25 October 2014

Psalm 30, 32; Ecclus. 15:9-20; Rev. 10:1-11; Luke 11:1-13

There are certainly some statements in this first lesson that will raise the hair on the back of your neck if you are a Calvinist.  Statements like, "It was he who created humankind in the beginning, and he left them in the power of their own free choice. If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice."  If that is so, some of what Jesus taught is problematic.  When He spoke to Nicodemus Jesus said you have to be born from above to see the kingdom, much less enter it.  It is also difficult to square with words of the prophets concerning the need for a new heart or a circumcised heart, the replacement of the heart of stone with a heart of flesh.  It is also true that Moses and Joshua laid out choices before the people but neither of those men had any hope that the people would choose life over death ultimately, they had seen too much not only of the people but of themselves. Have we ever known freedom is an important question in Christianity. 

The Lord's Prayer is an example of great humility before a sovereign God.  We can see ourselves as little baby birds seeking to be fed by our Father in heaven when we ask for daily bread.  We are those who have no wisdom and knowledge, we have no idea how to order our steps to avoid temptation and evil, we need Him to lead and guide us.  We accept our own sinfulness and that of others as a given, not a variable in life.  We acknowledge our absolute dependence on Him while also acknowledging that He alone may be trusted in all these things.  Our greatest desire is to be the coming of His kingdom which is, in itself, the rejection of this world's allure.  The best thing we can do in this life is to accept the reality of its fallenness, including our own.  When we begin from there, we can truly walk humbly before God and forgive other fallen humanity as we forgive ourselves. 

John sees a vision of a mighty angel with a little scroll of judgment.  What he hears, however, is not to be written into this book, it remains a mystery which shall be revealed at the appropriate time.  Instead, he is commanded to approach the angel, take the scroll for himself, and eat it.  Eat it?  That is right, just what Ezekiel was commanded to do when he was called to prophesy.  He learned the same lesson Ezekiel learned, because the word is the Lord's word, it is sweet but because it is judgment on mankind, it is bitter in the stomach.  Often we find the word sweet to hear but bitter in the living out, it doesn't agree with us at a gut level as well as it does when we hear it.  That principle illustrates the reality that we are fallen and in perpetual rebellion whether we know it at a conscious level or not. 

24 October 2014

Psalm 31; Ecclus. 11:2-20; Rev. 9:13-21; Luke 10:38-42

The writer is trying to tell us to keep the main thing the main thing.  We tend to stretch ourselves too thin and busy ourselves with many things physically, mentally or spiritually.  When we do this, we don't attend to anything at all very well.  For someone like me, who tends towards attention deficit disorder it is a particular problem but rather than make excuses for it, I need the discipline of attending to a thing.  Not very many people can multi-task very well, one thing gets more attention and the other things are slighted.  Jesus says that we are to seek first the kingdom of God and everything else the writer mentions here will be added to us.  We aren't to concern ourselves with the peripherals but that requires us first to know the main thing.  When we look around us at the lives of others what do we see their preoccupations to be?  Ask someone you trust today to tell you the truth, even if it hurts, what they believe the most important thing in your life to be and see if it matches what Jesus said it should be.

Martha was doing what was expected, serving her guests, while Mary sat with the men taking in all that Jesus was teaching.  In life under the law, there are frequently conflicts that have to be resolved.  Which law is more important when two are in play at the same time is something many rabbis were compelled to address.  Hospitality was and is an important law.  We see it in Abraham's reaction to the appearance of the three men at his tent in Genesis 18 and we see it in the way the Israelites are to treat strangers in the Land.  It is a high duty and yet here, Jesus says that there is only one necessary thing and Mary, not Martha, has chosen that thing and it will not be taken away.  Not only does He say that learning from Him is of paramount importance, it is so even for a woman.  This redefines gender roles dramatically.  Women didn't learn from anyone, particularly a rabbi, they were taught by their husbands and were under his authority, he could cancel a vow she had made.  The necessary thing, for all people, is to attend to Jesus.

Is there a more terrible sentence in the New Testament than, "So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind."  The only thing worse in the entire Bible is in Genesis 6 when God said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”  The troops are a frightening thing to imagine and they complete their allotted task with alacrity.  Even then, John tells us that the survivors refused to repent of the works of their hands, their idol worship, their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality or their thefts.  When we deny that He is the main thing, when we deny His existence, when we deny Him as creator, we fail to understand even the most blatant revelation of Him.  

23 October 2014

Psalm 37:1-18; Ecclus. 10:1-18; Rev. 9:1-12; Luke 10:25-37

The cure for the sin of pride should be the reminder God gave Adam, " By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  We should realize that we have not always been, there was a world before we came into being, and the world will go on after we are gone.  Does that mean our lives have no meaning?  No, it means that we need to know and understand what meaning they have and we cannot fully know such things without reference to the one who created it all.  Humility accepts the facts about who we are and what we are and also acknowledges that there is One who is eternal.  Humility also accepts the fact that all human life is transitory, not just our own, and bows the knee only to the one who is eternal.  My life is lived unto Him alone. 

The men who pass by the beaten man would have been able to tell exactly why they passed by without helping.  They had good religious reasons for avoiding the situation along with whatever prejudice might have been there, like the man who asked the question that prompted the parable.  They didn't recognize him so they didn't see helping him as an obligation under the neighbor definition.  They were on their way to work in religious occupations and contact with either blood or a dead body would have meant that they couldn't discharge their obligations to the Lord.  He might also be a Gentile and if so, same deal.  Jesus chose a Samaritan as the hero, one of the hated race that claimed to be the true Israel.  At the end, when Jesus asks who was the neighbor the answer is not, "The Samaritan", but, rather, “The one who showed him mercy.”  We, all of us, are created in the image of God and this parable fits with Matthew 25 when Jesus teaches, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."

An angel is sent to unleash yet another woe, the plague of locusts whose sting is like a scorpion.  Why not a scorpion, why a locust with power like one?  The plague will bring only pain and suffering but not death itself.  Death would be a welcome relief but it will not come.  What sounds like cruel punishment, an evil from the Lord, can be seen in a different light can't it?  The mercy in the punishment is the same as the mercy in the bronze serpent in the wilderness in Numbers 21.  Repentance, turning to Jesus as savior means that ultimately there is relief, eternal relief.  At this point, time is short and the Lord is trying all means possible to get people's attention.  Sometimes, as CS Lewis said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” 

22 October 2014

Psalm 38; Ecclus. 7:4-14; Rev. 8:1-13; Luke 10:17-24

These all seem pretty simple don't they.  Wisdom literature always feels like two things to me, common sense and obedience to revelation.  All the people who seek out high office in the Old Testament are people who shouldn't have the office at all.  Those whom the Lord raises up He also gifts and prepares for the work.  Humility in all things is based in trust in Him who is sovereign over all things.  Too often we fail to trust Him and we find ourselves in places where we are over our heads.  When we follow Him we find ourselves over our heads as well but then we are in a place where we can see Him do remarkable things.  If we follow the devices and desires of our own hearts we soon have ethical or moral dilemmas in front of us to keep the position we have gotten by those devices.  Seeking position and getting it by those devices leads to further capitulation to worldly vices.  All these things are interconnected, it all begins with resting in the sovereignty of God.

