other person above myself, giving
them preference. Love does that.
Next Peter says, “Be compassionate and
humble.” “Compassionate is literally ‘well-spleened’,
NRSV ‘a tender heart’, today we might say if the other person is hurting we’re
‘gutted’ on their account. Are your innards moved, your gut wrenched because of
how they’re hurting?
And ‘a humble mind’ (NRSV), ‘lowly spirit’
(Prov 29:23). To the Philippians Paul pointed to the
example of Jesus’ self-emptying, coming down from glory, taking the form of a
servant, humbling Himself even to death on a cross. (Php
2:6-8) Can we come down off our ‘high horse’ long enough to actually relate to
and help out the sufferer? Paul wrote in Romans 12:16, “Live in harmony with
one another.Do not be proud, but be willing to
associate with people of low position.Do not be
conceited.” See the importance of humility instead of pride or conceit when it
comes to putting love into action.
I’ve titled this particular section ‘The
Lubrication of Submission in Relationships’. In our machinery, oil is an important
lubricant: if your engine runs out of oil, it will soon come to a screeching
halt! (As one of my daughter’s potential boyfriends found out when he drove up
from Indiana to Sault Ste Marie in his fancy Lexus
sports car.Oops!) This passage on living in harmony
with one another reminds me of a Psalm involving oil: Psalms 133:1-2 “How good
and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious
oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s
beard, down upon the collar of his robes.” Unity is like oil, a lubricant,
everything just seems to work better, you mesh and cooperate.
SPEAK
AND ACT IN WAYS GOD SUPPORTS
A
fair chunk of today’s passage consists of Peter quoting from Psalm 34 in the
Septuagint, altering it slightly from second person to third person (‘you’ to
‘he’). Here we find the motivation to speak and act rightly – to live in
harmony and love one another, be sympathetic and compassionate. Notice the word
“for” at the beginning of verse 10; verses 8 and 9 are empowered by verses
10-12, we love others BECAUSE we’re seeking to please God by doing and speaking
what’s right. Here’s Peter’s rough quoting of the Psalm.
1Peter 3:10-12 “FOR, "Whoever would
love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from
deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and
pursue it. FOR the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are
attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."”
There’s poetic Hebrew parallelism here. We
keep our tongue from evil, our lips from deceitful speech – that’s the TALKING
part. We turn from evil and do good, we seek peace and pursue it – that’s the
ACTING or behaviour part, our DOING. Why? Because – see the second ‘for’ at the
start of v12 – ‘FOR the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are
attentive to their prayer’... God is watching, He’s listening, He’s seeking to
be supportive to those who are trying to please Him, He’s ready to answer their
prayers and grant their requests, in line with His will.
So, if you follow the logic - the ‘fors’ or ‘becauses’ in Peter’s
quote of the Psalm - we ‘love our sisters and brothers’ and ‘live in harmony’
with one another, sympathetically, humbly, not because we want to draw
attention to ourselves in a ‘look at me / pat me on the back’ kind of way, but
because we know the Lord is paying attention and rewards those who do what’s
right. Conversely, His face is “against” those who do evil, He opposes them,
He’s foiling their plans and preparing judgment for them.
The Psalm Peter’s quoting is telling us to
speak and act in ways God supports – Peter extends that to apply to how we get
along with our fellow believers. ‘The Lord’s eyes are on the righteous, His
ears are attentive to their prayer’ - do we really bear that in mind, moment to
moment, that the Lord has us in view and is keenly interested in us?
JI Packer writes in Knowing God...
“What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that
I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it—the fact that he knows me. I
am graven on the palms of his hands [Isa.49:16]. I am never out of his mind.
All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know
him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a
friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eye is off me, or his
attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters.
This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort—the sort of comfort
that energizes, be it said, not enervates—in knowing that God is constantly
taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is
tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at
every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now
can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about
myself, and quench his determination to bless me.”
The Lord is attentive to you for the
purpose of blessing you, supporting you as you speak and do what’s right, what
will further His goals.
RIGHT
REVERENCE EMPOWERS BLESSING WHEN BLASTED
On
either side of this quote from Psalm 34, Peter tackles the problem of how we
respond when others mistreat us. How can we turn the situation around, and
instead of taking revenge or being hurtful in return, instead respond in a way
that blesses the other person?
Verse 9: “Do not repay evil with evil or
insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that
you may inherit a blessing.” It’s hard not to hit back, isn’t it? It’s almost
an automatic reflex to want to defend yourself by reacting in like manner.
Retaliation can be unthinking. Friedrich Nietzsche observed, “Revenge is the
greatest instinct in the human race.”
What is the “this” Peter says we are called
to? To respond with blessing instead of evil or insult. New Living Translation
puts it, 1Peter 3:9 NLT “Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with
insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. THAT is
what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.”
Hm... We are CALLED to pay back evil with a
blessing? Do you think Peter was maybe echoing His Master on the subject of
retaliation? Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:38-40 “You have
heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do
not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to
him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let
him have your cloak as well.” Easy to say, hard to do! But that’s the path of
blessing. That’s just like our Father in heaven; Mt 5:45b “He causes his sun to
rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.” A blessing God, even toward those who don’t deserve it.
Not that outsiders should have any
justification for hurting us. Peter notes in v13, “Who is going to harm you if
you are eager to do good?” This rhetorically expects the answer “nobody”. But
verses 9 and 14 obviously concede and acknowledge that this may sometimes
happen. Our best behaviour and good intentions may be misunderstood,
misinterpreted, even resented and opposed by those who are in darkness. Verse
14, “But even if you SHOULD suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do
not fear what they fear; do not be frightened."”
Huh? I’m suffering, getting insulted,
having evil done to me, getting beat up for no reason, yet I’m not supposed to
retaliate?! That’s hard! But Peter assures us there is blessing in responding
with grace not grudge. God is keeping score so we don’t have to. Our job is to
bless in return, to show them a better way. God, not other humans, is the One
we are to fear and revere.
Peter here is quoting Isaiah 8:12-14a, “Do
not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear
what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to
regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread,
and he will be a sanctuary...” Isn’t that great? He is our sanctuary, our safe
place – He whom we regard as holy, fear, dread, revere, hold in highest regard
and absolute awe. Next to Him, compared to His sovereign almighty power, other
opponents pale by comparison.
Which leads into this awesome phrase Peter
gives us at the beginning of verse 15: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as
Lord.” NRSV ‘sanctify’, BBE ‘give honour to’, lexicon ‘to make holy, consecrate,
sanctify’. We designate and regard Jesus with highest honour as Lord. He is our
ultimate point of reference. He will be on the judgment seat, we will render
account for our actions to Him (2Cor 5:10).
So, revenge is a powerful instinct, but He
helps us respond with blessing instead. We just passed April 1, when April
Fool’s practical jokes may have tricked some and even tempted them to take
revenge somehow.
Chuck Swindoll
relates) Some fellows were stationed in Korea during the Korean War. While
there, they rented a home and hired a local boy to cook and clean for them.
These troops were a bunch of jokesters, and they soon began to take advantage
of the young boy’s naiveté. They’d smear Vaseline on the stove handles so that
when he’d turn the stove on in the morning he’d get grease all over his
fingers. They’d put little water buckets over the door so that he’d get deluged
when he opened the door. They’d even nail his shoes to the floor during the
night. Day after endless day, the little fellow took the brunt of their
practical jokes without saying anything. No blame, no self-pity, no temper
tantrums. Finally, the men felt guilty about what they were doing, so they sat
down with the young Korean and said, “Look, we know these pranks aren’t funny anymore,
and we’re sorry. We’re never gonna take advantage of
you again.”
It seemed too good to be true to the
houseboy. “No more sticky on stove?” he asked. “Nope.” “No more water on door?”
“No.” “No more nail shoes to floor?” “Nope, never again.” “Okay,” the boy said
with a smile, “No more spit in soup.”
THE
WITNESS’ REASONING WITH RESPECT SPEAKS VOLUMES
As
we interface with others who are not believers, our character and our content
are important factors in how we interact so as to make Jesus and the Gospel
appealing to them. Peter touches on this as we come to the end of today’s
passage. He talked earlier, quoting Psalm 34, about the importance of keeping
our tongue from evil, and doing good and seeking peace. In v16 he mentions -
1Pet 3:16 “keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously
against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” Don’t
give opponents any reason to accuse us of wrongdoing! Keep your behaviour good,
then they won’t have any ammunition. “TURN FROM EVIL and do good” as the
Psalmist put it. The apostle Paul in his trial before Governor Felix could
attest in Acts 24:16, “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before
God and man.”
What if your conscience isn’t clear? Join
the club! Practice 1John 1:9. Confess it, repent of it, turn from it, and
renounce it. Don’t be a re-offender. Lean into God, depend on the Holy Spirit
to help you resist that temptation the next time, find others to support you
and help you be accountable and pray for you. For prevention, take into account
Psalm 119:9,11 - “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to
your word...I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against
you.”
In v15 Peter enjoins us to give testimony
about our faith, then adds, 1Peter 3:15c “But do this with gentleness and
respect...” When we witness to others, it can’t be in a conceited or “I’ve got
this all figured out” manner. It’s one beggar telling another beggar where to
find food. Gentleness, respect. Humbly. Praying for them to have a receptive
spirit.
That’s our CHARACTER; there’s also CONTENT
to our witness. V15b “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks
you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Can you share your
faith-journey in a few sentences? Nicky Gumbel of the Alpha course sums it up
in 3 parts: a bit about your life before you came to know Jesus; how you became
aware of your need and received Jesus as your Lord and Saviour; and finally,
what difference Jesus has made in your life since you became a Christian.
Another approach in sharing our faith is
the “bridge” illustration – guest speaker Henry de Roos
actually used this last week as part of his drawings. You can draw this on a
serviette at a restaurant. God is on one side of a chasm, and Humankind is on
the other side of the chasm, separated by sin from His holiness. We try
different ‘ladders’ to bridge the chasm but none will reach across; ladders of
accomplishment, works, trying harder, or ladders of pleasure and sin to try and
fill that void we feel. All fall short. But Jesus came from heaven and gave
Himself to be a bridge which we cross by faith, not works, and come into
fellowship with God.
Another more recent way to present our
Christian faith to someone uses a tiny app on your phone called “3Circles”.
(Here’s a brief video describing how it works.)
The main thing is, by any means that’s most
user-friendly for us, to share how we have come to know Jesus as our hope, how
He now is Lord in our heart.
HIS
COMPASSION MARKS A CHRIST-FOLLOWER
“Sympathize
with each other, Peter admonished the early Christians; “Love each other as
brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a
humble attitude.” (NLT)
In closing, here’s a short story that’s an
example of someone witnessing without words by simple caring; yet something in
the action pointed the other person in the direction of Jesus. It’s by Olga
Wetzel in Eternity magazine (Feb.1977).
The Greyhound Bus slowed – then stopped. It
was just a wayside stop with a garage and a small store. A young [Native]
stepped aboard and after he had paid his fare he sat down behind me. It was
February. We were traveling from Flagstaff, Arizona, to Albuquerque, New
Mexico. The night was cold. In the warm bus the tired youth was soon asleep. But
after about 20 minutes he got up and walked to the front of the bus to ask if
we were near his destination. "We passed there a long time ago," the
bus driver snapped. Acknowledging he had known the boy was riding beyond his
stop, he ask angrily,"wh didn't you get
off?" The quiet passenger's shoulders drooped. He turned and came back to
his seat. Barely had he sat down, when he rose again and went to the driver.
"Will you stop and let me off?" he asked. "I'll walk back."
"No! It's too far and too cold. You'd freeze to death. You'll have to go
into Albuquerque and then take a bus back." Disappointment showed in his
walk as he came back to his seat. "Were you asleep?" I asked him.
"Yes, and my sister was waiting for me there." He dropped into the
seat behind me. I was returning to Wisconsin after serving a quarter term as a
volunteer teacher in a [Native] mission school. This experience had taught me
the hard living conditions of the [Natives] in the area. The small adobe houses
with earth floors, the lack of privacy in those little one-or-two-room houses.
The role played by teenagers was very hard. There was no room for them at home,
yet they were not really ready to go out on their own. All the while we were
nearing Albuquerque, a large and strange city. I thought he must be wondering
what he would do after he got there. I turned to him and asked, "Are you
afraid?" "Yes," he said, in a "hate-to-admit" way.
"Stay with me," I said, "and I'll help you get on the right bus
back." I talked to the driver: "Will you please check with the return
driver, so he need not pay return fare?" "OK," the driver
reluctantly agreed. "Everything will be all right," I told the boy.
"You need not worry about anything." His eyes said, "Thank you!"
We rode on for possibly ten more minutes. Then a hand tapped my shoulder. I
turned to see my young friend leaning toward me. In a reverent voice he asked:
"Are you a Christian?"
Let’s
pray. Lord, we praise You that Your eyes are on Your people and Your ears are
attentive to our prayer. Thank You that our insults and scoffing to Jesus on
the cross were not answered with wrath but mercy, that You cause Your sun to
shine on the evil and the good alike. God, grant us attentive eyes to the needs
of those around us. Soften our hearts so they are sympathetic and tender toward
our brothers and sisters in Christ. Grant us mutual understanding so we can
live in harmony together, and so be a better witness to the world of Your Son.
And help us always be ready to give the reason for the hope we have in Christ!
In His precious Name we pray, Amen.
LIFE
IS TOUGH...BUT FOR THE RIGHT REASON?
It
was one of those times when you thought things couldn’t get any worse – and
then it did. Have you been there?
I was just in the process of making myself
a hot chocolate with some skim milk powder. I was taking the round plastic
Tupperware container of skim milk powder back to the cupboard when the phone
rang. Just then the lid, by which I was holding the container, decided to
unsnap from the bottom, which dropped to the floor and spilled out milk powder.
I could see from the phone number it was an important call, the Fire &
Safety inspection company from the church returning a message I left. As I
answered the call on my cell phone, our nearly-blind-and-deaf 14 year old dog
decided to get off her pillow in the next room and come over to start licking
up the milk powder before I could sweep it up. So I scooped her up in my free
hand and walked back to the pillow to attach her to her lead, but how to do it?
Cell phone in one hand, dog in the other, and no third hand to fasten the lead.
I had to beg the caller’s indulgence while I put the phone aside and fiddled
with the lead.
Trivial example, I know. Non
life-threatening. I was even able to salvage most of the milk powder! But it’s
an example of those vexing times when things aren’t going right to start with,
then something else comes along and piles on top. It seems overwhelming.
We live in a fallen world, far from Eden or
Paradise, where suffering seems to be part and parcel of our existence. Peter
says in v17, 1Peter 3:17 “It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for
doing good than for doing evil.”
It is bad enough to suffer when you’ve done
something wrong, or deliberately set out to make life difficult for others. But
what about suffering for doing good? How is that fair? Life can seem so twisted
and unjust at times.
Examples abound from the global to the
local level. The war in Ukraine drags on, including war crimes against
civilians that become apparent as the invaders shift their forces from one area
to another. A pastor in Eastern Ontario I know posted a photo of the President
of an evangelical seminary in Bucha that was
executed. That kind of person is no military threat!
Closer to home, an older couple in Brussels
is found shot to death by the man’s own grandson. Unthinkable. And then there is
premature death brought on by sudden illness, as in the tragic loss endured by
Sandy Garnet’s family. Such things leave us in shock, asking ‘Why?’ Trying to
make sense of it. How can there be meaning in existence when such bad things
happen?
Christianity is a realistic religion, in
that the doctrine of the Fall takes seriously the warpedness
of our human immorality. Temptation can be enticing in the short term, but its
long term effects can be devastating. Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is
death...” And at some point, sin had a hold of all of us. Romans 3:23 “for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...” We know we’re far off the
mark in terms of the ideal God planned and created.
But it’s not that Peter’s readers were
wrestling so much with the effects of sin that were the result of wrong
choices. Their problem was, they were being persecuted for their faith.
Christendom had not arisen; it was not ‘the norm’ to go to church on Sunday, or
to follow this strange practice called The Lord’s Supper that seemed to
outsiders to have parallels to cannibalism. These early Christ-followers were
doing their best to live good lives amongst their pagan neighbours, lives that
rang with honesty and kindness and gentleness and patience. Yet they were being
ridiculed and slammed for their virtuous living. How could the world be going
so wrong and yet God be sovereign?
Peter seeks to reassure them that Christ is
in fact on the throne, and there is meaning to their misery, their suffering
for doing good. To do that, He points back to the events of the first Easter,
and even further back to a time when God miraculously delivered a few souls
from global judgment.
PURPOSE
IN THE PASSION OF CHRIST
It
really COULD be God’s will, Peter says, to suffer for doing good. What’s the
prime example of that? What was the morally worst event ever to happen in the
history of humankind? Not war crimes such as at Bucha
or Maripol. Not the genocide of Hitler or gulags of
Stalin. No, the worst crime of all time was the crucifixion of the perfectly
innocent God-man, Jesus, the unique Son of God, through whom the world was made
– yet the world rejected its Maker and strung Him up to die on a rough wooden
cross at Golgotha. “Save yourself!” they jeered. “Come down now from the cross,
and we’ll believe then you’re the Messiah!” Not knowing that if He saved
Himself, that would undo the exact thing He had come for.
The first part of v18 is chock-full, rich
in theological meaning. 1Peter 3:18a “For Christ died for sins once for all, the
righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” No other event in history
compares with the dastardliness, the sheer evil of the crucifixion of Jesus the
Saviour, the miracle-working Son of Man. Yet in this prime example of suffering
for doing good, God was working a supreme purpose: the salvation of those who
would believe.
“Christ died FOR sins” – not His, but your
sins and mine. Hebrews 4:15 says He “has been tempted in every way, just as we
are – yet was without sin.” Why then was He suffering there on the cross?
Romans 3:25a “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in
his blood.” Our sins demanded a payment, which Jesus stepped up and provided in
our place. Christ died for sins “once for all” - in contrast to the daily, weekly,
monthly, annual sacrifices offered over and over again at the Temple. Jesus
fulfilled the law, He put a stop to the need for sacrifice by His perfect
offering.
He died ‘the righteous for the unrighteous’
- He the righteous and blameless One took the place of us unrighteous sinners,
He became our substitute. Yes He’s our moral example, but much more than just
an example: He materially and willingly did the thing only He could do, that we
needed. No other human that ever lived was qualified. Romans 3:12 “All have
turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does
good, not even one.”
And it was all for this purpose, Peter
says: “to bring you to God.” The word “to” indicates purpose, what this
most-evil-deed-of-all-time was FOR. Jesus suffered on Good Friday so our sin
problem could be solved, so the gap between us sinners and a holy infinite
totally righteous Creator could be bridged, that we might enter God’s very
presence when we’ve received Christ’s forgiveness.
Evil is absurd. There’s no making-sense of
it. There is no rational justification for the atrocities we read about in the
daily headlines. Yes we sort of see the motive behind it, but it’s despicable.
Evil has a perverseness to it, an ‘ought-not-to-be-that-way’. Yet as we stand
agog at the blatant evil others do, we are at the same time confronted by our
own moral failures, our own lapses of judgment, the times we’ve broken the Ten
Commandments ourselves. The Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn observed,
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between
classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human
heart.”
We can’t make sense of it now. But we DO
see that God used the most evil event of all time - our outright blatant
miscarriage of justice, our joke-of-a-trial murder of His Son – God used that
most perverse event of all time to bring about a stunning purpose: the
reconciliation of wayward humankind to Himself. “To bring YOU” (Peter says) “to
God.”
WHO’S
IN THE ARK? SAVED FROM THE FLOOD OF DISOBEDIENCE
Next
Peter reaches WAY back in ancient history to about the most evil example of
behaviour he can think of: the story of the world at the time of the flood and
Noah’s ark. Evil was so bad that God was pained severely, and felt the best
option was to start over. There seems to have been particularly evil influence
from overlap between the spirit and physical worlds. Genesis 6:4-6 “The
Nephilim were on the earth in those days— and also afterward— when the sons of
God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes
of old, men of renown. The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had
become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his
heart was filled with pain.”
And so came the flood over the known world
at that time.
The general state of wickedness at this
epoch seems to have been so bad that it
warranted wiping out all humanity -- any who didn't turn to God in
repentance and heed Noah’s summons to enter the Ark. However a special case is
the so-called "sons of God" or probably fallen angels interacting
with women to produce a unique race called The Nephilim, and this was so perverse
that we understand from Peter and other books such as Jude that these fallen
angels were sentenced by God to be bound in the abyss until the time of final
judgment. The ultimate victory of Jesus is hinted at in that the text says
after he was crucified, he went and preached in the spirit to these beings that
were bound in prison, announcing His victory over sin and death.
The flood then with its waters of judgment
becomes a symbol of our human judgment, the punishment due to our sin, a
judgment from which we are saved through Christ's death as the Ark floated Noah
and his family safely above the waters of judgment and doom.
Now, it's not a perfect parallel to water
baptism because the waters in baptism signify cleansing, whereas in the time of
Noah the water signified judgment and death! However the point is that we are
being baptized or immersed or ‘sunk’ into Jesus Christ through the act of
baptism, identifying with Him in His dying and rising. We are declaring our
allegiance to him; Peter calls it in 3:21 “the pledge of a good conscience
toward God.” The word means literally a pledge or a commitment or an agreement
as one might make in a solemn contract so it is a response of our soul to God.
We are saying, "Yes, Lord, I am yours."
BAPTISM’S
SAVING SIGNIFICANCE
We
rejoice today that we have a couple of candidates who are declaring their faith
in Jesus through the ordinance of baptism. You see in Peter's letter that it is
not the element of water itself that is effective (as if it were a magic potion)
but we see the power of baptism originating with Christ: as Peter puts it,
3:21b “It [baptism] saves you BY the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” The power
is not in the water, the power is in the event that happened 2000 years ago
when Jesus rose from the dead and Jesus carries this power with him today to
renew our lives.
This power is reflected in verse 22 where
it says, 3:22 “[Jesus] “has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand— with
angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”
Jesus
Christ is at the right hand of God in the ‘control room’, the position of power
so whatever is happening in the world –
even if something seems to be going awry – we still understand that
Jesus is ultimately in control and we can trust him to work things out, to
redeem our mistakes when we repent, to work His sovereign plans despite human
rebellion.
You see from this passage also that baptism
has SIGNIFICANCE, it’s a pointer, a sign – a promise or pledge that we are
committing ourselves to live for Christ from here on. The event of baptism is a
an outward sign to other people of this inward faith or trust we have, and we
declare to them that this is our line in the sand: from now on we're not going
back into the old ways, the old self, the old sins – but instead by the power
of Christ we are moving forward into newness of life and a fresh start. We
become plugged into His Lordship.
In closing, these words that Philip Henry,
father of Matthew Henry, wrote for his children became their baptismal
statement:
“I
take God to be my chief end and highest good.
I
take God the Son to be my prince and Saviour.
I
take God the Holy Spirit to be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter.
I
take the Word of God to be my rule in all my actions
and
the people of God to be my people under all conditions.
I
do hereby dedicate and devote to the Lord all that I am,
all
that I have, and all I can do.
And
this I do deliberately, freely, and forever.”
Can
we make those words ours today as we witness individuals making the pledge of a
good conscience toward God? Do we take Him to be our Prince, our Saviour, our
sanctifier? Let’s pray.
Lord
Jesus, thank You for dying for our sins, once for all, that we the unrighteous
might attain Your righteousness in God’s eyes. Oh what a wonder that You have
managed to bring us to God! Let us never take that for granted, or forget the
price You paid. Embolden us Lord to suffer for doing good; and in that
suffering to know we are identifying with You who suffered so much on our
behalf. You are in control. We wait with expectation to see Your coming to rule
among us. In Christ’s name, Amen.
(Eccles.3:1-11;
John 10:14-18,27-29)
I had most cause for contact with Sandy in
connection with mending we needed done. Her talent as a sewer brought us to her
doorstep more than once with items that needed patching, or a new zipper put
in, or other miscellaneous repairs.
When I was preparing for this message, I
looked up the word ‘sew’ in a Bible search, and it came back with two passages:
Ecclesiastes 3 and Mark 2. Did you realize our Lord Jesus even touched on the
topic of sewing? Not ‘sower and the seed’ sowing, but needle-and-thread sewing?
At first you might not think it’s a passage for a funeral, but as we meditate
on it, three things emerge that are relevant.
First, we’re in a time of tearing,
it feels like Sandy has been suddenly torn away from us. Jesus said in Mk 2:21,
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new
piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.”
Sandy’s death has happened all too
suddenly. That afternoon she was feeling great. Brian headed off to work a
couple of blocks away, only to be called back within about an hour by a message
saying EMS was headed to his house. He hustled home and Sandy was still
communicating at that point, but by the time the ambulance got there she
couldn’t speak. A brain aneurysm happens so suddenly. We feel the pain and
shock of her having been taken quickly.
The new piece has pulled away from the old.
As Christians we understand Sandy has left the ‘old garment’ or ‘tent’ of her
temporal physical body behind. The Easter appearances of Jesus demonstrated He
was raised with a new, glorious, spiritual body. With Paul we believe in
1Corinthians 15(42bff), “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised
imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in
weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
The new is different from the ‘old garment’.
Second, there is a newness that has
energy and power. Jesus goes on in Mark 2 to change the metaphor: “And
no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the
skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new
wine into new wineskins.” Jesus was introducing Good News, the Kingdom of God
was coming into being in His presence, miracles of healing and deliverance were
happening, those who trusted in Him were being forgiven and stepping into
eternal life. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit would be introduced, indwelling
believers. Sandy had loved the Lord a long time, and savoured His companionship
– that was the start of this ‘new birth’. At death we understand she has fallen
asleep in the Lord and will be with Him forever. It’s a new phase of spiritual
life that cannot be contained within these mortal bodies subject to physical
breakdown and wearing-out.
But, third, the principal point Jesus is
emphasizing in this passage is that being with the bridegroom is cause for
celebration! Note the context – some joy-suckers and critics had come and
pointed out that John’s followers and the Pharisees were fasting, so why
weren’t Jesus’ disciples fasting? In response Jesus asks, Mk 2:19 - “How can
the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long
as they have him with them.” In other words, where the bridegroom is, there is
celebration, it’s justification for a party!
We do mourn Sandy’s death today, as she’s
been torn away from us, it seems far too early. But faith understands that
being with Jesus is better by far, compared to even our most delightful earthly
experience. The Apostle Paul explained to the church at Philippi he was fairly
certain he would be freed from his captivity to minister among them again, even
though if he were killed for his faith in Christ, that would be better by far:
Philippians 1:21, 23 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain...I
desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far...” Where the bridgroom is, there is no reason to mourn and be fasting;
instead, there is celebration! Sandy is getting a taste of that ahead of the
rest of us. I think she will love celebrating; she loved music.
We have the promise of Jesus our Good
Shepherd from John 10:27f, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they
follow me.I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”
Our Ecclesiastes reading also mentions
sewing. “There is a time to mourn and a time to dance...a time to tear and a
time to sew [mend]...” As someone who sewed, Sandy was expert in fastening
things together. Sewing matches up two pieces of material. It seems to me Sandy
was a ‘connector’ in terms of human relationships: she got to know and serve
lots of people, between her sewing and her business enterprises. Made In Huron
is itself a sort of co-operative project, involving many people. Sandy was
caring and compassionate, she loved to serve and help others, people felt they
could share confidences with her, she was a ‘safe’ person they could trust. She
put into practice her Lord’s command to “love your neighbour as yourself”, she
connected.
Jesus is a sewer or connector of sorts too.
He died to bring us to God, to bring us together. God ‘has set eternity in the
hearts of men’ said Ecclesiastes (3:11), yet it was Jesus whose death on the
cross made it possible for sinners to be reconciled to a Holy God. He ‘patched
up’ our relationship with His Heavenly Father, when we repent and trust in what
He’s done for us. In that ‘Good Shepherd’ passage, He said, John 10:16 “I have
other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.I must
bring them also.They too will listen to my voice, and
there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” He has brought together Jews and
Gentiles, reconciled races, sewn us together despite different racial
backgrounds. Through faith in Him we become brothers and sisters in Christ,
whatever our roots. The Master Sewer mends our deepest rips and tears. We can
entrust our deceased loved ones into His care.
As
St Paul wrote, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him" (1Corinthians 2:9) —Thanks
be to God!
LIKE
SHEEP WE HAVE GONE ASTRAY
[INTRO
MINI-MOVIE: “He was Crucified” [Beamer Films])
“He
was crucified – that we might be justified; He was punished – that we might be
pardoned.” I thought that clip made the connection well between what Jesus was
doing on Good Friday and the effect intended for us here today. He was taking
our place there, as our effective substitute; and He was setting a pattern for
us to follow, as our Lordship-worthy example.
Today we step back a bit in Peter’s first
letter to a passage that ties in very well with Good Friday. Peter seems to be
riffing off one of the most Messianic passages in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53,
either outright quoting it or alluding strongly to it.
Start, for instance, with our basic human
problem: sin. Had all humans been living sinless lives, what Jesus endured on
the cross and died there to do would not have been necessary. But, in case you
haven’t noticed lately, the world’s in a mess. And WE are in a mess. You just
have to interact with other people and sooner or later you’ll realize you’re
not perfect; others may even hint at that!
In Isaiah’s words: Isaiah 53:6 “We all,
like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the
LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Here’s the transfer of guilt, why
Jesus the Sinless One was suffering: it’s OUR iniquity for which He’s being
punished. Now look at 1Peter 2:25 - “For you were like sheep going astray, but
now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
We do have sheep at our place - Calico
sheep, a ram and a ewe and a little lamb. I guess that makes me a ‘shepherd’ of
sorts. However it’s not generally the sheep I have a problem with so much as
our 3 Nubian goats. There’s a mother-daughter combination, and where the mother
goat ‘Rose’ goes, there the daughter ‘Summer’ follows. So when I let them out
to the paddock each morning, or bring them in at night, there’s a checklist I
have to go through. Am I standing between the door and the opposite wall? If not,
Rose the mother will turn and instead of going outside, head for the metal
garbage cans where the feed bags are stored. At night, I have to ask myself, is
the gate closed to the horse’s stall? Otherwise when Rose comes in, instead of
going into the sheep-and-goat pen, she heads into the horse’s stall, stands up
on her hind feet, and sticks her head in the bin where the horse’s feed awaits
her. And, as I said, where the mother goes, the daughter follows – and then you
have several animals running around where they’re not supposed to be, and
general commotion, bins being knocked over – you get the picture!
