30 November 2013

Psalm 137, 144; Micah 7:11-20; 1 Pet. 4:7-19; Matt. 20:29-34

Micah prophesied prior to the fall of Jerusalem and the exile in Babylon.  He did see the ruin of the northern kingdom in Samaria but his prophetic words were primarily addressed to the southern kingdom of Judah.  Here he speaks as though the people were already in exile in spite of the fact that they are in their land.  They, however, are weak and beset on all sides by enemies.  He has seen in the prophetic realm that there will soon come a day when they, like their northern brothers, will no  longer inhabit the Land.  He knows that this is not simply because their enemies are stronger and will besiege them but because of the sin that Isaiah saw in yesterday's lesson.  Judgment begins at the house of God for we have the Word and we represent Him.  One of the ways He prepares for Himself a people is to purge them of sin via judgment.  We can cooperate willingly with that work, the work of the refiner's fire, or we can force a more painful judgment by refusing to cooperate.  Micah sees that ultimately a more glorious result will come from this judgment when, later, the Lord judges the nations and the righteous remnant reclaims their inheritance.

Son of David is a messianic title that sees a ruler like David, from the line of David, restored to the throne and restoring the kingdom of Israel.  It was the primary messianic hope of the people this earthly ruler and the earthly kingdom.  The blind men see what so many of the religious leaders do not, that Jesus is indeed the Son of David.  Soon, as Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time in His earthly life, the crowds will proclaim Him in just this way and the leaders will do their best to shut down their cries.  Jesus asks what they want Him to do for them and they want more than they ask of other passersby, they don't want money from Him, they want what only He can give, healing.  How often we ask Him for less than He offers.  They may be hoping for an earthly messiah but they believe Jesus is more than that.  Do you?

As we move towards Advent we see the lessons, all of them, asking us a simple question: what kind of kingdom are you praying for when you pray the Lord's prayer?  Preachers in our day tell us to seek after stuff of earth and that suffering means there is something wrong, God doesn't want His people to struggle, and Peter tells us to expect suffering and not only to expect it but embrace it.  He has seen how Jesus, the only righteous man who ever lived, was treated by the world.  He has seen what it means to seek the kingdom of God not the kingdom of earth.  He knows what Jesus longed for, worked for, died for, and he knows it isn't the stuff of earth.  He says the end of all things is at hand, all things created that is.  As we head into Advent let Him show you where you have your kingdoms mixed up and where you are seeking something earthly and not heavenly.  Let Him do as He did as He went to Jerusalem, admit you have become blind and ask Him to give back true sight.

29 November 2013

Psalm 140, 142; Isa. 24:14-23; 1 Pet. 3:13-4:6; Matt. 20:17-28

Isaiah hears the songs of the salvation of God but cannot join them.  He sees the truth all around him, that there is much corruption, and knows that those who cry for that day to come are not themselves prepared for it.  There is only one found in heaven or on earth or under the earth who is worthy to stand in that day on their own merits.  Isaiah, who has seen the Lord high and lifted up, the train of His robe filling the temple, knows something about the holiness and righteousness of God and the sinfulness of man.  He sees that the day of salvation will also be a terrible day when both the hosts of heaven and the rulers of earth will be judged and thrown into the pit.  Are we preparing ourselves for that day?  When John the Baptist came he called for repentance and called the religious leaders a brood of vipers.  Jesus said constantly that we should remain awake and busy at the work we were given to do in preparation for His coming again.  Do we see what Isaiah saw in ourselves and in the church? 

As they head to Jerusalem Jesus calls the twelve to Himself and tells them once again but very plainly what is about to happen.  They knew it in advance in full but did they believe it?  Were they at all prepared because they knew these things?  Amazingly, the mother of James and John comes with her boys and asks Jesus if they can be at His right and left hands, his closest advisors, when He comes into His kingdom.  Had they not told her what He had just said to them?  What kingdom did they think He was about to enter?  Jesus' response is certainly more gracious than I could muster in the circumstances.  He knows all that is going to occur and how difficult this time will be and here are two of those closest to Him now coming and asking to be exalted along with Him.  His question is apt, can you drink the same cup.  They have no idea what truly lies in store when they affirm their own ability to do this.  They aren't yet prepared to suffer, they too will abandon Him in His hour of need.  That will come later.