When Jesus sent out the seventy-two they were unequipped to provide for their own needs, no money, no bag, nothing.  They were to trust that the Lord would provide for their needs through other means, generally people.  Every mission trip I have ever been involved in has been well resourced from the start, attempting to anticipate and provide for every possible need.  Radical trust is something we all need to develop in our lives.  Sometimes it means that we are called to sell all we have and sell it to the poor and sometimes God takes our security away from us without permission or consent.  In all things, He is calling us to complete dependence on Him, teaching us about sovereignty.  If we want to see Him move and work we usually need to be in places where we can't move and act independently and we don't like that place.  Mostly our lives are designed so that we avoid those situations. 

Can you imagine half an hour of silence in heaven?  That is what happens when the lamb opens the seventh seal.  In that silence angels are given trumpets and an angel throws incense on the fire, the prayers of the saints rise before the throne, and the angel throws fire down on the earth.  Then, and only then, do the angels with trumpets blow them.  This judgment is a solemn and horrible thing and silence is the proper attitude towards the destruction of the good creation.  The Lord who created all things now destroys it.  He alone has the right and power to do so.  The sovereignty of God is a comforting doctrine on the one hand and on the other it is fearsome.  Which side of that are you on?

21 October 2014

Psalm 26, 28; Ecclus. 6:5-17; Rev. 7:9-17; Luke 10:1-16

Is there anything in this life as wonderful as a faithful friend?   When we find a true friend we have found a great treasure.  I am fortunate to count not a few such people in my life over the years and I am truly grateful that the Lord has provided some of those for the journey.  This life is difficult, even Jesus knew the sting of betrayal and abandonment in His hour of need and with Peter on the beach afterwards we see the need of forgiveness and reconciliation.  We do have to be careful who we trust and whose advice we trust in this life, we are weak and we are sinful.  All of us have the propensity to save our own skin and to trade up and away when times are tough.  It is easier to rejoice with those who rejoice than to weep with those who weep.  The best advice on having great friends is to be a great friend, a faithful person. 

We are sent just as the disciples are sent and what a wonderful thing to find a person of peace when we are sent.  Rejection is a difficult thing but Jesus promised that we would find it, we will find persecution and hatred just as He did if we are proclaiming Him.  We are adjusting to the new way of the world in the west, a way that rejects absolute truth and the exclusive claims of the church to Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life and that there is only one way to eternal life.  Those truths have become unpalatable to the world we live in today that celebrates coexistence, diversity and tolerance.  Those truths feel like the opposite but they are not, they are a gracious invitation that some reject.  They actually need us to be faithful to those truths, that Truth, if they are to have hope. 

Jesus promised that if we stand with Him, confess Him before men, He will faithfully stand with us, confess us before the Father as His brothers and sisters, the redeemed.  Here we see the faithful ones who have come through tribulation and washed their robes white in His blood.  They are the ones who didn't deny Him to their own death.  As I write there are some in northern Iraq in particular who are being called upon to deny Jesus and accept the false religion of Mohammed.  We are fortunate that we aren't being forced at the end of a gun to deny Jesus but we are all placed in situations on a regular basis where we are called on to deny Him. When we choose to go with the crowd morally and ethically, to fit in rather than stand out, we make our choices.  The temptation to deny our affiliation with Jesus comes in many forms, some more subtle than others but there is no practical difference.  Jesus was and is a faithful friend, He deserves faithfulness in return.

20 October 2014

Psalm 25; Ecclus. 4:20-5:7; Rev. 7:1-8; Luke 9:51-62

Over and again the writer tells us how to deal with sin.  We are to be quick and not reluctant to confess our sins and not to be so confident of forgiveness that we make the mistake of taking sin lightly.  The confession in Rite I in the Prayer Book reminds us of the gravity of sin, "We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness… We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable."  It keeps the balance right though in the plea to God, "Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father…"  He is a most merciful Father and we know it because of the cross, the wisdom of God and the power of God.  We have sinned against Him and we should be grieved because we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts rather than the good path He has called us to follow, and given us His Spirit to desire it.  Sin is a great matter that required the cross to fully remedy.  Why do we pile on His burden with our unwillingness to not only confess but repent?

James and John want to call down fire from heaven on those who oppose Jesus.  Wow!  First, they think they can do so and second, what an idea from those who were taught to bless those who persecute them and to love their enemies.  We have developed the idea that we shouldn't have opposition and if we do we should call down judgment on that opposition, forgetting that there is an enemy, but that enemy isn't flesh and blood.  In the west we have also come to believe that following Jesus is comfortable and probably will bring material blessing.  Over the entirety of the history of our nation, we have had freedom and applause from society but things are definitely changing and being a person of faith is going to be more difficult and certainly less popular over the next season of time.  Be prepared, Jesus didn't call us to material comfort and blessing.

Those who are sealed tell us that although the number is sizeable it isn't infinite.  Numbers set limits don't they.  They tell us that there is a finitude to a quantity, the set has a boundary and some are outside the boundary.  It might feel good to be inside that set but only if we keep in mind that we are there for eternity.  Sometimes the grass can look greener on the outside of the boundary and we go astray.  We are called to a pleasant pasture land where we are safe from the true enemy of our souls and the more we worship and give thanks for what He has done for us and given us, the easier it becomes to say no to temptation. 

19 October 2014

Psalm 148, 149, 150; Ecclus. 4:1-10; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; Matt. 16:13-20

How do we live out our duty to the poor and oppressed in an increasingly segregated society?  When I use the word segregated I didn't mean what you likely thought I meant.  We segregate ourselves along demographic lines at least as much as along racial lines.  Most of our churches aren't just monochromatic we also tend to be within a narrow range of economic strata.  Every church I have belonged to or pastured has fit that mold, middle to upper middle class, with an outlier here and there.  I don’t have to worry about the parable of the Good Samaritan very much because I mostly avoid the neighborhoods where I am likely to see someone beaten and lying in a ditch.  Such things don't happen to my friends.  How then do we connect with and love the poor and oppressed focused on in this first reading?  If we would live out the consistent mandate of Scripture we need to consider this question and we need to do more than post our concern on social media.  It is important that we get outside our comfort zones and try and bring hope and justice.  I am not suggesting it is easy but I am saying we have to spend the time and energy to work it out.

Can you imagine looking at another person and saying that you believe that they are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God?  How hard would it be to actually believe that?  We believe it for a couple of reasons, the Resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but Peter believed it at this moment without the Resurrection, based only on what he had seen and heard so far.  Jesus says he is blessed because flesh and blood hadn't revealed that truth, but the Father.  It was so incredible, literally not credible or believable, that it wasn't possible to firmly hold such an idea without help from God.  Afterwards, Jesus exults in this confession and this man, Peter, the church will be built on this man and his confession, intertwined together, and the keys to the kingdom will be given him.  What a moment!  Then, Jesus tells them not to tell anyone.  He didn't give us that command, in fact we are to tell everyone. 