Isaiah and Peter are saying we’re just like
that nosy inquisitive goat: Is there something tasty over there? What might be
under that lid? We care more to feed our appetite than to obey the Master
Shepherd’s wishes.
OUR
SINLESS SUFFERING SUBSTITUTE
That
day at Golgotha, Jesus was accomplishing what no other person in the history of
humanity could ever have done. He was taking the place of sinners, accepting
the load of their iniquity, because only He was sinless. Peter quotes Isaiah
53:9 in 1Peter 2:22 - “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his
mouth.” Three times the governor Pilate acknowledged he found no fault in
Jesus: “"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to
the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.”...“Once
more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to
you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him."” ...
“As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted,
"Crucify! Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and
crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."”
So, why did an innocent man end up
crucified? Because their shouts prevailed. Consider their motives. The chief
priests and other leaders of the Jews were jealous of Jesus’ popularity, the
crowds that followed Him everywhere. Pilate was selfishly concerned with saving
his own hide, when the crowds started saying he was no friend of Caesar if he
let Jesus off. The trial was a sham, a kangaroo court, a gross miscarriage of
justice just to get rid of this irritating religious radical from the
backwaters of Galilee.
Are we really all that different? Do we get
jealous of others’ popularity, when they get a ton of ‘likes’ for a post? When
they get promoted and we get passed over? Do we become concerned for our own
welfare when others make accusations or we are misunderstood and maligned,
others seeing just a part of the picture?
Peter points to Jesus as our sinless
suffering substitute. V21 “To this you were called, because Christ suffered FOR
YOU...” And v24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we
might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been
healed.” This echoes Isaiah 53:12, “For he bore the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.” Jesus places Himself under the load of sin
you can no longer manage to carry, it’s crushing, you’d have not the least
glimmer of hope on the day of judgment. He takes it to the cross and deals with
it there, so you instead can receive the gift of righteousness, God’s
‘all-clear’.
Nobody else in history could have done
that, because we all have our own sin-streak, apart from Jesus. His redemption
became effective as our sinless suffering substitute.
William McComb
wrote: “Chief of sinners though I be, / Jesus shed His blood for me; / Died
that I might live on high, / Lives that I may never die.”
OUR
EXAMPLE ENTRUSTING HIMSELF TO THE JUDGE
You
may recall Peter is writing about the time of Nero, when Christians were being
persecuted on account of this new oddball religion, and their allegiance to
this Nazarene they hailed as “Lord” in shocking contrast to Caesar. So part of
Peter’s purpose in writing is to encourage them in their time of suffering. So
he emphasizes not just Jesus’ EFFICACIOUSNESS as their unique substitute, but
also His being an EXAMPLE for them to follow, He’s leading the way, showing or
demonstrating how to deal with hardship as a pattern they can imitate.
Let’s look at v21 more completely. “To this
you were called” – to what? Peek back at v20, enduring when suffering for doing
good. They are called to endure, Peter says, V21b “because Christ suffered for
you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” The word
‘example’ is taken from that of a ‘writing-copy’, like a set of alphabet
letters at the top of a page which a child beginning to print would copy line
by line, repeating over and over, until they’ve learned how to print their
letters.
Jesus’ self-giving at the cross has its
EFFECT: His blood washes away our sins, His Spirit comes into our lives when we
trust Him and gives us power to live for Him. Jesus’ teaching gives us INSTRUCTION
in how to live day-to-day. Gandhi was a revolutionary in helping bring India to
independence from Great Britain, but Gandhi’s nonviolent protests were not
grounded in any Hindu teaching, but instead in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount!
Jesus instructs us very practically.
But Jesus doesn’t just have effect in His
death, and give us instruction in His teaching – He Himself WALKS THE WALK, He
is our example, demonstrating for us the attitude and actions that ought to
characterize a Christian’s life. Words aren’t cheap for Jesus, He practices
what He preaches, He lives it out, so we can be His followers / apprentices.
After washing His disciples’ feet Jesus said, John 13:15 - “I have set you an
example that you should do as I have done for you.” And Paul could urge the
church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Follow my example, as I follow the
EXAMPLE of Christ.”
Emmy Werner, a University of California
psychologist, says: "Like most things, parents teach persistence by
example...One day, for example, Sam's father told him to stick with his math
problem until he found the solution. As Sam worked, he could hear his father
fiddling with an antique radio he was restoring. He had been at it for a week,
taking the radio apart, assembling it, taking it apart again. Sam learned from
that lesson – and he stuck with his math problem and other challenges he faced
right on into adulthood." Likewise we learn to endure when suffering
hardship from Jesus’ example.
OUR
HARD-WON FREEDOM TO SERVE GOD AND COMMEND CHRIST IN PUBLIC
Jesus’
death on the cross is not just some random fluke event a couple of thousand
years ago that has nothing to do with us today. We’ve seen how He’s the unique
sinless Saviour we need to effectually deal with our iniquity so we can be
forgiven and be counted worthy to inherit eternal life. We’ve seen how He is
our Example, faithfully putting into practice what He taught. But what about
when the rubber meets the road? Will we actually be found to be imitators of
Christ when the hard knocks start coming?
The deadline for this year’s income tax is
approaching. Maybe you’ve already been to see your accountant or finished the
annual reckoning with your tax prep software for the year. Great! But were you
tempted to not report any of that income the government didn’t already know
about? Are you exaggerating your expense claims, erring on the side of having
to pay less tax? Are you claiming deductions that really shouldn’t apply to you
when you read the fine print? It can be tricky!
Earlier in this passage, Peter emphasizes
the importance of submitting to the authorities over us. 1Peter 2:13f “Submit
yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether
to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to
punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”
This closely parallels the Apostle Paul’s
guidance in Romans 13:5ff - “Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the
authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of
conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s
servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe
him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then
respect; if honor, then honor.” In a way this echoes Jesus’ view, as in Mark
12:17 - "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s."
Some might protest that because Jesus is
ultimately Lord, we don’t have to cooperate with governing authorities, which
tend to be corrupt and infected by people who like bribes and kickbacks and, in
a democracy, craft policy with an eye to what will appeal to their supporters
so they get re-elected. But the apostles are very clear that we are to submit
“for the Lord’s sake” to human authorities, ‘for conscience’ sake’ as well as
because we might get punished for breaking the law.
How can this be? Aren’t we FREE in Christ?
Doesn’t His Kingdom trump all others, aren’t we supposed to obey God rather
than men? (cf Acts 5:29)
Not so fast. The Bible teaches we are to
obey governing authorities unless they require us to do something contrary to
God’s teaching. In fact, we are to do such a good job of supporting the
government that it catches the notice of those around us and commends Christ,
by our honourable behaviour. 1Peter 2:15-17 “For it is God’s will that by doing
good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but
do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show
proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor
the king.”
What’s Peter saying? “Live as free
[people]”, yes, but free to DO GOOD, not using your so-called ‘freedom’ as an
excuse to carry out evil or selfish plans. Respect and honour are HUGE when out
in the general public. In the church, the circle of believers who consider
themselves sisters and brothers in Christ, Agape-love ought to predominate. God
demonstrates His own love for us at the cross of Jesus (Romans 5:8) - which
empowers us in turn to prove our love for other Christians. In a few minutes
when we hold the bread and cup in our hand, let’s reflect on it and examine
ourselves not only in terms of our personal relationship toward God, but as a
sort of check on how much we actually care and have invested ourselves, spent
ourselves in loving ways toward others in our church fellowship. Are we
‘pouring out’ our lives as He poured His out for us?
DID
HE DIE FOR YOU?
Clarence
Macartney tells the story of Steinberg and a gypsy
girl. Struck with her beauty, Steinberg took her to his studio and frequently
had her sit for him. At that time he was working on his masterpiece ‘Christ on
the Cross.’ The girl used to watch him work on this painting. One day she said
to him, ‘He must have been a very wicked man to be nailed to a cross like
that.’ ‘No,’ said the painter. ‘On the contrary, he was a very good man. The
best man that ever lived. He died for others.’ The little girl looked up at him
and asked, ‘Did He die for you?’ Steinberg was not a Christian, but the gypsy
girl’s question touched his heart and awakened his conscience, and he became a
believer in Him whose dying passion he had so well portrayed.
Years afterward a young Count chanced to go
into the gallery at Dresden where Steinberg’s painting of ‘Christ on the Cross’
was on exhibition. The painting spoke so powerfully to him that it changed the
whole tenor of his life. He was Count Nikolaus von
Zinzendorf, founder of the Moravian Brethren.
We are preparing now to move into our Good
Friday communion. As we gather at the table, can we bring what back there then,
forward to here today? Does it resonate deep in your soul that He died for you?
Does that make any difference in how you live out in public? By ‘doing good’,
Peter says, we want to ‘silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.’ Are we known
in the community for ‘doing good’, or sticking to our own little holy huddle?
Can your conscience bear witness that you have not ‘use[d] your freedom as a
cover-up for evil’ in your business dealings? Your social media interactions?
What you’ve spent your time watching for entertainment?
If you have anything to confess, don’t be
bashful about bringing it before the Lord – you won’t be telling Him anything
He doesn’t already know, after all! Allow the EFFICACIOUSNESS of Jesus’
sacrifice to wash you clean. He took the burden of our sins on Himself so that
we might DIE to sins and live for RIGHTEOUSNESS. By His wounds YOU have been
healed, had your spiritual sickness, your straying-like-sheep waywardness
cured.
As we prepare for communion, here’s a short
video that takes us back to the events of Good Friday... (“Crucified” by
Floodgate Productions)
DON’T
GET THE WRONG IDEA
What’s
Easter mean? Or to put it more Biblically, what’s the resurrection of Jesus
mean? Without Easter, without the resurrection, we would have the wrong view
about Jesus.
Without the resurrection, it would be just
another sad story about the tragedy of human corruption. The power of evil
empire. The little guy gets run over by the corporate steamroller. Rustic
popular prophet from the backwoods of Galilee sets out to challenge the twisted
religious system managed by the elite in Jerusalem who have capitalized on
religion itself to line their pockets in collusion with their powerful Roman
overlords, but the rustic prophet proves ultimately to be no match for the
plots and machinations of the dominant corporate elite. It’s yet one more pathetic
uprising that glimmers hope briefly for the oppressed but is crushed by the
iron glove of the political wizards and Big Money. An unknown rebel gathers a
massive grassroots following and tries to ‘stick it to the man’ but finally
loses in the showdown and his movement fizzles, followers dejectedly scurrying
back to Galilee with their tails between their legs. Scoreboard: The System -
1, the little guy - zero.
But wait! That’s not how it turned out.
Without the resurrection, we would never have heard about Easter. We would
certainly not be here today. To tell the story of Jesus without the
resurrection would be to convey totally the wrong idea. In this particular
game, God’s grace won big-time!
Harvey Penick is
one fellow who had the wrong idea for a brief time, but to his surprise found
out differently soon after. Harvey Penick was a golf
pro whose biggest success came late in his career. He is best known for his
'Little Red Books' on golf. In reality, Penick never
wrote with the intention of making money. In the 1920s, Penick
purchased a red spiral notebook in which he recorded his observations on golf.
He kept this notebook for decades. In 1991 he showed his notebook to a writer
and asked if he thought it was worth publishing. The writer/agent told Harvey
he thought it could be published and agreed to help him find a publisher.
A short time later the man sent Harvey a
letter telling him that Simon and Schuster had agreed to publish it with an
advance of $90,000. The next time these two met, Harvey was troubled. He told
the agent that with all his medical bills there was no way he could advance the
publishing house that much money. His agent had to explain to Harvey that it
was HE who would be receiving the $90,000! The book was titled
"Harvey Penick's Little Red Book," and it
sold more than one million copies.
Harvey had the wrong idea, he was troubled
to think he’d have to fork out thousands of dollars to get his notes published.
But in fact it was the other way around! God’s grace is like that. Without
Easter, without the cross and resurrection, it would all depend on us, and we’d
never make it to heaven by our works. But the resurrection is God’s stamp of
approval on Jesus’ offering Himself as a sinless sacrificial substitute for us,
meaning we can be forgiven, we can gain eternal life simply by putting our
trust in Him as our Saviour. That is grace. That is gift. That has a lot to do
with what Easter is about. So the resurrection helps us steer clear of getting
the wrong idea about Easter.
What’s Easter mean? Here are 5 things
Easter means, that the Apostle Peter helps unpack for us as we continue on in
His first letter to the church...
1)
JESUS IS EXALTED AND EMPOWERED
Wasn’t
it great to witness a couple of baptisms last Sunday? We pick up Peter’s letter
where he’s explaining the motor behind the saving power associated with baptism
– it’s nothing special about the water itself, but the Sovereign Lord Jesus in
whom the person being baptized pledges their trust. 1Peter 3:21f “...Baptism...saves
you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at
God’s right hand— with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”
It’s the resurrection of Jesus – what we’re celebrating on Easter Sunday – it’s
the resurrection that saves us, not our good works. Easter means Jesus has
risen from the dead, and ascended to God’s right hand, and is in the position
of power in the central control room of the universe. Angels, principalities,
and powers have to submit to Him, have to be subject to His control.
The author of Hebrews comments, Heb 8:1 & 9:24 “We do have such a high priest, who sat
down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven...For Christ did
not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered
heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.” The Sanhedrin and King
Herod and Roman governor may have succeeded in eliminating Jesus’ earthly body
from Palestine, but He arose a glorious spiritual body that confirmed His
resurrection for forty days amongst His closest followers then ascended to be
with our Heavenly Father. And what’s He doing there? Watching Netflix and
sipping sodas? Did you catch that last bit? “Now to appear FOR US in God’s
presence.” His ministering ‘for us’ didn’t end at the cross; He intercedes ‘for
us’ at the Father’s side. Romans 8:34 “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus,
who died— more than that, who was raised to life— is at the right hand of God
AND IS ALSO INTERCEDING FOR US.” How cool is that?!
So, What’s Easter mean? Easter means Jesus
is Exalted and Empowered.
2)
Jesus is our Accountability
The
last half of April is here so Canadians are busy getting our receipts and
T-slips from last year to the accountant, for CRA’s ‘day of reckoning’ approacheth. But there is another accounting we must one
day give, one for which no receipts will be accepted, and Jesus is involved in
that: He is now our Accountability. 1Peter 4:5 “But they will have to give
account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” We understand
part of God’s very being, the Trinity or three-in-one, became incarnate and
walked among us, getting tired and hungry just like us, experiencing all our
normal human temptations and emotions, but remained perfect and sinless, and so
became qualified to be our judge. Jesus said about this, “And he has given him
authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”
But Easter reveals that, after the most
painful of executions humans have ever devised, that body could not be found in
the tomb after the third day! Resurrection is God’s miracle indicating Jesus is
the One to whom we must one day give account, He will judge the living and the
dead. Paul wrote in Romans 14:12, “So then, each of us will give an account of
himself to God.” And in 2Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the
things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
Are you ready to stand before Jesus’
judgment seat? CRA is one level of accountability, but how will you fare under
God’s scrutiny? Are you fudging any entries in your moral life? Is your
conscience clean? Have you applied the cleansing blood from the cross?
For those who are in Christ, judgment is
not something to fear but to anticipate. Peter wrote, 1Pet 1:13 “Therefore,
prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the
grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Hope in His grace, ‘to be
given you’. Jesus is our Accountability.
3)
JESUS GIVES OUR LIFE PURPOSE BEYOND OUR OWN SKIN
What’s
Easter mean? It’s about Jesus being exalted, empowered, and our accountability.
Easter is also about three things Jesus GIVES us: He gives us purpose,
direction, and strength.
Christ gives us a reason for being here
larger than ourselves, He gives us PURPOSE for our life beyond our own skin.
Note the last part of verse 11. 1Peter 4:11b “ anyone serves, he should do it
with the strength God provides, SO THAT in all things God may be praised through
Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” The
‘so that’ here indicates purpose, as in, “WHY does God provide strength? For
the purpose of God being praised through Jesus in all things.” And Peter even
adds a little tag-line doxology for emphasis: glory and power are due to
Almighty God for ever and ever.
Our lives are not supposed to be about just
how wonderful we are ourselves. Our lives are not about showing off on social
media what an exciting vacation we just had, or our shiny new acquisition, or
even how delicious the burger is we’re currently devouring. Our purpose in life
is far bigger than that! Far more than harvesting the ‘likes’ of our contacts.
God has designed us as His creatures to be most fulfilled when we are bringing
glory to our Creator and Redeemer, when we’re building His Kingdom, using the
gifts He’s given us in a way that captures others’ attention and points to His
goodness and excellence.
Last Sunday Scottie Scheffler
won the 86th Masters Golf
Tournament. But Scheffler has a bigger
purpose than just to win golf tournaments and make a name for himself. Golf.com
reports his answer when asked about his work-life balance: “It all goes back to
my faith...The reason why I play golf is that I’m trying to glorify God and all
that he’s done in my life. So for me, my identity isn’t a golf score. Like
Meredith told me this morning, if you win this golf tournament today, if you
lose this golf tournament by 10 shots, if you never win another golf tournament
again she goes, I’m still going to love you, you’re still going to be the same
person.”
Did you catch Scheffler’s
sense of purpose? Jesus has given him a purpose that’s larger than just his own
skin! “The reason why I play golf is that I’m trying to glorify God and all
that he’s done in my life.”
Christ explained to His disciples in John
15:8, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.” By bearing fruit we prove we are followers of
Jesus, and our Father receives glory, we’re shining a spotlight on Him, making
Him look good. It’s not about drawing attention to ourself,
but to Him.
John wrote in Revelation 1:5f, “To him who
loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and HAS MADE US TO BE a
kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father— to him be glory and power for
ever and ever! Amen.” Our response to Easter’s freeing us from our sins is
consciousness of being a royal priesthood serving God. Jesus gives our life a
larger purpose beyond ourselves.
4)
JESUS GIVES US DIRECTION AND OUTLOOK SUPERIOR TO BASE HUMAN PASSIONS
We
humans are created, sensate, earthy beings, mind and body, with all the
impulses and urges and hungers and needs that go with being walking talking
material organisms. We have drives that are rooted both in our inner body
chemistry (hormones) and factors catching our interest from outside (smell,
sight, taste). In an affluent society like ours, it’s easy to be persuaded to
spend our discretionary money and energy seeking out the next thrill, the next
gourmet meal, the next sensation that will maximally reward our nervous system
with pleasure. But God has designed us for a higher plane of life than an
earthworm or amoeba.
Peter is very up-front about what it’s like
to live in secular culture. When your view of eternity is obscured, it’s easy
to just live life looking forward to the next ‘high’, to getting ‘wasted’ on
the weekend as a means of coping with the monotony of your day job. 1Peter 4:3f
“For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—
living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.They think it strange that you do not plunge with
them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.”
“What’s wrong with you? We’re all going
down to the bar, why don’t you come along? Think you’re too good for us?” Or:
“Have you tried this? My friend gave me some and it was something else. Come
on, you’ll like it. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Everybody’s doing it.”
Yes, it’s a choice, and it can be
difficult, like you’re fighting to swim upstream against the prevailing
culture. Pagans choose to do such things – because it gives a temporary ‘fix’,
even if the long-term consequences of such habits drag one down and get in the
way of more worthy life goals. But apart from eternity, if there is no
resurrection, the way the apostle Paul characterized it in 1Corinthians 15
makes perfect logical sense: 1Cor 15:32 “If the dead are not raised, "Let
us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."”
Peter highlights that Jesus gives us a new
attitude - direction and outlook superior to our base human passions. 1Peter
4:1f “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with
THE SAME ATTITUDE, because he who has suffered in his body is DONE WITH SIN.As
a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life FOR EVIL HUMAN DESIRES,
but rather FOR THE WILL OF GOD.” The tension is clear – which will it be? Human
desires, or what God wants? Jesus did not choose the cushy, pleasurable,
pain-avoiding way out. Hebrews 12:2b “...For the joy set before him [He]
endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God.” He endured what was hard and shameful – so that He might be qualified
to be truly the ‘author and perfecter’ of our faith.
Paul is very blunt about what the outcome
is for those who choose those pleasurable debauched human desires: Galatians
5:21 “...envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.I
warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the
kingdom of God.” Do you want God’s best, His Kingdom? Then those baser urges
have to be ignored, passed over for something better in the long term. Become
passionate about God’s will. Locate yourself in Christ. Romans 13:13f “Let us
behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in
sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.Rather,
clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to
gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
5)
JESUS GIVES US STRENGTH TO BE GRACIOUS
Christ
provides us with purpose; with direction; and with strength, the power to carry
out what He’s drawing us towards. It’s not like the Lord says, “There’s a
humanly impossible target, now get over there on your own steam.” He graciously
provides help to follow Him.
Verses 8-11 list several imperatives that ought
to characterize our new way of life in Jesus. 1Peter 4.8-11 “Above all, love
each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.Offer
hospitality to one another without grumbling.Each one
should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully
administering God’s grace in its various forms.If
anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone
serves, he should do it WITH THE STRENGTH GOD PROVIDES...”
What’s commanded here? Love each other
deeply. Offer hospitality. Use your gift. Serve with God’s strength.
The ‘love each other deeply’ is in the
‘above all’ category – after all, Jesus said that was His ‘new command’. John
13:34f “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you
must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if
you love one another.” That will be our distinguishing characteristic as
Jesus-followers. But loving doesn’t come easy, does it? Maybe it would if
everybody else weren’t so blatantly imperfect... As Peter notes, “Love covers
over a multitude of sins.” But that takes forgiveness, grace, longsuffering,
immense patience – when that person lets you down for what seems the hundredth
time.
“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling”
– literally, ‘friendly to strangers’. But it’s so much easier to be friendly to
people who are ‘like us’! With our own group, we know what we can talk about,
we can pick up the conversation where we left off, we share values and a
history. To walk up to that stranger and strike up a conversation takes
courage, nerve, to expend energy on something that might seem like a waste of
time if we don’t ‘hit it off’. Or when you feel your relational ‘quiver’ is
already full to bursting.
But we were strangers, misfits, when it
came to the Kingdom of God. And the Lord reached out and drew us in, sinful
history notwithstanding. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 25:35, “For I was
hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something
to drink, I WAS A STRANGER AND YOU INVITED ME IN...”
Huron County has an initiative
investigating what it might involve to provide help to refugees from Ukraine.
Will that be an opportunity for us to somehow share what God’s given us, and
show hospitality?
Jesus gives us strength to serve, using our
gifts. V10 NRSV “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one
another with whatever gift each of you has received.” I like that - God’s grace
to us is ‘manifold’ (many-splendoured, multiple varieties,
takes many forms). It’s not for selfish consumption but for us to ‘steward’ or
administer faithfully by putting it to use, serving others. And we do it ‘with
the strength God provides’. Philippians 4:13 (one well worth memorizing!) “I
can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
GETTING
THE WHOLE MESSAGE ACROSS
In
summary – without the Resurrection, the event of Jesus’ death would have
conveyed the wrong meaning. The Resurrection puts the stamp on the victory
Jesus won for us at the cross on Good Friday.
What’s Easter mean? As Peter outlined, it
means...
Jesus
is Exalted and Empowered
Jesus
is our Accountability
Jesus
gives our life Purpose beyond our own skin
Jesus
gives us Direction and Outlook superior to base human passions
(and)
Jesus gives us Strength to be gracious.
Those give vibrant meaning to Easter, to
what Jesus’ Resurrection was all about. But our follow-through is also
important in showing the world what Easter really means, beyond bunnies and egg
hunts. “Love each other deeply” – that shows, marks us out, distinguishes us,
as His disciples. “Use whatever gift [you’ve] received to serve others” –
instead of cocooning with your favourite hot drink and time-gobbling pastime:
that too will make you stand out from your neighbours. People can tell if
you’re really there ‘for them’ or if you’re antsy to finish with them and get
on to the next project.
As we live out God’s manifold grace, with
the strength He supplies, that too will prove what Easter really means. The
message won’t be truncated.
General Wellington commanded the victorious
forces at the great battle of Waterloo that virtually defeated Napoleon. When
the battle was over, Wellington sent the great news of his victory to England.
A series of stations, one within sight of the next, had been established to
send code messages between England and the continent. The message to be sent
was ‘‘Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.’’ Meanwhile a fog set in and
interrupted the message sending. As a result, people only saw news of ‘‘Wellington
defeated –’’ Later, the fog cleared and the full message continued, which was
quite different from the outcome that the people originally thought had
happened!
The same is true today. When many look at
what happened on Good Friday, the death of Christ, they see only “defeat.” Yet,
on Easter, at the Resurrection, God’s message was completed. The resurrection
spelled “victory.” And the Holy Spirit continues to pour God’s strength and
grace into our lives in ways that give Easter positive reality in people’s
lives. Let’s pray.
Thank
You Heavenly Father for the victory over sin and death won by Your Son at the
cross. We praise You for Your might power shown in raising Him from the dead,
seating Him at Your right hand until that day we render account before Him.
Help us not give in to temptation to base human desires, but instead to know
Your will and be generous in sharing the grace and gifts You’ve given us. May
people see Your hand at work in our lives and start to appreciate Your goodness
and glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
YOU’VE
GOT TO TAKE THE LONG VIEW
As
Luke begins a section that spans several chapters, it’s one in which Jesus’
focus shifts. He had begun largely ministering in the northern part of the
country, in Galilee. But He turns His attention. This next section in Luke
describes Jesus’ ministry in the south part of the country, Judea – an area
much closer to Jerusalem where His earthly ministry will climax in His
crucifixion.
It probably would have been much easier to
continue teaching and working miracles in Galilee; but that’s not what He had
ultimately come for. At the Transfiguration back in the middle of chapter 9,
Luke records this about Jesus’ miraculous encounter with two outstanding Old
Testament prophets: Lk 9:31 “[Moses and Elijah] appeared in glorious splendor,
talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring
to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” The word ‘departure’ in the Greek is literally
‘exodus’.
In Luke 9:51 Luke emphasizes how deliberate
Jesus is about the change in focus as He begins this new phase of ministry. Lk
9:51 “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus RESOLUTELY
SET OUT for Jerusalem.” He set out ‘resolutely’, literally He ‘set His face’ –
very determined. He was taking the long view in this decision to leave the
relatively less challenging north and head towards the Jewish political centre
and hotbed, Jerusalem, with its various groups vying for influence (Sadducees,
Pharisees, Herodians, Zealots).
It’s May and of course you know what May
brings – April showers bring May flowers – and MOTORCYCLES! Yes those warming
temperatures mean you will be hearing them more out on the road. When I took my
motorcycle course a couple of years ago, there were some things they emphasized
that were different about driving a motorcycle compared to a car. One had to do
with making a turn at an intersection. In a car as you’re driving you’re often
looking for the turning point around the centre of the intersection. But on the
motorcycle course they emphasized taking the long view – looking way down the
road you’re turning into rather than some point at the middle of the
intersection. You’re searching for the path you’ll be heading into, not the
actual turning point.
Jesus is taking the long view as He makes
this turn in ministry direction. The cross is looming at the end of the road;
His ‘exodus’ and ascension will be the time of His heavenly enthronement, to
the right hand of His Heavenly Father. It’s not just fun and games any more,
feeding the multitudes and walking on water. He is choosing a path that leads
to a head-to-head confrontation with powers that can destroy Him, physically
speaking. There is an urgency to accomplish His mission with the exact timing
and circumstances that will point unarguably to His being the Paschal Lamb of
God that takes away the sins of the world.
In His interactions on the way, including
today’s passage, we see this ‘long view’, Christ’s sense of destiny and purpose
accentuate His call to others to follow Him, rather than be distracted by
lesser goals and attractions.
HOW
TO DEAL WITH HOSTILITY
Do
you have anyone that irritates you? Are there certain personality types that
tend to annoy you? Would there be some people that when you see them coming
down the sidewalk, you consider crossing the street so you don’t have to meet
them? What about those who actively oppose you? Are there some who’ve been
hurtful to you in the past, who you’re defensive towards, maybe who tend to get
your hackles up?
The people who lived in Samaria did
absolutely NOT get along with the Jews. Originally they had been part of the
northern Ten Tribes of Israel exiled to Assyria, but upon return they
intermarried with other races so were viewed by Jews as impure half-breeds.
They even had an ‘alternate Temple’ located on Mt.Gerizim.
There had been attacks on their holy place in the past by Jewish radicals, so
the two groups hated each other.
This explains why, when Jews that lived in
the northern region of Galilee made pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the annual
festivals, instead of going through Samaria they often detoured east of the
Jordan then south then west to avoid the area altogether. It wasn’t so much a
problem going home, but the Samaritans took it as a slight to their own temple
when Jewish pilgrims were headed to Jerusalem instead.
But this time, instead of taking the detour
down the east side of the Jordan River, Jesus went through Samaria. Perhaps
it’s because He was taking the ‘long view’, having come to be the Saviour of
all people, even the Samaritans. Did it make the Jewish disciples wince when He
specifically mentioned Samaria in His departing words at the Ascension in Acts
1? Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea AND SAMARIA, and to the
ends of the earth.” Oh, THAT region? You want us to go WHERE?!!
The Samaritans were hostile to Jews headed
to Jerusalem. How does Jesus deal with those who are hostile? First, He GIVES
THEM A CHANCE. As we’ve been saying, He didn’t take the usual detour route: He
headed straight through their territory. Luke 9:52f “And he sent messengers on
ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the
people there DID NOT WELCOME HIM, because he was heading for Jerusalem.”
Humph. Think of the offence this must have
come across as! Not welcoming the very Son of God, the Messiah? Would this not
be an action that could warrant divine wrath? How do you feel when you can tell
you’re not welcome somewhere? Doesn’t exactly warm your heart toward the
person, does it? But Jesus was at least giving them a chance, He consciously
had not avoided going there.
Two of Jesus’ closest disciples, James and
John (nicknamed ‘Sons of Thunder’), had been with Jesus on the Mount of
Transfiguration and witnessed Him speaking with Moses and Elijah. Maybe that
reminded them of the time Elijah was being forced by soldiers to accompany them
to the king and Elijah called down fire which burned two different lots of 50
soldiers to a crisp, before they learned to ASK instead of DEMAND – see 2Kings
1:10-12.