Peter says that baptism saves you.  As an Anglican I am always troubled when we baptize an infant over the language we use that indicates that the child is regenerate, a new creation, without any confession or acknowledgement of sin.  If I thought that the act of pouring water on someone saved them I would pour water on everyone I meet, particularly those I really like.  How can Peter say such things?  True baptism is the new life in Christ that results in a noticeable change in the life of the baptized.  Here, Peter is speaking of suffering for righteousness, the death of the flesh and its desires for gain and popularity in the world and life in Christ in pursuit of righteousness no matter the cost.  Peter, like Isaiah issues a call to a righteous life which will include not applause from the world but suffering.  We must judge sin in our lives with ruthlessness.  We are to be the righteousness of God, not only positionally in justification but also through sanctification, the pursuit via the disciplines of the church, of righteousness in us.

28 November 2013

Psalm 131, 132, 133; Zeph. 3:1-13; 1 Pet. 2:11-25; Matt. 20:1-16

Zephaniah pronounces judgment against God's people, particularly the leaders of the people although it seems no one escapes his withering prophecy.  There is no justice, they will hear no voice, accept no correction.  There is nothing but unrighteousness and rebellion and they refuse to hear anything to the contrary.  Judgment is coming and when it does there will be nothing left of those unrighteous ones.  This judgment, however, isn't just against the nation itself but against all nations.  The result of this judgment will be not only a remnant, a faithful group of Jews, but a new thing.  "For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples  to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord."  This refers back to Genesis 11 when God changed the speech of the peoples and divided them because they sought to make the name of man great in the heavens as it was becoming great on earth.  They were then serving themselves with one accord.  All this will be reversed at some time says the Lord.  Sounds like Pentecost to me.

The story Jesus uses here as a parable is one that is tailor made for his Jewish audience.  He speaks of a master who goes out to hire laborers for the day and finds some early in the morning, some later in the day and some just before quitting time.  At the time to settle up, the end of the work day, he begins to dole out the wages on a last in-first out basis.  Those hired late in the day receive what was promised to those who were hired first, a regular daily wage.  Surely the ones who worked all day were thrilled initially at the generosity of the man in expectation that they would receive more than they expected and more than they bargained for.  They were surprised and indignant that they got no more than those who worked only an hour.  The master said, you got what you agreed to in the first place, why should you be upset?  As we know from the life and ministry of both Jesus and Paul there was great resentment towards those Gentiles who were given grace and favor equally with the Jews.  We can sometimes have the same sense of entitlement with respect to our own long service when another comes and is favored by God.  It is all grace that we were chosen for the kingdom, beginning to end.

What reward did Jesus get for a life lived in obedience to God's law?  On earth he got the "reward" of the cross.  The world, even God's own people, had no value for His life.  We should recognize that we will receive no hero's reward in this life for obedience.  It will cost us to live according to God's way.  We were called to take up our cross and follow, as plain as that.  We are to be witnesses to the truth, that we have an inheritance stored up for us that is secure and that we serve others as a service to the one who has redeemed us and showed us the way.  He submitted Himself to earthly authority by going to the cross willingly when He had a choice.  He had the power to say no, to take matters into His own hands and stop the proceeding and did not.  He was the first born of all creation and therefore His claim to greater reward is clear.  He chose to share it all with us. 

27 November 2013

Psalm 119:145-176; Obadiah 15-21; 1 Pet. 2:1-10; Matt. 19:23-30

Obadiah is said to have been a servant of Ahab, Jezebel's husband.  He is believed to be the one who hid and provided for the one hundred prophets of Yahweh from persecution by his master Ahab.  He is also believed to have been a convert to Judaism, an Edomite by birth.  Edom was the alternate name for Esau, against which his prophecy is directed.  Esau was the son of Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob/Israel's brother, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.  He was born to godly parents but walked away and followed the "devices and desires of his own heart" and stomach.  Obadiah is chosen to prophesy on behalf of Yahweh against his own kinfolk, the descendants of Esau, that God will judge them and give their land to their ancestors, the tribes of Jacob.  He had become so identified with Israel that he is able to forcefully prophesy against his own people.  Have we identified so fully with Jesus that we can speak painful truth to even our own family if need be?