What is it that tempts you to not honor Him as King?  What is it that takes your heart away from Him?  We look at the life of Jesus and we see that nothing, not forty days of fasting, not fame or glory, not opposition, not the disciples, not the ability to do miracles, not suffering, nothing, took His focus from the Father.  We know that just after our Gospel lesson Peter will be tempted to turn away because Jesus said He would suffer and die.  We know that Peter turned away during that awful night of trials.  It is hard to follow Him and He knew it.  We have to keep our eyes fixed on Him and remember that this life is only a brief moment and that we have eternity ahead of us.

18 October 2014

Psalm 20,21; Ecclus. 3:17-31; Acts 28:17-31; Luke 9:37-50

What does it mean to have humility?  We are children of the King of kings and Lord of lords, but we are thus not because of greatness on our part but on account of the sacrificial death of the true Son, Jesus.  Humility has to do with an attitude towards all things that is radical amazement that we are able to do or accomplish anything because we know how limited and finite we truly are.  It means to serve one another, not seeking to rule over anyone, not seeing ourselves as superior to others.  It means to have the mind of Christ of service and love.  It means glorifying Him who created and redeemed us in all that we do or say.  It is the attitude that led Christian composers like Bach and Handel to write the letters SDG, Soli Deo Gloria, to the glory of God alone, on their compositions in recognition that all they did or were able to do was because of Him.  Humility is encapsulated in the final words of one of the most accomplished men who ever lived, Leonardo da Vinci, “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”

There is something wrong when Jesus and Peter, James and John come down from the mountain.  A crowd is gathered round the disciples and a man there cries out to Jesus to heal his son.  The man says that he has asked the disciples to heal him and they cannot.  The remainder of the passage and the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark give us the answer to the problem.  The disciples were struggling because they were too enamored of themselves and failed to recognize that there was no greatness in them inherently.  They heard that Jesus was going to die but their reaction was to try and sort out who was the greatest.  Compared to Jesus there is no greatness at all, it is a meaningless discussion but they seem to have forgotten that reality.  They must be humbled if they are to be of use.  They, like we, must come to the end of self-regard, come to a place where we recognize that without Him there is no health in us. 

Paul called first the leaders of the Jews to make his defense against what he presumed they had heard from their fellows about him.  The leaders state they have heard nothing from afar about Paul but they want to hear about his "sect", Christianity, because they hear that it was spoken against everywhere.  Paul shares the Gospel with them and, as always, some believe, others don't.  Paul pronounces on them what he always did, that because of their stubbornness they have rejected God's offer of a new covenant and that the Gentiles were brought into that covenant.  Paul never took things personally, it wasn't about him.  He may have been an apostle but he never forgot that lesson in humility that he had completely missed the Messiah and that without grace he was nothing at all.

17 October 2014

Psalm 16, 17; Ecclus. 1:1-10,18-27; Acts 28:1-16; Luke 9:28-36

When we think of the wisdom of God do we think generally about the wisdom of creation?  Paul did.  When he wrote the letter to the church at Rome he first talked about how creation displays the glory of God.  In our day, we have come to believe another creation account haven't we.  If we accept the story undirected evolution tells us we have a somewhat lesser god than the God of the Bible.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom is a common theme of wisdom literature.  It isn't popular to preach hell but there is a truth there in that when we recognize there is something fearsome about a holy God who created everything then we come to submit to Him.  "If you desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will lavish her upon you."  Judaism teaches that gaining wisdom requires walking in the wisdom you already possess by this fear.  When we walk in light of that truth, we put ourselves in a situation where we can receive more wisdom.  Obedience matters and Paul would certainly agree that if we follow the path of knowledge from creation we will find the creator and we will find He is not only great but good.  Are we truly seeking to know Him?

The wisdom James, John and Peter gained this day on the mountain with Jesus is that He is different from Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, not by degree but by category.  Jesus is God's Son and that sets Him apart in every way.  They are told to listen to Him but that in no way invalidates the ministry and import of either of those others.  They were His servants, as the writer of Hebrews will argue, but the Son has a different place in the household than the servant.  Jesus is the wisdom and power of God incarnate.  These three men, leaders in the apostolic church, needed a personal revelation that changed their perspective on things.  They needed to know where Jesus fit in order to lead the church after His ascension.  These two men also disappeared as Moses died and God buried him and Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind.  His uniqueness as Son means that He supersedes these two without denying their work.  The Law and prophets have a place but they are subservient to Jesus.

On Malta Paul is bitten by a snake and the people conclude that he must be a murderer who, although he didn't drown at sea, nonetheless receives justice because he will soon die.  Instead, the Lord is using this as a sign but initially the people misinterpret the sign and come to believe Paul is a god himself.  We can only assume that, like at Lystra in Acts 14, Paul corrects this mistake prior to praying for the chief man and seeing him healed.  In all things, it is incumbent on us to give glory to God.  We might not be used to heal anyone but when we work in our giftedness of any sort, we can point to Him as the giver of all good things.  Wisdom is the Lord's.  

16 October 2014

Psalm 18:1-20; Jonah 3:1-4:11; Acts 27:27-44; Luke 9:18-27

At the time of Jonah's arrival in Nineveh, proclaiming the anger of the Lord against the city and its inhabitants, there had already been several signs that pointed in that direction.  There had recently been a total eclipse of the sun and this was seen as some sort of omen against not only the inhabitants of the place but also the animal life, hence the odd statement "and also much cattle."  They had also recently lost some territory to a rising power in the region.  There was also a recent earthquake.  A visiting prophet of doom like Jonah might well have received a hearing and the forty days warning would be welcomed as a final opportunity to repent as the people do, much to Jonah's dismay.  His desire is that they continue in their wicked ways and the Lord's wrath be spent upon them and so he watches to see if the Lord will do what He said, overthrow the great city.  Jonah believes he deserves mercy but that this great city, which represents all he hates, deserves judgment.  We don't know who was the author of the book but my thoughts are that it may well have been Jonah if we take the story seriously as real rather than fiction.  I would like to believe that Jonah reflects on his experience with sadness but is brutally honest.  Check out where Jonah's tomb was located here for a real surprise. 

We were just told that this question, who is Jesus, was on the lips and mind of Herod and now Jesus, at Caesarea, asks the disciples their opinion on the matter.  Peter, God bless him, gets it right.  What He says next, however, makes no sense of their messianic expectations and understanding, that He will suffer and be rejected, that He will die and be resurrected on the third day.  There was not a single person who thought such things were going to occur.  The disciples must have been completely puzzled by Jesus' lack of knowledge concerning Messiah.  When He then says that those who come after Him have to take up their own crosses and die daily it would have been one of the most incomprehensible statements ever made.  Remember that the cross was in the future, at the time it would have been completely insane to talk about a cross and suggest that anyone would take up such, if you did, you were considered anathema, accursed.  What in the world was Jesus talking about?

Things have changed on board the ship.  Now, it is Paul's word that is most important. People are praying for day to come, believing  what Paul is telling them about the future.  Fear does that, causes you to believe what would ordinarily seem silly.  In times of trial you grasp at what otherwise would look like straws.  Paul had some history with being right with these folks though.  He told them in advance this wasn't going to go well.  Paul was keeping his head in the midst of the storm breaking bread, praying, eating, communion with God.  In the end, all get safely to land, frightened, perhaps sea sick, a little worse for wear, but alive.  The Lord cared so for Paul and his mission that all were saved.  Paul's obedience contrasts quite well with Jonah's disobedience doesn't it?  What would have happened on Jonah's ship if he had simply told the Lord he would do as he was told?