Anyway, something prompts James and John to
take revenge on this inhospitable Samaritans for not welcoming the Master. Luke
9:54 “When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do
you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"”
Does that adequately describe how you WANT
to react to those who actively oppose you, who ridicule you, who block your plans,
who undermine your innocent intentions, who hate your guts for seemingly no
reason? Do you want to call fire down like Elijah? “Nuke ‘em,
Lord – make ‘em crispy critters!” And our innards
tend to corroborate that that would in fact be the FAIR and defensible thing to
do.
But instead of a NUKE for the Samaritans,
Jesus has a REBUKE for His all-too-eager disciples. Luke 9:55f “But Jesus
turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.” No fire from heaven
this time. Not even a harsh verbal condemnation for those who rejected Him, who
were being so unwelcoming. Instead Jesus just absorbs the hit, alters His
plans, and moves on to another location.
How did He respond to those who are
hostile? He gave them a chance. And then He RESPONDED WITH GRACE, instead of
REACTING WITH HATE.
I’m glad He did that – because there was a
point in life at which I too was not welcoming towards Him. We all have turned
from God and gone our own way, telling the Saviour to take a hike. Whenever we
sin, we are attempting to shove God off the throne and install ourselves there
instead, insisting we know best. Jesus had the cross in view – at which time He
would be insulted and jeered at and ridiculed, but He would pray forgiveness
for those who reviled Him. How He responded to this Samaritan village was
practice for how He’d respond at the cross. Isaiah 53:3,7 “He was despised and
rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from
whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not...He was
oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not
open his mouth.”
In His earthly ministry, Jesus did not come
to pronounce judgment, but to proclaim God’s Kingdom and offer of salvation. Lk
19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” That was His
mission, what He was about, that was His long view.
How can we respond towards those who are
hostile to us? Christ’s Spirit empowers us to respond with grace, the same way
He did. The Apostle Paul wrote, Romans 12:14,17-19 “Bless those who persecute
you; bless and do not curse...Do not repay anyone evil for evil.Be
careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far
as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.Do
not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath...”
We don’t have to settle the score, that’s
best left to God, that’s His department; we just take a deep breath and move on
the next village.
On July 3, 1988, an American navy cruiser,
thinking itself to be under attack by an Iranian F-14, gunned down an Iranian
airliner containing 290 civilian passengers, killing them all. Polls revealed
that most Americans were against paying compensation the Iranian victims'
families; the hostage crisis was still fresh in many minds. In spite of this,
President Reagan approved compensation. Afterward, he was asked by reporters if
such payment would send the wrong signal. His response was, "I don't ever
find compassion a bad precedent." Revenge may be easier to practice, but
compassion demonstrates the heart of God.
HURDLES
TO BEING A FOLLOWER
As
Christ continues His journey towards Judea and Jerusalem, His goal of laying
down His life at Golgotha no doubt was prominent in His thoughts, that was a
big item in His ‘long view’. Doing His Father’s will came with a big price tag.
This probably helped keep in perspective the offers of volunteers who glibly
promised support without really counting the cost of what discipleship might
involve.
At the end of Luke 9, Jesus interacts with
3 individuals who don’t seem to have thoroughly thought through or appreciated
what following Jesus might entail. FF Bruce summarizes it this way: “The first
case is that of inconsiderate impulse, the second that of conflicting duties,
the third that of a divided mind.” Do any of those apply to us? Acting on
impulse? Being torn be conflicting duties, unwilling to let go of what seem to
us to be important responsibilities? Having a divided mind, not being totally
convinced, wanting to put conditions or limitations on our willingness to serve
God?
We Canadians love our creature comforts.
How many Tim Hortons on local street corners is too many? Unfortunately as we ‘roll
up the rim to win’ we may risk adding rolls to our anatomy! Jesus needed to
warn the first candidate the life of discipleship was not one plush with
earthly comforts.
Luke 9:57f “As they were walking along the
road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus
replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
Man has no place to lay his head."”
If you’ve been listening to prosperity
gospel preachers who’ve told you obedience is the path to material blessing and
a new car and fine house and your own airplane, I’m sorry to disappoint you,
but that’s a different gospel than the one Jesus preaches. The Lord promises to
be with us and to supply our needs, not to line our bank accounts or increase
our net worth. Jesus may have a certain project for us that requires giving up
a certain measure of security or settledness. Can we
put our comfort on the altar?
Recently a missionary family connected to
our congregation announced they would be relocating their entire family from
Ontario to Saskatoon, to work with a new mission agency producing gospel
outreach materials to First Nations groups and others. That’s a huge upheaval!
It’s tough being a Missionary Kid when you have to say goodbye to friends and
make new ones in a strange area. As parents you long for stability and
supportive relationships for your children, so it’s not easy to uproot them and
start over in a new place. But following Christ’s call is paramount.
So, one hurdle to being a follower is,
PREPARE TO BE UPROOTED.
Another hurdle is, PRIORITIES MAY CLASH
WITH OTHERS’ EXPECTATIONS. Luke 9:59f “He said to another man, "Follow
me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my
father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but
you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."”
Now, this may sound kind of harsh at first
– was the man’s father recently deceased? Wouldn’t it be all right to at least
finish the funeral? But John MacArthur comments on the parallel passage in
Matthew 18(21), “The phrase, ‘I must bury my father’ was a common figure of
speech meaning, ‘Let me wait until I receive my inheritance.’”
Ah. It’s not that the man’s father had
actually already died! He was stalling for time – biding his time until he came
into his share of the family fortune. His anticipated SECURITY. Who knows how
long that could take? His priority wasn’t really following Jesus, but
establishing his retirement nestegg.
By contrast, Jesus’ mission has a sense of
urgency. Back in 9:51 Christ ‘resolutely set out for Jerusalem’ – the clock is
ticking, the cross is coming into view on the horizon of Jesus’ agenda. If the
man truly wants to follow the Saviour during His earthly ministry, time is
running out. Jesus responds to the man, “Let the dead bury their own dead” –
probably meaning those who are spiritually dead, otherwise preoccupied, bent on
earthly goals, amassing wealth or titles or status. Security (eternally
speaking) is not to be had by angling craftily for anything this world offers.
Paul advised Timothy about true wealth in
1Timothy 6:17-19, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be
arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put
their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and
willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a
firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that
is truly life.”
‘The coming age – the life that is truly
life’ - that’s the Kingdom view, the long view, beyond this temporal life’s
span.
Next, Christ’s encounters teach us to LOOK
TO GOD NOT OTHERS FOR YOUR VALIDATION. Another volunteer offers to come with
Jesus, but with strings attached. Luke 9:61-62 “Still another said, "I
will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my
family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and
looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."” The committed disciple
does not say, “I will follow – BUT...” FF Bruce called this the case of ‘a
divided mind’. This man was pulled in two directions. He would probably have
had opportunity down the road to touch base with his family. Missionaries have
sometimes found that people who are candidates for baptism in pagan cultures
sometimes are dissuaded by their families if they go to spend time with them
before the baptism. Our upbringing and our families of origin are huge
influences in our lives, and can pull us away from devoting our lives to
Christ’s Kingdom.
Jesus calls us to put Him first in our
lives, above family attachments. Matthew 10:37 “Anyone who loves his father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me...” Strangely, we find when we are crucifed to self in order to belong to Christ, we can
actually become BETTER parents to our offspring than if we were not a
Christian. Because the Holy Spirit becomes active in our lives to pour God’s love
and wisdom and grace into our parenting. But Jesus beckons us to love Him most
of all.
WHERE’S
YOUR FOCUS?
What
do you have in view in your life? Is it the long view, the Kingdom? That’s what
Jesus urged that second man to do – “But you go and proclaim the kingdom of
God.” Is God’s agenda overriding and steering your day-to-day, month-to-month
plans? Are you just living paycheque to paycheque, or do you have a more
eternal plan in focus?
Jesus used a farming analogy for that last
fellow – Lk 9:62 (NLT) “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back
is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” Growing up on the farm, I got the chance to
plow a fair bit (my brother was into no-till – that came later). Dad was a good
plowman, I have a trophy of his from the 1947 International Plowing Match.
Except I got to use a tractor whereas He started out with a horse!
He taught me, once I got the tractor lined
up in the furrow, to pick an object on the horizon (like a fence post) and try
to keep the centre ridge of the tractor in line with that. We need to take the
long view in life and in following Jesus. Are we actually aiming at anything?
As someone has said, “Aim at nothing and you’re bound to hit it every time.”
There’s a story about a farmer who was
teaching his son to plow and told him the same thing, pick an object on the
horizon and keep the tractor pointed in that direction. The father came back
later and found the furrow wandering in all directions, very crooked. When he
asked the son about it the son explained, “I did just what you said, Dad – I
picked that cow over there and kept aiming the tractor right at her!” You’ve
got to choose your guidepost carefully.
KEEP
THE NAIL IN SIGHT
Chuck
Swindoll tells this story about keeping the cross of
Christ in view, informing our daily actions in a way that’s coached by God’s
Kingdom...
From
every direction, something or someone clamors for our attention. A distraction
draws our eyes and the next thing we know, we’ve swerved off the road and
headed down another detour.
One Chicago youth pastor came up with a
clever way to keep his group on track. Concerned that the balmy beaches of
Florida—the site of their upcoming evangelism trip—would lure the teens from
their purpose, he fashioned a cross from two pieces of lumber. Just before they
climbed on the bus, he showed it to the group. "I want all of you to
remember that the whole purpose of our going is to glorify the name of Christ,
to lift up the Cross—the message of the Cross, the emphasis of the Cross, the
Christ of the Cross," he announced. "So we're going to take this
cross wherever we go." The teenagers looked at one another, a little
unsure of his plan. But they agreed to do it and dragged the cross on the bus.
It banged back and forth in the aisle all the way to Florida. It went with them
into restaurants. It stayed overnight where they stayed overnight. It stood in
the sand while they ministered on the beach.
At first, lugging the cross around
embarrassed the kids. But later, it became a point of identification. That
cross was a constant, silent reminder of who they were and why they had come.
They eventually regarded carrying it as an honour and privilege.
The night before they went home, the youth
leader handed out two nails to each of the kids. He told them that if they
wanted to commit themselves to what the cross stood for, they could hammer one
nail into it and keep the other with them. One by one, the teens drove their
nail into the cross.
About fifteen years later, one fellow – now
a stockbroker – called the youth leader. He told him that he still keeps that
nail with him in his desk drawer. Whenever he loses his sense of focus, he
looks at the nail and remembers the cross on that beach in Florida. It reminds
him of what is at the core of his life – his commitment to Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray. Lord, You ‘resolutely’ set Your
face to Jerusalem; You knew very well what was awaiting You there. But You did
not shrink from the Father’s plan, even though it would be painful. Thank You
for loving us that much, that You saw it through. Forgive us for times we have
been conflicted in our motives – the times we have let family concerns or
creature comforts or this world’s yearnings get in the way of following You.
Grant us grace to resolve afresh to put You first in everything; to respond
with grace and compassion when others are hostile to us, rather than with
knee-jerk emotional reaction. Send Your companion Spirit to guide and coach us
each day, we pray. Let us not forget Your nails! In Christ’s name, Amen.
THE
MADNESS OF OUR MODERN MAYHEM
Have
you noticed that life seems to be getting more stressful? We tend to become
what we worship. When we figure we ‘want to do it all’, the abundance of
opportunities and pressures and demands can become overwhelming. When we invite
Jesus to be our ‘one thing’, He helps us sort through what’s most important and
to be at peace knowing what’s really worthwhile.
In view of our current health challenges,
an expert recently recommended a bestselling book to us called “When Your Body
Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress” by Dr Gabor Mate.
It peels back the cover on the role emotions and psychological stress can play
in chronic illness, including diseases such as breast cancer, prostate cancer,
multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and others.
I was fascinated by the chapter on
rheumatoid arthritis, from which my father suffered for many years. In his
forties he became so debilitated he had to hire someone to be the dairyman
while he went to Midwest Clinic in Excelsior Springs, Missouri for months of
rehab. He learned ways to cope, such as dipping his hands in molten wax to
soothe the pain. Finally in his early sixties he sold the cows and stuck with
just crop farming. His arthritis improved amazingly. He lived to the age of 97.
In later years he would look back and attribute much of his arthritis to
stress.
The pace of modern life has been
accelerating. We seem busier and doing more in less time, but are we
accomplishing as much? In 2007 things took a quantum leap with the introduction
of the iPhone. Now everybody can carry their own personal computing device with
them 24/7, and be at the mercy of whoever wants to contact you by text, instant
messaging, email, video call, or even old fashioned phone call.
Congratulations, you have become infinitely interruptible - distractible.
There’s some concern amongst experts that
we are losing our ability to think deeply. Notifications keep us shallow. You
try to get into a book or significant planning but your phone screams at you –
even when it’s just present there within sight. We are in danger of losing our
capacity to concentrate; the little dopamine hits of messenger’s ‘ding’ and
scrolling down to those next items on social media get in the way of deep
reflection and study.
Today’s lesson is good news, not just for
Moms who find they can’t do it all, but also for anyone who’s become aware they
tend to be distracted or are feeling overwhelmed by all the background noise by
which mega-corporations seek to usurp our attention and hone the algorithm so
they can augment their profit. Jesus shares an important lesson in helping us
keep sane.
A
TALE OF TWO SISTERS
Just
a couple miles from Jerusalem, on the east slope of the Mount of Olives, was a
village called Bethany. Two sisters and their brother lived there, and it was a
place Jesus visited a few times in his ministry; it seems like it was a welcome
rest stop for Him. Luke 10:38f “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way,
he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s
feet listening to what he said.” Let’s pause and consider these remarkably
different sisters for a minute.
For more detail, check out John 11 and 12
as well. Martha seems to be the dominant one of the two, the one in charge;
Luke says she “opened her home to Him”. Martha took the initiative. She seems
to be the more active of the two, while Mary is more studious, contemplative.
Martha is practical: when Jesus orders the stone be removed from Lazarus’ tomb,
Martha objects that there will be a bad odour because her brother has been dead
4 days!
Martha seems to be the one used to running
the show, taking control and getting things done. She gripes to Jesus in 10:40,
“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell
her to help me!” That sounds like part-plea, part-demand. Ordering around the
Saviour of the world! When Lazarus dies and Jesus finally arrives after waiting
for a while, Martha is the one who leaves the house and confronts Jesus with
her complaint, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She cuts
right to the chase. Is there a note of blame in her voice?
Martha is an activist, she’s busy about
something, moving the project ahead that needs to be done. Her motto might be,
“Git ‘er done.” No time to waste.
Yet don’t sell Martha short. She’s very
pious and orthodox. She trusts in Jesus; even when He seems to have let her
dear brother simply die through delay, Martha can confess, John 11:27 “Yes,
Lord,...I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into
the world.” What a model declaration of faith! Even in the backdrop of severe
grief and disappointment.
Now, Mary, Martha’s sister, is quite a
different bird. She seems to be less practical, more emotional, more intuitive,
a feeler. When Jesus arrives after Lazarus’ death, Mary stays in the house
rather than going out to meet Him. It’s Mary’s tears that move Jesus deeply in
spirit and trouble Him, to the point we get that precious shortest verse in the
Bible: John 11:35 “Jesus wept.” Later, after Lazarus is raised back to life and
they’re hosting Jesus again for a meal in John 12, it’s Mary that takes an
expensive pint of pure nard, pours it on Jesus’ feet, and wipes His feet with
her hair! Such a close bond between them. Mary’s devotion is lavish, exuberant,
she adores Him, she gives Him her rapt attention. All she wants to do is sit at
His feet and listen to His words.
So you have two very different sisters.
Martha is the DO-er, Mary is the BE-er. Martha is hustling about getting things done, Mary is
totally absorbed in whatever the Saviour is saying. Martha is all about the
WORK, Mary is focused on the WORD. Meanwhile all the time the pressure in
Martha’s frustration gauge is growing steadily. Sooner or later she’s going to
burst.
APPRECIATING
THE FUSS THAT FOSTERED US
It’s
Mother’s Day. Let’s just press ‘pause’ here a minute and salute the mothers, or
if our situation was different our parents or foster caregivers or whoever
invested in our lives when we weren’t strong or old enough to be independent.
Where would we be without the Marthas? Without all
that our mother or parents or whoever toiled and sacrificed in order to care
for us? It takes tons of ‘fuss’ to foster a family, to nurture little ones.
Martha’s love language was ‘acts of service’, that’s how she showed those
closest to her that they mattered to her, it was rewarding for her on the
inside to serve others and provide a caring, nurturing environment for them.
Paul wrote to Timothy, 1Tim 5:14 “So I
counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to
give the enemy no opportunity for slander.” It says “manage their homes” –
that’s no small feat, to manage a home! We should have the highest respect for
women who are capably raising a family, feeding and forming the next
generation. “Managing the home” may also mean taking on employment and working outside
the home to help provide income in paying bills and laying aside for future
needs.
Proverbs 31 has a daunting portrait of a
woman managing her home that involves many pursuits, inside and outside its
walls. [CAUTION: she’s a bit of a wonder-woman!] Proverbs 31:13–21 (The
Message): “She shops around for the best yarns and cottons, and enjoys knitting
and sewing...She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast for her family and
organizing her day.She looks over a field and buys
it, then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden.First
thing in the morning, she dresses for work, rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.She senses the worth of her work, is in no hurry to
call it quits for the day.She’s skilled in the crafts
of home and hearth, diligent in homemaking.She’s
quick to assist anyone in need, reaches out to help the poor.She
doesn’t worry about her family when it snows; their winter clothes are all
mended and ready to wear.”
Wow! What a superwoman! Don’t get
discouraged or depressed, that’s an IDEAL portrait. Martha probably has
Proverbs 31 engraved on her wall. It’s motivational, as long as you don’t let
it weigh you down when things don’t go perfectly and your best-laid plans don’t
come to fruition.The dog pukes on the carpet. Your
mother-in-law announces she’s stopping by in 5 minutes and the house is a mess.
The school phones up and little Johnny has a bloody nose. It’s called ‘life’
and it happens!
I was very blessed to have a conscientious
Mom who managed her home well and more; her ‘job’ was at home because she and
Dad lived on a farm. Mom would rise with Dad and be out at the barn at 6:30 in
the morning to milk our 35 Holsteins. After breakfast there was cleanup in the milkhouse and other daily chores. She had a large garden
and did canning. She looked after the laundry – I remember an old ringer washer
and the clothesline. There were school lunches to prepare and meals for a
hungry husband and 3 growing sons who had hollow legs (we went through 7 quarts
of milk each day). In the evening while Dad watched TV, Mom might be sitting at
the dining room table doing mending, with one eye on the show. Then there was
all her church work, an active member of the women’s church group, doing her
Bible study for the weekly small group, and so on.
Not to mention a thousand other tasks too
numerous to go into detail about. Did I mention she kept the farm ledger? And
drew the picture of each new heifer calf to be registered with the Holstein
Association? I was very blessed to have such a mother. Managing the home and
launching three sons off to university and careers while assisting an arthritic
husband required much fuss.
PRIORITIZING
THE ONE THING THAT MAKES IT ALL WORTHWHILE
Take
a bow, Martha. But wait – Martha doesn’t seem to be happy. Yes ‘acts of
service’ is her love language but she’s taken on so much she’s about to blow
her stack. She’s in danger of bending her boundaries unhealthily; she makes a
move to draw Mary into the madness of her mayhem.
V40 “But Martha was DISTRACTED by all the preparations
that had to be made.” The Greek word translated
‘distracted’ means ‘to be driven about mentally, distracted,
over-occupied, too busy about a thing’. From a root ‘spasmos’
(as in spasm) – Martha’s mental wiring is about to go spastic!
How does Jesus sum up her condition? V41
“"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are WORRIED AND UPSET
about many things...” The word ‘worried’ can mean ‘anxious’, she’s suffering
some severe anxiety. The word ‘upset’ comes from a root like ‘disturbed’, a
crowd or tumult; Martha’s got so many things on her mind, when she tries to go
to bed at night she has trouble quieting down the ‘village of idiots’ in her
head.
Martha the manager, the capable Domestic
Engineer, has taken on so much it’s overwhelming – her thoughts tend in the
direction of self-pity. Do you hear the whine of ‘me’? V40b “Lord, don’t you
care that my sister has left ME to do the work by MYSELF? Tell her to help ME!”
Jesus had cautioned the crowds repeatedly
about excessive worry in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6:25,28,31,34
“Therefore I tell you, do not WORRY about your life, what you will eat or
drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than
food, and the body more important than clothes?...And why do you WORRY about
clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin...So
do not WORRY, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What
shall we wear?’...Therefore do not WORRY about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
WORRY about itself.Each day has enough trouble of its
own.” Do you suppose the Lord of your life, the Master of the universe, wants
us not to worry?! Worry can be subtle failure to trust our Sovereign Loving God
wholeheartedly. Bishop Fulton Sheen said, “Worry is a form of atheism, for it
betrays a lack of faith and trust in God.”
Martha was distracted “by all the
preparations that HAD to be made” – did they really HAVE to be made? NLT puts
it, “by the big dinner she was preparing.” Maybe it didn’t HAVE to be so big;
one course would have done instead of several. Jesus probably would have
preferred to have her listening rather than running around the kitchen,
stressed out. He observes she’s worried and upset about MANY things, V42 “but
ONLY ONE THING IS NEEDED.Mary has chosen what is
better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
“Only ONE thing is needed.” Commentators
vary on whether Jesus was meaning just one dish was needed instead of a big
production. Clearly the ‘one thing’ Mary has chosen is to sit and listen rather
than fuss over a complex menu. Jesus is emphasizing that is the “good”, the
“better” thing – and He’s not going to rob her of that by telling her she
should go help her sister prepare a banquet.
Are you a human DOING or a human BEING?
Jesus doesn’t want your works – He wants YOU. He seeks your attention. He wants
fellowship with you, interaction with you, quiet time alone with you where He
can communicate the Father’s will to you, and you can align your wants and
desires with His eternal and lasting purposes. He’d rather have just a bowl of
soup, or a peanut butter sandwich, instead of a full-course meal if it means He
could have engagement with you.
Mary was in tune with the Psalmist who
wrote, Ps 27:4 “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may
dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty
of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Seek HIM – not feeling like you
have to somehow earn His approval or impress Him by what a big spread you can
put on. What marks you can get. How much money you can make, or things you can
own. Sometimes our harried busy-ness is more for us than for Him – trying to
impress others as if ‘stuff’ will validate us, prove our worth. Mary was giving
Jesus worth-ship by being attentive, saying ‘no’ to other opportunities or
obligations that really weren’t so important.
Godly perspective, an eternal sense of
values and what’s really worthwhile, may mean turning down opportunities others
would jump at. Elaine Benes was the spacey Seinfeld character played by actress
Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Her character evolved into something of a poster child for
befuddled and disenfranchised females. Unlike her character, however, the
actress is satisfied with her career, happily married, and the mother of two
young boys. Centered and content, Louis-Dreyfus tries to keep things in
perspective when faced with the inevitable clashes posed by being both a star
and a hands-on mother. "If one of my sons is sick and I have to work, it's
a problem – I simply can't go.But what am I supposed
to do?" she says. "Movie people are shocked when they hear I will
rarely travel to locations.They say it's a tragedy
for my career.But people in show business don't
realize there's a life outside their universe.They
don't know what they're missing."
‘There’s a life outside their universe’ – I
like that! Jesus wanted Martha to remember there’s a life outside the kitchen.
When we put Him first, other details fall into place. We are freed from playing
the ‘gotta impress others to prove my worth’ game.
What are some other strategies to avoid
becoming distracted and worried? I’ve heard some advise to “parent your phone”
– Carey Nieuwhof recommends turning off all
notifications, so you check email or messages when YOU want to, not on someone
else’s schedule. Another person has their family at 8:30 pm each night put all
their devices in a big black box to charge overnight.
Some of you are reacting, “Ouch! I could
never do that!” But are we addicted to our distractions, like Martha? What is
the ‘better thing’ Mary has discovered, that we too might discover if we were a
little more disciplined in that area? If we made Jesus’ teaching a higher
priority?
A
PENNEY FOR YOUR WORRIES
Jesus
pointed Martha in the direction that could soothe her worries and distractions.
She needed to centre on Him. Jesus knocks at the door of our heart, seeking
fellowship between ourselves and Him. Revelation 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at
the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in
and eat with him, and he with me.” Knowing fellowship with Him will help calm
our worries and help us realize our worth rooted in Him, not anything we can
accomplish.
One man who learned how to deal with worry
was JC Penney, of department store fame. James Cash Penney, coming from a long
line of preachers, grew up with deep convictions. He was unwaveringly honest.
He never smoked or drank, and he was a hard worker. But in 1929 when the Great
Depression hit, Penney found himself in crisis. He had made unwise commitments,
and they turned sour. Penney began to worry about them, and soon he was unable
to sleep. He developed a painful case of shingles and was hospitalized. His
anxiety only increased in the hospital, and it seemed resistant to tranquilizers
and drugs. His mental state deteriorated until, as he later said, “I was broken
nervously and physically, filled with despair, unable to see even a ray of
hope. I had nothing to live for. I felt I hadn’t a friend left in the world,
that even my family turned against me.”
One night he was so oppressed he didn’t
think his heart would hold out, and, expecting to die before morning, he sat
down and wrote farewell letters to his wife and sons. But he did live through
the night, and the next morning he heard singing coming from the little
hospital chapel.
The words of the song said, “Be not
dismayed what’er betide, God will take care of you.”
Entering the chapel, Penney listened to the song, to the Scripture reading, and
to the prayer. [he recalled] “Suddenly – something happened. I can’t explain
it. I can only call it a miracle. I felt as if I had been instantly lifted out
of the darkness of a dungeon into warm, brilliant sunlight.” All worry left him
as he realized more fully than he had ever imagined just how much the Lord
Jesus Christ cared for him. From that day JC Penney was never plagued with
worry, and he later called those moments in the chapel “the most dramatic and
glorious twenty minutes of my life.” Let’s pray.
Lord,
You know how easy it is for us to get worried and distracted, frantic even when
we run into roadblocks and plans don’t work out as we’d hoped. Help us like
Mary to practice putting You first, listening for Your voice, understanding
Your will and what’s most needed instead of just whatever we want. Thank You
for our mothers and others who parented and guided and fostered us towards
becoming the people we are. Even when they’re gone, help us realize we can be
trusting You to carry out Your plans for us. Use us to invest Your love and caring
in the lives of others, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A
TRUE NEIGHBOUR
Have
you been blessed with some good neighbours at any point in your life? Have you
been the recipient of true neighbourliness at some time, say as simple a thing
as a cup of sugar when you’ve run out?
Someone has said, “A good neighbour is one
who will watch your vacation slides all evening without telling that he (or
she) has been there too.”
I seem to have rather a knack for needing
help from neighbours now and then. Just this week we begged a ride from a
friend to pick up my car after it had been cleaned at a dealership. A few years
ago when I lived in Blyth our lot had some wet patches. I had managed to get
the WheelHorse lawn tractor stuck up to the axle. I
asked a neighbour for a tug out with his truck. We promptly got the truck stuck
too! Then we turned to another neighbour, Jeff, who had a higher-powered 4-wheel-drive
truck which he took mud bogging. Eventually with his knobby tires and high
axles he succeeded in getting both of his neighbours unstuck.
Life has its pitfalls. It’s not always
clear sailing. In today’s passage we see Jesus highlighting the importance of
being a good neighbour, even if that means getting into the trench with them,
not just concerned with keeping our own tires clean.
LOVE
DOES – TO A POINT
To
begin, Jesus is confronted by a religious lawyer who is out to prove whether
this upstart Rabbi really knows his stuff. Luke 10:25f “On one occasion an
expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked,
"what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in
the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"”
Jesus often answers a question with another
question. A question can set the terms for a discussion, and Jesus could press
against the assumptions proposed by the questioner. For instance, the expert’s
query, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” assumes eternal life is something
to be earned by DOING enough qualifying good works. This is the approach of
many religions, where one’s merits are weighed at judgment against one’s
faults. Jesus plays along with this thinking for a bit, before pointing out the
flaw.
The expert gives what is actually a very
good answer. Luke 10:27f “He answered: "‘Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your
mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" "You have answered
correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."” Compare
this interchange with Mark 12:28-34 where another teacher of the law asks about
the most important commandment and you’ll find this man nailed it! In THAT
account Jesus remarks the questioner is not far from God’s Kingdom – which
ought to have encouraged and intrigued him.
But here there is a different motive
operating. This expert is out to TEST Jesus, he has an agenda, attempting to
prove whether Jesus is deserving of all the hype. He wants to position Himself
as Judge and Jury. In a few minutes, though, Jesus will reveal the shallowness
of the ‘expert’s’ theology and show he still has much to learn.
Jesus’ reply affirms the correctness of
what he’s said – love God with your whole being and love your neighbour as
yourself. Jesus concedes, “Do this and you will live.” That’s the jist of the law – keep the whole law perfectly and you will
be deemed righteous before God. There’s just one problem: we KNOW we’ve failed
to “do this” flawlessly! All have sinned. And the wages of sin is death.
Eternal life then is not achievable by attempting to just ‘do’ in our own human
strength. John MacArthur comments, “‘Do and live’ is the promise of the law.
But since no sinner can obey perfectly, the impossible demands of the law are
meant to drive us to seek divine mercy.”
For example, the Mosaic Law commanded a
positive response toward an enemy when they are in need. That goes against our
grain. Exodus 23:4f “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off,
be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you
fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with
it.” My enemy? Someone who hates me? Doesn’t every fibre of our being instead
cry out, ‘This is a golden opportunity to get even with them for what they’ve
done to me! Justice!!’ Thus our lack of love is exposed.
THE
FAKE PHARISAICAL FORTRESS
Well,
so far it has not been much of a test. Jesus has drawn the man out to
demonstrate he already knew the answer to his own question. Now, THAT’S
unimpressive! Why did you bother asking it in the first place, then?
