31 July 2011

Psalm 93, 96; 2 Samuel 6:12-23; Rom. 4:7-12; John 1:43-51

David rejoices that the ark of the Lord will finally come to the capital of land, it will be the crowning jewel of the city of David. David’s offering of this city to be the city of God is proven to be acceptable to the Lord by the ark coming there. If God had rejected David’s plan, the ark would never have been allowed to come up to the city. David’s delight translated to action, dancing before the ark and rejoicing before all the people. His actions caused the people to love him more but his wife, Saul’s daughter, Michal, to despise him. David’s concern is not with the propriety of the king’s actions but rather with God’s glory. He is willing to check his dignity at the door, his honor pales in comparison to God’s. Are we willing to abandon ourselves to the worship of the Lord?

Nathanael is a skeptic. His skepticism is founded in Scripture, Messiah doesn’t come from Nazareth and he is right, Messiah wasn’t supposed to come from Nazareth and, as we know, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of David, just as Messiah was intended to do. His brother prevails on him to come anyway with an extraordinary claim, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." He gets wrong not only Jesus’ city of origin but also his father although both are honest mistakes. Nathanael, when he decides to see for himself, makes even greater claims concerning Jesus, Son of God! King of Israel! When he saw Jesus who had first seen him, his heart gave way and he offered worship without restraint.

Have your “lawless deeds” been forgiven, have your sins been covered? The mercy seat of God, the ark which David danced before, contained the commandments of God and the ark had a covering on it which kept the judgment of God on sin against His law “covered.” It was on the cover that the blood of sacrifice was thrown by the high priest once a year to atone for the sins of the nation. The covering and the sacrificial blood thrown on it were important for continuing the covenant and the celebration when the high priest emerged from the holy of holies was powerful, they knew that they were still God’s people. Here, the writer says that those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and our sins covered are blessed. Do we worship as those who are thus blessed by the grace, mercy and love of God? What we have received is extraordinary and the lack of dignity at the cross in His suffering should surely bring us to lose our own in worship.

I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of Thine abode,
The church our blessed Redeemer saved
With His own precious blood.

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30 July 2011

Psalm 75, 76; 2 Sam 5:22-6:11; Acts 17:16-34; Mark 8:1-10

What has Uzzah done wrong that God’s anger should break out against him? The short answer is that he has not respected the holiness of God. It is odd that the ark is being transported on a cart to begin with; the construction of the ark is such that it provides its own means of transport. There are rings built into the ark through which poles are inserted with which the Levites are to carry the ark, it was meant to be carried and indeed it was carried through the wilderness for forty years, surely the distance of this conveyance was not further than those years. Recall also that the ark is the mercy seat of God, and that it resides in the holy of holies where the high priest enters only once a year and at that time he must take pains to prepare himself for an encounter with the living God and that moment was fearsome indeed. Uzzah treats the ark with less respect that it deserves, it is the presence of the living God and to take hold of the ark, even with good intentions, is to transgress. David first responds to the incident with anger and then with holy fear. It is a fearsome thing to fall into the hands of the living God and we need to take into account His holiness when we speak of Him, think of Him and pray to Him.

Mark gives us yet another story of a feeding miracle. In addition to the feeding of the five thousand, Mark tells us of another time when Jesus fed a multitude, this time four thousand. In its details it is similar to the other story, told in a matter of fact manner. Jesus always gives thanks for what He has and then breaks the bread before passing it to the disciples to distribute. We follow that same practice in our eucharist each week. We ask God’s blessing on the offering of bread and wine, break the bread and then distribute it to the communicants. In our common life together this is meant to define our meals. In the Lord’s prayer we pray for our daily bread that we might remember that all we have comes from the Lord, not from our own devices, and in praying before we partake of our food we give thanks for that provision of our daily bread. We remain humble before Him in acknowledging our dependence upon Him.