It is better to be a beggar and inherit the kingdom than a rich man standing outside the gates of heaven.  The ultimate gated community is indeed the kingdom of God.  Jesus speaks here of the difficulty of entering the kingdom if one is rich in this world, having just proven how difficult it can be.  Difficult, however, is not the same as impossible.  Then, as now, there was a prosperity gospel that believed if you were wealthy it was a sign of God's favor and the presumption was that if you were struggling there was something wrong with your walk with God.  The disciples' reaction to Jesus' words shows that they were not immune to this idea, essentially they are saying that if rich people can't get in who has a chance.  Jesus has consistently taught that the kingdom of God is such that a man will forsake everything he has or could want on this earth to get it.  What did the disciples hear when Jesus spoke of those who leave everything behind (as they had done and reminded Him they had done) receiving a hundred fold more?  They weren't yet prepared to measure rewards like that spiritually.  They had left everything but they were still, like Lot's wife, looking back with some level of regret.

Peter is reminding them that they, like the Israelites, have been redeemed out of the world, out of captivity.  He says, "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."  In those lines he recapitulates the identity of Israel and applies it to them, not as though they had replaced the nation, the Lord has with the nation an everlasting covenant predicated completely on His faithfulness.  They were called by God a chosen race, a royal priesthood and a holy nation for his own possession, that is an exact quote from Exodus 19.  The remainder of the passage is from Hosea who named two of his children not my people and no mercy.  Hosea did so as a metaphor for the nation who was then restored to being His people and receiving mercy.  Peter applies these to the church, a mixed group of Jew and Gentile believers, equally, an extraordinary step for a man like Peter.  All identities outside Jesus no longer matter for all eternity.  We are called out of every other identity into the identity of Christian.  How does that look in your life today?

26 November 2013

Psalm 121, 122, 123; Nahum 1:1-13; 1 Pet. 1:13-25; Matt. 19:13-22

Nahum gives the prophecy Jonah desperately wanted to give.  Nahum lived about 150 years after Jonah.  Jonah hated Nineveh and wanted her destruction worse than anything in the world but instead of destruction he saw these Assyrians (remember the Isaiah passage from Sunday) repent and turn from sin in response to his message.  The repentance was, however, relatively short-lived and God had no covenant with these people to whom He showed great mercy in the time of Jonah.  Now their sin is so great against His people that He announces through Nahum that His patience is worn out, judgment is coming.  They will soon know that the enemy and adversary of His people has bitten off more than they can chew, they are His enemies as well and that won't end well.

The young man asks Jesus about good deeds and what one he must do to enter the kingdom.  Jesus points to the fact that there is one good and He has already spoken in the commandments about good deeds so just do those.  He points specifically to the Ten Commandments, but not all of them, only those good deeds that refer to loving the neighbor.  He does not mention the first several commandments about having no gods before Him, no idols, not taking His Name in vain, and keeping Sabbath.  Those could be subsumed under the opening salvo concerning recognizing that there is one good perhaps but in the end Jesus' response is to say sell everything you have, your earthly inheritance, and give it to the poor if you really want a heavenly inheritance.  What He has done is to expose the man's idolatry, that he has other gods before Yahweh, that he is practicing idolatry with his money, that until he renounces it he is also taking God's name as vanity to be added to his wealth.  The man's response was to admit he was unable, or actually unwilling, to keep those commandments.  The good deed would go undone.

The best platform from which the move out is the one Peter builds, "set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  My hope is not in good deeds or success in ministry, it is in grace alone, from beginning to end my salvation and hope of eternal life rests on the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  We never transcend that basis no matter how great the things we do seem in the eyes of the world.  Now, however, on the basis of that grace we are called to be holy, to be no longer conformed to our old pattern of thought and behavior.  Our deeds, on which Peter says we are judged are based on our faith.  We undertake to live in accordance with our faith by the power of the Holy Spirit's guidance and help and therefore our deeds, after faith, matter because they reveal faith.  Who we are should reveal what we believe.  If we believe that this life is all there is then materialism and acquisitiveness are fine.  If, however, we truly seek that eternal inheritance of the Gospel, these things have no place in our lives.  What do your deeds, how you spend your time, talent and treasure, reveal about your faith?