So the expert is thrown a little
off-balance, and reaches for some follow-up question that might show there was
really some point to this interchange after all. V29 “But he wanted to justify
himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"” To ‘justify’
himself – the root in Greek is the same as for ‘righteous’ – his aim is to
undergird his sense of self-righteousness. “I really am all right, I have kept
the law, there ain’t no flies on me, I have loved God
and others satisfactorily, I am above reproach.”
And his culture probably reinforced his
sense of self-righteousness, that he was justified basically. Religious Judaism
taught that “neighbour” did not include certain categories of people. Gentiles,
the uncircumcised, for one. Rank sinners for another, even if they called
themselves Jews – this would include tax collectors and prostitutes, you were
better to steer clear of them, not have anything to do with them. And
particularly Samaritans, who were viewed as half-breeds both physically and
spiritually, worshipping at another temple, respecting only the first books of
the Bible. In the eyes of pious Jews, you were ‘off the hook’ from having to treat
such fallen despicable sinners in a loving manner. Steer clear of them
altogether, keep yourself ‘pure’.
Asking ‘Who IS my neighbour?’ seeks to draw
the circle smaller, establish a limit or dividing line beyond which I won’t be
called upon to extend my services to help anyone. “Neighbour” is literally the
person who is near me, a “nigh dweller to one”. But that could be so many
people, including the riff-raff that would drag me down. The question seeks to
create a fortress, a boundary walling me off from others to whom I could be
obligated.
Jewish religion was very much centred on
remaining ‘clean’, undefiled. Don’t do anything that might fall into the
category of being taboo, that would disqualify you from being able to approach
the temple, any uncleanness that might force you into exile outside the camp
like those poor lepers. The Pharisees prided themselves on their law-keeping
ability, down to tithing the minuscule things like herbs, mint and dill and
cumin. But their majoring on the minors tended to take them off-target, so they
forgot weightier matters such as justice for widows and the love of God. Their
obsession about ceremonial cleanness became a fake Pharisaical fortress
separating them from others in genuine need.
It’s easier if you can draw the defining
circle of who’s your neighbour smaller and smaller. Michael Quoist
wrote this prayer...
“Lord,
why did you tell me to love all men as my brothers?
I
have tried, but I come back to you frightened.
Lord,
I was so peaceful at home, so comfortably settled.
I
was well furnished, and I felt so cozy.
I
was alone – I was at peace.
Sheltered
from wind and the rain, kept clean.”
WHAT’S
YOUR ‘OTHER SIDE’? HOW FAR?
In
response, Jesus tells a story. It shows the genius of Jesus in that He uses
narrative to draw the listener in, to engage our emotions, our sense of
compassion, rather than just give some instruction head-on like “Love your
neighbour which includes the following categories of people – cue PowerPoint
presentation – bullet point 1...” No, Jesus tells a story instead, a very
memorable one, which doesn’t ‘instruct’ morality flat-out so much as portrays
it in living colour on the canvas of our mind and invites us to relate to the
characters in the story.
V30 “In reply Jesus said: "A man was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers.
They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half
dead.” This could have been from a current newspaper clipping. That stretch from
Jerusalem to Jericho dropped steeply 3300 feet over 17 miles, and had rugged
mountain passes behind which thieves and robbers often hid to extort resources
from passersby.
The setting of Jesus’ parable is realistic
enough. Life is fraught with hazards. It has numerous bumps and blockages. Our
health can fail – many have recently finally had a personal encounter with the
pandemic after escaping it for a couple of years. Marriages can develop
fractures. Family relationships suffer from friction, not unified in expectations.
Inflation rises. Interest rates go up. Supply chains get stretched. Work gets
backed up. Such are the perils of life: there are perennial problems; we may
feel we’ve been beaten up, left powerless. But, will anybody care? Does it
matter to anybody else what I’m having to struggle through?
But wait! Hope is in sight! Here come some
potential helpers. All is not lost. Vv31f “A priest happened to be going down
the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too,
a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.”
Jericho was one of the ‘cities of priests’
so it made sense that a priest might be travelling that route from Jerusalem.
And Levites were helpers to the priests, their assistants for temple duties,
and responsible for distributing aid donated through the offerings out to the
needy in distant towns. If they touched a dead body, that would classify them
as ‘unclean’ and thus unfit to do their duties. So they had a perfectly
reasonable excuse not to get involved.
It’s right here that compassion and mercy
lose out to this culturally-reinforced emphasis upon ceremonial cleanness.
Don’t get your hands messy. You might become the next victim – who knows but
the same bandits might be hiding behind those rocks waiting to beat and plunder
YOU?
Meanwhile the half-dead victim’s life ebbs
further and further away. If nobody steps up soon to help him, he’s gonna be a goner. Will no one come and help?
The phrase describing both priest and
Levite is that they “passed by on the other side”. The OTHER side, opposite
(anti) where the injured man lay. Keep your distance. Don’t get involved. Stay
away. Whom do we tend to keep at arm’s length? Who are we hesitant to become
involved with, because they might require practical aid from us, drain our
resources, force us to stick our neck out of our comfy cocoons and furnished
fortresses? What barriers have you erected from certain types of people or
certain situations to keep yourself ‘safe’, excused from becoming involved?
THE
UNLIKELY, UNSTINTING HERO
Now
at this point in the story, if somebody else were telling it, there were other
options for the hero that would have kept Jesus the champion of the middle- and
lower-class Jew and not gotten Him into further trouble. What about having a
humble peasant come along? Maybe a poor widow, or a lowly shepherd? Jesus could
have put a totally different spin on this story and not set anyone’s teeth on
edge. But who does He choose?
Vv33f “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came
where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and
bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own
donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.”
A SAMARITAN? One of THOSE people?! Arch-enemies
of Jews? Even Jesus and His disciples encountered hostility when they attempted
to stop on a journey at a Samaritan village. The two classes just did not get
along. There was a history, including attacks on the other’s holy place. John
4:9 “The Samaritan woman said to [Jesus], "You are a Jew and I am a
Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?") (For Jews DO NOT
ASSOCIATE with Samaritans.”
It is surprising that a Samaritan would
even be travelling along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, because he
would be risking attack not only from robbers and thieves, but also hostility
from any Jewish travellers he met. Brave lad!
But what does he see there in the distance,
at the side of the road? Is it a human form? Is it a man? Is he injured? We’re
not told whether it ever enters his mind to wonder, “Is he Jewish?” To the
Samaritan, that’s suddenly irrelevant. What matters most is that the man is
dying and in need of help.
“When he SAW him, he TOOK PITY on him.” Do
you SEE that person over there? Or do you see a category that instantly
releases you from any obligation? Can you see yourself if YOU were in that
situation? How would you feel? What would you be crying out for others to do
for you? That’s COM-PASSION, to feel with, to identify with so deeply that you
share the feelings the other person is experiencing. The Greek for ‘took pity’
is ‘to be moved as to one’s bowels’, to be moved with compassion, your gut
aches with their plight and misery.
Instantly our unlikely hero dives into
action, whipping out his handy-dandy little First Aid pack that travelers back
then would carry: wine for antiseptic, olive oil for soothing and healing. He
hoists the sufferer onto his own donkey, meaning he himself has to walk the
rest of the way – that’s a step down in terms of dignity. He takes him to an
inn and TAKES CARE of him. Other plans are put on hold. This person God has put
in front of me is now my new priority, other things will just have to wait.
The following day, the emphasis is still on
TAKING CARE of this stranger, even if it means added cost and making special
arrangements – even a blank cheque. V35 “The next day he took out two silver
coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him, [NRSV ‘Take care of
him’]’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense
you may have.’” Two silver denarii would be two days’ wages and would probably
cover a couple of months’ worth of room and board at the inn. His giving is
unstinting, unsparing, he wants this person to feel totally secure and looked
after during convalescence.
And all this from a person of whom the
expert 5 minutes earlier might have declared, “There is no such thing as a
‘good’ Samaritan!”
Chuck Swindoll
tells the following. A Greek class was given an assignment to study the story
of the Good Samaritan...As is true in most classes, a couple or three of the
students cared more about the practical implications of the assignment than its
intellectual stimulation.
The three carried out a plan where one
played the Samaritan victim. They tore his clothes, rubbed on mud and catsup to
create "wounds," marked up his face and eyes, then placed him along
the path that led from the dormitory to the classroom building. While the other
two hid and recorded, he groaned and writhed, simulating great pain.
Not one student stopped. They walked around
him, stepped over him, and said things to him. Nobody stopped to help.
Swindoll
concludes, “Following the will of the Lord requires wisdom, clear thinking, and
yes, action! Those Seminary students were full of the Word and probably had a
great deal of love. But they did not see their fellow man lying beside the
sidewalk. They were too full of "words" to see God's work right in
front of their eyes.” He points to 1John 3:16f, "This is how we know what
love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our
lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother
in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?"
NEIGHBOURING
IS IN THE BEING
Jesus
drives His illustration home by massaging slightly the question asked by the
‘expert’. Vv36f “"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the
man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied,
"The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do
likewise."”
The poor guy can’t even bring himself to
say the word ‘Samaritan’! Jesus has flipped the question from the
self-righteous, fortifying “Who is my neighbour?” that draws limits around my
obligations, to (in essence) “How can I BE a neighbour?” – that becomes
limitless. It no longer depends on the other person’s deserving or qualifying,
meeting the right conditions, but on my own heart condition: am I really ready
to LOVE as God has loved me? The emphasis is not on the DO-ing,
but on the BE-ing – which in turn expresses its
genuineness in DO-ing. Then the heart change
(repentance, trust) is driving the outward action. Jesus said in John 14:23a,
“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” Faith issues in action. The two
go together; but it’s love for God that’s the engine issuing in love for other
people and thus acts of mercy.
Robertson comments, “This parable of the
Good Samaritan has built the world’s hospitals and, if understood and
practised, will remove race prejudice, national hatred and war, class
jealousy.”
On May 9 the government of Newfoundland and
Labrador chartered a plane to bring Ukrainian refugees to
their province, with partner agencies providing supports such as translation
services, medical coverage, job interview services, immigration processing, and
help finding accommodation. Later in the week our federal government announced plans to bring 3 planeloads or about
900 Ukrainian refugees to Winnipeg (May 23), Montreal (May 29) and Halifax
(June 2). These would be examples of showing compassion to individuals who have
lost so much in recent weeks.
Have you heard of the “Move In” movement?
Small clusters of Christian believers coordinate to move into areas with those
of low income and where the gospel does not have much representation, with the
aim of being a faith community bearing witness to Jesus amongst their
neighbours. In The Message, Eugene Peterson translates John 1:14, “The
Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” When we truly
see people in need and are moved with compassion for them, we don’t pass by on
‘the other side’ at a safe distance but dare to move in and get involved.
Robert Raines relates... When narcotics
squad detectives recently raided a loft apartment in a depressed area of New
York City...every square foot of the long, dingy apartment was crowded with
human derelicts who were sleeping on the floor, or sitting huddled in corners;
dimly visible overhead were a number of...paper ceiling ornaments, left over
from the days when the loft had been a dance hall. After searching the crowd,
the detectives arrested six men who were carrying hypodermic needles and
packets of heroin; they also arrested the derelicts’ host, a mild,
weedy-looking man who was charged with harboring drug addicts in his apartment.
At police headquarters, the weedy-looking
man claimed he was actually well-to-do, but that he had chosen to live among
the homeless in order to provide them with food, shelter, and clothing. His
door, he said, was open to all, including a small minority of narcotic addicts,
since he had not known it was against the law to feed and clothe people with
the drug habit. Checking his story, the police found that the man was indeed
neither a vagrant nor a drug addict. He was John Sargent Cram, a millionaire
who had been educated at Princeton and Oxford and whose family had long been
noted for its philanthropies. Wishing to avoid the rigmarole of organized
charity work, Cram had simply moved into the loft and set about helping the
derelicts directly, at a cost of $100 or so a day. He made a point of not
giving the men money, he told the police, because it only went for cheap wine.
At a later hearing, a variety of witnesses
spoke of Cram’s kindness and altruism, and it was brought out that the
Spanish-speaking population of the area knew him as Papa Dio—
“Father God.” Amid cheers in the courtroom...Mr.Cram
was freed on his promise that he would bar drug addicts from his loft. He later
told reporters, “I don’t know that my work does much good, but I don’t think it
does any harm. I’m quite happy, you know. I’m anything but a despondent person.
Call me eccentric. Call it my reason for being. I have no other.”
Let’s
pray. Forgive us, Lord, for our attempts to test You, to question Your ways, to
justify ourselves – You have already done that for us by giving Your perfect
and sinless Son Jesus. Thank You for His teaching, drawing us to not write off
people who are unlike us, but to see beyond the exterior to their inner needs
and potential. By Your community of faith, help us to bind up each other’s
wounds when we’re robbed and beaten and bleeding. Pour Your compassion and
caring and resources into us so we can help others when they’re down as You
have exalted us in our humble state. We love You! We want to BE Yours
completely. Lead us in obedience, to pour out our lives for others, in Your
abundant grace. In Jesus’ name we ask it, Amen.
JUST
ASK HIM
Dr Lewis Sperry Chafer tells of a
certain pastor who was in the habit of profound prayers, oftentimes resorting
to words beyond the vocabulary of his simple flock. This went on week after
week, much to the dismay and frustration of the congregation. At last, a wee
Scottish woman in the choir ventured to take the matter in hand. On a given
Sunday, as the minister was waxing his most eloquently verbose, the little
woman reached across the curtain separating the choir from the pulpit. Taking a
firm grasp on the coat tail of the minister, she gave it a yank, and was heard
to whisper, “Jes’ call Him Fether,
and ask ‘im for somethin’.”
Well, that’s sort of what prayer boils down
to at its most basic. We pour out our urgent needs to God based on the
privileged access we have in Christ as His children. Yet it’s much deeper than
just a Santa list for more ‘stuff’. In today’s passage, Jesus briefs His
followers on one of the most precious aspects Christians enjoy spiritually: how
to pray.
PRAYER
AS PATTERN
I
don’t know about you, but I am a very routine-oriented person. To me it keeps
life orderly, unstressful, following the same basic
pattern daily. Some people are very distractable,
like a video I saw this week of a pack of greyhound dogs in a race following a
white fluttering flag drawn along until suddenly a REAL rabbit showed up,
darted across the racetrack, and all the dogs suddenly left the track in
pursuit!
I am sure life with Jesus was never dull or
boring, even though He did follow certain patterns. Prayer was a big part of
His pattern. Early in Mark’s account we read, Mk 1:35 “Very early in the
morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to
a solitary place, where he prayed.” He made it a priority, while it was still
dark, before the day got busy. See also Luke 5:16, “But Jesus often withdrew to
lonely places and prayed.” Note that little word “often”: even though He could
have allowed all His precious time to be taken up with healing sickness,
casting out unclean spirits, feeding thousands, and teaching multitudes, Jesus
would withdraw OFTEN to isolated locations so He could pray. It’s how He got
nourished spiritually, He cultivated time alone with His heavenly Father.
So it’s not surprising this habit catches
the interest of His followers, prompting them to inquire more about it. Luke 11
begins, Lk 11:1 “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he
finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just
as John taught his disciples."” I wonder what made them WANT to learn to
pray as Jesus took time to? Did they see how He was recharged by it? Could they
tell He came back bolstered and refreshed by this time devoted to intimate
conversation with God the Father? When Moses came down from Mt Sinai, his face
was radiant from that time spent speaking with the Lord (Exodus 34:29) – maybe
the disciples discerned something different about Jesus after these deliberate
prayer encounters. Certainly it can help us emotionally when we’ve been able to
pour out our stresses and concerns to the Almighty One who cares for us.
What about our own prayer patterns? Is it a
‘got to’ or a ‘get to’? Is it just a matter of duty, or do we come away
invigorated spiritually such that a nonbeliever observing us might want some of
what we’ve just been enjoying?
I’ve been reading and re-reading “When the
Body Says No” by Dr Gabor Mate, about the impact
stress and emotional burden can have on many diseases, affecting our immune
defences. In one experiment, medical students were given a slight injury to
their palate during exams when they were stressed, and at another time when
they were on vacation. The injury healed significantly faster when they were on
holiday than when they were stressed. Apparently stress inhibits the release of
certain compounds from white blood cells that are important for healing wounds.
So it could be that if prayer decreases our stress level because we’ve
unburdened ourselves to God, it has a marked effect on our physical wellbeing.
PRAYER’S
PRIORITIES
Prayer
as Jesus outlines it is much more than just a wish list, as if we were treating
God like some magic genie in a bottle, or a divine vending machine. It’s not
just ‘asking for stuff’. Prayer can be a means by which we are brought into
tune with God’s will for our lives, much as a piano string begins to vibrate
sympathetically in sync with a tuning fork nearby.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Prayer
changes things.” In fact we had a little plaque hanging askew over our stairs
when I lived in Blyth saying exactly that. Dr Donald Barnhouse was an American pastor and author. Once he came
to the pulpit and made a statement that stunned his congregation: he said,
“Prayer changes nothing!” You could have heard a pin drop. He was emphasizing,
of course, God’s sovereignty, that it’s Him (not us) that’s in charge of
everything. No puny human being by uttering a few words in prayer takes charge
of events and changes them: that’s got to be left up to God.
There’s one exception, though, as Chuck Swindoll points out: Prayer changes ME. He says, “When you
and I pray, we change, and that is one of the major reasons prayer is such a
therapy that counteracts anxiety.”
On another occasion, in the Sermon on the
Mount as recorded by Matthew, Jesus taught what we now call The Lord’s Prayer.
Here in Luke 11 the beloved physician renders a briefer version, in response to
the disciples’ request for a primer on prayer. There are basically five
elements, one for each finger on a hand. I love how Luke’s version cuts away
any frilliness, any flowery flourishes, and just has the brass tacks.
You’ve maybe heard of Abraham Maslow’s
1943-vintage hierarchy of needs: physiological needs, safety needs, love and
belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Five levels, and
it’s difficult to fulfill the higher levels if the more basic ones (like food
and water and a place to live) are lacking. As we look at Jesus’ prayer, we can
see perhaps His own teaching on what our real priorities and needs are.
Certainly physiologial needs are represented - ‘give
us each day our daily bread’, that’s pretty basic! But several things are
different than what Maslow would emphasized. Let’s review the 5 elements. Luke
11:2-4 “He said to them, "When you pray, say: ‘[1]Father, hallowed be your
name, [2]your kingdom come.[3]Give us each day our daily bread.[4]Forgive us
our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[5]And lead us not
into temptation.’"”
[1]
‘Father, hallowed be Your name.’ Here is reflected our emotional need, our
sense of identity. To address the Almighty as simply ‘Father’ (‘Abba’ in
Aramaic) would have been shocking to the pious Jews of Jesus’ day; they would
not even venture to pronounce God’s name, substituting other titles instead
when they read Scripture. But Jesus’ forgiveness provided through the cross
strips away that barrier of fear and formality, allowing us intimate access to
the Sovereign One. Paul writes, Eph 3:12 “In him
[Jesus] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and
confidence.” As Jesus underscores in 11:13, this is “your Father in heaven”. We
are His children, He wants us to come to Him freely, gladly, unreservedly.
As NLT puts the next phrase, “May Your name
be kept holy.” While we come in Christ surrounded by love, God is not just a
chum or buddy, someone we can presume upon or treat casually. He is the
Almighty Power Sovereign, Creator of the Universe and Judge of all flesh, whose
wrath against unrepentant sinners and Satan’s hordes is unendurable. We come in
awe, reverently, in wonder at God’s wisdom and mystery, His vast power and
eternal purposes. Knowing He is much bigger than us gives us SECURITY, we are
safe protected by Him. We are given IDENTITY, we come to know who we are in
Christ, God’s beloved children, the saints He has chosen in election.
[2]
‘Your Kingdom come.’ Here we find PURPOSE and SIGNIFICANCE. We are not just
random molecules adrift and colliding in space, driven by purposeless forces of
nature. No, the Lord is guiding Creation toward a culmination marked by the
return of Jesus in glory and final judgment, when people will be rewarded
according to their deeds. What we do now will have lasting meaning then. The
universe does not just fizzle out and wind down with a whimper, sucked dry by
entropy. You matter in relation to God’s good government of peace and
righteousness and justice. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to Jesus (Matt 28:18) and He has authorized You to act upon His Great
Commission to make disciples and His Great Commandment to love as He has loved
us. There is meaning to existence, in relation to God’s coming Kingdom, and His
current governance.
E.Stanley Jones
wrote, “Prayer is surrender – surrender to the will of God and cooperation with
that will. If I throw out a boat hook from a boat and catch hold of the shore
and pull, do I pull the shor to me, or do I pull
myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of
my will to the will of God.”
[3]
‘Give us each day our daily bread.’ God has in mind our most basic PHYSICAL
needs. We are created physical beings, we need energy in order to operate, be
that bread or other forms of food. Luke interestingly uses the present active
imperative form of the verb, as it might be translated, “keep on giving” - it’s
an ongoing daily dependence.
This could be seen as parallel to Maslow’s
most fundamental level of human need. So in this way Maslow overlaps with the
Lord’s Prayer. But let’s press on to some others that Maslow overlooks.
[4]
‘Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.’ Here
we have the need for RELATIONSHIP and INNOCENCE, freedom from guilt. God as the
divine Creator and Judge is the One we must finally give answer to for our
actions, He is the final yardstick defining right and wrong, good and evil.
Secular philosophy would have a problem right here, for if there is no moral
lawgiver, how can there be any moral law? We need forgiveness for ourselves. He
has hardwired humans (insomuch as they are bearers of God’s image, though fallen)
- the Creator has hardwired us with conscience, a sense of what’s fair and
unfair, when others have hurt us or vice versa. Guilt is real, it’s not a
fabrication or some psychological fiction. War crimes are real. When we hear of
school shooters it can’t just be dismissed as someone dancing to their DNA, or
being a victim of their upbringing and environment. We are real moral agents
and responsible for it. We need forgiveness. Christ died on the cross as the
perfect substitute, the God-Man, making atonement for us when we commit our
lives to Him.
But this does not just apply between us and
God: it applies between us and other people. The Bible is very definite about
the fact that God will not forgive us if we do not forgive others. Jesus
parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18(23-34) illustrates exactly this
point. When the king in the story claps the wicked unforgiving servant in
prison, Jesus observes, Mt 18:35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat
each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
We have RELATIONAL needs - relationships
founded on trust, glued with forgiveness when there’s been disappointments and
misunderstandings and broken promises and failures, as often happens. At the
cross we find grace to forgive others who’ve hurt us time and again, the same
grace that we needed ourselves in our folly and rebellion against God.
[5]
‘And lead us not into temptation.’ NLT puts this, “Don’t let us yield to
temptation.” God does not play the role of tempter; James 1:13f, “When tempted,
no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by
evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil
desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” Sources of temptation include the
world, the flesh, and the devil.
Our flesh is that unregenerate part of us
that inclines us away from God with unredeemed appetites.
The world includes all around us that would
prey upon us or take advantage of us, wooing us off track from living for God.
So you’re browsing online and wonder, “How come Google popped up that ad for
something I was searching for the other day, or just talking about to someone?
How did that friend suggestion pop up in Facebook when we just happened to
cross paths recently?” You are being followed! Regarding the internet, as has
been said, “If you’re not paying for the product, you ARE the product.” Your
data and browsing habits are being mined constantly so the algorithms can plot
how best to arrest your attention. Beware!
And there’s the devil, with his associated
cronies, the third or so of angels that have fallen and get their jollies from
attempting to interfered with God’s glory being manifest in His people and His
church. Westerners are sometimes unconscious that we live and move in a
spiritual environment, accompanied by spirit-beings invisible to us. When
you’re in Christ you need not fear them, but they exist. Some people who have
lost loved ones may look over at a chair where they used to sit and suddenly
see them there, but they vanish. Was it just imagination? It seemed so real!
Was it a hoax – or a gift? Hebrews 12(1) talks about us being “surrounded by
such a great cloud of witnesses...” We need God’s protection in this
spirit-world, with our feet of clay.
A more accurate rendering of Jesus’ idea
here might be what He advised the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, Luke
22:40b “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” God, give us
vision to spot the traps, and the strength to resist getting drawn in!
PRAYER
THAT PESTERS
Jesus
accents His teaching with a couple of illustrations that encourage us to pray
boldly and fervently. In the first story, a person has a friend come for a
visit but there’s nothing to eat, so goes pounding on the door of another
friend requesting 3 loaves of bread. In Middle East houses of the time for
those in the working class, there would be just one big room where the whole
family slept together. Sometimes these were on a raised area around the wall,
with even farm animals indoors on a lower level. So to have to get up in the
middle of the night could cause quite a stir.
Luke 11:7 “Then the one inside answers,
‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in
bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’” Don’t BOTHER me. Go away, Pest!
Stop pestering me, you’ll wake up the whole household!
Well – but what’s to be done if that needy
person at the door keeps on banging? Jesus goes on to say the friend will get
up and get the bread for them if only because of the man’s BOLDNESS. The word
can mean importunity, with a sense of urgency, audacity, earnestness,
relentlessness. Jesus is saying that’s what ought to characterize our praying!
Bold, audacious prayers! Urgently, earnestly, not giving up. New Bible Commentary
(Revised) calls it an “unblushing persistence”.
PRAYER’S
PRIVILEGE
That’s
the case with a friend; what about someone even closer, a family member? What
about the relationship between a father and his child? Jesus ratchets up the
intimacy one more notch.
Don’t miss the little connecting word ‘SO’
at the start of verse 9 – if God will respond to our audacious relentless bold
pounding at the door even more than a friend would respond to the bother of a
midnight visitor in need, THEREFORE we can ask, seek, knock with full assurance
it will be given, we will find, the door will be opened.
From friend to father: Luke 11:11-13
“"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake
instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then,
though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
him!"”
One would expect the saying to end with our
Father giving “good gifts” to those who ask – as Matthew has it (Mt 7:11) – but
Luke wants to emphasize the Holy Spirit is the absolute BEST gift we could
possibly ask for, God’s own presence right within our lives, the Helper/Paraclete/Counselor introduced to the church at Pentecost.
Jesus promised in John 7:37ff, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and
drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living
water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those
who believed in him were later to receive.”
Ask, seek, knock – for the best God has to
give! He loves you – He won’t play a nasty trick on you and surprise you with a
snake or scorpion instead.
TELL
IT ALL
Why
hold back? Anything you might try to hide, God knows already! The 17th-century
Frenchman Francois Fenelon said this about prayer. “Tell God all that is in
your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear
friend. Till Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joyrs, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that
He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer
them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show
Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference
to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how
self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere,
how pride disguises you to yourself and others.
“If you thus our out all your weaknesses,
needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust
the subject. It is continually being renewed.” (Amen, may it be so!)
Today
on this DAY OF PRAYER FOR CAMP SUNDAY we are reminded that camp can be a place
where the normal routines and human-flavoured superstructure of daily living in
our comfortable ‘cocoons’ are removed, and God’s power and design evident in
nature can prompt us to open up to Him in new ways. We close with a video from
Camp Mishewah about ways God’s Kingdom is at work
through camping ministry, touching people’s lives with His grace.
I
CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION
What
are you counting on to truly satisfy you? Is it working?
“I
can’t get no satisfaction” is the title of a song by the Rolling Stones,
released in June 1965, their first ‘Number 1' single in America. (Apparently
they’re still not satisfied, because I hear the Rolling Stones are currently
marking 60 years by touring Europe!) The theme of their song sums up the
frustrations of our experience in this life, with its occasional
disappointments. Part of that dissatisfaction is fed by our insatiable
consumerism, addicted to advertising. The first verse of their song says:
“When
I'm driving in my car
When
a man come on the radio
He's
telling me more and more
About
some useless information
Supposed
to fire my imagination”
[I
can’t get no satisfaction, etc]
If
we’re counting on worldly wealth to give us security, fluctuations in the
markets and vagaries of the economy, complicated by global conflicts and supply
chain issues, are enough to give us the heeby-jeebies.
A main headline Thursday was, “Bank of Canada sounds alarm on economic risk of
high household debt amid soaring inflation.” Gee, thanks!
My financial advisor phoned this week to
see if I had any questions. I can tease her a bit, so I said lightheartedly,
“Just one question: where did my money go?!” My portfolio she manages, although
probably about as well positioned as could be, had dropped about 10% in the
past 6 months. Proverbs 23:5 notes, “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are
gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”
<sigh>
When we put all our stock in stocks, if all
we care about is material things, it is hard to ever be truly satisfied.
Entropy is against us, things wear out and break down. There will always be a
newer model, better features, tempting us to upgrade. It’s easy to fall into
the trap of comparing ourselves with our neighbours in regard to what’s
visible. When will we ever reach ‘enough’?
Ecclesiastes 5:10, “Whoever loves money
never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his
income. This too is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes views much of normal life as a
‘chasing after the wind’ – fraught with futility, pointless.
Spiros Zodhiates wrote, “When you fix your eyes on things,
invariably it leads to materialism. You fix your eyes on things and you will
continually be attracted to gadgets, money, an abundance of the plastic,
chrome, metal, wood, all the elements about us. You will continually be
dissatisfied. The millionaire John D.Rockefeller was
asked one time, “How much does it take to satisfy a man completely?” He said,
“It takes a little bit more than he has.”
After being fried by Ford Company, Lee
Iacocca was forced to rethink his motives and answer some gut-level questions
regarding his reasons for hanging on so tenaciously to his job at Ford. His
confession of greed is not hidden. Face it, it’s tough for anyone to turn his
back on almost a million a year, plus perks! A guy who has white-coated waiters
available at the snap of his fingers and a chauffeur to and from work finds it
extremely difficult to put on the brakes. In a moment of vulnerable honesty
Iacocca admitted that of the seven deadly sins, greed is by far the worst. Hear
him as he quotes his Italian born father: “My father always said, ‘Be careful
about money. When you have five thousand, you’ll want ten. When you have ten, you’ll
want twenty.’ He was right. No matter what you have, it’s never enough.”
Jesus cautioned in the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and
rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” Maybe He who designed the
human heart knew something about the foolishness but also the tendency of our
human soul to desire earthly treasures, material things that nevertheless are
susceptible to being stolen or becoming worn out or outdated.
In today’s reading we encounter a couple of
individuals that are falling into this consumer trap; and are reminded what’s
really worth putting our trust in, what can truly satisfy and won’t finally
disappoint us.
