30 June 2011

Psalm 131, 132; 1 Samuel 13:5-18; Acts 8:26-40; Luke 23:13-25

The Philistines come against the Israelites with overwhelming force and the people fear them, hiding in caves and clefts of the rock. Samuel has commanded Saul to go to Gilgal and wait seven days for his coming and Saul obeys and yet was Samuel testing him to see if he would act presumptuously? Saul indeed sees that his men are leaving him for fear he decides to wait no longer and to offer sacrifices to seek the favor of the Lord. It almost sounds like Saul believes that there is some sort of magic associated with the offering of sacrifice, it will please God and He is then bound to act on behalf of the king and the army against the Philistines. There are teachers today who preach that when we speak we bind God to act based on our words as though they were an incantation that necessarily brings into existence what we speak. Saul has stepped out of his lane in offering this sacrifice and has not trusted in the Lord. For this transgression, Samuel says that the Lord will not bless him as He would have if Saul had been obedient. There will be a king after God’s own heart and it will not be Saul.

Pilate finds no guilt in Jesus and yet decides to punish Him and release Him. Pilate knows that this crowd won’t be appeased with simply releasing Jesus thus the punishment even for an innocent man. They will not be appeased with anything other than the death penalty. Ultimately Pilate values peace more than justice and decides to acquiesce to their demands. Often we choose the path of least resistance rather than demanding justice although it is a higher value to the Lord. This scene is the ultimate in injustice and also in presumption. After all Jesus has done among them how could they possibly demand that He now be crucified? We wanted to know good and evil and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and now we see that sin overcame that knowledge, the ultimate good stands before men and is condemned as evil in the belief that good is somehow being done.

The eunuch is reading from Isaiah about one who will be killed even though he is righteous and justice will be perverted. It seems odd that Philip would have been taken away from Samaria where the Lord was doing great things among many people to come here and witness to one man, a man who would have no offspring after him to whom the faith could be committed, but through this man, a nation would hear the Gospel. There were Jews in Ethiopia and through this man the secrets of the prophetic words would be shared with them, the interpretive key, Jesus, would be proclaimed. While he would have no descendants in the physical sense, this man would be the father of the faith in his land. Philip preached the Gospel to and baptized one man here but the impact was great, we must not measure the things of God by the standards of men.

Let all who name Christ’s holy Name give God all praise and glory;
Let all who own His power proclaim aloud the wondrous story!
Cast each false idol from its throne, for Christ is Lord, and Christ alone:
To God all praise and glory.

Tune

29 June 2011

Psalm 119:145-176; 1 Samuel 12:1-6,16-25; Acts 8:14-25; Luke 23:1-12

Samuel chastises the people for their request for a king. His valedictory address is similar, albeit far shorter, than Moses’ address, the book of Deuteronomy but it bears resemblance to that speech. Samuel has a bit of personal bitterness over the people choosing to have a king like the other nations as this was never the Lord’s intention for His people. Saul has not yet become the disappointment he will soon be, and perhaps Samuel is not speaking here of the current occupant of the throne, but the Lord has given him a prophetic word concerning the type king they will have in the future. He does a final sign to them showing that his prophetic words are true and that this thing is a great sin. Although he is angry with them, he finishes his words with a promise to continually pray for them and also the encouragement to continue to follow the Lord and not seek after empty things. He is a good priest in that he is certain about what is sin but also certain that the Lord is merciful and sovereign.

The charge is that Jesus is claiming to be a king and forbidding the people to give tribute to Caesar. Had He done any such thing? When had He forbidden them to pay taxes to Caesar? When had He said He was king? Here He says to Pilate that He is king by agreeing with Pilate’s own statement but remember that the leaders of the people were not present to hear this, they had remained outside so as not to defile themselves by contact with the Gentiles on the eve of Passover. Pilate heard the statement and said he found no guilt. Pilate tried to recuse himself from the trial as Jesus was a Galileean so Herod technically had jurisdiction. Herod had heard about Jesus and hoped that He would perform for him yet Jesus refused even to speak so since He wouldn’t provide entertainment they used Him for their entertainment in the way they saw fit before sending Him back to Pilate. The sin of asking for a king has now reached its ultimate nadir, they are physically rejecting Jesus/ God as king in favor of Caesar.

