10 July 2011

Psalm 148, 149, 150; 1 Samuel 17:50-18:4; Rom. 10:4-17; Matt. 23:29-39

It is certainly odd that Saul asks, with apparent sincerity, who David’s father is given that he has had this information for some time. When David began to play for Saul he knew who that Jesse the Bethlehemite was David’s father. Context can mean everything. Remember that it is when Saul is suffering from the evil spirit that David plays for him so would it really be that unusual for Saul to forget or would he naturally associate the young man who played for him also to be the young man who just slew the Philistine champion Goliath? There is an immediate connection established between David and Jonathan. Recall that Jonathan, too, is a man of action. He is the one who undertook the daring raid on the Philistine camp that led to the earlier rout. It is not surprising that these two would have such a strong bond, they are, in many ways, two of a kind.

Jesus speaks of the leaders of Israel in ways that will certainly attract negative attention. He lines them up with their ancestors and calls them out for rejecting God’s word to them. He knows what is to come concerning Himself, that they are, as Stephen will say of them, stiff-necked just like their ancestors, resisting the Holy Spirit. From the beginning of the kingdom, when Saul is rejected by the Lord and David is clearly His anointed, the leaders have been more interested in maintaining their position than in the welfare of the nation. Only God Himself is truly interested in the welfare of the nation. We are too self-centered to be altruistic leaders. We need more of God’s Spirit as leaders than as followers for this reason, more the spirit of understanding that greatness is connected with servanthood in the kingdom of God.

Paul says clearly that salvation comes by faith and faith by hearing the word of God in Christ Jesus. He says that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Salvation is by faith and confession of Jesus, period, end of sentence. Does that, however, mean that if you say these words you will be saved? Are we practicing folk magic if we reduce salvation to a simple form of words once said that open the door to heaven forever? Belief in the heart is the critical part of this equation. Belief in the heart brings amendment of life, it brings confession of sin, it brings transformation into play and that is what is required. That is not to say that works play a part in salvation but to say evidence of a changed heart, a believing heart, is not only on our lips but in our lives as the versicle from Morning Prayer says. “Jesus is Lord” is not the magical phrase.

Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven;
To His feet thy tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore His praises sing:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King.

Tune