WHERE’S
YOUR SECURITY?
Estate
squabbles are all too common. Families suffer splits when heirs feel they’ve
been treated unfairly. Farmland lies fallow when the former generation has died
without a clear plan for division of assets.
Apparently the same thing happened in
Jesus’ time. The Hebrew Scripture gave the oldest son the ‘right of the
firstborn’, that is, a double portion of the inheritance. See, for example,
Deuteronomy 21:17. One day a disgruntled family member brought the issue up to
Jesus. Luke 12:13 “Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my
brother to divide the inheritance with me."”
We don’t know the details – maybe he wanted
an even split instead of 2:1, or maybe he suspected the other brother was
defrauding him somehow. In that time, Rabbis could be called on for civil as
well as religious matters; but Jesus was not your typical Rabbi and refused to
get drawn into the fray. Nevertheless, Jesus seized the opportunity to point
out an important principle, perhaps because He sensed the man was obsessed with
material things. Luke 12:14f “Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a
judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out!
Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in
the abundance of his possessions."” The Greek word translated “greed” or
“covetousness” comes from a root meaning wanting to “have more”.
God’s Word makes clear this is a common
tendency in the human heart. We are finite creatures, requiring a constant
supply of inputs in order to survive, from a biological point of view. But are
we more than just analogous to an earthworm, which is a long digestive tract
surrounded by other tissue? Jesus maintains human life is more than just
consisting of an abundance of stuff; NLT “Live is not measured by how much you
own.”
Coveting what others have is warned against
in the Ten Commandments. Scripture points us to trust in God for security. Job
31:24f “If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my
security,’ if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had
gained...[that would be sin – I would have been unfaithful to God on high].”
Is our money drawing our heart away from
God? Is it being an idol? Psalm 62:10 “Do not trust in extortion or take pride
in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”
Do we have a ‘heart condition’ summed up by a dollar sign?
Instead, God’s word emphasizes finding our
security in the Lord alone. Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of
money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will
I leave you; never will I forsake you."” See where our security should be
found? He’s not going to abandon us! Similarly, 1Timothy 6:17 “Command those
who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in
wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly
provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Wealth comes and goes, but God
is our ultimate provider of our needs.
Step back for a minute from this passage
and consider the context. In response to Jesus’ miracles, the crowds have been
increasing, He’s becoming very popular among the masses (11:29, 12:1).
Meanwhile, opposition from religious leaders is growing – Jesus has been
critical of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (11:37-54).
Sooner or later these two factors will clash: His popularity will trigger the
jealousy of the leaders to the point they plot to eliminate Him. How’s Jesus
preparing His followers for that? What will they be able to trust in when He’s
been crucified and ascended?
It’s essential that they learn to fear God
and trust in God’s provision. Luke 12:4f “"I tell you, my friends, do not
be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will
show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has
power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” To God they are worth
more than many sparrows, the hairs of their head are numbered (v7). Jesus
points out that God feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies, so will MUCH MORE
clothe those who follow Jesus. Luke 12:30-32 “For the pagan world runs after
all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his
kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. "Do not be afraid,
little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Can you trust that? God knows your needs,
and is pleased to give you the Kingdom when you seek it first and foremost? Why
wouldn’t God supply those who are keen about His number 1 project?!
HUGE
HARVESTS, TINY MINDSET
Life
is much more than the sum total of your material assets. To illustrate, Jesus
tells the parable of the rich fool. Luke 12:16f “And he told them this parable:
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to
himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’”
What to do, indeed? The ground has produced
‘abundantly’ (NLT). More than he needs himself, for now. Does the thought ever
cross his mind that he might give some away? Be generous, because maybe others
haven’t been so fortunate? Maybe their land missed a shower or two at seasons
that were critical for kernels to set. Maybe their parents or ancestors fell
into serious debt and had to sell their land. What an opportunity to be a big
blessing to his neighbours! He could donate a truckload to the local community
food bank. He could sell it and convert it into funds to buy food in war-torn
or drought-hit areas on other continents through Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
(Well, at least NOW he could!) Maybe back then it would take the form of
donating more through the temple system, for Levites to distribute to the needy
in their local areas.
But no, our fool doesn’t think globally, or
even locally. All he can think about is HIMSELF! Note how often the words “me”
or “my” pop up in his thoughts. He’s having an inner dialogue with himself.
Vv18f NRSV “Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down MY barns and build
larger ones, and there I will store all MY grain and MY goods.And
I will say to MY soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;
relax, eat, drink, be merry.’” Literally, “keep on” relaxing, “keep on being”
merry – a protracted private party stretching on interminably into the sunset.
At least, in his mind...
Here we see, in its rawest naked form, the
narcissistic, insular mindset of our consumer culture, closed in upon itself.
Sealed up so tight it can barely breathe. It can’t see past the end of its
nose. The ‘unholy trinity’ of “me, myself, and I”. A person who’s all wrapped
up in themselves makes a very small package!
Philippians 3:19 “Their destiny is
destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.
Their mind is on earthly things.” Back in the Old Testament, God warned the
Israelites exactly of this danger when they would enter the Promised Land: the
danger of spiritual amnesia, forgetting God. Deuteronomy 8:12-14 “Otherwise,
when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and
when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all
you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget
the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
Our ‘certain rich man’ is in for a rude
shock. Despite his best conjuring of a preferred future, it’s not to be. God is
about to take a pin and prick the balloon of his over-inflated selfishness.
Luke 12:20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be
demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’” The
meaninglessness of having heaped up wealth, like Ecclesiastes said, is about to
become abundantly obvious. The fool thought he was ‘all set’, but there are
many things money cannot buy – and long life or health are included in that.
Paul Lee Tan wrote, “There are many things
that money cannot buy. Money can buy: A bed but not sleep. Books but not
brains. Food but not an appetite. Finery but not beauty. A house but not a
home. Medicine but not health. Pleasures but not peace. Luxuries but not
culture. Amusements but not joy. A crucifix but not a Saviour. A church
building but not heaven.”
REDEFINING
“RICH”
The
closing line of the parable is left hanging, a rhetorical question. God asks
(NLT), “Then who will get everything you worked for?” Who, indeed? Certainly
not the rich man – he’ll be pushing up
daisies. Who? Not the “I” or “my” - my crops, my barns, my grain, my goods,
myself. Who, then?
Maybe some of those other people that he
SHOULD have thought to share his surplus with, instead of just building bigger
barns in order to hoard his wealth.
Jesus’ closing line that wraps up the
parable points in a different direction for what it means to be ‘rich’, it
prompts an alternate idea for the possibilities of how to be a truly ‘rich’
person. 12:21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for
himself but is not RICH TOWARD GOD.” Wow! Now THERE’S a phrase worth unpacking!
What’s it mean to be ‘rich toward God’? How is the Master prodding us to
redefine “rich”?
When we’re rich toward God, we put our
trust in Him not in gold.
When we’re rich toward God, we say to Him,
“YOU are my security.”
When we’re rich toward God, we fear Him
most of all, we revere Him, we treasure Him, He’s dear to our heart.
When we’re rich toward God, we sense He’s
pleased to give us the Kingdom, He’s looking out for our basic needs like food
and clothes even more than for the ravens and the lilies as we seek His
priorities.
Being rich in our relationship with the
Lord must surely be reflected in time we want to spend with Him, listen to Him
by reading His word, sharing our thoughts and requests and hopes with Him
through prayer, pursuing more depth about what it means to be a follower of
Jesus through group study and fellowship with other believers.
Being “rich toward God” can’t mean we have
more material things than the Lord, because the cattle on a thousand hills are
His, and by our offering we give Him only what’s already from Him. Yet
Scripture suggests when we share with others in need, God perceives that as
giving to Him. Proverbs 19:17 “He who is kind to the poor LENDS TO THE LORD,
and he will reward him for what he has done.”
Is there some kind of mystical link between
being ‘rich toward God’ and storing up treasure in heaven? Luke 16:9 “I tell
you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is
gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” And Matthew 6:20 “But store
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and
where thieves do not break in and steal.” You can’t take it with you – but you
CAN send it on ahead! “Do your givin’ while you’re livin’ then you’re knowin’ where
it’s goin’.”
The Apostle Paul wrote to the early church
in Romans 12:13, “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice
hospitality.” Through hospitality we can express in very practical ways God’s
love and provision, both to churched and unchurched.
And to the church in Corinth Paul wrote,
2Cor 9:8-11 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all
things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good
work...Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also
supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your
righteousness. You will be MADE RICH IN EVERY WAY SO THAT YOU CAN BE GENEROUS
on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving
to God.” Being ‘rich toward God’ would seem to be linked to being generous, in
such a way that others thank God for His mercy to them through your sharing of
His abundant grace.
THE
JOY YOU GIVE TO OTHERS
In
closing - a quick story and a poem.
A man came to his pastor for counseling. He
felt convicted that he had not been faithful in giving God a portion of the
generous thousand dollar weekly salary he was making. The man explained, “I had
no problem thanking God and giving Him a liberal offering when I was making
just $250 a week. Please pray for me.”
The pastor then prayed, much to the man’s
dismay, “Father, please bring this man back to a $250 salary so that he can get
back into Your will.”
John Greenleaf Whittier wrote this poem
about giving and receiving joy...
Somehow,
not only for Christmas
But
all the long year through,
The
joy that you give to others
Is
the joy that comes back to you.
And
the more you spend in blessing
The
poor and the lonely and sad,
The
more of your heart’s possessions
Return
to make you glad.
Let’s pray. Father in Heaven, our
Gracious Provider, we confess we recognize something of ourselves in this rich
fool in the parable. We are eager to store up, kick back and relax long. Too
often we’re preoccupied with “me, myself, and I” – and blind to the needs of
others. Merciful Saviour, help us to find our security in YOU not anything this
world affords. We want to be ‘rich toward you’ not a self-absorbed black hole.
Lord Jesus, pour Your self-giving love into our hearts and convert us totally
so we want only what You want, so we begin to put Your Kingdom first in all our
planning and actions. Guard us against greed, and lead us into the fullness of
life in You that is truly life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
MAKING
FATHER MORE FAMILIAR
Jesus
calls His followers to observe His commands, to walk in His ways. As we do so,
the Holy Spirit shapes us to resemble Jesus more, and not only Him but also God
our Heavenly Father. For those who are fathers, being a godly parent must mean
that to some degree our children (and others) will begin to be able to
recognize some likenesses to God in the way we act.
A mother and her four-year-old son were
looking through an old family photo album. The boy pointed at a picture of a
handsome young man with dark, curly hair. He asked, "Who's that?" She
told him, "That's your father." The boy looked confused. "Then
who is that bald guy who lives with us now?"
We dads may not have a lot of similarity to
our photos from decades earlier, but hopefully we will have an increasing
resemblance to our Heavenly Father!
Our Scripture passage today suggests 5
priorities good fathers will have that are also akin to the way the Lord treats
us. These 5 are: prizing, providing, protecting, preparing, and preferenc-ing. These all require involvement and
interaction with our kids, having an input and investment in their lives. In
contrast to non-involvement, keeping ‘hands-off’, being neglectful. God our
Heavenly Father is INVOLVED with us – else He wouldn’t have sent Jesus His Son,
God incarnate. God is not like the so-called ‘deadbeat dad’ that shirks on his
responsibilities to his offspring.
30 years ago in 1992, Dan Quayle accused the
producers of the popular sitcom 'Murphy Brown' of glamorizing what he called
"America's worst crisis: missing fathers". The media accused him of
going too far. But by 1995, a year in which nearly forty percent of American
children lived in fatherless homes, the entire nation rallied around the idea
of bringing Daddy home, or forcing him to live up to his responsibilities.
Congress created a bill cracking down on deadbeat dads; the FBI began tracking
them across state lines.
Kids need mentors, modeling, men who can be
good examples in their lives, and fathers are an important part of that. In our
family life, we dads have a major role in introducing our children to God as a
heavenly Father who will be there for them even when we’re no longer around.
And by our actions we can reflect our Saviour, helping our children feel loved
and cared for and significant, just as God treasures us and gives us purpose
and hope.
PRIZING
A
father’s first priority is PRIZING. Yes we will talk about other (perhaps more
usual) priorities such as being a good provider, and creating a safe protected
environment, but deep down a child needs to know they are loved, cherished,
prized and valued for who they ARE not just whatever they can DO. Jesus taught
in Luke 12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased
to give you the kingdom.” Does your God SMILE? Do you have this mental image of
some grumpy old geezer about to hurl thunderbolts the moment you get outta line? That’s not the image Jesus presents. NLT “It
gives your Father GREAT HAPPINESS to give you the Kingdom.” The New Testament
teaches that God is love (1Jn 4:8). How do we know that for sure? The Apostle
John explains in his first letter, 1Jn 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our
sins.” His sending of Jesus to die in our place so we could be forgiven and
brought near to Him is the proof of God’s love. God takes pleasure in His
faith-children. Ephesians 1:5 “he predestined us to be adopted as his sons
through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will...” Notice those
words “his pleasure”. He is pleased to adopt us; He is pleased to give us the
Kingdom. Luke 10:21, “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit,
said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have
hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little
children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” Note that last bit? It
PLEASED God to reveal His Good News to you!
God’s children bring Him pleasure and joy.
In the Old Testament, Zephaniah 3:17 declared: “The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save. He will TAKE GREAT DELIGHT in you, he will quiet you with
his love, he will REJOICE OVER YOU with singing.” The Lord PRIZES us, delights
and rejoices in us, we are so precious to Him as we trust in Christ and become
increasingly identified with God’s Son, by the work of the sanctifying Holy
Spirit.
Very much the opposite of a neglectful or
absentee father who scarcely spends any time with his kids, because they don’t
matter that much to him compared to his other pursuits.
V33 talks about “a treasure in heaven”, and
34 adds, Lk 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
What are we treasuring? What’s the prize in our eyes, what’s most precious,
what’s tantalizing our heart? Are we prizing the Lord above all? As parents,
are we treasuring our children above this world’s entertainments or gadgets?
PROVIDING
This
is probably one of the more common attributes expected of fathers, but I would
still list it second because that ‘prizing’ or ‘holding precious’ aspect has
major bearing on a person’s self-esteem long after they have left home and even
when their parents are deceased. If you know your earthly father really loved
you and was proud of you, you mattered to him, that’s much more important than
whether you could afford the ‘boughten lunches’ at
school or just had peanut butter sandwiches.
Still, providing is pretty important in
raising a family. Unfortunately there are too many unproductive grown men,
basically juvenile or what one might call ‘boys with beards’, living in their
parents’ basements playing video games or failing to ante up with child support
for their kids. If we have a family and are able-bodied, we should be providing
for their needs. That may sometimes take the shape of looking after the kids
while Mom is employed, depending on the circumstances and employment
opportunities, but then the homemaking becomes a way the father provides. You
still pull your weight.
Our Heavenly Father PROVIDES for those who
trust in Jesus. Earlier in Luke 12 Jesus pointed out how God provides for the
ravens and lilies, and concluded, “How much more will He clothe you!”
(12:24,27f) Here in 12:32 we see the Father “has been pleased to GIVE you the
Kingdom”. So we can do what v33 says, “Sell your possessions and GIVE to the
poor.” God is a GIVING God, providing the needs of His children, so we can in
turn become generous.
1Timothy 6:17b “...hope in God, who richly
provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Even more critical than
material items, God provides us with spiritual regeneration as a gift. Romans
6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” Peter adds in 1Pet 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a
living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...” What a
merciful, generous, providing Heavenly Father!
Sometimes animals can be God’s surprise
agents of provision. Emperor Charles V was trying to assassinate John Brenz, friend of Martin Luther. Hearing of the plot, Brenz barely had time to grab a loaf of bread and duck into
his neighbour’s hayloft. There he hid 14 days. The bread was quickly gone, but
the Lord sent a hen who showed up and laid an egg each day for 14 days! In this
way, Brenz was kept alive. On the 15th day
the chicken didn’t come, and the reformer wondered what he would do. But from
the street below came the cries, “The cavalrymen are gone at last.”
In a similar way, a dog provided for the
needs of another reformer, John Craig, who was arrested during the Inquisition.
On the eve of his scheduled execution, Craig escaped, but while fleeing through
the Italian backcountry, he ran out of food and money. Suddenly a dog
approached him, a purse in its mouth. Craig tried to drive the animal away, but
the dog persisted in bringing the purse to Craig. In it was enough money to
take him to freedom.
PROTECTING
God
wants us to feel safe, protected, in His care, come what may. How does the
passage start out? 12:32a “DO NOT BE AFRAID, little flock...” In v33 Jesus
urges, “Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in
heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth
destroys.” Not exhausted; no thief or moth; nothing’s going to touch your
heavenly treasure or be able to destroy it. 1Peter 1:5 “who through faith are
shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be
revealed in the last time.” As a believer in Christ, that says you are
“shielded by God’s power” through faith – doesn’t that sound like a pretty safe
place to be?!
Psalm 121 celebrates this protecting aspect
of God’s care, His ‘keeping’ us. Ps 121:5f KJV “The LORD [is] thy KEEPER: the
LORD [is] thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.” v7 NIV “The LORD will KEEP you from all harm— he will
watch over your life...” Remember the castle “keep”, the most protected part of
the castle? Ever drive by the old Goderich ‘gaol’ and marvel at the thick stone
walls?
This week we put up a deer fence around our
vegetable garden - 7 feet high! It’s actually pretty flimsy because it’s just
plastic mesh you have to stretch tight so it doesn’t flop over. Rather
unimpressive. And it’s not so much to keep DEER out as it is to keep GEESE out,
because they like to nibble plants. But it’s still the idea of ‘keeping’
something safe – even if it doesn’t nearly compare to the Goderich jail!
Back to our passage, v39 - “But understand
this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he
would not have let his house be broken into.” In the parable Jesus assumes it’s
the role of a homeowner to want to PROTECT their property. Human fathers can be
called upon to grab a flashlight and go investigate if there’s a strange noise
that goes ‘bump’ in the night. The Lord God is our principal PROTECTOR.
Robert Bruce of Scotland was running for
his life, fleeing persecutors. He ducked into a small cave, and a spider
immediately appeared and spun a web over the opening. Bruce’s pursuers fanned
across the landscape, knowing he was near. Two of them approached the cave, and
one of the men started to go in. But the other one stopped him, saying, “He
could never have gotten in there without breaking that spider’s web.”
Bruce breathed this prayer: “O God, I thank
Thee that in the tiny bowels of a spider you can place for me a shelter.”
In 1947, missionaries Dick and Margaret Hillis and their four children settled in the Honan
province of China. Nearby, a mission church swelled with nearly one thousand
Chinese people each Sunday. There was an impending war between Chiang Kai-shek
and the forces of Mao Tse-tung.
One day, Nationalist Captain Hwang urgently
told Mr. Hillis, "You had better take your
family and flee." But it was too late. They had blown up all the railroad
bridges. That evening, the Hillis family heard the
first shots, and soon a battle raged around them. The city soon fell, and the
streets filled with Communist troops.
Then, a new danger emerged. The Nationalist
troops were lobbing shells at the rebels and one night, every shell that
dropped exploded closer and closer to the Hillis'
home. The house next door exploded killing the entire family, and it appeared
the Hillis' home would be next. The house quaked. The
children screamed and the family prepared to die. Then, the shelling abruptly
stopped and the Hillis family cautiously emerged. The
room was filled with debris, but no one was hurt.
As Dick tucked his children into bed, he
knelt beside Margaret Anne and noticed a dirty scrap of paper stuffed under her
pillow. Printed in large childish letters were these words: "God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Psalm 46:1) Little
Margaret Anne had been resting on a very big verse from a very faithful God.
PREPARING
An
important aspect of parenting is PREPARING your offspring to deal with life on
their own when you’re no longer around, to give them both ‘roots and wings’ as
the saying goes. Jesus prepares His disciples for the time when He will no
longer be with them physically. He wants us to be prepared, to be READY, for
the time when He returns to be judge of the living and the dead.
Luke 12:35f “Be dressed READY for service
and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a
wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the
door for him.” V38 “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them
READY, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.” And V40,
“You also must be READY, because the Son of
Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Are you prepared? Are you
ready?
God has spent a long time preparing a
Kingdom for His children to enjoy, once we enter that new dimension. Matthew
25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed
by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom PREPARED FOR YOU since the
creation of the world.”
God is already at work in your life through
the Holy Spirit (if you have a relationship with Jesus) preparing you for the
next phase of your spiritual journey. He is chipping away at the marble of the
statue (as it were), so something that resembles Jesus may become apparent to
others in your character. Romans 8:29 “For those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers.” We are becoming conformed to Jesus’ likeness.
And the early apostles took pains to
PREPARE other believers to cope without them; they intentionally taught and
coached Jesus’ teachings, forming a community where Christlike
behaviour would be reinforced and His ways remembered. 2Peter 1:15 “And I will
make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to
remember these things.” Part of the preparation process.
PREFERENC-ING
Let’s
recap where we’ve been, in these priorities that fathers can develop to have
lasting impact, just as our Heavenly Father works in our lives to grow His
children: PRIZING, PROVIDING, PROTECTING, PREPARING, and now the last,
PREFERENC-ing. Giving preference to others,
submitting ourselves in view of others’ needs. This is a tough one in a
consumer culture where advertising constantly reinforces that we should be
catering to our own appetites!
V35 “Be dressed ready for SERVICE...” What
does v37 imply about how power is to be exercised in Christ’s Kingdom? How does
the master respond to the servants He finds ready for His return? Lk 12:37 “It
will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.
I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at
the table and will come and wait on them.”
Now, THERE’S a role reversal! The master
waiting on the servants? That’s entirely backwards! Aren’t the servants
supposed to be showing preference to the master? But here the master is serving
them, giving the servants preference. That seems to be how Jesus works. In
fact, this is exactly what Jesus demonstrated the night He was betrayed!
John 13:1b,4f “Having loved his own who
were in the world, [Jesus] now showed them the full extent of his love...He got
up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his
waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his
disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”
This was a very intentional object lesson,
emphasizing Jesus’ priority of serving others. Jn
13:15 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
That’s just like God, showing such grace!
Unmerited favour. He doesn’t love us or bless us because we deserve it, because
as sinners we don’t: it’s simply because of who HE is, merciful, forgiving,
passing over our faults when we cry out to Him. Ephesians 1:7f “In him we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the
riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and
understanding.” Riches of grace LAVISHED on us!
In our parenting we will be successful if
we help our kids become ready to serve those who they’re not necessarily
obligated to help, but just want to reach out to due to sheer kindness and
compassion. Giving others PREFERENCE. Peter was one of the chief leaders in the
early church, yet in his letter to other church leaders he didn’t try to pull
rank, but appealed to them humbly. He reminded them not to abuse their
leadership privileges by serving for monetary gain or exploit their power and
position. 1Peter 5:1-3 “To the elders among you, I APPEAL as a fellow elder, a
witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be
revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, SERVING as
overseers— not because you must, but because you are WILLING, as God wants you
to be; not greedy for money, but EAGER TO SERVE; not LORDING IT OVER those
entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”
Can we as dads, as parents, as uncles or
aunts or just friendly mentors, be demonstrating that for the next generation?
Not the attitude that asks, “What’s in it for me?” but, “How can I serve this
person before me? How can I help them feel cared for and helped in a way that
points to God’s love and care for us all, seen in Jesus?”
WORTH
MORE THAN SOFTBALLS
In
closing, Chuck Swindoll shares a personal story of a
time his father walked with him through an embarrassing situation but helped
him forge a realization of what’s really worth having in life.
[Swindoll
recalls] “I remember stealing six softballs when I was working as a stock boy
in a five-and-dime store in my early years in high school. And I remember
trying to find a place to hide them when I got home. I don’t know what in the
world I planned to do with six softballs. To this day it just baffles me, the
logic of it. But I stuck them in the back of my drawer and my mother found
them. My father presented himself to me and told me that we were going to make
a trip back to the store where I was going to talk to the owner and I was going
to confess.
“I will never forget his instruction on the
way. I mean, I was sitting there just dying thinking about it. It was just like
passing razor blades to think about standing before my employer. Well, I stood
there and told him what I had done. My dad was waiting in the car. He didn’t go
with me. And I heard my boss say, “You’re fired.”
“I stumbled back out to the car and sat
down. I was as low as I could remember ever being. On the way, I remember my
dad beginning to rebuild my emotions. I had done wrong, and I had learned an
incredible lesson. He didn’t overdo it, but he drilled into me that when you
steal, you get fired. And if you don’t get fired at the moment, you lose
something that can’t be bought with any price, and that’s your self-respect. I
remember, too, we got on the subject of what in the world I was gonna do with those six softballs.
“But there was something about the ornament
of grace that came around my neck from my father who before we went in the
house took the time to put his arms around me and to understand. This teenage
kid was most concerned about my father’s not telling my friends. And as far as
I know, he took that story to his grave and never told on me.”
Let’s
pray. Heavenly Father, thank You that although we had sinned and fallen short
of Your glory, You not only draw it out of us to confess, but You also
accompany us to the Cross where things can be made right. You sent Jesus to die
in preference to us, that we might be saved and forgiven and set free and
reborn. We bless You as our Protector and Provider, we adore You for treating
us as Your precious prized ones. Continue we pray to prepare us for Your
Kingdom. Help those of us who are earthly fathers to model Christ’s grace and
caring for those young lives who are watching us so closely and being deeply
impacted by us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
HE’S
GOT GUTS (BUT HE’S NO BULLFROG)
Our
‘big idea’ in today’s message is this – Whatever problems we face, God is
with us to save, and His Word strengthens us.
I’d
like to introduce you to Jeremiah the prophet, and to do that I’d draw a
parallel with someone in current events that shows similar chutzpah (boldness,
audacity, guts). When Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, many
figured the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would simply bolt and run – after all, the
Russian military outweighed the Ukrainian forces many times over. But to
everyone’s surprise, Zelenskyy stayed, and has shown
incredible spunk and nerve in leading his nation through the crisis.
It’s interesting the Zelenskyy was born
to a Jewish family and grew up speaking Russian in central Ukraine. He obtained
a degree in law but pursued a career in comedy, creating a production company
which spawned a TV series ‘Servant of the People’ in which he actually played
the role of the Ukrainian president! Go figure! The series ran from 2015 to
2019 and was immensely popular. Zelenskyy then
actually ran for president and was elected in 2019, positioning himself
(according to Wikipedia) as an anti-establishment and anti-corruption figure.
No doubt he has weaknesses, but one has to admire his tenacity, his nerve, and
inspiring leadership through a time of national crisis. One would hope the
title of that earlier TV series, “Servant of the People”, would become
characteristic of all national leaders.
Zelenskyy’s
courage in facing the Russian juggernaut has been breathtaking. All that to say
– picture the prophet whose book we’re studying these next few weeks a similar
way! Jeremiah faced severe opposition from religious leaders, the government,
the people, and his own relatives, over five decades – but he didn’t cave in.
He had guts. Where did Jeremiah get such strength, courage, and confidence?
Who was Jeremiah? Was he a bullfrog? I’m
referring to a popular song from 1970 by the band “Three Dog Night”. Some
lyrics were -
“Jeremiah
was a bullfrog
Was
a good friend of mine...
[CHORUS]
Singin' joy to the world
All
the boys and girls now
Joy
to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy
to you and me
[V2]
And if I were the king of the world
Tell
you what I'd do
I'd
throw away the cars and the bars and the war
Make
sweet love to you.”
A
bullfrog’s resounding ‘ribbit’ may sound like a beckoning to peaceful waters.
Perhaps songwriter Hoyt Wayne Axton was inspired somewhat by the Biblical
prophet Jeremiah. After all, the real Jeremiah was sounding out a warning. He
wanted the nation of Judah to avoid impending war, and return to a sincere
love-relationship with the Lord God.
Jeremiah was born to a priestly family in a
village about 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin. He
ministered over the span of about 5 decades, from 627 to 586 BC and beyond.
Jeremiah wrote the longest book in the Bible, containing more words than any
other book. By the volume of his writing, and the vulnerability of his writing,
we the reader can come to feel like we ‘know him’ personally perhaps more than
any other Old Testament writer.
We see Jeremiah get COMMISSIONED by God –
and the Lord reiterates that commissioning at several points in the book
(chapters 3, 7, 11, 13, 17).
We see Jeremiah enduring CONFLICT. He
started off on friendly terms with good king Josiah (whom our children’s focus
today was about – the book of the Law was discovered during Josiah’s reign, and
he repaired the temple and introduced many religious reforms). But it was
downhill from there. During King Jehoahaz’ reign
there was a distinct shift in the attitude of the court towards Jeremiah. King Jehoaikim showed open hostility toward Jeremiah the
prophet: once when Jeremiah’s prophecies were being read to the king in his
winter quarters, the king took a knife and kept cutting the scroll off every so
often and throwing it in the fire! (36:21-23) He treated the prophet’s
utterances with contempt.
Next, under King Jehoiachin,
Jeremiah predicted captivity was imminent (22:24ff). King Zedekiah was weak and
vacillating, allowing Jeremiah’s enemies to mistreat and imprison him. Later,
after the Babylonians conquered, governor Gedaliah (whom Jeremiah was
encouraged to advise) was murdered (ch.41), and the Judeans fleeing to Egypt
forced Jeremiah to accompany them (43:44ff).
So you can see Jeremiah’s life was full of
conflict, it was no picnic. The Lord instructed him NOT to marry and have
children because destruction was imminent. One tradition says he died by
stoning in Egypt, another tradition says he was taken captive from Egypt to
Babylon around 561 BC, by which time he may have been in his nineties.
John MacArthur summarizes Jeremiah’s
hardships this way: “He was threatened, tried for his life, put in stocks,
forced to flee from King Jehoiakim, publicly
humiliated by a false prophet, and thrown into a pit.” In that pit he sank in
the mud up to his knees... There’s a job description for ya,
sign up today!!
Because Jeremiah had to face such
opposition, that gave rise to several passages we might label as COMPLAINTS
(12:1-3, 15:15; 17:18; 18:19-23). These are personal appeals from the prophet
asking God to deal with those who were causing problems. For instance, 12:1-3 -
“You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would
speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why
do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken
root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their
hearts. Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of
slaughter!” You can start to glimpse the prophet’s humanness, and feel for his
plight.