Simon comes to understand something of the power of the Holy Spirit. He thought of the apostles as magicians like himself and sought to purchase their “trick” from them. He presumed that they could teach him how to do what they had done in imparting the Holy Spirit through the laying on of their hands and then he could do this as well. The impartation of the Holy Spirit, however, is not a parlor trick, it is the work of God through human beings. Peter rebukes Simon for his offer and calls down the judgment of God on Simon for the sin of bitterness and jealousy in his heart. In all three lessons we see people who take God lightly, the people wanting and earthly king to replace their heavenly king, Herod expecting Jesus to do signs for his amusement and here Simon believing the work of God to be a magic trick. Where might we be guilty of diminishing the work of God or the person of God in our lives, our worship, our prayers, our thoughts and our hearts? Let us ask for a vision like Isaiah had in the temple so that He might be restored to the throne and to His majesty, glory and holiness in our lives.

Thus, all my toilsome way along, I sing aloud Thy praises,
That earth may hear the grateful song my voice unwearied raises.
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart, both soul and body bear your part:
To God all praise and glory.

Tune

28 June 2011

Psalm 121, 122, 123; 1 Samuel 11:1-15; Acts 8:1-13; Luke 22:63-71

Saul’s kingship begins well. Some of his fellow countrymen are in peril, being threatened by the Ammonites. They hesitate to make a treaty to save themselves from this threat and instead ask for seven days respite to seek others who will come to their aid. They seek human aid from Saul, the newly minted king, and the Spirit of God is given to him to lead the nation to battle on behalf of their brothers. The result is that God triumphs over the enemies of Israel by drawing overwhelming response from the nation. The people go to Gilgal to celebrate the victory and “renew the kingdom” which is best translated as reaffirm the kingship of Saul. His magnanimity towards those who had previously opposed him reveals a man who is understands what it means to be a king after God’s heart. It is to his credit that he pardons those who have opposed him.

Jesus’ kingship doesn’t begin so well. Saul’s celebration was over the triumph of God, that salvation had come to the nation that day. The savior of not only the nation but of all the world is here on trial and rejected by all the nation for failing to be the savior and messiah they want Him to be. His work is far greater than Saul’s yet there is no celebration of Jesus this day. The Lord had said that in seeking a king like all the other nations the people were rejecting Him as their king and here we see Him, in person, being rejected as king. The Lord Himself, in the form of Jesus, is in their midst and their reaction is to mock Him, spit upon Him, beat Him and demand that He be put to death. Rejection of Jesus is serious business and yet His judgment is not exercised against them this day. Ultimately, if we continue to reject Him, we will indeed be judged but when we bow the knee as we are told shall be done by all, we will have judged ourselves.

The stoning of Stephen touched off two things, persecution of the church and the beginnings of the missionary movement in Christianity. Saul/Paul began to vigorously persecute the church under the auspices of the temple wherever he could find followers of Jesus and at the same time this persecution drove all but the apostles, those who were given the Great Commission, to leave Jerusalem. The first mission endeavor was undertaken in Samaria (recall John 4) by the deacon Stephen, and it was a tremendous success! Even the magician Simon came to believe but he wasn’t fully in the kingdom and didn’t fully understand all that he was seeing. Jesus may have been rejected by the leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem, but He was being accepted by more and more wherever the Gospel was proclaimed. The kingdom is being renewed!

The Lord is never far away, but through all grief distressing,
An ever present help and stay, our peace and joy and blessing.
As with a mother’s tender hand, God gently leads the chosen band:
To God all praise and glory.

Tune

27 June 2011

Psalm 106:1-18; 1 Samuel 10:17-27; Acts 7:44-8:1a; Luke 22:52-62

Not a truly auspicious beginning to Saul’s consecration as king. The people are first reminded that the only reason this is happening is that they have rejected God as king over them. Surely this also brought to mind, particularly to Samuel, the words he was given to speak concerning what kind of king they would have. Would Saul be that sort of king or would that one come at a later time? Here we see further signs concerning Saul’s choice by the Lord, first lots were drawn and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen as the tribe from which the king would be taken, then lots drawn and Saul indicated but Saul had hidden from them. With all these signs, how could Saul be so reticent to take this office? It is, in fact, partially to his credit that he is so humble at this point but it casts some doubt on his ability to be a leader. He certainly looks like God’s leader as they note that there is physically none like him. Samuel sets down the rules governing the kingship, an interesting idea. This king is subordinate to the King. As always, there is a mixed opinion of this king. There never seems to be a true consensus even when God clearly demonstrates who His chosen one is.