15 October 2014

Psalm 119:1-24; Jonah 1:17-2:10; Acts 27:9-26; Luke 9:1-17

Three days Jonah sits there in the belly of the fish.  What was he thinking and what was he doing?  I always get the picture of Pinocchio in my mind thinking about him there alone, sorting out what was happening and what was going to happen next.  He is finding the truth that if he goes down to the depths there is the presence of the Lord and trying to come to grips with that reality but for three days he seems not to make a move until he prays.  When he prays he proclaims that God cast him into the deep and swallowed him up and then God heard Jonah's prayer and delivered him when he said the magic words, "Salvation belongs to the Lord."  At that moment the fish spit him up on dry land, a strange sight indeed.  What will Jonah do next?  Has he learned anything at all?  Sometimes we get deliverance from our difficulties and forget the mercy we have been shown.  Jonah has received mercy after mercy without seeming to recognize that he needed mercy.  The Lord could easily have sent someone else to do this job, someone who was actually willing to go and do the work. 

The disciples go out, preaching and healing.  We take it for granted because we are so familiar with this scene but in truth it was an odd thing to do.  These men had only recently been fishermen, zealots, tax collectors and such who had never met this Jesus of Nazareth and now they are itinerant preachers and faith healers.  It isn't surprising that there might be a few places they weren't welcomed into the town.  While they are away Herod is trying to sort out this Jesus phenomenon.  He appeared on the scene with power just as Herod had John the Baptist killed so it seemed to him that Jesus must be the re-incarnation of John while others believed Jesus to be a modern-day Elijah.  When the disciples return, all are overjoyed but the crowds won't allow them time to process their experience and they aren't prepared for Jesus to do this miracle of feeding the multitude and are certain they can't do so themselves.  Who indeed is this man?

Pretty reasonable decision by the centurion to pay more attention to the pilot and owner of the ship rather than Paul, the tent-making evangelist who was a prisoner wasn't it?  Paul foresaw great problems with the journey they were about to undertake and counseled the centurion to not make the trip but the soldier chose to go with the voices of experience.  As they deal with exactly what Paul had promised, he stands in the midst of the chaos of jettisoning cargo and rolling seas and says, don't worry, we're all going to live, an angel of the Lord appeared to me and told me so.  Contrast this with Jonah's shipboard experience.  Paul was definitely the man for the job he had been given.  He had faith.

14 October 2014

Psalm 5, 6; Jonah 1:1-17a; Acts 26:24-27:8; Luke 8:40-56

Nineveh is still a tough place to get missionaries to go.  Canon Andrew White is there, and not many others.  We might be more like Jonah than we think.  If you thought God was calling you to go there today you might have some second thoughts too, you might try and run from that call.  Jonah knew God called him very specifically to that place and he ran as far as he could and as fast as he could from God's presence.  Did he really think that was possible?  Had he not read and did he not believe Psalm 139 was actually true?  We can know something to be true and yet act in the hope it isn't always true.  Jonah knows full well what is going on with the storm but refuses to tell the truth until the lot falls on him, he is willing that all these on board should die rather than go to Nineveh.  Even when he tells the truth he isn't willing to throw himself overboard, he wants to make these pagans responsible for his death, assuming they don't have the moral or ethical scruples against such things as he.  Abraham thought the same about Abimelech and found that this pagan king had a basic sense of right and wrong and sleeping with another man's wife, taking her for your own, wasn't good.  The sailors prove the same kind of men, not believing it correct to have innocent blood on their hands but Jonah isn't innocent is he?  The Lord receives the "sacrifice" of Jonah and the men offer him a sacrifice in response.  Can you imagine Jonah's response when the fish swallowed him and he realized he wasn't dying?

Remember that Jesus has just come from the tombs of the Gerasenes among pigs and pagans when he returns this day.  The synagogue ruler has every reason to avoid Jesus, just as all the rest of the people should have done to maintain ritual purity.  The ruler, however, is desperate enough that such things no longer matter to him, his daughter is dying.  As Jesus goes with him to his home to see about this daughter, an unclean woman, a woman with menstrual bleeding that has continued for twelve years, joins the crowd and touches Jesus' garment in the belief that this will heal her and Jesus notices the touch because power went out from Him.  When was the last time you felt power go out from you when touched?  Now, everyone knows that He is unclean even if they hadn't seen what happened before.  She receives not only healing but is called daughter, she is restored to relationship.  The ruler persists on behalf of his daughter and his faith too is rewarded. 

Paul, unlike Jonah, wants to see the mercy of God for his enemy.  His desire, as he says, is that the king, Agrippa, would become like him, a Christian, one to whom God has revealed Himself and saved by the same grace.  In Jesus, we see the face of God and the true image.  We should see the love of God for all who bear His image, even those who have set themselves to be our enemies.  We are called to love and pray for them, to want for them, our neighbors, all that we want for ourselves, beginning with salvation.  How often do you pray for those who hate and persecute you?  Pray today for the enemies of the church.

13 October 2014

Psalm 1, 2, 3; Micah 7:1-7; Acts 26:1-23; Luke 8:26-39

Micah looks around him and sees nothing but unrighteousness and treachery.  There are no righteous ones left.  He is like a vinedresser after the harvest looking in vain on the plants for fresh ripe fruit and seeing instead nothing but leaves and vines.  Not only are strangers a problem, so are friends, neighbors and even within the family, there is no honor remaining.  A couple of years ago I was preaching on preparation during Advent and looked at the "prepper" movement, people who fear that something will soon happen that will drive the world into a state of chaos, whether what is called an EMP (electro magnetic pulse) which will knock out the electric grid or something else that will cause us to turn on one another.  Don't we see that this is the normal state of a fallen world?  One of the things I found was a company that sells underground bunkers and one of the selling points was that even your neighbors wouldn't know you had one.  Why would I want to live in a world filled with survivors of whatever apocalyptic scenario you can envision who were characterized by having the ability to survive but who hated their neighbors such that they wouldn't tell them how to be saved or share what they had with them.  Such an attitude, completely motivated by fear and keeping hold of what you have in this life, and not loving our neighbors, is anti-Christian. 

Everyone avoided the man in the tombs.  They kept him shackled as well as they could and isolated him among the dead for he himself was dead to them.  Jesus made a special trip to see him this day.  There seems to be no other reason for going across the lake to the country of the Gerasenes but to heal this man, this lonely, demon-possessed man.  Why did his life matter so to Jesus?  Of all the people He could have gone to and make Himself known in what the Jews believed was a place where the gates of hell were located, why this man?  Why not a leader of the people there?  No, Jesus went to Him because His power would be most manifest in this man and because he needed Him more than anyone else.  He went to the most unrighteous man among an unrighteous people and set him free.  If Jesus could set this man free from bondage, what can He do for you?