There’s even a word coined in English
specifically deriving from the prophet’s name: “Jeremiad” - it means “a long,
mournful complaint or lamentation; a list of woes.” Jeremiah is rightfully
referred to as ‘the weeping prophet’. Not only on account of those who were
being hostile to him; he ached for those in his country who would be suffering
from siege, warfare, famine, and captivity. What would it be like to know
calamity is coming on your neighbours, yet not have them heed your warning or
pay attention?
Jeremiah also wrote down several passages
of CONFESSION in his book. These are sections of self-examination, honest
doubts, questionings (11:18-23, 12:1-4, 15:10-21, 17:12-18, 18:18-23, 20:7-18).
As one commentary puts it, he “lays bare before us the intimate dealings of his
own soul with God...” (New Bible Commentary Revised)
But to me one aspect that makes Jeremiah a
spiritual giant is his COVENANT PERCEPTION. [GRAPHIC] Consider this snapshot of
the Biblical timeline (NIV Study Bible). Things have been going steadily
downhill since the ‘Golden Era’ of Kings David and Solomon. In the Northern
Kingdom, a stream of bad kings resulted in its fall to Assyria in 722 BC. In
the Southern Kingdom of Judah, there have been a few good kings such as
Hezekiah and Josiah, but the latter’s reforms seem to have been superficial and
not stopped the widespread worship of idols. Jeremiah ministers [SHOW HERE] at
a crucial time just before the Exile to Babylon. Has the whole project of God’s
choosing a people to be a light to the nations been a flop? Once the curses
related to disobedience of the Sinai covenant result in the Israelites being
evicted from the Promised Land, what’s next? Is it all a colossal failure? Is
the whole endeavour just a write-off?
To Jeremiah is given the insight that God’s
grace to people is about to take a fresh turn, a new form, not one tied up with
political boundaries and geography. God’s going to bring a fresh covenant, a
‘new deal’. We see this revolutionary idea in Jer
31:31ff - “"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.It will not be like the covenant I made with their
forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because
they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the
LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after
that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and
write it on their hearts.I will be their God, and
they will be my people.No longer will a man teach his
neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all
know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no
more."”
Totally rad, dude! What spiritual insight!
We see this come true in the New Testament, when Jesus’ ministry and sacrifice
clears the way for people to repent, have their sins forgiven, and receive the
Holy Spirit who regenerates them and saves them from their old sin-patterns.
That’s quite a shift from the old rule-keeping approach of the Pharisees and the
Law of Moses.
So, that’s a brief introduction to Jeremiah
and overview of the main themes of the book. Remember, our ‘big idea’ today is
- Whatever problems we face, God is with us to save, and His Word
strengthens us. We see that play out throughout Jeremiah’s life, in the
face of the problems he encounters.
THE
PROBLEM
Now,
to our passage in chapter one. To begin, there is reference to THE PROBLEM of
sin that’s got the nation of Judah ensnared. See Jer
1:16, “I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness
in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their
hands have made.” Let’s break that apart.
“Their wickedness in forsaking me...”
Fundamentally sin is turning away from God, saying ‘no’ to the Almighty,
rejecting Jesus’ Lordship. Hosea had prophesied in Israel over a century before
Jeremiah (750-715 BC) and portrayed sin as akin to marital infidelity, as when
the prophet Hosea’s wife left him to engage in immorality. God seeks a
relationship with us His creatures; to ignore Him is to forsake Him. Jeremiah
would hear God say in Jer 2:13, “"My people have
committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have
dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” How are we at
risk of ‘forsaking’ God? Do we seek water for our thirsty souls in the wrong
places?
Next, “in burning incense to other gods...”
The people of Israel and Judah had taken up worship of gods of other lands and
the traditional local Baal-gods of Canaan, often based on fertility rites.
Frankly, worship that involved shrine prostitutes and the like was just more
‘sexy’ (!) - and appealed to our baser instincts. Yet along with that in the
case of the god Molech went the practice of infant
sacrifice; immorality with a murderous undercurrent.
The last phrase, “in worshipping what their
hands have made”. When we manufacture our own gods, it has the advantage of
making us feel like we’re in control, we’re the centre of the universe – and
that ejects God from His throne. Now, we may not place idols carved from wood
or precious metals in the corner of our living room – but do we get entranced
by celebrities on the screen? Are there gadgets or property or vehicles we feel
we absolutely ‘must have’? What’s our entertainment ‘go-to’ or substance we
resort to for a fix, without which we feel deflated? Are we able to let God be
‘enough’ for us – or do we worship idols of our own making?
Some instances of the sin-problem... About
a century before Jeremiah, Ahaz had been king in Judah. 2Kings 16:3f, “He
walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the
fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out
before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high
places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.”
Hezekiah, a good king, came next; but then
Manasseh reigned 55 years (697-642 BC), with devastating results spiritually.
2Kings 21:2-6,10-12 “He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the
detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the
Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he
also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole,
as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and
worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD
had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my Name." In both courts of the
temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his
own son in the fire, practised sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums
and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the
LORD, provoking him to anger...The LORD said through his servants the prophets:
"Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done
more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with
his idols. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going
to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears
of it will tingle.”
So that was a mere couple of decades before
Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry begins. God has already determined to bring
disaster; the clock is ticking. Will the people listen to the prophet’s
warnings and spare themselves much grief and pain?
THE
PERIL
We
see the Lord telling Jeremiah that judgment is about to happen in a couple of
sections of chapter 1. In a general way, verse 10: “See, today I appoint you
over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to
build and to plant."” Two pairs of verbs there are negative: “uproot /
tear down, destroy / overthrow.” Only the last pair are positive: “build /
plant”. After the destruction, there will be a remnant; after the close of the
Old Testament, there will be a New. But for now most of Jeremiah’s words are
aimed at warning the people of Judah to save themselves from the impending
disaster.
More peril is predicted in vv14-15: “The
LORD said to me, "From the north disaster will be poured out on all who
live in the land. I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern
kingdoms," declares the LORD. "Their kings will come and set up their
thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all
her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah.”
The term for the visual image God provides
here, a ‘boiling pot tilting away from the north’, is actually more like a
cauldron, or a big cast iron tub you might wash clothes in. It’s not small,
it’s a huge pot! Disaster is about to be poured out. “Northern kingdoms” points
to Babylon, which conquered Assyria, then mighty King Nebuchadnezzar was on the
march. The significance of ‘setting up their thrones in the entrance of the
gates’ has to do with the fact that the gateway was where local court was held,
governance was carried out, legal transactions happened. So to have the enemy’s
throne sitting at the entrance to the gate meant THEY were now ruling, they
were in control; you were their vassals.
THE
POSITIONING
In
view of this massive sin PROBLEM and the consequent grave PERIL, God has taken
the step of preparing His spokesman, the prophet Jeremiah, and placed him in a
POSITION to call the nation back to God. V5 “Before I formed you in the womb I
knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to
the nations.” The predicament has not taken God by surprise. Decades ago the
Lord began preparing Jeremiah, from before he was in the womb God ‘knew’ or
‘chose’ him (there’s a powerful pro-life statement right there: we are known to
God even before birth!). The Lord ‘set apart’ Jeremiah before birth,
‘appointed’ him as a prophet, not just to Judah but to ‘the nations’ (i.e.Gentiles; later on he does prophesy to surrounding
nations). Jeremiah has a divine APPOINTMENT, God’s placed him at that position
for this time in history.
V10 “See, today I APPOINT you over nations
and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to
plant.” What an exalted position is that, to uproot and overthrow and plant
entire nations and kingdoms! Is that somewhere in excess of the power of the
General Secretary of the United Nations (today)? Yet it doesn’t go to
Jeremiah’s head.
See also v18, “Today I have made you a
fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole
land— against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of
the land.” A fortified city – that’s impregnable, indestructible, firm and
steadfast, not needing to worry. God is Jeremiah’s fortification, his ‘bronze
wall’. And time would show that Jeremiah would need that, as he is later
opposed by treacherous kings and false prophets. But at the end, he is the one
left standing when the dust settles.
THE
POWERFUL PRONOUNCEMENT
Finally,
the essential thing about being a true prophet is speaking for the Lord,
perceiving what God has to say and relaying it to the intended audience. God is
Spirit, and His Word is powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. Jer 23:29 “"Is not my word like fire," declares
the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?"” Have you
hefted a sledge-hammer lately? God’s saying His word is powerful and weighty
like a rock-crackin’ sledge hammer! Worthy of being
treated like respect like a fire ablaze.
Several places in chapter one we see ‘The
word of the Lord’ emphasized, that’s central to Jeremiah’s calling and
ministry. V4 “The word of the Lord came to me, saying...” V7 “But the Lord said
to me...” V11 “The word of the Lord came to me...” V13 “The word of the Lord
came to me again...” V16 “I will pronounce my judgments on my people...”
This is pictured most concretely after
Jeremiah protests in v6 that he doesn’t know how to speak because he’s only a
child or youth (maybe around 20 at the beginning of his career). The Lord tells
him not to say that, “for I am with you and will rescue you...” (V8) Then v9,
“Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me,
"Now, I have put my words in your mouth.” How cool! That must have been
really assuring for Jeremiah to have the Lord actually touch his mouth. God was
assuring the prophet he would be speaking truth from the Lord. Despite what
culture said. Despite the king’s opposition. Despite a crowd of false prophets
saying something to the contrary! God was with him and would save him, making
Jeremiah’s words count. THAT’S where the real power lay – in God’s revealed
word.
Our experience as Christ-followers is
similar, in that Jesus’ words are spirit and life to us. As Simon Peter once
protested when many were turning back from following Jesus and Christ asked if
they wanted to leave too: Jn 6:68 “"Lord, to
whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” As today’s ‘big idea’
puts it, Whatever problems we face, God is with us to save, and His Word
strengthens us.
SAVED
FROM GANG-MEMBER TERRORISM
Nicky
Gumbel tells a true story that illustrates the power of
God’s word to save us from desperate circumstances.
“Stephen Lungu...was
the oldest son of a teenage mother from a township in Zimbabwe. She was trapped
in a difficult marriage to a man more than twenty years her senior. She dealt
with her struggles by drinking heavily. One day, when Stephen was three years old,
his mother took him, his brother and baby sister into town. Saying she needed
to go to the toilet, Stephen’s mother left him holding his sister in the busy
town square, while his brother John played on the ground. Two hours later she
had not returned. Their mother had run away, leaving the three children in the
reluctant care of an aunt. By the age of eleven, Stephen too had run away –
preferring to live on the streets.
“Growing up, Stephen developed a strong
bitterness against God. As a teenager he was recruited into one of the urban
gangs, called the Black Shadows, which carried out violence, theft and
destruction on the streets of Zimbabwe. When a travelling evangelist came to
town to speak to thousands of people about Jesus in a large tent, Stephen went
to firebomb the event. He carried a bag full of bombs. He wanted to attack the
event because he wanted to attack God. As Stephen awaited the moment for his
attack, Shadrach Maloka, a South African evangelist,
took to the stage and announced that the Holy Spirit had warned him that many
in the audience may die soon without Christ. Astonished, the Black Shadows
thought someone had figured out their plan. Stephen Lungu
was captivated by the preacher...The speaker’s words convinced him about his
sins and drew him into an encounter with Jesus. He experienced God’s presence.
He heard about God’s grace and peace. Stephen staggered forward to the stage,
grabbed hold of the speaker’s feet and began to sob. That evening, he became a
follower of Jesus Christ.
“The next morning he presented himself at
the local police station and confessed his crimes. The desk sergeant looked at
the long charge sheet, listened to his story and released him. Boarding a bus
with the morning commuters, Stephen felt so happy that he was compelled to tell
others on the bus the good news. He didn't stop there. Stephen went on to be a
full-time evangelist and spent his life telling others about Jesus.
“At an event a few years ago, an old lady
came forward wanting to follow Jesus. That woman turned out to be his own
mother who had abandoned him all those years ago!
“God’s presence, protection and peace are a
powerful combination. As Stephen said himself, ‘Because I look at myself as a
miracle of God’s grace, so I believe that the power of Jesus Christ to save
sinners still exists. If he can change me, he can change anyone.’” Let’s pray.
Lord
God, we see Your amazing sovereignty at work in the ministry of the prophet
Jeremiah and continuing on into our own world today. Help us not be dismayed by
opposition to Your message, but to trust Your powerful Word to do its work in
Your mysterious and wonderful way. Thank You that You have promised to be with
us and to rescue us. Strengthen us by Your Spirit to resist idols and instead
say and do according to Your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Ps.8,
Mt.5:13, Col.4:2-6, Jn.14(various)
As we read earlier, Jesus said His
followers “are the salt of the earth”. He affirmed that salt is good, but
warned us against losing our saltiness.
Salt has various abilities. It’s used as a
preservative, as in pickling brine, or sprinkled on fish to help it last in
storage. Back in the days before refrigeration, salt was very valuable for
storing food so it wouldn’t ‘go bad’. In some places salt was even used as
currency, hence the term arose of someone being ‘worth their salt’.
More commonly these days we use salt in
cooking, to help enhance the flavour of food. In that sense salt serves in a
secondary role: you want to put on just enough to help the flavour of whatever
the dish is to be accented; if you start to taste the salt itself, you’ve put
on too much! Thus salt in a way is bashful, self-effacing, it wants to put the
spotlight somewhere else than on itself.
In some ways, we could refer to Jim here as
an ‘old salt’. He had a nautical part to his life. Early in his career he
worked as a deckhand on the freighters, even earning his cook’s papers and
becoming an expert in the galley. A cook serves a supporting role, they supply
nourishment for the rest of the crew. He enjoyed his time on the boats, sailing
the ‘salty main’ (or fresh water as the case may be on the Great Lakes).
For much of his later working life, Jim was
employed at the salt mine, part of a working team that supplied this valuable
substance for the rest of us – whether we’re putting salt on our food or (in
winter) on our sidewalks and roads.
Jim did not strike me as brash or arrogant,
but humble, the type of person who’s more interested in who he’s speaking with
than in spouting off about his own greatness. Paul urged Christians to let
their conversation always be “full of grace, seasoned with salt”. I found Jim to
be respectful and encouraging in my interactions with him.
Jim was conscious of the grace he’d found
believing in Jesus as His Saviour. In April he felt the Lord leading him to be
baptized, and Jim testified to the grace of God in saving him and forgiving his
sins, thanks to the cross of Jesus. Again, he was not pointing to himself or
being boastful, but pointing to the One who is greater than all of us.
Later, when his medical condition
deteriorated and it became apparent modern medicine was not able to provide a
cure, Jim did not become bitter or poisoned against God, but instead committed
himself into God’s care. He trusted the Lord to work for the good of those who
love him, even if that meant an earlier departure for heaven.
Jim appreciated nature, being out in it for
walks with the dog, or planting or weeding or harvesting in his vegetable
garden. The Psalmist talks about God’s majesty being reflected in what He has
made; “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the
stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?” To Jim, what we see around us points to
a Creator who has crafted a beautiful planet for us to inhabit and care for.
Could not some other dimension brought into existence by the same divine being
be just as good and beautiful and enjoyable, or maybe even better? As Paul put
it, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has
prepared for those who love him..." (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Jesus said there are many rooms in His
Father’s house; He was going to prepare a place for those of us who believe in
Him. And He will come again to take us to Himself, that we may be where He is.
He spoke of the Father loving us and the Father and Son “making [their] home”
with those who believe. Jim’s faith did not waver even through the end stages
of his battle with cancer. He was already ‘at home with the Lord’ by having the
Holy Spirit dwell inside him. So Jesus’ promises give us peace even through the
sadness and grief of realizing we’re not going to be seeing Jim again in this
life.
Trust in God’s promises seasons and
flavours even this time of loss, and gives us strength to bear up under it; we
saw that peace and cooperation with God’s purposes exhibited in Jim these past
months. Eternal life had already begun for him, as he walked through this
valley. What a promise we have from Christ – “I tell you the truth, whoever
hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be
condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)
May the same faith Jim demonstrated despite
serious circumstances encourage and establish you, help you stay ‘salty’ in the
best sense and not lose your flavour. God’s grace will help each of us continue
to have a preserving and enhancing effect in our lives, in our environment,
showing us how to be loving in how we act toward others, pointing to Him and
our eternal hope. Amen.
WARNINGS
OF WANING ONENESS
Our
Big Idea today is this: “To whet your PASSION for God, recall how PEERLESS He’s
been.”
We’re
continuing our exploration of the Bible’s longest book, Jeremiah. In the second
chapter we get into some specifics of what the spiritually dangerous drift the
Israelites of the southern Kingdom of Judah were caught in. Yes there had been
somewhat superficial reforms under Kings Hezekiah and Josiah, but the undercurrent
of idolatry was still there – although the Temple had been repaired, pagan
worship at the high places and under the larger spreading trees still
continued. It was a distinctly downward drift, accelerated by the godless
leadership of some wicked kings (such as Manasseh) and corrupt priests and
prophets.
Is there similar drift in our day? Many
churches have been noticing attendance is not near pre-pandemic levels; and
that’s not accounted for merely by online streaming of services. In the past
couple of weeks, Carey Nieuwhof featured John Eldredge (who you might recall from Wild at Heart)
on his podcast. Eldredge maintains the pandemic has
caused significant TRAUMA for people that makes it hard to get back to ‘normal’
as in the way we were pre-pandemic. In fact Eldredge
wonders if what we’re witnessing spiritually is connected to what Jesus
predicted around the end times.
In His remarkable ‘Olivet Discourse’ in
Matthew 24, Jesus predicted: Mt 24:10-14 “At that time many will turn away from
the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will
appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, THE LOVE
OF MOST WILL GROW COLD, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And
this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony
to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Is this ‘love of most’ growing ‘cold’ what
we’re witnessing? People seem to be less interested in attending church and
more intent on recreation, picking up other pursuits, devoting their attention
to other pursuits than worship and Bible study and fellowship. John Eldredge has been struck by this attack on faith. In his
book Resilient he writes, "The perfect storm has converged over the
human heart." He elaborates in the podcast transcript...
“So over the last eight months, I have
received more text and emails from friends, mature people who are giving up on
faith, they're giving up on God... And I think this is the vulnerable moment.
So we've talked all about, first, there was the modern life, which was just
insane in itself, and then the pandemic rolls through and clobbers everybody.
Now we're in this deeply, deeply depleted condition, and the enemy of our soul
sees an opportunity to cause a sweeping loss of faith in the world. Paul warns
about this in Second Thessalonians chapter two, he says, "Look, before the
climax of this whole thing, there's going to be a great falling away." And
it's not thousands of people marching in the streets with placards, I hate
Jesus. It's not that...It is heartache, in your depleted condition some
heartache enters in, infertility, the company collapses, betrayed by a friend, an
affair by a spouse, heartache enters in. And in that moment, the enemy pounces
to urge us to give up on God. You see, he's not good. He's not for you. He's
not with you. And I am reading texts from people who have walked with God for
40 years saying, "I think I'm done. I just don't think I can hang in there
anymore. It's too disappointing. He doesn't seem to be coming through."
And what they don't understand is that in their vulnerable condition, the enemy
of their souls has swept in to cloud and poison their relationship with God.”
Is Eldredge
reading your mail? Can you relate to that? Painful circumstances can insert a
wedge between us and the Lord. Is your faith hanging on by a thread? Are you
just in the spiritual doldrums, a desert of dryness where once there was
excitement and you really felt God loved you?
In today’s passage, Jeremiah diagnoses the
spiritual depletion of his countrymen, and provides some clues to help us not
fall away, how to keep our love for the Lord simmering rather than let it grow
cold.
THE
PUZZLED JILTED PARTNER
God
has a complaint to bring against the people of Judah – He’s been treated so
unfairly, it’s as if he has a legal case to present, where the injustice would
be recognized in a court of law. It’s a legitimate beef. Jer
2:9 “"Therefore I bring charges against you again," declares the
LORD. "And I will bring charges against your children’s children."”
What are the charges? That they have turned
their backs on Him even though He did nothing to deserve it. In fact He had
been a faithful partner to them all along, nevertheless He’s been jilted,
they’ve abandoned Him for other gods.
His faithfulness to them can be seen in at
least 4 aspects: patronage, protection, provision, and possession.
PATRONAGE: He’s been their ‘patron’ the way
a medieval artist survived by having a wealthy person sort of ‘adopt’ them,
underwrite their living expenses in exchange for creating works of art that
adorned their homes and their chapels. The wealthy person was the artist’s
‘sponsor’. It was a close arrangement that benefited both parties.
Verses 2-3a, “"Go and proclaim in the
hearing of Jerusalem: "‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a
bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his
harvest...’”
Note the significant attachment suggested
in those words: “devotion”, “bride”, “loved”, “followed”, “holy to the Lord”.
To be ‘holy’ here means ‘to be set apart to Him and His service’. NIV Study
Bible comments that the Hebrew word for “devotion” “refers to the most intimate
degree of loyalty, love and faithfulness that can exist between two people or
between and individual and the Lord.” There was a real bond here, God had
undertaken to rescue this particular people out of slavery in Egypt.
PROTECTION: V3B, “‘All who devoured her
were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’ declares the Lord.” Picture
Pharaoh’s army and chariots chasing them down into the Red Sea then washing up
on shore, dead. Remember the destruction of Og king
of Bashan and Sihon king of the Amorites and their
territories when they refused to let Israel pass through their land unmolested.
God protected them from their enemies.
PROVISION: It’s estimated there may have
been about two and a half million refugees from Egypt, when you include the
women and children amongst the Israelites. How would you even begin to manage
to sustain such a crowd for forty years wandering through desert wastelands?
But the Lord led them to water, miraculously at times breaking rocks open, and
sent manna day by day so they were all fed. This is reflected in v6, “They did
not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through
the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought
and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’”
POSSESSION: God brought them into the
Promised Land, one they could call their own, as He had promised to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs. Jer 2:7 “I brought
you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and
defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.” New Living Translation for
‘inheritance’ has ‘the POSSESSION I had promised you.’ It started out as a good
land, ‘flowing with milk and honey’. But as they dined on its richness, they
forgot God and started taking it for granted, defiling it instead with their
handmade idols and immoral rituals. They did not observe Sabbath years so the
land did not get its fallow rest, but was ‘mined’ and depleted.
So in all these ways - patronage,
protection, provision, possession - God has upheld His end of the bargain, the
covenant, but Israel has not. So He has a legitimate charge to bring against
them for breach of covenant. He’s puzzled, like a partner who’s acted
faithfully all along but been inexplicably dumped. The charge is summed up in
the rhetorical question at the start of v5, “This is what the LORD says:
"What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from
me?"” What fault, indeed!
MUTINY
FROM THE BOUNTY
Despite
all this bounty that Yahweh has provided, the Israelites have rebelled against
Him, they’ve committed mutiny, ousting Him from leadership in favour of the Baals and other fertility gods popular in neighbouring
lands. And it wasn’t just the lower class, the uneducated commoners who didn’t
know any better: the Lord blames the leaders, religious and civil, who knew
exactly what they were doing, how treasonous they were being. V8 “The priests
did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me;
the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following
worthless idols.” Priests and prophets – the spiritual leaders, who were
familiar with holy writ, but nevertheless allowed occult and idolatrous worship
to be introduced and even promoted. Lawyers and leaders – civil authorities,
“those who deal with the law” did not KNOW God – not just knowledge ABOUT Him
but walking with Him intimately. Leaders rebelled against Him, ‘rulers turned
against’ Him (NLT). They sought alliances from the big power-brokers in the
region, Assyria or Egypt.
About 732 BC, King Ahaz went to Damascus to
meet the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III. He sent
instructions back to the priest at Jerusalem for a new altar he wanted built,
based on a design he had seen in Damascus. The original altar was shunted aside
in favour of this new pagan innovation. So God’s word and design was ignored
and outright replaced with human invention.
Later in the chapter, persecution of true
prophets is mentioned: 2:30 “In vain I punished your people; they did not
respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravening
lion.” As a nation, Judah had strayed far from God; prosperity at first dulled
their sense of dependence on Him; new ‘worship fads’ crept in, incorporating
fertility rites and prostitution, and finally the animosity towards Yahweh
became active, involving persecution of faithful followers. They had mutinied
despite the bounty. But why? How had God so disappointed them as to warrant
such rejection?!
Remember our Big Idea for today: “To whet
your PASSION for God, recall how PEERLESS He’s been.” The passion of Judean
priests and leaders had waned because they forgot how faithful He had been in
His covenant with them, and instead they became infatuated with other gods.
TRADING
IN TRASH: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BECOME?
AW
Tozer said in his book The Knowledge of the Holy: “What comes into our
minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Worship is
key to life. Worship has to do with our fundamental value system, what we
ascribe ‘worth’ to, hence ‘worth-ship’. Repeatedly the Bible emphasizes that,
in a sense, we become what we worship.
Society offers several options that entice
us, such as power, sex, and money. These appeal to very basic drives in the
human makeup, at a kind of primal or unconscious level. That little ‘ding’ of a
Messenger notification or a ‘like’ on Facebook from one of our favourite
friends can become addictive. But God’s word warns us that such idols would
lead us astray, cause us to become sidetracked from His best goal for us. To
become addicted to lesser lords is to allow ourselves to become fit for the
trash-heap. So our passions are worth protecting.
Highlight v5b, “They followed worthless
idols and became worthless themselves.” Compare 2Kings 17:15 “They rejected his
decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had
given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They
imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, "Do
not do as they do," and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to
do.”
Also put alongside that Psalm 115:8,
describing the silver and gold hand-fashioned idols of the nations: “Those who
make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
What are you worshipping? What are you
becoming? Is that what you really WANT to become? Why do the lives of so many
celebrities end up tragic, full of brokenness, even suicidal? Why do
lottery-winners find their worries and problems multiplied by having excess
money? Why does a Canadian government website plainly admit,
“Canada is facing a national opioid overdose crisis that continues to have
devastating impacts on communities and families”?
The Lord wants to spare us from becoming
worthless like the idols many chase after and serve. He would have us recognize
He is the source of fullness of life. Jer 2:13
“"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of
living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold
water.” The cracks in our cisterns drain the life out of us. Tap into Him, “the
fountain of living water”! (NLT)
God expresses His puzzlement at Judah for
rejecting Him. It’s not like any other nation to reject its own gods. Vv10-11
“Cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look, send to
Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been
anything like this: Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods
at all.)” Kittim would be around Cyprus, in the west;
Kedar would refer to the Bedouin tribes of Northern
Arabia, in the east. So God’s saying, “From West to East, you won’t find this
happening anywhere.”
But then He adds a clue that points us in a
preventive direction: V11b, “But my people have exchanged their Glory for
worthless idols.” He didn’t say ‘exchanged their God’ but ‘exchanged their
Glory’ – do we glory in our God? Do we exult in Him, boast about how great and
good He is? Do we appreciate and prize Him – or ignore Him, downplay what He’s
done for us?
V13 says they have ‘forsaken’ or
‘abandoned’ (NLT) God. Later in 2:19b, “Consider then and realize how evil and
bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and HAVE NO AWE OF
ME," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.” Do we hold God in AWE? Or is
He nothing all that spectacular to us?
Don’t exchange your Glory for worthless
idols. It’s a bad deal. When we treasure God more, when we realize how glorious
He is, how superior and excellent compared to rival idols, we’ll be less
tempted to swap Him for junk.
Think back to how God rehearsed all He’d
done for the Israelites and translate that into Christian equivalents.
PATRONAGE – when we’ve received forgiveness
by trusting in Christ, God becomes our Heavenly Father, the cross demonstrates
His love and boundless commitment to us (Rom 5:8). We are ‘holy to the Lord’, sanctified,
set apart as His people, firstfruits of a global
harvest. James 1:18 “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that
we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”
PROTECTION - The Lord brought disaster on
Israel’s enemies. What about us? 2Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful,
and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”
PROVISION - God provided manna in the
wilderness; what about our needs? Philippians 4:19 “And my God will meet all
your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
POSSESSION - God’s old covenant with Israel
involved residency in a geographical location; His new covenant involves His
Holy Spirit taking up residence in our lives! Jesus promised in John
14(16f,23), “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor
to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth...But you know him, for he lives
with you and will be in you.If anyone loves me, he
will obey my teaching.My Father will love him, and we
will come to him and make our home with him.” We become God’s possession.
When we stop and reflect on all the ways
God has blessed us to this point, what He’s done for us in Christ, the
character of being He’s proven Himself to be through centuries of Israel’s and
the church’s experience – we come to appreciate and treasure God more for who
He is, we’ll be less tempted to jettison Him in favour of lesser substitutes.
Our ‘Big Idea’ again? “To whet your PASSION
for God, recall how PEERLESS He’s been.”
RESISTING
THE ENEMY
Earlier
I referred to the Carey Nieuwhof podcast hosting John
Eldredge. I’ll close with an example this seasoned
Christian gives of how he battled the temptation to forget God and yield to
despair in the face of discouraging circumstances...
[Eldredge refers
to an event the previous year] “There were a couple of things that I thought
God had promised Stasi and I, that not only did not come true, the opposite
happened. And one of them was a real heartbreak in a relationship with one of
our children. And that alone happens to every human being. We all experience
heartache, okay? Everyone has disappointments, chronic disappointment in their
life. But in that moment, this cloud of darkness rolled over me. And for
several weeks I would wake up in the morning and wonder, am I a believer
anymore? Because I had lost what is for me my normal intimacy with God. And
thankfully I've lived in this work long enough to know exactly what was
happening.
“I began to pray, to reject the presence of
the enemy in my life. ‘I reject you. I make no agreements with you. I disavow
you. I choose God.’ And over time the cloud began to clear and all I was left
with was my heartache. The heartache is real. The heartache remains. The cloud
does not need to be there. But as James urges us, he says, "Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you." This stuff doesn't go away with wishful
thinking. It is in the name of Jesus. ‘No - No, I'm not cooperating with this.
I make no alignment with it. I don't welcome it. I banish it.’ And as I began
to share this, so we put this on our podcast...I told this story in a longer
form, more openly. And thousands of people have reached out to us to say, ‘Me
too.’”
Eldredge made a
conscious decision to choose God instead of the lie. He stood firm in the name
of Jesus - and though the heartache remained, the cloud lifted. He refused to
exchange His Glory for an idol. He clung to His PASSION for God. And once
again, the Lord proved how PEERLESS He is. Let’s pray.