What a horrible story to have memorialized about you for all time. Peter fulfills Jesus’ prophecy concerning his denial of Jesus, in spite of his bold protestations he would never do such a thing. His fear of man overcame his love of Jesus. He lost his faith when he saw the power of these men over Jesus. He cared only for himself and when he heard the rooster crow his guilt and shame must have been overwhelming. His grief over the next few days would have been magnified by his own failures and how great his joy must have been when the resurrected Jesus did not chastise him or remind him directly of this failure but restored him gently and lovingly to leadership among his brothers (John 21). Like Saul, he hides from identification with God’s purpose and call on his life. This, however, is prior to the giving of the Spirit when Peter truly becomes a new man, the man he always wanted to be.

Stephen abruptly breaks off his sermonizing about other people, those who lived a thousand years before his time, and accuses his accusers of being just like these others. As Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie, A Few Good Men, said, “You can’t handle the truth.” The people here react with anger, cover their ears and shout in order to drown out the words of Stephen while He is seeing Jesus at the right hand of the Father and also speaking the words Jesus spoke from the cross as He died. As these are rejecting Stephen’s testimony concerning Jesus, Saul stands at the side, holding the cloaks of those throwing stones and approving of this action. Did Saul, like Peter, regret this moment every day of his life thereafter. He will need to be called out of his life and turned around in order to fulfill God’s purpose and plan for his life. Where are we hiding from God’s plan for us?

What God’s almighty power hath made His gracious mercy keepeth,
By morning glow or evening shade His watchful eye ne’er sleepeth;
Within the kingdom of His might, Lo! all is just and all is right:
To God all praise and glory.

Tune

26 June 2011

Psalm 118; 1 Samuel 10:1-16; Rom. 4:13-25; Matt. 21:23-32

Saul is confirmed as king, complete with three signs given to him to confirm it in his own heart. The final sign was that he would come upon a band of prophets and the spirit of God would rush on him and he would also prophesy and “be turned into a new man.” As he began to move in the direction Samuel indicated, we are told that God gave Saul a new heart. These two expressions are common to us in Christianity but were certainly uncommon in Judaism at this particular period. We don’t see comparable things being said of anyone prior to this episode with Saul. Saul is looking for the signs along the way and all three are received yet when his uncle asks what Samuel had said to him, he only speaks of the donkeys, not of kingship. As he would be the first king of Israel, it was indeed proper for him to wait until the man who ruled over Israel came and passed the torch as it were, the announcement was Samuel’s to make.

Who had given Jesus the authority to teach in the temple, to have driven out the moneychangers from the temple courts, and to do miracles? They knew they had not given Him this authority and He needed to give them an accounting for His actions. Jesus knew that a direct answer, I act on the authority of God Himself, would not have gone down well with either the leaders or the people. His answer was to put the leaders on the defensive as the people had accepted John’s word and His baptism for the repentance of sins. The parable speaks the same word as the question, these people had accepted John’s word, had repented and now were about the business of the Father while these leaders supposedly said yes to God’s will but were not doing what they agreed to do. In the first lesson, Saul turned from Samuel to go where He was told, He began to go in a different direction than home, walking in a new life, and in that action began to walk with God as Father and was given a new heart. These leaders were not willing to repent and do the work of God.

What is the ultimate sign on which our faith rests? The resurrection confirms all about Jesus that needs to be confirmed. The disciples hoped that Jesus was Messiah, but they believed it fully after the resurrection from the dead. Their faith rested in the resurrection, everything flows from that point forward. The writer here says that this is the basis of our faith. Abraham believed God’s promise, no matter how unlikely it seemed that he and Sarah would have children of their own, no matter how long the fulfillment of the promise took. The writer is encouraging these believers to persevere in faith as the coming of Christ is delayed. They and we are not to give up hope as we wait. We are to turn from everything else and believe because of the resurrection of Jesus, that it means that we will live with Him in glory forever. We have been given a new heart to joyfully await His coming.

Sing praise to God Who reigns above, the God of all creation,
The God of power, the God of love, the God of our salvation.
With healing balm my soul is filled and every faithless murmur stilled:
To God all praise and glory.

Tune