Paul tells his story of conversion to Agrippa.  He begins with flattery, he is fortunate to have Agrippa hear his case because he is knowledgeable about the Jewish religion.  Then, he states the crux (pardon the pun) of the case and that is that they say they believe in resurrection but now that it has happened in the case of Jesus of Nazareth they prove they really don't believe at all.  The case turns on the important issue of resurrection.  They found Jesus to be a blasphemer and therefore He, of all men, cannot have been resurrected by God, their judgment cannot be overturned thus.  Paul is telling these men who hate him how to avoid the apocalypse but they won't hear it.  Are we telling our story regularly?

12 October 2014

Psalm 146, 147; Micah 6:1-8; 1 Cor. 4:9-16; Matt. 15:21-28

The Lord's complaint against His people begins as the Ten Commandments begin, as all His complaints begin, with a recitation of what He has done for them, what gives Him the right to either give Law or complain.  They, and we, always need to begin at the beginning, what God did for us that we could not do for ourselves that brought us into a covenant relationship with Him.  Covenant relationships have expectations with them and the expectations with this covenant are that they and we will be a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His possession.  We will, by our obedience to all He has commanded, display both His glory and His image to the world.  In Deuteronomy 10 Moses asks a question similar to Micah's question, "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?"  Micah says the answer is simpler than keeping all the 613 laws, it is "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."  These are the basics God asks of us as human beings, everything flows from these things. 

You don't see many people defined as Canaanites in the New Testament.  These, remember, were the people displaced from the Land when the Israelites took over.  Further back, they were descendants of Noah's son, Ham, whose son, Canaan, was cursed by his grandfather, Noah after Ham uncovered his father's nakedness in Genesis 9.  Canaan's first son was Sidon, where this woman was from.  She is desperate for the healing of her daughter, desperate enough to bear any insult.  The conversation with Jesus would certainly have been uncomfortable for the disciples to hear, it seems that Jesus is a bit racist by referring to her as  dog since she is a Canaanite.  Ultimately, even though Jesus says He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel, He extends healing to her based on her remarkable faith.  If we want a clearer demonstration of how we are to relate to even our "enemies" we won't find it.

No one with Jesus wanted to be a Canaanite, no one wanted to be thought of as a dog like she was.  Paul says to the church at Corinth that he, as an apostle, has traded down in life from what he would otherwise be, what the Corinthians were.  He lost his respectability, lost his position in society when he became not only a Christian but an apostle, a leader in the church.  In my lifetime I have seen that same thing happen, particularly in the place we live.  Pastors, within the church, may have some honor but in the city we are fools.  He tells them also how to live from that place and his words need to form us as well as we live in an increasingly post-Christian world.  "When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things."  Let us take these words to heart and become as Paul, let us " to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."  

11 October 2014

Psalm 137, 144; Micah 5:1-4,10-15; Acts 25:13-27; Luke 8:16-25

Micah's messianic prophecy is clear isn't it?  "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days."  Indeed Jesus was born in Bethlehem as Luke documents for us in his Gospel which is an investigative report.  This Messiah will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord and in the majesty of the Name of the Lord.  That day is coming but not yet.  There was a prior work to do to bring in the Gentiles whom God was saving as well as the Jews.  There will come a day such like Isaiah foresaw when there will be an everlasting peace not only among humans but also with the animal kingdom, enmity of all kinds will be a thing of the past when Messiah comes to reign.  Our hearts should long for the fulfillment of the prophecy such that we pray in earnest, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" and "Come quickly, Lord Jesus."

Revelation is a funny thing.  Sometimes you have to walk in the light of what you know already to gain more revelation, it requires faith to see and understand.  Here, Jesus talks about light giving the power to see in a dark place but then admonishes to "take care how you hear."  Doesn't it seem like He would talk about seeing rather than hearing?  The revelation of Jesus as Messiah was not only an issue of seeing the signs it was also a matter of hearing the words He spoke, His teaching as well as the voice of the Spirit within bearing testimony.  The one who has will be given more.  If you walk in the knowledge you have, if you use that understanding to form and test the correct hypothesis (or hypotheses) about Jesus, you will be given more understanding.  It is the same message He gives to those who implore Him concerning His family, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”  Walking in light of understanding is key.  The disciples are doing exactly that or they wouldn't be with Him on the boat to hear Jesus command the wind and waves and because they are walking in faith they now receive a greater revelation that causes them to re-formulate their existing hypotheses.

Again we meet an odd couple who will hear Paul's testimony.  Agrippa and Bernice were brother and sister and she was known primarily for her illicit love life including rumors concerning her own brother, this Agrippa.  They, as members of the Herodian dynasty were also Jewish.  Festus is at a loss as to what to do with Paul.  He believes that he lacks jurisdiction and certainly the ability to do as the Jews request concerning Paul and doesn't understand the matter, only that it seems to have something to do with a man called Jesus who is dead but whom Paul asserts to be alive.  Agrippa agrees to hear the case even though Paul has appealed to Rome.  We never know how God will use us and here, as in his first hearings in the system, Paul is going to speak to a ruler who is living a sinful life.  In the end, everything gets exposed.

10 October 2014

Psalm 140, 142; Micah 3:9-4:5; Acts 24:24-25:12; Luke 8:1-15

Micah's prophecy is very basic.  He is focusing not on fine points of law or layers of interpretation in the Law.  His focus is on the basis of the law, justice and mercy, truth and grace.  God's original acts on behalf of the Jews was to see that justice was done with respect to their enslavement by the Egyptians and it was also an act of mercy.  It was mercy because the Jews had done nothing to deserve God's deliverance.  They were not the only people who were enslaved on earth at the time but they were the only people on earth with whom God was in covenant through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It was in His mercy that they were chosen and received justice.  Mercy and justice are commanded then of His people, they are to be like Him in character.  Micah's complaint is that they are failing in this very basic way and everything else flows from this character issue.  When they get this right, God's ways will be established and there will be no more war because the character of people will be changed.

Here we are again at the parable of the sower. It seems this parable comes up more than any other or God is still trying to teach me something about this parable that I refuse to learn.  The sower indiscriminately spreads the seed without respect to what sort of reception it will receive.  The soil is what it is initially, hard and unreceptive.  The initial work of preparation is God's.  To make the soil receptive God must do something, we don't know how to prepare our hearts to receive the seed, we don't know what it is, we are indifferent to it.  The next soil is receptive but it has no depth, it is rocky.  The rocks have to be cleared and moved, painstaking work.  The next soil is filled with thorns that choke out the new growth, the cares of the world, those things have to be removed as well if we truly want to produce a bumper crop that will delight the sower.  Finally, we get to that soil.  Like Micah, it all has to begin at the beginning, not focusing on fine points but basics like the rocks and thorns. 

Felix was a pagan ruler but his wife, Drusilla, was Jewish.  Paul spoke of righteousness, self-control and the coming judgment with them.  Why?  Felix had persuaded Drusilla to divorce her husband and marry him instead, there was a distinct lack of righteousness and self-control in their lives.  Paul took the risk of speaking into this just as John the Baptist did with Herod and Herodias.  Felix's alarmed reaction then is understandable isn't it?  He was also hoping Paul would bribe him, something Paul would never do because God alone was His redeemer.  Paul, in speaking to these two focused on very basic issues which were common to all mankind but with a particular application to them.  Good begins with self-control, look at Genesis 4 where Cain was told about self-mastery.