Holy
and precious God, how awesome has been Your care for us, Your commitment to us,
Your carrying us all this way – and on to heaven itself. Forgive us for the
times we’ve faltered and doubted you or given space to the devil or other idols
in our lives. We see now in the illumination of Your dazzling glory just how
worthless and dangerous those are. Show us how to daily tap into You, the
fountain of living water, to be refreshed and sustained, firstfruits
of Your harvest. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
BYE
BYE MISS JERUSALEM PIE
It
was an enigmatic song that had everybody guessing as to its true meaning. Don
McLean’s “American Pie” topped the charts for weeks and has endured through
many decades, being covered by other well-known artists. Last week a
documentary about it hit the theatres, and McLean finally explained some of the
cryptic allusions in it.
The song is shot through with religious
references. Apparently (according to McLean) the “King” with the “thorny crown”
is actually Jesus, not Elvis as some had speculated. There’s an outright
reference to the Trinity near the end of the 8-minute 42-second wonder.
“And
the three men I admire most / The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They
caught the last train for the coast / The day the music died.”
Some
other religious symbols mentioned:
“Did
you write the Book of Love?
And
do you have faith in God above?
If
the Bible tells you so
Do
you believe in rock 'n' roll?
Can
music save your mortal soul?...
“Jack
Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend...
“No
angel born in Hell
Could
break that Satan's spell
And
as the flames climbed high into the night
To
light the sacrificial rite
I
saw Satan laughing with delight
The
day the music died...”
Commentators have tried to interpret the
symbolism, but McLean retorts that it’s not a board game, he was being
impressionistic. Art is like that. Consider a Group of Seven painting of an
island and lake in Algonquin Park compared with a photograph: the latter is
more accurate in detail, but a painter is trying to convey an impression,
something besides or beyond the actual number of branches on the tree.
What impression do YOU get from the song
“American Pie”?
To me, a general impression is that of
disappointment, aimlessness, and even despair. The optimism of the early rock’n’roll Kennedy era gave way to protests and drug
culture in the Vietnam War period. What was McLean suggesting was happening to
the American Dream? Bye-bye? Is there a jaded reaction and disillusionment?
McLean sees the Trinity catching the last train for the coast; “The church
bells all were broken.” Philosopher Nietzsche famously said, “God is dead. God
remains dead. And we have killed him.” Then what? What’s life about if there is
no final courtroom verdict, no judgment of right and wrong? As McLean sang,
“The
courtroom was adjourned / No verdict was returned...”
When
the music and the dream die, what’s to live for? Is the only thing left, to get
‘wasted’? As the refrain reiterated over and over,
“Them
good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing,
"This'll be the day that I die"
This
will be the day that I die...”
The Apostle Paul described poignantly the
despair and dissipation that a life devoid of reference to God leads to in
1Corinthians 15:32, “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human
reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die."” Whiskey and rye, anyone?
The first part of that famous refrain goes,
“bye-bye
Miss American Pie /
Drove
my Chevy to the levee / But the levee was dry...”
Do
you recall how last week’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah ended? Jer 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have
forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Dry levee – broken cisterns – could
there be a connection? In some ways McLean’s famous song paints a picture of a
life that has attempted to leave God behind but ends up confronted by despair
and disillusionment. Purpose has evaporated. Are humans even designed to endure
a life like that?
Today’s “Big Idea” in this message is:
WE
IGNORE THE LORD AT OUR PERIL – WE NEED HIS COMFORT AND CORRECTION.
Jeremiah’s is the longest book in the
Bible. Don McLean’s masterpiece held the record for being the longest song to
reach number one for almost 50 years! They both used symbolism, and repetition,
and plays on words (the Hebrew puns are kind of lost on us!). In a way they
were both ‘seers’, poets, visionaries – and help us see reality through a
different lens. So maybe instead of thinking of Jeremiah as a stuffy irrelevant
ancient prophet, think of him as Judah’s Don McLean just around 600 BC, near
the time Jerusalem fell. Bye Bye Miss Jerusalem Pie.
His work deserves a Grammy Hall of Fame award.
IGNORANCE,
DECEIT, AND BRAZEN REJECTION
All
right, enough pop culture, let’s get to our text! Jeremiah is a protester, but
what bothers him is how the people of Judah are defiantly disobeying God. They
are ‘silly as a goose’ - in fact, sillier than a Canada Goose. You know how
when fall comes and temperatures start to cool, you start to see the big V’s
overhead and hear ‘honk-honk-honk’ as geese practice their flying techniques
for the long trip south?
Jeremiah contrasts the Israelites with
migratory birds – the birds know better! The Israelites refuse to follow the
laws God has set forth for their good. Jer 8:7 “Even
the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and
the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the
requirements of the LORD.” God revealed His ways through Moses at Sinai and
reminded the people often through the prophets, but they disregarded the Law.
How do you stack up against a goose? Are
you sillier? Do you have Biblical truth hard-coded in your conscience and
life-goals the way a goose has migratory pathways hard-coded in its instinctual
mental channels? If not, what might you do about that?
Jeremiah points out five things he sees
that are symptoms of the people’s deliberate ignorance of God’s truth. The
“lying pen” - V8 “How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of
the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it
falsely?” Those that were guardians of the scrolls and charged with teaching
God’s revealed truth were mis-handling it,
misinterpreting it, avoiding those passages which went against popular
preferences. Do we just read our ‘favourite’ parts of the Bible, and ignore the
parts we don’t like? Are we like Thomas Jefferson who went through and actually
cut out all the parts of his Bible that had anything miraculous?
Next, there’s outright rejection of God’s
word. V9 “The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they
have?” What kind, indeed? Humanistic, I suppose. The kind that fills the shelves
in the “self-help” section of the bookstore. Horoscopes and New Age and
Mindfulness and spiritualism (including tarot cards and psychic readings) are
coming into vogue, becoming ‘respectable’. The so-called ‘wise’ ones Jeremiah
talks about here REJECTED God’s word; but we are spiritual creatures, so they
turned to counterfeits to address that gap.
See v10A, “From the least to the greatest,
all are GREEDY FOR GAIN...” We don’t like it when we own property and real
estate values fall. We don’t like it when we’ve overspent and gone into debt to
buy things and then the interest rates climb and climb. We’re not sure about
how we feel when we’re in the top 1% or so of the wealthiest people on the
planet and all these immigrants are eager to come to Canada – will they take
our jobs? Do we seem like ‘fat cats’ compared to them? Sharing the wealth and
‘justice for the poor’ is all well and good, but don’t ask me to give up any of
my hard-earned possessions, please! “Greedy for gain” – advertising constantly
reinforces it as one of those ‘respectable sins’ we don’t harp on.
Our greed is evidenced in one instance by
the popularity of gaming and gambling in many forms, including lotteries. Jan
and her sister were on the way home from shopping when her sister said she
forgot to buy her lottery tickets for the Saturday night drawing. She suggested
that they stop at the first lottery retailer they spotted, and she could go in
and get the tickets. "Why don't we save some time?" Jan responded.
"I'll drive by and you can just throw the money out the window."
Continue on in V10B, “Prophets and priests
alike, all practice DECEIT.” Truthfulness is foundational for trust and
relationship. It’s implicit in the second-last of the Ten Commandments, Ex
20:16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Jesus
describes the Devil this way in John 8:44b, “He was a murderer from the
beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he
lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Deceit is a standard card in the deck the Devil plays. Colossians 3:9
admonishes us, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old
self with its practices...”
And these four more overt ways to disobey –
the lying pen, rejecting God’s word, being greedy for gain, practising deceit –
result in such a damaged and seared conscience that sin doesn’t even register
with us so as to cause shame or blushing. Jer 8:12
“Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.” It’s one thing to commit the sin; it’s
another thing to not even have it register in our conscience, so it makes us
ashamed or blush! The phrase “brazen harlot” is applied to someone who is so
practised and comfortable with sinning, it’s so routine to them, that they’re
brazen about it, their countenance or expression becomes hardened, they’ve lost
the capacity to even show it on their face by blushing. Compare Jer 3:3 “Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no
spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you
refuse to blush with shame.”
In the case of a guy, Christian counsellor
John Regier of Caring for the Heart Ministries used
to say when a man is habitually immoral, there’s a certain expression that
comes to his face like a smirk. It’s a form of conceit, an “I know better than
God’s moral law” sort of look. But there are consequences for such corrupt
conceit.
DISOBEDIENCE
DESERVING DOOM
Again
our main point today is, WE IGNORE THE LORD AT OUR PERIL – WE NEED HIS COMFORT
AND CORRECTION. The people of Judah disregarded God’s law and correction
through the prophets; Jeremiah prophesied a handful of consequences that were
on the horizon.
V10 reminds them of the covenant
repercussions for breaking God’s law. Moses had warned Israel in Deuteronomy
28:30 the following would happen if they disobeyed the Lord: “You will be
pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You
will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but
you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.” Now in Jer
8:10 the Lord states, “Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their
fields to new owners.” God is keeping the terms of His covenant. See also v13,
“I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on
the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What
I have given them will be taken from them.”
The prophets and priests were not dressing
the people’s moral wound as if it were serious, instead saying, “Peace, peace”
(v11). But what would result? Note the connecting word “so” in v12b, “So they
will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished,
says the LORD.” When Nebuchadnezzar invaded, it was the ruling elite that would
suffer the harshest punishment.
V14 “"Why are we sitting here? Gather
together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD
our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because
we have sinned against him.” And v17, “"See, I will send venomous snakes
among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,"
declares the LORD.” Here the ‘snakes’ may be figurative language for the
invading army from the north. But ‘poisoned water’ and ‘venomous snakes’ are
reminiscent of hardships the Israelites encountered when God delivered them
from slavery in Egypt and led them through the wilderness; the snakes were a
consequence for grumbling (Numbers 21:6). But even then, Moses at God’s
direction made a bronze snake and raised it on a pole for people to look at and
be healed, foreshadowing Jesus’ crucifixion for the remission of our sins.
Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3:14f, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake
in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes
in him may have eternal life.”
Back to Jeremiah 8 – v15 predicts ‘only
terror’ as a consequence for people’s sin. There are invaders coming: v16 “The snorting
of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the
whole land trembles. They have come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all who live there.” Nebuchadnezzar’s forces would even burn the
beloved capital Jerusalem, tear down the walls, and destroy Solomon’s massive
beautiful temple that the people of Judah took such pride in.
And v20 reflects final ABANDONMENT, it’s a
cry of despair and defeat: Jer 8:20 “The harvest is
past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.” Typically if a foreign king
was bringing his army to rescue Judah, he would have done it in the spring and
summer, when conditions were favourable; they didn’t march out in winter for
such missions. The saying is proverbial: the season’s over, the time has
passed, it’s just not happening – it’s a despairing lament. “We are not saved –
we’re goners. We’re done for. Nobody’s going to help us now.”
You may not have disobeyed God in exactly
the same ways the people of Judah did – greed, deceit, and so on. But do you
feel you’ve sinned so badly God has abandoned you, turned His back on you, that
there’s no hope? No matter what you’ve done, however badly you’ve messed up,
there’s no sin too big for the cross of Jesus to handle. He will not abandon
you as an orphan if you turn to Him and repent genuinely and receive Him. He is
the God of lost causes and fresh starts.
THE
PARACLETE’S CORRECTION AND COMFORT
[big
idea] We ignore the Lord at our peril – we need His comfort and correction.
To get back on track, first we need a
CORRECT APPRECIATION OF GOD’S REVEALED TRUTH. The God of the universe, the
Creator who made your ears and tongue and gave you a brain, does not have a
speaking problem! He wants to communicate His truth to you. The Bible is our inspired,
God-breathed deposit of what He’s revealed to His holy prophets and apostles
through centuries past. As we read it, the Author, by His Holy Spirit,
illuminates us as to its meaning and applicability to our daily lives.
Look back at Jer
8:8 again, “How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of the
LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?”
They were partly right in their logic - the law of the Lord makes one wise –
except it’s not just a matter of HAVING it, but also HEEDING it, and the
scribes’ ‘lying pen’ was misinterpreting it and not teaching its basics. Jesus
held a high view of Scripture and internalized it, being our model in that
sense. He once rebuked the religious experts of His day, Mark 12:24 “Are you
not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?”
The Apostle Paul urged his disciple Timothy
who he was raising up to be a church leader, not to mis-handle
God’s law like the scribes’ lying pen - but, as in 2Timothy 2:15, “Do your best
to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be
ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” There are MANY ways to
access Scripture today (best done as a daily discipline) in a variety of
formats – hard copy in several translations, or digitally on your phone, or in
audio format either by itself or along with many interesting commentaries or
devotional guides. Make it your foundation for your day.
But faith involves more than head
knowledge. It’s been said that the longest distance is the 18 inches between
the head and the heart. We need the Holy Spirit’s COMFORT, to be our Paraclete (one who comes alongside to help), the Spirit of
Truth, our Counsellor. See the passages in John 14-16 where Jesus describes the
Spirit’s coming and ministry, for example Jn 16:8,13a
“When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and
righteousness and judgment...But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will
guide you into all truth.”
Jesus promised this “Counselor” or as some
translations put it, “Comforter”, to be with us forever (Jn
14:16). Jeremiah even refers to God as his Comforter, back before the fall of
Jerusalem: see Jer 8:18 “O my Comforter in sorrow, my
heart is faint within me.” We need the Lord to provide both CORRECTION (through
Scripture we learn, and the Spirit’s conviction of guilt when we mess up) and
COMFORT (assuring us that there is grace and forgiveness when we come to God
with a contrite heart).
FREED
FROM DRINK AND DESPAIR
We
began by referring to Don McLean’s song in which them ‘good old boys were
drinking whiskey and rye singing this’ll be the day that I die’. Take God out
of the picture and soon some lesser idol will take over your life, often greed
or deceit or addictive substances that numb the pain of pointless living and
give you a temporary (if gradually diminishing) ‘buzz’. But addictive
substances cannot satisfy our deepest yearnings with regard to origin, destiny,
meaning, and morality. Something that you put inside you and passes through
your system cannot give you significance and security. You need Jesus for that,
to give you a new heart.
Nicky Gumbel relates the following story.
“At the age of eighteen, Billy Nolan ran away from the merchant navy. He was an
alcoholic for thirty-five years. For twenty years he sat outside HTB [Nicky’s
church] drinking alcohol and begging for money. On 13 May 1990, he looked in
the mirror and said, ‘You’re not the Billy Nolan I once knew.’ To use his own
expression, he asked the Lord Jesus Christ into his life and made a covenant
with him that he would never drink alcohol again. From that day on, he didn’t
touch a drop. His life was transformed; he radiated the love and joy of Christ.
I once said to him, ‘Billy, you look happy.’ He replied, ‘I am happy because I
am free. Life is like a maze and at last I have found the way out through Jesus
Christ.’”
Nicky concludes, “Many people think that if
they serve God they will lose their freedom. In fact, it is the very opposite.
Living for ourselves is, in fact, a form of slavery. Serving God ‘in the new
way of the Spirit’ (Romans 7:6) is the way to find perfect freedom – free to
have a relationship with him and to be the kind of person that deep down you
long to be.” Let’s pray.
Father,
we praise You for revealing Your truth to us through Jeremiah and the other
prophets, and most especially through the wonder of Your Son Jesus, in whom You
took on flesh. We confess that like the people in Jeremiah’s time, we have sold
our souls for greed and deceitfulness, to the point we don’t even know how to
blush, we are so ashamed. We need You to dress our wound, to give the peace we
so desperately want. Jesus, send Your Comforter to renew us and guide us and
empower us to live for You, to correct and counsel us each day. Help us know
that same freedom Billy Nolan discovered after so many years adrift. In Jesus’
name, Amen.
SURPRISED
BY A SHOULDER SLIDE
In
a chaotic world where change seems to be accelerating and institutions and
relationships disappoint, the sureness and steadfastness of God’s character
provides assurance and hope. Our BIG IDEA today is: AMIDST THE SLICK OF HUMAN
FICKLENESS, GOD’S FAITHFUL CARE GIVES SURE FOOTING.
Recently I had anything BUT sure footing.
Most of you know I have been riding a motorcycle in the summer for a couple of
years now; my confidence has been building with each successive ride. But not
long ago I had an abrupt wake-up call that I needed to pay more attention.
I was riding my Yamaha 950 V-Star towards
our home when I noticed the flag was up on our mailbox. No problem, I thought,
I’ll just stop to catch the mail on the way by – I’d done it many times before,
putting the bike in neutral and using both hands to fetch the mail and close
the lid. However as I slowed and signalled and moved to the right of the
highway towards our mailbox, I failed to notice the grader had recently been by
and touched up the gravel on the shoulder so it was even again with the
pavement surface. No sooner had my wheels touched the shoulder than the back
end of the bike slid out from under me, as the rear wheel swam freely in about
3 inches of loose gravel! Over went the bike, and embarrassed was the rider. I
felt like a ‘newbie’ all over again! Thankfully I had already slowed and the
foot platforms prevented the bike from laying down completely, so no injury or
damage was done. But as I picked the bike up I was reminded to pay closer
attention to changing surfaces beneath me.
As we delve into the 12th
chapter of the prophet Jeremiah, we find him experiencing the fickleness and
even threat of a society that’s loose in morals, not gravel. It’s a culture of deceit
and lies where he can no longer trust his own townspeople or his own family.
There’s no sure footing when it comes to the relationships he formerly felt
safe in. Chapter 9:4-6 describes this shifty people thus: “"Beware of your
friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every
friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They
have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. You live
in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,"
declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah finds he needs to put his faith in
God when others around him are so deceptive and creative in lying.
While Jan, who was 35 years old, was
visiting her mother, they went for a walk and bumped into the pastor. "Is
this your daughter?" he asked. "Oh my, I remember her when she was
this high." Without pausing Jan's mother said, "Well, she's
twenty-four now." Jan nearly fainted on the spot. After everyone had said their
good-byes, Jan asked her mother why she'd told such a whopper.
"Well," she replied, "I've been lying about my age for so long,
it suddenly dawned on me that I'd have to start lying about yours too."
Deceit kind of expands out of necessity,
doesn’t it?!
DARE
TO PRAY YOUR WHY’S
Let’s
turn our attention to chapter 12 of Jeremiah. Last week we were in chapter 8.
We find in chapter 9 and 10 more details about the actual sins of the people of
Judah that were soon to bring judgment upon them – this is after 625 BC and
Jerusalem was destroyed and the nation taken into exile in 586 BC, so within
four downward decades. Chapter 9 described the deceitfulness of so many in that
culture, as we read earlier. Chapter 10 tells about the manufacture of carved
idols, as the surrounding nations practiced – in sharp contrast to the
one-and-only Almighty Creator God who made the heavens and the earth. Chapter
11 tells how the Israelites have broken God’s covenant and are bringing curses
upon themselves; there is a conspiracy against the reforms begun by good King
Josiah, and even the people of Jeremiah’s hometown, Anathoth,
are plotting against him. It sounds serious! They are saying: 11:21B “Do not
prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands...” Kind of
sounds like a clear threat to me!
Chapters 11 and 12 contain sections
described as Jeremiah’s ‘confessions’ or ‘complaints’ – they are very
personally, informally worded sections in which Jeremiah spills to God exactly
what’s on his heart, what he’s most worried about. This suggests we can DARE TO
PRAY OUR WHY’S to God. The Lord has ‘broad shoulders’ (so to speak) and can
tolerate us being our most honest and frank when we bring our concerns to Him.
Listen to the “why’s” and “how long” – Jer 12:1B,4 “I
would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked
prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?...How long will the land lie
parched and the grass in every field be withered?”
Several of the Psalms share this
questioning nature; there are laments, puzzling and grieving over downturns and
calamities that have befallen the Psalmist. In many cases the Psalm resolves by
ending in recalling God’s faithfulness through rough spots in the past, but not
always (e.g.P.88).
Don’t hold back in your prayer time when
you need to ‘spill it all’ before the Lord. You’re not going to surprise Him by
telling Him something He doesn’t already know! Jesus urged us, Matthew 6:6 “But
when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who
is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Psalm 62:8 tells us, “Trust in him at all times, O people; POUR OUT YOUR HEARTS
to him, for God is our refuge.” Lamentations 2:8b advises, “pour out your heart
like water in the presence of the Lord.” He wants us to be completely open and
honest with Him.
Why bother to pray? There wouldn’t be much
point in praying if God’s character weren’t one anchored in justice and
righteousness and faithfulness. Notice how Jeremiah leads into his ‘Why’ and
‘How long’ questioning at the very start of chapter 12: “You are always
righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you
about your justice...”
Jeremiah endured through some four or more
difficult decades of moral slide and resulting disaster for the southern
kingdom of Judah. It must have been very discouraging and depressing for him –
including to have those threats made on your life! But his faith in God’s
righteousness helped him not to give up. He believed that justice and
righteousness were at the very core of God’s being, Jeremiah could count on God
to make things work out right. Some good verses to memorize are Jer 9:23f: “This is what the LORD says: "Let not the
wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the
rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he
understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice
and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.”
What do you boast about? How smart you are,
how strong you are, how rich you are? Those can all be taken away from us. No,
Scripture tells us to boast in knowing and being familiar with the Lord –
because of His being quintessentially KIND and JUST and RIGHTEOUS. That should
be our primary point of reference, not our own flimsy resources or gifts.
Our BIG IDEA today: AMIDST THE SLICK OF
HUMAN FICKLENESS, GOD’S FAITHFUL CARE GIVES SURE FOOTING.
We can be buoyed up in the seas of stress
by casting our cares on Him. 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because
he cares for you.” But in our noisy culture, we need to carve out time for
prayer and to be quiet enough before God to hear our soul-cries and His
reassuring response.
Back in 1956 Billy Graham wrote:
"America seems to be pleasure-mad. We have to be amused morning, noon, and
night. Television is making a tremendous change in America's spiritual
sensitivity. I have had pastor after pastor write me and tell me that he can
see the difference in the spiritual life of his congregation since television
came. People have to be amused, and we do not have time for thought,
meditation, prayer, and Godly pursuits, as we used to."
And that was back in 1956! Television was
just coming into its own – we had 3 channels, two of which were identical. Now
we have the internet, and social media, and podcasts, and on and on. But the
prayer lines remain open, you just need to pause long enough to approach the
throne of grace.
EVIL’S
INVASIVE EFFECTS
Jeremiah
is bothered by seeing the wicked prosper. It’s upsetting to him to see the
“faithless live at ease” (v1). We have mentioned the culture of deceit, how
laying with one’s tongue was becoming an art-form. Jer
9:8 “Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With his mouth each
speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.”
This lying in their speech even extends to
their religious services. V2, “You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their
hearts.”
What about us? When we’re singing in
church, do we just kind of mouth the words and think about what we’re having
for lunch, or do we really mean the lyrics we’re singing? Do we ‘make it our
own’? Are we simultaneously opening our heart to let the Lord show us what we
need to have brought to our attention?
I enjoyed the hymn sing on Seniors’ OASIS
Day this past Monday at Stayner camp. Some of the hymns were so old they were
even new to me! But maybe that made me pay more attention to the actual verses.
It’s a wonderful sound to hear more than 300 people singing out familiar
choruses. But it’s a continual exercise to consider the meaning of the words
and not get sidetracked by details of harmonizing, or the appearance of whoever
is leading.
The worshippers in Jeremiah’s day were
HYPOCRITES, pretenders, having God on their lips not their hearts. Pope Francis
was in Canada this week apologizing for the way church workers in residential
schools had failed to show God’s kindness and justice to indigenous families
and children. Survivors tell heart-wrenching stories of cruelty for such a
basic thing as speaking their native language. Today we say we love God, but do
we recognize and respect the ‘imago Dei’ (image of God the Creator) in those of
other races? Or do we still feel we’re a bit superior because we’re white and
speak English? Is it easier to be genuinely neighbourly with those who are
‘like us’? Our Elders approved helping with the immigration initiative of Huron
County in welcoming Ukrainian refugees by providing winter clothing for a
family. Such acts of kindness and generosity offset charges of hypocrisy,
saying one thing but doing another.
Evil permeates a society when unrestrained
and has far-reaching consequences. Jeremiah makes a connection between the
wickedness of people and its effects environmentally. See v4, “How long will
the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those
who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished.” Why have the
creatures perished? BECAUSE those who live in it are wicked.
Look also at vv10,11 – “Many shepherds will
ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland. It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate
before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who
cares.” “Because” no one cares, here in NIV; NRSV has “but no one lays it to
heart.” Either way, there’s apathy. The environment is suffering, desolate, yet
people just don’t seem to give two hoots.
I’m far from being an environmental
activist, but the signs of climate change are getting harder to ignore. The
extreme temperatures in Europe this summer have been drastic. When I was young,
we used to have to hoe the milkweed because it was so prevalent. Almost
annually you could easily find a monarch butterfly caterpillar, feed it leaves
in a container and watch it spin a chrysalis then emerge as a beautiful
butterfly, ready for its long migration. Now monarchs are being added to the
“endangered species” list! How can we ‘steward’ our environment better in a way
that does not result in the extinction of animals and birds and other wildlife?
Has that being ‘greedy for gain’ we talked about last week brought deadly
effects for other species? Jeremiah seems to see a connection here between
human sinning and their suffering.
One small example from Thursday’s news
concerning an oil-and-gas compressor operation in the southern States... “The Mako station...was observed releasing an estimated 870
kilograms of methane -- an extraordinarily potent greenhouse gas -- into the
atmosphere each hour. That's the equivalent impact on the climate of burning
seven tanker trucks full of gasoline every day.” And it was only one of 533
“super emitters” detected during a 2021 aerial survey! The article notes, “There's now nearly three
times as much methane in the air than there was before industrial times. The
year 2021 saw the worst single increase ever. Methane's earth-warming power is
some 83 times stronger over 20 years than the carbon dioxide that comes from
car tailpipes and power plant smokestacks.” Thankfully, to their credit, some
companies are beginning to monitor and repair or upgrade facilities.
PRESSURES
GOD’S PRESCHOOL
In
v5 God begins to reply to Jeremiah’s complaint about all this prospering of the
wicked that he’s seeing. The Lord seems to be cautioning the prophet against
getting too worked up or discouraged by some opposition. His hometown
neighbours and family members are against him now, but he will face
heavier-weight authorities: Judah’s king and the royal court, and eventually Jeremiah
will even be advised by officials of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire! Jer 12:5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have
worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”
Pressures from opponents are God’s
pre-school – training opportunities, preparing God’s spokesman for later
postings. God isn’t out to maximize Jeremiah’s CONVENIENCE AND COMFORT – God is
out to GROW HIS CHARACTER. Get him ready for even bigger assignments, more
responsibility.
Right now it’s local opposition, the
neighbours in Anathoth and Jeremiah’s family: v6
“Your brothers, your own family— even they have betrayed you; they have raised
a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.”
(Note the pervasive DECEITFULNESS again!) Jesus’ own brothers did not believe
He was the Messiah (Jn 7:5) - Jeremiah is getting a
similar rebuff from his kin. But this is a classroom where the Lord is teaching
Jeremiah to trust Him, that God will preserve his life despite the serious
threats.
V13 summarizes the come-uppance the wicked
will eventually receive: they will reap what they sow. V13 “They will sow wheat
but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.So
bear the shame of your harvest because of the LORD’s fierce anger.” Paul
reminds the church in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
A man reaps what he sows.”
GOD’S
INTIMATE IMMENSITY
Once
again, today’s ‘big idea’ - AMIDST THE SLICK OF HUMAN FICKLENESS, GOD’S
FAITHFUL CARE GIVES SURE FOOTING.
Yes
there is human wickedness abounding, people are lying with their tongues, the
culture has become so shot-through with deceit you can’t trust anyone. Even
Jeremiah’s own family members are apparently plotting against him. But in spite
of it all, God’s in control, God’s going to protect the prophet and keep him
safe to accomplish God’s mission. Treachery abounds, people are trying to trip
Jeremiah up with their lies and plotting like a slippery oil slick, but God is
faithful and will give him sure footing.
Jeremiah has a BIG view of God, His
IMMENSITY: yet Jeremiah also realizes God is very personal and INTIMATE in His
dealings with people. For the ‘bigness’ of Jeremiah’s view of God, see 10:6f in
the midst of a description of man-made idols: “No one is like you, O LORD; you
are great, and your name is mighty in power. Who should not revere you, O King
of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations and in
all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.” Jeremiah recognizes how BIG God
is. The end of chapter 12 even describes how God is concerned with the nations
around Israel, and will uproot or establish these Gentiles depending on whether
they learn His ways and acknowledge Him. God is sovereign and concerned about
other nations, holding them accountable, not just the Jews.
Yet this righteous, just, almighty God is
also KIND, loving, caring, intimate. Note the beginning of v3 in chapter 12:
“Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you.”
FASCINATING! God is not so big, so preoccupied with judging the rulers and
nations, that He does not also see YOU personally and know you better than your
closest friend. He ‘tests your thoughts’ about Him because what you think of Him
MATTERS greatly to the Lord.
We see this INTIMACY reflected in Jesus
teaching His followers to call God “Our Father”, “Abba/Papa”. This is a
Heavenly Father who ‘gives good gifts to those who ask Him’ (Mt 7:11 – isn’t
that an appropriate verse reference?!). This Abba/Papa knows the number of
hairs on our head (Mt 10:20). Now THAT’S detailed intimate knowledge!
Yes it’s a great big world, at times a
scary and unpredictable world. There are plenty of people out there wanting to
trip you up and scam you and profit at your expense, kick you to the curb even.
But God SEES you and KNOWS you, He’s got you in His faithful care.
[big idea] AMIDST THE SLICK OF HUMAN
FICKLENESS, GOD’S FAITHFUL CARE GIVES SURE FOOTING.
DESPITE
THE WORST EBBS AND FLOWS
Helen
Roseveare was a British medical missionary in the
Congo uprising when the Mau-Mau revolutionaries invaded. She was brutally
attacked. This pure, godly, gracious, innocent woman of God was raped,
assaulted, humiliated, hanging on with her life to a faith that would not be
shaken. While recovering from that horrible event, Helen and the Lord grew
closer together than they had ever been before. She wrote a statement in the
form of a question that every person needs to ask herself or himself: “Can you
thank Me for trusting you with this experience, even if I never tell you why?”