Here we see something of Paul’s methodology in speaking to Gentiles. With the Jews he began by referring to Scripture to point to Jesus and here in Athens he points to the statue of an unknown god. He has seen that the Athenians are “religious” and he quotes from their poets and philosophers in his argument. He has gotten to know something of Greek culture and affirms that at its best it has found glimpses of truth. He does not attack this culture but points to what it acknowledges it does not know and uses its own terms to preach the Gospel into the void. Jesus is the highest ideal of philosophy and literature and He is also the fulfillment of the aspirations of all humanity, He answers all our questions no matter what our cultural background. Paul, however, is not uncritical concerning the culture, he makes an appeal based on the finality of God’s truth in Jesus, the time has now come to stop speculating and decide, repent of the sinfulness of rejecting God’s revelation. The time is now to come to a conclusion, the truth is here in Jesus, the time for forbearance of ignorance is ended. There is reason to fear the Lord and yet He offers salvation in belief of His revealed truth.

Crown Him the Lord of lords, who over all doth reign,

Who once on earth, the incarnate Word, for ransomed sinners slain,

Now lives in realms of light, where saints with angels sing

Their songs before Him day and night, their God, Redeemer, King.

Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time,

Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.

All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou has died for me;

Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.

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29 July 2011

Psalm 69; 2 Sam 5:1-12; Acts 17:1-15; Mark 7:24-37

David consolidates the kingdom. The people of Israel, the northern kingdom, offer themselves as subjects and the kingdom is re-united after the brief interregnum of Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, but this unification will not last, it will be lost under David’s grandson. This period is the heyday of the nation. David first reigns at Hebron and then captures the city of Jerusalem from the inhabitants, the Jebusites and establishes the capital there. The Jebusites do not believe David can capture their fortified city on a hill and taunt him with the saying that even the blind and lame are sufficient to defend against him. The conquest is completed swiftly and David begins the work of nation building, beginning with establishing a city worthy of the Lord. Such is David’s renown that the king of Lebanon, Hiram, a neighbor, offers timbers with which David’s house can be built, a gesture of good-will and intentions. It would seem that this king knows that David is a formidable opponent and wants to be on his good side.

Jesus encounters a Syrophoenician woman who is determined that her daughter will be healed by this man. She makes no plea based on worthiness. She is a Gentile and yet she has come to this Jewish man whom she has heard has the power to heal, her only appeal is love for her daughter and a belief that Jesus can drive out this evil spirit. She is done with pride and only wants to see her daughter whole, her response to Jesus is that she may not be a child but there are certainly crumbs left over even for the dogs at the children’s table and it is for crumbs that she pleads. In our worship we use the prayer of Humble Access which says in part that “we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table.” It is with this attitude that we approach Jesus, knowing who He is and who we are and that we receive from Him because He is merciful and grace-filled. We are not beggars but we are unworthy in the light of His worthiness but we also acknowledge His property is always to have mercy so we depend on His character being unchanging and with confidence we approach the throne, confidence that is based on Jesus’ worthiness and God’s merciful character.

Paul continues his practice of going first to the synagogues to proclaim Jesus. He first identifies with the Jews, the people of God, those who should recognize Jesus most readily, and expands his ministry as possible to the Gentiles. It is interesting that in our day we debate the idea of sharing the Gospel with the Jews and Paul and the apostles always did so. Paul uses Scripture in his apologetic to the Jews, he “speaks their language.” We know relatively little about his approach to the Gentile mission. Paul always moves forward in the face of opposition believing that nothing can hinder the work of God in spreading His kingdom. He is a man of courage and faith in God, just as David was, even though their aims were quite different. Advancing the kingdom has always required courage, whether of military leaders or of missionaries.

Crown Him the Lord of Heaven, enthroned in worlds above,
Crown Him the King to Whom is given the wondrous name of Love.
Crown Him with many crowns, as thrones before Him fall;
Crown Him, ye kings, with many crowns, for He is King of all.

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28 July 2011

Psalm 70, 71; 2 Sam 4:1-12; Acts 16:25-40; Mark 7:1-23

What were you thinking? That is David’s reaction to these two men who have murdered Ish-bosheth. Surely they knew the story about what happened to the messenger who gave David word about Saul and Jonathan and claimed some part in Saul’s death. Why would these two have believed that David would reward them for their treachery against Saul’s son? David was a man who trusted the Lord to establish what He had promised. He had not taken action against Saul nor had he taken arms against Ish-bosheth during the two years of his reign as king over Israel, he had waited on the Lord to act. In this, David is a model for us in waiting patiently for the Lord and trusting Him to bring about His will for our lives. Also in this passage we meet Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth who is heir to the covenant between David and Jonathan.