9 October 2014

Psalm 131, 132; Micah 3:1-8; Acts 24:1-23; Luke 7:36-50

When leaders and rulers no longer care about people or justice we have a problem.  We see that this is true all over the world in countries where either despots or religious zealots have headship.  Is it true also in America and other countries where leaders are democratically elected?  Tax policies, welfare policies, and many other policies can accomplish the dehumanization of men and women in even democratic societies.  When the needs of businesses trump the rights and needs of human beings the danger is there, thus the early trade union movement and other human rights movements like the civil rights movement.  Prophets, likewise, need to listen to the Lord rather than seeking the applause of men.  How often do we have men who are supposed to be prophets simply affirming the times when there is prosperity?  It is important to ensure that when there is peace and prosperity that the reason for these is also righteous, just and merciful.  The leaders and prophets need one another to keep the balance.

Grace and truth both matter but we tend to focus on either one or the other.  The Pharisee sees the sinful woman washing the feet of Jesus and he is concerned with truth and not grace. In this lesson we see something important about how Jesus deals with people in terms of truth and grace.  The parable illustrates the reaction of two people, one a great debtor and the other a lesser debtor, to forgiveness of their debts.  Clearly, the parable has in mind the two main actors in this scene.  The woman is a great debtor and Jesus knows and affirms that but Simon the Pharisee is also a debtor, albeit to a lesser degree.  Jesus extends forgiveness to the woman for her act of contrition and hospitality to Him.  He extends grace to her but the parable has shown that truth is involved as well, she knows who she is in the parable.  Simon hasn't recognized himself but he has failed to extend basic hospitality to Jesus, even if he doesn't recognize him as a person of import, he hasn’t shown hospitality in accord with the law to a guest in his home.  Truth is there but grace awaits repentance.  These two always go together but grace has a price, truth.  We always have to be wise as to which is to be offered to others and which is being offered to us.  Both must be grasped together, each in its turn.

The high priest and some elders come to press their charge against Paul.  They begin with the obligatory flattery of Felix to hear their case. Even in the presentment it seems clear that the issues are primarily religious and not civil in nature.  The only issue for Felix to decide is whether Paul is stirring up riots wherever he goes.  Indisputably there have been riots wherever Paul has been but the question is always open as to who was the inciter of the riot, Paul or his opponents, be they Jewish or pagan as in Ephesus with the craftsmen.  It is a bit surprising to hear that Felix had a rather accurate understanding of the Way except that we know Paul had been to Caesarea as had Jesus.  His determination is to wait for the tribune himself to come and tell his story since the two he had heard didn't agree.  Truth would need an arbiter.

8 October 2014

Psalm 119:145-176; Micah 2:1-13; Acts 23:23-35; Luke 7:18-35

Rapacious greed and injustice have become the order of the day in the land.  People scheme to take away the inheritance of others and evict women and children from their homes.  Surely not.  If you have ever been around death and families who have anything at all, you have seen exactly this sort of thing happen.  Desire for stuff is a powerful thing.  I have seen cutthroat actions too many times by people who confess Christ and been heartbroken over finding what really motivates people.  I have been on the receiving end of such things as well and I only hope that I have never been guilty of this.  When the prophet says, "If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, 'I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,' he would be the preacher for this people!" we can think this is hyperbole but we know, if we watch popular preachers on television in our day that this isn't hyperbole at all.  They may not preach wine and strong drink but they certainly preach to debauchery in the way of prosperity, seeking stuff of earth.  Some things, like human nature, never really change.

Commentaries on this request from John the Baptist, who is in prison, differ depending on when they were written.  Older commentaries, like the church Fathers, believe that John wasn't in doubt at all, he was directing those who had continued to follow him to Jesus in the belief that when they saw and heard him they would attach themselves to Jesus.  More modern commentarists believe that John couldn't fit the reality of prison into his belief about Messiah and now doubted his own faith and testimony of Jesus.  The response of Jesus to their query as to whether He were Messiah is to do healings and then respond by pointing to all He has done in connection with the fulfillment of prophecy but to leave out setting the prisoners free, the one thing John needed.  Faith, even when your own situation isn't dealt with, is required.  Jesus then points to John as great, but greater things have yet to come.  We, who are baptized not only in the baptism of John but in the Holy Spirit, who can testify to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, are to do greater things than John because we have a fuller testimony and the Holy Spirit.  What keeps us from living into that?

Claudius Lysias sends Paul forward to Felix, the governor, in order to keep him safe from the plot against his life.  The report that accompanies Paul states that the matters at hand are not legal matters for Rome but rather a religious dispute.  Claudius has certainly found nothing deserving of death or imprisonment in Paul but believes that Felix should hear the matter for himself to make a determination in the matter.  The soldiers and horsemen complete their mission and deliver Paul to Caesarea.  Felix agrees to hear the matter.  The Gospel will be preached to the governor because of this arrest.  We never know what God will do with the circumstance of our lives but we should always be prepared to allow Him to use them for His glory, even if we suffer.  

7 October 2014

Psalm 121, 122, 123; Micah 1:1-9; Acts 23:12-24; Luke 7:1-17

Micah's prophetic career spanned the time when the northern kingdom of Israel/Samaria fell to the Assyrians and the ten tribes that comprised that kingdom were exiled and assimilated into the nations surrounding them.  Some of the exiles found their way to Judah, their brothers, and became charity cases during this same time.  As I write, there are refugees from Iraq who are going to Syria and displaced persons always present a problem to the host country.  In our day we have the United Nations and other human rights organizations that assist with relief but in Micah's day there was nothing like that.  In Israel's case, while the kingdoms were divided in an earthly sense, in God's mind the nation was made up of twelve tribes, these people were part of the covenant community if they repented and returned to him with their whole hearts.  Micah refers to the nation as Jacob and Israel in a way that unites these two kingdoms and says that their sins are quite similar and the northern kingdom should serve as a warning to the southern, Judah, as to God's judgment.  They are going the same direction, have turned Jerusalem itself into a high place, a place of the worship of other gods.  We should never look on the fall of others for sin as anything other than a warning to get our own house in order, as a nation, a church or individually.

The people encourage Jesus to heal the centurion's son even though the man isn't a Jew because he loved the nation and built the synagogue in Capernaum for them.  At the end of the story we hear Jesus say, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” His faith was such that he likened Jesus' authority over illness to his own authority, based not on presence but position.  Jesus' authority was such that all He had to do was speak the word only and healing would occur, His command was enough to carry the weight.  Sounds like creation doesn't it?  The raising of the son of the widow in Nain by word convinced the mourners that God had visited His people.  Word began to spread.  Would they believe the word?

Anger and hatred can make you do stupid things.  More than forty people took an oath to taste no food until they had killed Paul and the chief priests and scribes blessed this conspiracy.  These forty either eventually forsook their oath or died of starvation because Paul lived quite a long while after this.  Hatred for Paul's message to the Gentiles of salvation by faith rather than circumcision and the Law had consumed these people.  Why in the world would the priests get involved in such things?  Fortunately, word of this plot got to Paul's nephew who warned him and the tribune believed what he heard.  It was quite a retinue that accompanied Paul in the night to Felix wasn't it?  Two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen.  We don't like it when people gore our sacred cows.  The Gospel, properly preached, exposes our self-righteousness for what it is, pious humbug, and we don't always appreciate it.