God’s faithful care gives us assurance even
if we never find out the ‘why’s’ for some of our questions and experiences.
In closing, here’s a prayer by Chuck Swindoll riffing off a quote by Vincent Van Gogh, who once said, “There’s ebb and flow, but the sea
remains the sea.” That’s a helpful metaphor considering life’s ups and downs. Let’s
pray.
“Dear
Lord, Today I thought of the words of Vincent Van Gogh. It is true that there
is an ebb and flow but the sea remains the sea. You, oh God, are the sea.
Although I experience many ups and downs in my emotions and often feel great
shifts and changes in my inner life, You remain the same. Your sameness is not
the sameness of a rock, but the sameness of a faithful lover. I am sustained
and to Your love I am always called back. My only real temptation is to doubt
Your love, to think of myself as beyond Your love, to remove myself from the
healing radiance of Your love. To do these things is to move into the darkness
of despair. / Oh Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the
storms or winds of my daily life. And, let me know that there is ebb and flow,
but that the sea remains the sea. Amen.”
CHANGE
YOUR MIND?
It
can be easy or hard to change our mind – depending whether or not we WANT to!
A young second lieutenant at an army base
discovered that he had no change when he was about to buy a soft drink form a
vending machine. He stopped a passing private and asked him, "Do you have
change for a dollar?" The private said cheerfully, "I think so.Let me check." The lieutenant drew himself up
stiffly and said, "Soldier, that's no way to address an officer.We'll start all over again.Do
you have change for a dollar?" The private came to attention, saluted
smartly, and said, "Sir, No, sir!"
What exactly was it that went on there? A
little bit of pressure, a little coercion, can go a long way – but not always
in the desired direction. Our pride gets in the way, we can get our back up and
become resistant when someone seems to be trying to get us to do something we
don’t like. Our stubbornness kicks in.
In today’s reading in Jeremiah, the Lord
through the prophet tried to show the people they had a real choice: they could
change their mind, change their ways, and avoid disaster. He was offering them
a real opportunity to spare themselves much grief and get back on track. But
their stubbornness kicked in and they persisted in going their own way,
worshipping idols and perverting justice. They preferred their own brackish
pools instead of the Lord, who was offering them a spring of living water.
Our “Big Idea” for today: it’s a question,
a mystery – “WHY DO HARD HEARTS RESIST A GOOD GOD DESPITE WINSOME WARNING?!”
A
HARD HEART’S HARVEST
It’s
been wonderful these past weeks seeing the season’s harvest starting to make
its way in off the farm fields – hay, wheat, straw. Roadside stands have begun
to offer fresh sweet corn for sale. Especially encouraging to hear that a ship
of Ukrainian wheat was finally able to leave that nation’s port on its way to
markets to feed the world’s hungry.
But there are non-agricultural harvests
too. We talked last week about a person reaping what they sow. As Paul pointed
out, Galatians 6:8f “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that
nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the
Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at
the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
The problem is – it doesn’t come NATURALLY
to do good; what tends to come naturally (what pleases our ‘flesh’) is to do
good to OURSELVES, to be selfish, to foster our own comfort and feed our
appetites. See the way the Lord describes the hearts of the people of Judah in Jer 18:12, “But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.We will continue with our own plans; each of us will
follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
That’s a bit of a ‘stock phrase’ with
Jeremiah; back in chapter 13 the Lord had the prophet conduct an object lesson.
He bought a new linen belt, and wore it for a while so others saw it. Later God
told him to pack it in a crevice in the rocks, so he did. Many days later God
sent him back to retrieve it, but the fresh linen belt had been ruined by being
sunk in the ground; it was ‘completely useless’ (13:8).
What was the moral of the enacted parable?
God was about to ruin the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. 13:10 “These wicked
people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their
hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this
belt— completely useless!” Pride and selfishness are ruinous, wasting.
Back to chapter 18; this phrase, “each of
us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.” We see various harvests
from these stubborn evil hearts. A first harvest is PLANS. 18:12 “But they will
reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own PLANS...’”
Because they turned away from God, where
did those plans have them turning TO? Towards other gods. V15 “Yet my people
have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless IDOLS, which made them
STUMBLE in their ways and in the ancient paths. They made them walk in bypaths
and on roads not built up.” Worthless IDOLS led them to STUMBLE, they left the
right path and took moral shortcuts, detours, using false weights in their
trading, cheating the poor, becoming skilled in lying and deception.
More consequences would be harvested from
their immoral actions and worship of false gods. V16 “Their land will be laid
waste, an object of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will
shake their heads.” The land would be devastated and pillaged by invading
armies and raiders. Passersby would scoff and hold God’s people in contempt for
what had happened.
Another harvest they would reap would be
EXILE. V17 “Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their
enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their
disaster."” Not only would God scatter them to other lands and send them
away as prisoners to Babylon, He would refuse to answer them when they cried
out on the day of destruction. They had turned their back on God: so He would
turn His back on them. Compare what the people had done in Jer
2:27, “They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me
birth.’ They HAVE TURNED THEIR BACKS TO ME and not their faces; yet when they
are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’”
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Sow a thought
and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you
reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” What are YOU sowing
and reaping? What’s your behavioural ‘harvest’? Read through the news headlines
and you will probably agree the hardness and evil of the human heart can be
astounding. Malcolm Muggeridge was a journalist and author who witnessed many
notable events in his lifetime; he observed, “The depravity of man is at once
the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most
intellectually resisted fact.”
In the previous chapter, Jeremiah summed up
succinctly the lowest common denominator for humans: Jer
17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.Who
can understand it?” It’s both a sage observation and an implicit plea for
deliverance. Who can rescue us from the harvest our evil hard hearts sow?
Jewel Shuping,
now around 37 years old from North Carolina, reportedly has Body Integrity
Identity Disorder. That’s a psychological condition where healthy people
believe they are meant to be disabled. Ms Shuping fantasised since she was young about being blind.
Now, I worked with blind people for 2 years in Congo with Christian Blind
Mission International. We taught them farming and handicrafts and other skills
so they could earn a livelihood; it was very admirable what some of those blind
people could do! One fellow used a form to make concrete blocks. But WANTING to
be blind when you have the ability to see would be hard for me to fathom. Sight
is such a wonderful gift from God!
Nevertheless, Ms Shuping persisted in her fantasising. As a teen she started
to wear thick black sunglasses. She got her first white cane at 18, and was
fully fluent in braille by 20. Then in 2006 she found a psychologist willing to
pour drain cleaner in her eyes to help her fulfill her wish to become blind.
How awful! How sick! I don’t know which is more twisted – wanting to be blind
and going through with it, or being a medical professional actually willing to
provide that service.
“The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.Who can understand it?” “We will
continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”
(NLT)
THE
POSITIVE, PERSISTENT POTTER
The
visuals prophets use can be quite arresting. God told Jeremiah to go down to a
certain potter’s house, where God would give Jeremiah His message. Let’s read
what happened in vv2B-4: “So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him
working at the wheel.But the pot he was shaping from
the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot,
shaping it as seemed best to him.”
It’s a very simple yet profound analogy,
pointing to both divine sovereignty and creaturely responsibility. On the one
hand, God’s sovereignty. As an earlier prophet, Jeremiah’s predecessor Isaiah,
wrote: Isaiah 64:8 “Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.We
are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
God begins to interpret the parable of the
potter to the prophet. Jer 18:5f “Then the word of
the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this
potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the
potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."” So far, simple enough,
the analogy seems straightforward: God as Creator has the right to do as He
pleases with what He has made.
This is the emphasis the apostle Paul parks
on in Romans 9. There Paul is wrestling with the puzzle of why Jewish people
are not being very receptive to the good news about Jesus, while the church is
growing amongst the Gentiles. Paul is adamant God can have mercy or harden
whomever He wants to. Romans 9:20-24 “But who are you, O man, to talk back to
God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me
like this?’" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same
lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if
God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience
the objects of his wrath— prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make
the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in
advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but
also from the Gentiles?”
Yes, God as ‘potter’ absolutely has the
right to fashion objects as He chooses, whether for wrath or to receive mercy.
God does not ‘owe it to anybody’ to make sure they get into heaven; He is
absolutely just in condemning sinners to hell, otherwise heaven and His
presence would be tainted. Knowing that should heighten our appreciation as
believers for His mercy and grace to us.
Yet there’s another layer to Jeremiah’s
object lesson. That particular lump of clay seems somehow uncooperative;
there’s something about it that resists being made into the original design the
potter had in mind. The text says the clay “was marred in his hands”, same word
in Hebrew as the “ruined” linen belt back in chapter 13(7), spoiled, wrecked.
The clay is giving the potter push-back! But that doesn’t faze the potter; he
just goes on to make something different out of that uncooperative lump. He
‘formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.’ (4)
Seems like there’s another element at play
here BESIDES simply God’s sovereignty, the Lord’s ‘right’ to do as He pleases
with what He’s made.
Recall our BIG IDEA for today: “WHY DO HARD
HEARTS RESIST A GOOD GOD DESPITE WINSOME WARNING?!”
WET
PAINT: GOD’S WARNINGS AS CARING
Recently
I was re-painting some Muskoka chairs we’d had repaired. Unfortunately I also
succeeded in painting a fair amount of my coveralls! Have you seen those signs
that say, “Wet paint”? They are NOT invitations to have you leave your
fingerprints on the freshly painted wall. The sign is a warning placed there
with a benevolent purpose, namely to spare you the grief of accidentally
getting paint on your hand, your body, or your clothing – and consequently on
whatever else you touch.
Jeremiah was continually showing people
“Wet Paint” signs as it were – not to make them feel startled or bad, but to
spare them grief. God’s purpose in warning us about evil is beneveolent,
He’s warning us because He cares about us and wants to spare us the grief that
comes as a result of transgressing His ways, His design for loving human
relationships and community, and His design for meaningful divine-human
fellowship.
Look closely at the “if-then” pairings in
verses 7-10: “IF at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be
uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and IF that nation I warned repents of its
evil, THEN I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And
IF at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and
planted, and IF it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, THEN I will
reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.”
God is sovereign, but that doesn’t mean
He’s dealing with merely passive agents; the clay can be uncooperative, it
plays an ACTIVE role interacting with the potter. The clay has a mind of its
own. Here we get into the mystery of the interplay of divine sovereignty and
human responsibility. Reformed theologians emphasize God’s sovereignty,
Anabaptists point out human agency, freedom, responsibility. The choice God is
offering does seem to be a real choice. When we humans make a decision, we
experience it as true freedom, we sense we have the option of going one way or
the other. Yet in the big picture you can see the Sanhedrin and Herod and Pilate
all making free (to them) meaningful choices with fallen or evil motives, yet
somehow God’s sovereign purpose governs the whole proceeding to bring about His
desired objective.
God’s saying if He announces destruction
for a nation but it repents, then God will change His plans and not bring the
disaster. Conversely, if He announces a nation will be built up, but it does
evil and is disobedient, He will reconsider the good He had intended for it.
Is God being fickle or wishy-washy? Does He
change His mind on a whim? Is He arbitrary and temperamental like the gods of
the Greek pantheon – you want to catch Him on a good day? No. God is faithful,
trustworthy, true, He can be counted on, He keeps His word. Numbers 23:19 “God
is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his
mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”
Yet, God is making the point that He IS
responsive to human willingness. Our choices are not predetermined or robotic,
they are real choices; love is not coerced, but a free response of the creature
to the Creator. (Mind you, human fallenness and
original sin get in the way of mortals even WANTING a relationship with God; we
need His Spirit to regenerate us, to awaken us and give us that capacity. We
were ‘dead’ in our trespasses and sins before the gospel came along.)
God is a communicating God, the prophets
and apostles and Jesus in His teaching ministry were all vehicles of God’s
revealing Himself, making His ways known so we could have our sins identified
and forgiven and come into a relationship with Him. His warnings through the
prophets are “wet paint” signs to help us, for our benefit, to spare us the
grief sin would trap us in by its consequences.
Jeremiah’s words to his countrymen reveal
the fairness and mercy of a just, holy, revelatory God who genuinely cares
about them and wants what’s best for them. Rather than just letting them
stumble blindly on their way. Hear v11, “"Now therefore say to the people
of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am
preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your
evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’”
The goal is not perdition but salvation,
not condemnation and death but repentance and life. “Turn from your evil ways!
Reform your actions!”
It’s a stern warning, yes, but underneath
is a loving desire for people to come to their Maker and be healed. Along the
lines of Ezekiel 33:11, “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the
Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that
they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will
you die, O house of Israel?’” God gets no jollies out of consigning anyone to
hell. There’s no pleasure for Him in that, at all!
A
PERNICIOUS PUZZLE
Now,
let’s say you know some IDIOT (or prankster?) is going to come along and sit in
those bright yellow Muskoka chairs you just painted – EVEN IF you put those
large ‘wet paint’ signs up. Would you be pleased? What might your attitude be
towards individuals that would do that? And, do you even bother putting up the
‘wet paint’ signs, if that’s how they’re going to behave?
Yes, God is sovereign. Yes, humans have a
degree of free will and are responsible for their actions (as Judas was still
responsible for betraying Jesus). BUT God still has foreknowledge of events.
All time is but a fishbowl from God’s perspective, He can see the beginning and
the end, He can look at it from any angle He pleases. Space-time is His
construct.
He KNOWS those mischief-makers are going to
come along and sit in the chair, wreck the paint job. Does He still put up the
‘wet paint’ sign?
That’s EXACTLY why He’s commissioned
Jeremiah to be His spokesman to a rebellious people. He’s still going to warn
them, regardless, even though HE KNOWS they won’t heed His words. Vv12-15a,
“BUT THEY WILL REPLY, ‘It’s no use.We will continue
with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil
heart.’" Therefore this is what the LORD says: "Inquire among the
nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been
done by Virgin Israel. Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky
slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever cease to flow? Yet my
people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols..."”
It’s a pernicious puzzle. It seems like God
just can’t understand it: WHY would they resist His invitation? Why don’t they
heed His warning? It’s like you could ask some rhetorical question, something
painfully obvious – “Does water flow uphill? Can pigs fly?” ‘Of course not’ is
the expected answer. Yet, WHY have God’s special people forgotten Him, and
turned to worship of false gods instead?!
Some of the mountains in the Lebanon range
towered over 10,000 feet above sea level – their snow-capped peaks provided
welcome fresh water even in the heat of a Mediterranean summer. You could count
on it, like icebergs drifting past the coast of Newfoundland having broken off
from far away Arctic sources, principally western Greenland. It would be super
strange if that didn’t happen.
Again, our BIG IDEA today - WHY DO HARD
HEARTS RESIST A GOOD GOD DESPITE WINSOME WARNING?
So, focus not on the warning but see
beneath it to the yearning of the Lord for His people to take heed and come
back to Him. To destroy their idols; to start loving their neighbour as He’d
instructed them. To care for others the way He cared for them and wanted to
spare them catastrophe.
There are parallels in the New Testament.
Jesus explaining to Nicodemus both how God ‘so loved the world’ in John 3:16
but also warning two verses later, John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has
not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
See Jesus’ tears as He weeps over the city
of Jerusalem that’s rejecting Him, Luke 19:41f “As he approached Jerusalem and
saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on
this day what would bring you peace— but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
Hear Jesus invitation in Revelation 3:20,
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens
the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Jeremiah knew the
Lord is “the spring of living water” (17:13) – why do we persist in rejecting
Him and hewing our own ‘broken cisterns’ that can hold no water?! (2:13)
I close with the response one of our
congregation wrote on their membership application in response to the question,
“How did your life change after you received Christ?” This person recalls – “I
remember feeling immediately lighter and an intense sense of joy, even though I
was very young at the time I can still remember the place, the weather that
day, and how I felt after. My life changed more dramatically in my 20's as I
sought to follow Christ as my Lord and not just my saviour. I see His hand at
work in my life daily as He demonstrates both His attentiveness to the smallest
details, and His capacity to sustain me through intensely hard times as well.”
Let’s pray.
Lord,
it is so true – You are the potter, we are the clay; our lives are in Your
hands. Forgive us for the times we resist Your touch, Your nudges, we kick
against the goads. Show us the idols we have yet to let go of. Thank You for
Your great mercy and patience, and Your grace in fashioning something beautiful
for Your glorious Kingdom out of mere lumps of clay. Help us share that
wonderful message with others, grounded in Your loving care. In Christ, Amen.
CHECK
IF YOU’RE IN TROUBLE
There
are many kinds of trouble you can find yourself in through life: relationship
troubles, health troubles, financial troubles. However if you’re in the latter
category, it’s not recommended you resort to crime in order to get money,
because that lands you in even more trouble.
For instance: Robbers in training can learn
a thing or two from Kenneth Richardson. Lesson No.1: Do not use your cheque
stub as a holdup note when attempting to commit a bank robbery. Richardson, 40,
of Moncks Corner found that out after he was arrested and charged with entering
a First Citizens Bank branch with intent to steal. Investigators called to the
scene said a man had handed a teller a note demanding cash. When police
inspected the note, they found Richardson's name and Social Security number on
the top. The note was written on a cheque stub!
Further, here’s Lesson No.2 for fledgling
criminals: If you're going to go to the trouble of committing a serious crime,
make sure it's at least worth your time. Police said Richardson’s attempted
bank robbery yielded only $85. Bail was set at $300,000!
The early followers of Jesus in
Thessalonica found themselves encountering troubles of a different sort. They
were being persecuted for their faith. The Apostle Paul wrote to encourage them
to stand strong despite the troubles they were facing. Their hope was not in a
sudden surplus of cash such as might be had by robbing a bank or committing
other crime. Instead, Paul reminds them their hope lay in Jesus who would be
revealed to rescue them from their stress, and reward them for their faith and
share His glory with them because of the kind of people they were becoming
through the testing.
Today’s “Big Idea” is this: WHEN TROUBLES
PERPLEX, JESUS’ COMING PROTECTS, HIS GLORY CONNECTS.
WHEN
TROUBLES PERPLEX
The
letters to the Thessalonians were written to believers in the city of
Thessalonica, a large city (perhaps 200,000 inhabitants), a capital of its
district in Macedonia. It held an important location near the Aegean Sea and on
the Via Egnatia or Egnatian
Way, a sort of ‘superhighway’ of the time connecting Rome to it far-flung
colonies all the way to Constantinople – about 20 feet wide and paved with
stones or hard sand [SEE MAP]. A very strategic location for spreading the
gospel. Paul had planted a fledgling church in Thessalonica, but it was only 3
weeks before some Jews, jealous of Paul’s influence and growing popularity,
formed a mob and started a riot. Paul’s host Jason was forced to post bond and
send Paul and companion Silas away. (See Acts 17:1-9) So Paul would
understandably have been anxious to know how the infant church was making out,
based on just three short weeks of instruction. Later Timothy brought back a
good report to Paul when the latter was at Corinth, which must have caused Paul
to rejoice and be relieved. So these letters give him an opportunity to
encourage them and flesh out some of the doctrine he hadn’t had time to
thoroughly present, some of which they had perhaps misunderstood or been
drawing wrong conclusions.
In some ways, there are parallels to our
situation today. We are living in a post-Christian culture; ‘Christendom’ in
Canada has not been dominant for some time now. In many settings, to voice
Christian beliefs can be met with stares, indifference, or even accusations of
‘exclusivity’ or ‘imposing your morality’ or bigotry. Often it seems safer to
stay quiet about your beliefs rather than speak up.
It’s clear the believers in Thessalonica
were experiencing persecution for their faith. If things had begun with a mob
and a riot, they hadn’t really gotten much more receptive since. See 2Thess
1:4, “Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and
faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.” The word behind
‘persecutions’ means ‘to drive away, to harass’. The term behind ‘trials’ in
the Greek is “thlipsis” – from a root meaning to
press, bring pressure; hence affliction, tribulation, distress. New Living
Translation has “...in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering.”
Life wasn’t easy for the young believers at Thessalonica.
Look further down at verses 6 and 7: “...He
will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are
troubled, and to us as well...” The Christians there were being ‘troubled’ by
their opponents; the root word again is “thlipsis” –
hard-pressed, facing affliction.
What troubles and pressures are you facing?
What’s stressing you out? Sometimes it’s just ‘life’ in a fallen world – health
issues, lack of resources, environmental factors. But the Thessalonians were
being persecuted for their faith. Are you encountering opposition from
unbelieving family members or co-workers? They just don’t seem to ‘get’ why you
would be a follower of Jesus? Perhaps your values clash with others who don’t
see any problem in being self-centred, living for the moment, chasing the big
buck, cheating in order to get ahead. Who find pleasure in immoral pursuits. To
whom ‘integrity’ is a concept they require of others but don’t practice
themselves.
When we encounter hardship and trouble,
it’s easy to give in to whining and complaining. We start to wonder why life is
so unfair. Our murmuring festers, and soon we start to resent the way God has
been letting things turn out for us. The age-old question of theodicy arises:
“How can a good God let there be so much suffering and pain?” Our TROUBLES
PERPLEX.
JESUS’
COMING PROTECTS
Paul
acknowledges this ‘theodicy’ problem is very real for the poor Thessalonian
church which is encountering such opposition. As it is, right now, life doesn’t
make sense. But we haven’t seen the end of the story. God WILL make things turn
out right if we’re patient and persevere. Today’s Big Idea:
WHEN
TROUBLES PERLEX, JESUS’ COMING PROTECTS, HIS GLORY CONNECTS.
Both
verses 5 and 6 refer to God’s righteousness despite our current suffering. The
context from v4 is the believers’ perseverance and faith in the face of their
persecutions and trials they’re enduring. V5 “All this is evidence that GOD’S
JUDGMENT IS RIGHT, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of
God, for which you are suffering.” God’s judgment is right. NRSV “This is
evidence of the righteous judgment of God”; Bible in Basic English, “Which is a
clear sign of the decision which God in his righteousness has made.” In other
words, right now God is already supplying them with strength and faith through
His Holy Spirit to persevere and stand strong, and that resistance they’re
putting up in the face of suffering is evidence God’s in control and will make
things turn out fairly.
Paul reiterates God’s righteousness
in vv6f: “GOD IS JUST: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and
give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when
the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful
angels.” Hear that? “God is just” – He’s not being unfair. Wait and see how He
settles the score with perfect justice. You can’t see it in the English
translations, but in v8 the phrase “He will punish” is directly connected to
the Greek root meaning righteousness / justice: “to vindicate one’s right, to
do one justice”.
Paul’s saying God is already
bolstering the Thessalonian believers now in the immediate, strengthening them
in the face of persecution by His Holy Spirit; plus God will vindicate them in
the future by how God ‘pays back’ or makes those hurting them ‘pay the penalty’
in eternity. And for their opponents, the prospect is terrifying!
Jesus will be revealed or unveiled
from heaven “in blazing fire” – think of the burning bush that caught Moses’
attention in Exodus 3(2), or Mount Sinai ablaze with God’s glory when the
Israelites received the Ten Commandments after being rescued from slavery in
Egypt (Ex.19:18). Fire is bright and radiant, but it also is dangerous, it
purges and purifies. Verses 8 and 9 are very sobering, awe-inspiring, they stop
you in your tracks: vv8f “He will punish those who do not know God and do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of
his power...”
Do you ‘know God’? Do you have a
relationship with Him, or is He just a quaint archaic concept? Do you ‘obey the
gospel’? It’s not just a news item that we can watch on a screen or ignore if
we like. It’s a royal invitation to be accepted; reject it and you’ve snubbed
the King of the Universe, it’s a cosmic affront. How did Jesus begin
proclaiming the Good News at the outset of His ministry in Mark 1? Mk 1:15
“"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the good news!"” Hearing and responding requires
repentance, changing your ways, leaving your sinful patterns behind, starting
over again with God’s help.
Punishment awaits those who refuse
to listen. V9 mentions “everlasting destruction” - not annihilation, but
ongoing complete ruin. “Shut out” from the Lord’s presence, “shut out” from the
majesty of His power, cut off permanently and forever from the One who alone is
absolute goodness and love and truth and holiness – whose company does that
leave you in? The Bible has a name for that place of outer darkness and
unquenchable flame – it’s called hell. You don’t want anyone you know to end up
there!
What Paul’s talking about here isn’t
some invention of his own, some legalistic doctrine introduced later in the
church by those who’d lost sight of Jesus’ ministry of grace and love. We do
have it mentioned in the earliest credal statements,
for example the Apostles’ Creed, “From thence He shall come to judge the quick
and the dead.” But the prospect goes right back to Jesus Himself, who taught:
Mt 24:30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and
all the nations of the earth will mourn.They will see
the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”
And long before Jesus’ ministry, Daniel the Old Testament prophet was
predicting it, to which Jesus was alluding: Dan 7:13 “In my vision at night I
looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds
of heaven...” So this isn’t some quirky tangential add-on idea to the Bible’s
main thrust, it’s woven right in. Are you ready for His coming? Have you gotten
right with God? Jesus is the key for being reconciled to the Holy One.
HIS
GLORY CONNECTS
To
recap, we’ve seen how the believers in Thessalonica were suffering, being
persecuted, troubled on account of their trust in Jesus. The mob had not been
on their side! Riotously infuriated at Paul and his teaching. This naturally
raises the question of how can God be good and all-powerful yet allow such
hardship to happen. We’ve seen how His strengthening of believers, helping them
persevere, is evidence of His righteousness here and now; and eventually, His
justice will be obvious when the troublemakers are ‘paid back’ for the trouble
they’ve brought on believers without cause, unjustly. But there’s more that’s
positive to give believers hope and meaning when suffering happens. Let’s say
again together today’s Big Idea:
WHEN
TROUBLES PERPLEX, JESUS’ COMING PROTECTS, HIS GLORY CONNECTS.
His
‘glory’ - His honour, His renown, His radiance, His outstanding excellence par
none. What does our suffering, our troubles and trials, have to do with that?!
There’s a little phrase occurring
twice in this passage you may have missed if you’re not careful: something of
ultimate value that’s directly connected to our suffering. Look for the word
“worthy”. V5b “...as a result YOU WILL BE COUNTED WORTHY of the kingdom of God,
FOR WHICH you are suffering.” Pay attention. What does this say we are
suffering FOR? “The Kingdom of God.” The Thessalonians by their testimony, by
sticking fast to the Good News about Jesus, were helping spread the Kingdom of
God. Paul says in v3 not only is their faith growing more and more, what else?
V3b “...the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.” In the
midst of a secular culture, that stands out majorly: the church’s love and
fellowship points to the Lord, beyond it. (Side note!)
Back up a bit in v5: Paul says their
perseverance in the face of persecution will result in them being COUNTED
WORTHY of God’s Kingdom, for which they are suffering. Counted worthy; shown to
be of value, to be deserving, to merit the Kingdom. To be significant,
treasured, held dear, to MATTER in the light of eternity – by God’s grace.
Isn’t that the bottom line of living, to COUNT in the eyes of God? Jesus’
suffering to death on the cross is EVIDENCE (demonstrable proof) of God’s love
for us sinners (Rom 5:8), it redeems us, gives us value, shows how much we matter
to the Lord. Now our suffering for His Kingdom results in us being counted
worthy of that Kingdom.
There’s an echo of this down in v11,
“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may COUNT YOU
WORTHY of His calling...” It’s not that we earn our salvation – Jesus bought
that for us at the cross by the price of His blood – but our endurance of
hardship is evidence of our being counted worthy of God’s calling, of His
Kingdom.
And this being worthy, having value,
being significant, is connected to Jesus’ own glory. There’s a very surprising
little preposition in this passage. Why is Jesus coming back? V10 has part of
the answer, that may surprise you... 1:10 “on the day he comes TO BE GLORIFIED
IN HIS HOLY PEOPLE and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.
This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.” The second part
there is straightforward enough: “to be marveled at among all those who have
believed” – yes, we will marvel at seeing Jesus bodily! His earthly presence
drew crowds, His post-Resurrection appearances were miraculous; how much more
wonderful will be His return!
But that first bit – “to be
glorified IN His holy people...” Not ‘by’ but ‘in’ – what’s that mean? Jesus
will actually be glorified in us, by our behaviour, our character, our
believing uprightness will actually reflect on Him, make Him look good? Yes.
His glory is connected to you.
That’s not a one-off on Paul’s part;
look further down at v12, “We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may
be GLORIFIED IN YOU, AND YOU IN HIM, according to the grace of our God and the
Lord Jesus Christ.” There it is again – Jesus is ‘glorified in you’ – you make
HIM look good, you bring Him honour. New Living Translation - “Then the name of
our Lord Jesus will be honoured because of the way you live, and you will be
honoured along with Him.” Because of the way you live; because of the way you
persevere and keep trusting God when things aren’t going right; because you
keep confessing Jesus even when others ridicule you or despise you or write you
off as crazy, ludicrous, ridiculous.
Your witness reflects on Him, your
comportment gives Him a good ‘name’, an honourable reputation. There’s a
reciprocal glorying: Jesus makes you look good, and vice-versa. You’re
connected, your reputation is tied up with His. As Jesus alluded in John 15,
we’re identified with our Saviour: Jn 15:4 “Remain in
me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must
remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
Abiding in each other, the vine and the branch are one and the same plant.
Another apostle, Peter, conveys a
similar idea; for context, he’s talking about believers who ‘have had to suffer
grief in all kinds of trials....’ 1Peter 1:7 “These have come so that your
faith— of greater WORTH than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—
may be proved genuine and may result in praise, GLORY AND HONOR when Jesus
Christ is revealed.” Your endurance reflects well on your Lord and Saviour.
WHAT’S
IN YOUR TEACUP?
A
couple of short illustrations to close. In 1895, Andrew Murray was in England
suffering from a terribly painful back, the result of an injury he had incurred
years before. One morning while he was eating breakfast in his room, his
hostess told him of a woman downstairs who was in great trouble and wanted to
know if he had any advice for her. Andrew Murray handed her a paper he had been
writing on and said, “Give her this advice I’m writing down for myself. It may
be that she’ll find it helpful.” This is what was written:
In time of trouble, say, “First, he brought me here. It is by his will I am in this strait place; in that I will rest.” Next, “He will keep me here in his love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as his child.” Then say, “He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me lessons he intends me to lea