Jesus teaches that true cleanliness is a matter of the heart. The Pharisees concerned themselves with external observances and were careful to keep all the law concerning these external things and yet within they were seething and we know that because they were primarily responsible for the crucifixion. Unlike David, their anger at the one they perceived as their enemy, Jesus, caused them to take matters into their own hands and deal with Jesus rather than allowing God to do so. Too often we judge only by appearances rather than by the heart. We can make a show of being good and religious but our hearts can be far from the Lord. It is easier to manage my conduct in public than it is to manage my heart, that requires prayer, honesty, and a work of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord uses the arrest of Paul and Silas to bring their jailer to Himself. The missionaries are praying and singing praises to God in spite of the fact that they have been beaten and thrown into jail although they are innocent of any crime. Is that our reaction to persecution? They experience the deliverance of the Lord in the opening of the prison doors yet they do not leave the cell. The jailer is prepared to kill himself in the mistaken belief that the prisoners have surely escaped and death at his own hand is preferable to what the Romans will do to him for dereliction of duty. Paul reassures the jailer that all the prisoners are present and accounted for and the man takes the missionaries home, cleanses their wounds and instead of dying this night receives the gift of eternal life through belief in Jesus. The sovereignty of God is a marvelous reality not simply a doctrine but it requires us to have the mind of Christ that seeks the glory of God in all things in order to appreciate this reality. Paul and Silas trusted in the Lord, rejoiced in Him in persecution and saw Him do a wonderful thing through them. How often do we miss such opportunities because we take matters into our own hands?

Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side,
Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.

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27 July 2011

Psalm 72; 2 Sam 3:22-39; Acts 16:16-24; Mark 6:47-56

Joab gets revenge and clears the path for David to become king. Joab’s brother has been put to death by Abner and Abner was also responsible for the setting up of Ish-bosheth as king over Israel when David was clearly intended to be king of all the people. When Joab hears that David had Joab one on one and didn’t kill him, he undertakes to do the job himself without telling David. David has plausible deniability in this killing, he can distance himself from the murder which is one more feather in his cap as far as the people are concerned. We don’t know what David expected when he and Joab had finished their conversation about Abner but it seems possible that David had some idea what would happen next. He does, however, call down curses on Joab and instructs him to join in the mourning for the man he has just murdered. All that David does pleases the people at this point, and this episode serves to further solidify his hold on the throne.

Jesus’ popularity is on the rise. As the disciples are in the midst of a storm on the sea, Jesus appears to them walking on the water and commands them to not be afraid and the word of peace He speaks is “It is I.” Fear may have gone from them when the wind died and the waves calmed but in their spirits they were certainly not completely at peace. How could Jesus have done all these things, walking on water, speaking to the wind and waves and received their obedience? Who is this man? It is important that we understand and know that Jesus is co-extensive with God the Father and that His command to the created order is obeyed in exactly the same way as the Father’s voice was obeyed at creation. His power is undiminished. The people, on hearing that Jesus has landed at Gennesaret run about the region gathering together the sick and lame for Jesus to heal but His disciples know now that He is much more than a healer.

Why does Paul get annoyed with the slave girl who is telling the truth about his mission? Her testimony is true but its source is evil. Her words draw attention to Paul but at the same time bespeak another power. Her owners have used this power for gain and the fact that she “knows” things is calling people to seek after her wisdom which does not come from the Lord. Paul commands not the person but the demonic force within her to come out of her and with that her power to foretell is gone and her owners no longer have this extra earning power they have enjoyed so they rouse the people against Paul and Silas to put them into prison. The word of the Lord, spoken by Paul, causes the demons to obey but people to rebel. Free will means that it is easier to command demons than people, we have the power to say no. We can reject His kingship or lordship over our lives in a way that the rest of creation cannot and it is certainly to our detriment that this is so.

Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife for those He came to save.
His glories now we sing, who died, and rose on high,
Who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.

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