6 October 2014

Psalm 106:1-18; Hosea 14:1-9; Acts 22:30-23:11; Luke 6:39-49

If you got lost in the woods what would be your best course of action?  It would be to first admit you were lost (difficult for guys) and then to attempt to retrace your steps.  In retracing your steps you would at least know that there was some point along the way in the past where you weren't lost.  You would at the very least go back to where you began and there you weren't lost.  The prophet says to Israel, do the same thing.  Admit your problem is that you have sinned and go back to that beginning point of relationship.  Confession and repentance, the literal turning around and going back to a previous state before you made a wrong turn, is how we are restored to a right relationship.  Here, they will take vows and make sacrifices because that was required.  We plead the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus once offered and eternally accepted.  Those actions restore not only relationship but blessedness is the promise of God to the nation. 

When we submit to a leader we need to know the character of that leader and we need to know where the leader gets wisdom.  Following an unregenerate man, a worldly teacher, is futile if our ultimate destination is not worldly.  That leader has a limited store of wisdom to offer and has only that which is evil because it is of this sinful and broken world.  A leader who is unwilling to deal with sin in his own life should not be attempting to fix someone else.  There are two types of blindness, one by not seeing the truth about the world and about God and the other where we believe we see but our vision is obscured by something like sin.  Either of these disqualifies that person as someone I should follow.  Instead, seek that wisdom that comes from above and build on that foundation.  All other ground is sinking sand.

With respect to Paul's not knowing that Annanais was chief priest at the time we need to know one thing and remember another.  The office changed hands regularly and therefore unless you made the effort to keep up you might well not know who was chief priest and Paul wasn't spending much time in Jerusalem worrying about who was chief priest, such things no longer mattered to him.  This mistake is one measure by which we can see how completely Paul was converted.  This piece of knowledge was once something that would have concerned him greatly and now he simply doesn't care.  He does, however, remember one thing, that he can create division on the council without mentioning Jesus, all he had to do was mention resurrection generally and the parties would go to war.  Can you see Paul's smile when it worked?  Blind men fighting with blind men, none of whom would accept the real truth about resurrection, that Jesus was the canary in the coal mine.

5 October 2014

Psalm 118; Hosea 13:4-14; 1 Cor. 2:6-16; Matt. 14:1-12

The first words of the reading always need to be remembered.  "I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior."  The rest of the passage is far from comforting.  They are, in fact, the worst threat imaginable, this God is going to tear them open and devour them like a lion would do to its prey.  Fortunately, the verbs are all present tense, He has not rejected them  in His fierce anger, has not annulled the covenant for unfaithfulness.  He is still their God and He is also their savior.  The problems are that they have known other gods and they have sought for saviors elsewhere.  In order to return the nation to Himself there is only one option remaining, to come against them and prove the impotence of their gods and would-be saviors.  Nothing can protect them from His anger but it is not for the annihilation of the people it is for their ultimate salvation as a nation.  Without God's mercy there would be no Israel, there would also be no church.

What odd belief did Herod have concerning resurrection?  Why would a Jew believe that one man had been resurrected from the dead and now his spirit inhabited the body of another man?  It is a very strange idea and has no basis in Judaism.  Herod knew that under the law his marriage to Herodias, his brother's wife, was illicit and forbidden, just as John had said.  Indirectly, John had been murdered by Herod for this very reason.  Herodias contrived to bind her husband by his own rash promise and have John killed.  Herod's sin caused him to fear John's truthfulness and caused him to believe the unbelievable.  He was rejecting God's truth in his own life and because he did, he was willing to believe something that made no sense in his religious framework.  Sin causes us to change our beliefs to accommodate sin.  It causes us to forget He is the Lord our God, our only God, our savior.  Our theology is messed up by sin, we force ourselves to account for sin in some way when all we need is to repent.

We have received the spirit of God that we might understand the mind and heart of God and yet so much of our theology today is based in worldly wisdom and understanding.  I see it in the movement that believes that sickness and suffering of any kind come from sin and we blame the sufferer for their misery when we are blinded to the reality that we are also sinful and yet we do not suffer as they do.  I see it in the frightening word-faith movement that we speak things into existence or bind God with our words.  I see it in the prosperity Gospel that promises if you say yes to God you will receive material blessings.  When we are motivated by material things, whether those be wealth , health or anything else the writer of Ecclesiastes says are under the sun, we have reasoned from below and not from the Holy Spirit.  We are then worshipping other gods and seeking other saviors.  Where is your highest good?

4 October 2014

Psalm 107:33-43, 108; Hosea 11:1-9; Acts 22:17-29; Luke 6:27-38

Verses three and four cast the relationship between the God who spoke all things into being with His people in the form of a parent, teaching a child to walk and bending to feed them.  These are beautiful and tender images of God's love for His people and these are the same ideas we should hold of our relationship with Him.  His words of discipline and conviction of sin should then break our hearts.  It is this love that tempers judgment.  When He remembers His love for His people His anger abates.  It breaks God's heart to have to do drastic things in order to get His people to turn to Him.  It is love alone that motivates this anger, the jealous love of God whose desire it is to see the covenant people restored to Him.  There are two things of which God is fiercely protective, His glory and His people.  His people are to reveal Him to the world and when they chase after other gods and become like the nations, there are consequences. 

The whole idea of enemies is repugnant isn't it?  John 3.16 tells us that God loves the world.  If He loves the world enough to die for it we should get some idea of what our attitude should be towards the world.  What would it look like if we chose not to have enemies?  We can choose that.  Others can consider us their enemies but what if we didn't reciprocate and instead simply loved them in accordance with the commandment to love our neighbor.  Jesus didn't just teach this, He lived it all the way to the end in praying for those who crucified Him.  We have an enemy, one who desires to destroy us not only in this life but in the one to come.  We are called and commanded to love those who hate and persecute us with the same love we have for those who love us in return.  If we keep to that command, will the world be better?

The flash point in Paul's story was, "Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles."  For this, "he should not be allowed to live."  The tribune was completely befuddled by all these things and decided that the only thing to do was to flog Paul to find out why the Jews were shouting against him.  Paul waits until they are ready to begin before playing the Roman citizen card.  Remember yesterday's reading where there was a complete misunderstanding about Paul's identity?  Who is this man?  He is a Jewish teacher who is hated by the Jews because of something to do with Gentiles but at the same time he is a Roman citizen and they had already done what was not lawful to a citizen and were about to compound their mistake by flogging him when he had not been charged with a crime, much less convicted.  The sovereignty of God had secured Paul's release.  He was, against all odds, born a Roman citizen.  

3 October 2014

Psalm 102; Hosea 10:1-15; Acts 21:37-22:16; Luke 6:12-26

Prosperity is a great danger.  Beginning in Deuteronomy 8, Moses warned the people about the dangers of prosperity.  When we get satisfied by things other than the Lord, we began to forget Him.  We take credit for being a self-made man or some fortuitous circumstance that enabled us to succeed and we forget that we were created and that all circumstance is due to the sovereignty of God.  The other danger is that we find satisfaction in things rather than in Him and our lives are no longer focused on Him but those things that produce satisfaction and pleasure.  Fortunately, if we are in covenant with Him, He is a jealous God and wants us for Himself.  Unfortunately, the process of getting us back is painful.  The measure of our attachment to things is the pain endured in losing them.  The nation has enjoyed its prosperity and it has ascribed it to other gods.  He will tear down their altars, take away their gods and their prosperity and strip them naked in judgment but also in jealous love.  There will be pain but ultimately there will be restoration.  Ask Him today to show you your idols and give them to Him to take and destroy.

I just finished watching a video by John Piper on the prosperity Gospel prior to reading this passage and it couldn't be a more stark contrast to the teaching of Jesus here in the Beatitudes.  He has called the twelve, healed many and now prepares to teach what Luke tells us was a great multitude.  If you think of some of the healing ministries today you will have some sense of the situation and the crowd and then hear Jesus' words of follow up teaching to the healings and see if they match what you might hear in a stadium or arena today.  "Blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, blessed are the ones who weep, blessed are you when you're hated and persecuted…"  If we were to hear those words today the follow on to each would be the promised of reversal by prayer and the power of the healer.  Jesus, however, doesn't promise that all these things will be "healed" in this life.  He promises that ultimately God will reconcile all things but He affirms the pain of this life by doing so.  He doesn't say blessed are the wealthy, blessed are the well-fed, blessed are the joyous, blessed are the powerful and the popular.  Are we seeking the right things?

The tribune has no idea who Paul is, a complete case of mistaken identity.  "Do you know Greek?  Aren't you an Egyptian? "Who's on first?"  Little could this man have known that Paul's request to speak to the Jews was going to be a bigger problem than he already had on his mind.  Paul simply gives his testimony, that while he was born in Tarsus he was raised in Jerusalem, learned under the great rabbi Gamaliel, and was more zealous than even these people for the Law.  All of this changed while he was doing what he thought was God's work and there he found that Jesus was indeed Messiah.  Paul had it all at one time and yet now he had what he really needed.  His mind was renewed and he saw all things clearly since that day.

2 October 2014

Psalm 105:1-22; Hosea 5:8-6:6; Acts 21:27-36; Luke 6:1-11

The judgment of God is against all the nation, both Israel (northern kingdom) and Judah (southern kingdom) and the three cities mentioned, Gibeah, Ramah and Beth-aven, lay in a straight line out of Jerusalem.  He is coming in judgment straight up the road, a la a tornado in the Midwest but He is giving warning by sounding the trumpet, via the prophet, that indeed they must take the necessary steps to avoid the judgment.  What must they do?  Repent.  They must turn away from their sin and turn to Him.  This repentance must begin with the leaders of the nations, as they fare, so does the nation.  We can see it right through Israel's history and we can see it in our own history.  His promise is true to the promise He has always made, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  The choice is always ours, are we desperate enough?

Jesus is announcing, on these Sabbaths, who He is but they will not hear Him or see the signs.  In the first instance, the disciples are plucking grain and rubbing it between their hands to release the edible portion.  This was considered work and therefore the Pharisees called them on the violation of Sabbath restrictions.  Jesus' response is twofold, comparing Himself with David who ate the Bread of the Presence in 1 Samuel 21 when he and his men were on the run from Saul, and then to refer to Himself as the Son of Man, a clear messianic term from Daniel.  In the second instance, Jesus is again accused of being a Sabbath breaker because He healed a man on the Sabbath.  They were more concerned about legalities rather than people, the prime mark of a Pharisee.  Love God and love your neighbor are absolutes.  Healing a man on Sabbath was clearly the loving thing to do.  When rules are more important than people you have lapsed over into religion.  We still need to be clear on truth, the loving thing can sometimes mean pointing out the mortal danger of sin.

Jews from the areas where Paul has just been on his missionary work see him in Jerusalem.  He has hastened there, if you recall, to be present at Pentecost, so people from all over would be in the city at this time, celebrating, in part, the giving of the Law at Sinai.  Since Paul has been tagged as opposed to the Law, this is a perfect time to "get him."  Additionally, they have added a false charge of bringing Greeks into the temple and defiling it.  Luke has just told us that Paul himself purified himself according to the Law that he might enter the temple, why would he take Gentiles there who had not done the same?  All this is starting to sound familiar isn't it?  The charges are quite similar to those brought against Jesus, scofflaw and temple profaner.  Ironically, though they don't know it at the time, the days of the temple are coming to an end, just as Jesus said they would.  God has sent His salvation, His final answer, the Messiah, and they have rejected Him, the temple no longer serves its purpose.  Salvation and forgiveness of sins isn't through sacrifice, just as He said through Hosea.  "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."  The Law has been fulfilled.

1 October 2014

Psalm 101, 109; Hosea 4:11-19; Acts 21:15-26; Luke 5:27-39

The people are accused of here idolatry, worshipping other gods in ways the pagan nations surrounding them worshipped.  To hear of Israel inquiring of wooden idols and going to mountaintops to inquire of the gods is heartbreaking.  Christians who seek after fortune-tellers and horoscopes for wisdom and understanding, who mix their Christian faith with other practices and beliefs are no better.  It happens all the time.  Wisdom is given to us from one source, not many.  It comes down to trust, faith that God will do what is best for us.  Do we have the faith to trust Him in all circumstances or not?  The Israelites hedged their bets by sacrificing to the baals to provide rain and fruitfulness for the land and to the Asherah for fecundity in their livestock.  What do you trust in to provide for you?  Does He get all the glory or does your life show fear in holding tightly to what you have gotten for yourself?

The Pharisees took purity to another level.  There is a sense in which we are to keep ourselves pure from some things but never from people.  The Pharisees want to know why the disciples are eating this feast at the home of Matthew, a newly called member of the group, among other tax collectors and sinners.  They would never do such a thing lest they contract defilement.  We are not to worship other gods but we are to love people.  Jesus did things like no other teacher.  He touched lepers and hung out with impure people.  The Pharisees and their disciples believed things about themselves and others that made it impossible to consider such things.  As disciples of Jesus we know more than even the disciples knew this day about this man they were following.  We know that He was indeed holy and He forsook all that to come amongst us.  We are called to go forth in His Name in the same ways He Himself has done for us.

When Paul comes to Jerusalem, James and the others extend the right hand of fellowship and also are sincerely happy to hear of Paul's missionary success among the Gentiles.  They are, however, concerned about the reception among the Jews of Jerusalem given what has been said about Paul's attitude towards the Law.  In order to appease this contingent, it is suggested that Paul accompany four men who are "under a vow" to the temple where they will complete their vow and be released from it.  I watched a denomination be torn apart because of scurrilous rumor and innuendo and we all, every year on Palm Sunday, participate in the triumphal procession into Jerusalem where Jesus is hailed as king and then, minutes later, we participate with the crowd in shouting, "Crucify Him!"  You can't appease a mob, it isn't thinking rationally.  The final breach with the temple was still to come.  Paul, to his credit, accepts their judgment.  Big mistake.