31 August 2011

Psalm 38; 1 Kings 9:24-10:13; James 3:1-12; Mark 15:1-11

Solomon’s wisdom and the prosperity of his kingdom have begun to gain a fame of their own in the region. New trade routes are opened in the alliance with Hiram, king of Tyre. The Mediterranean Sea is opened to Israel and the inland Red Sea is now open to Tyre, extending the influence of both countries. Word of Solomon’s wisdom and wealth comes to the queen of Sheba who must see for herself whether what she has heard is true. She finds that, if anything, his wealth and wisdom are greater than she has been told. The prestige of the kingdom is further enhanced by this new trading partner. In addition, the queen properly ascribes glory and honor to Solomon’s God for these things. She is impressed with Solomon but apparently recognizes that the source is his God.

Pilate questions Jesus concerning the accusations against Him and Jesus answers him quite simply. This is not a time for eloquence or apologetic, that time has passed and plain speech is the order of the day. Pilate, the leaders and the crowds, must decide about Jesus based on all the evidence He has provided in the years of His public ministry. Pilate has no idea what to do with Jesus, desiring to release Him, and believes that surely they will choose Jesus over the man Barabbas. How wrong he was to assume such a thing. The queen of Sheba has shown wisdom of her own in ascribing Solomon’s wisdom to the Lord but these, the people of God, do not rejoice at being blessed by having the Lord Himself among them, they reject Him and His wisdom utterly in favor even of an insurrectionist.

James certainly speaks truth here concerning the power of the tongue. Jesus has taught that it isn’t what goes into a person that defiles them but what comes out of them for it is the overflow of the heart. Even if we could fully bridle the tongue, could we say that we were perfect? Our hearts betray us and we know that we, over time, have indeed learned well not to say everything that comes to our hearts and minds. The tongue is the most powerful weapon the enemy has against us, too many times the problems in our churches are completely due to idle gossip and slander but the source is envy and jealousy and covetousness. Indeed we often will praise God during worship and then slander one another immediately thereafter. Let us use our words to edify and exalt and confess both our faith and our sins.

For her my tears shall fall
For her my prayers ascend,
To her my cares and toils be given
Till toils and cares shall end.

Tune

30 August 2011

Psalm 26, 28; 1 Kings 8:65-9:9; James 2:14-26; Mark 14:66-72

The Lord renews the covenant with Solomon that He had made with his father David. From Genesis we see this same pattern, renewing the covenant with succeeding generations of the family. If Solomon walks in the ways of the Lord, the people will enjoy His divine favor but if Solomon follows after other gods, the people will lose the land. All hinges on the leader for as the leader goes, so go the people. Obedience to the Lord’s command matters. Enjoyment of the covenant blessing is contingent on obedience and faithfulness to Him as covenant partner. Surely such a personal visitation and all that Solomon has seen and experienced of the Lord will be sufficient to keep him walking behind the Lord as his leader. Alas, it will not be true that Solomon remains faithful to the covenant.

Peter wanted to be faithful but his flesh was too weak to stand up to the challenges of life. In the end, he acted out of self-preservation and self-interest. Just as Jesus had prophesied, Peter’s strength and courage failed and he denied Jesus three times under what seems relatively little pressure. The pressure is applied by servant girls of the high priest, not soldiers or the Sanhedrin, and that slight pressure is enough to cause Peter to deny Jesus and then rain down curses on himself. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is there to help the flesh now that the day of Pentecost has come. I see this incident and the events we see in Acts 4 and 5 where Peter stands before the Sanhedrin and boldly swears his allegiance to Jesus as proof positive of the resurrection and of the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. Peter’s boldness on that occasion is testimony to a man who has seen and experienced something extraordinary.

Does James preach a false Gospel? Is he preaching that we are saved by works? No, he is clearly saying that faith must be living and active in order to be counted as faith. There must be evidence of faith being active in our lives, leading us to good works, if we are to say we are new creations and truly alive in our faith. If Jesus had simply claimed to be Messiah and had done nothing to authenticate Himself, would we believe today that He is indeed Messiah? If we are new creations, born by the Spirit, should we not also have works to authenticate that new life? James is calling us to active faith, a life lived according to the faith we have. Our lives now belong to the One who redeemed us, and we are to be used as instruments of His glory in the world around us. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus, doing the works He Himself would be doing if He were among us because, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He is among us. Our salvation is not intended to remain a private matter, it is intended to be the beginning of a new and public proclamation of the power of Christ. Boldness in speech and action are to be characteristic of our new lives.

Should I with scoffers join
Her altars to abuse?
No! Better far my tongue were dumb,
My hand its skill should lose.

Tune

29 August 2011

Psalm 25; 2 Chron. 6:32-7:7; James 2:1-13; Mark 14:53-65

This is lavish worship! The king consecrates the temple with prayer and it is clearly to be a house of prayer for all peoples including those who are foreigners who have come because of the Lord’s great name, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm. The prayer must be offered to the true God. The temple was to be the dwelling place of God on earth, the place from which He would hear the prayers of His people and all who sought Him. It was not to be worshipped for its beauty or any intrinsic value of its own, its entire value was in the fact that God accepted it and filled it with His glory. Outside of His presence, it was simply another building, gloriously constructed as it may be. The same is true of our church buildings today, unless God builds the house, they labor in vain who construct it. After the glory of the Lord fills the temple, the worship of the people is extravagant, can you imagine what a glorious day this would have been for the people?

The accusation that finally seals the deal with the leaders is that Jesus has spoken against the temple, that the temple built with hands will be destroyed and He will rebuild it in three days. He is then asked if He is Messiah, Son of the Blessed and Jesus says, yes. Finally, they have something to hang their hats on, this is blasphemy except, oh wait, it is true so it isn’t blasphemy after all. How far the nation and its leaders have fallen from rejoicing at the consecration of the temple and God’s presence among them to this moment when they reign down blows on God in the flesh. It is easier to live with the shekinah glory than it is the reality of God Himself. The temple itself is now more important than the Lord of the temple. Relationship has become religion.

Right judgments concerning people have nothing to do with their socioeconomic situation. James reminds us that we our normal mistake is to prefer or defer to the wealthy and treat the poor as something less than ourselves. In the law, partiality is defined in both directions, the law was also intended not to prefer the poor, a mistake some make when they say that Jesus preferred the poor. It seems that Jesus actually was equally available, it was simply that the poor recognized their need of Him while the wealthy were comfortable enough to remain apart from Him. Does James mean to speak of universalism when he says mercy triumphs over judgment? Clearly the answer is no, otherwise why speak of judgment at all. He is urging his readers and us to show mercy to all people equally and in so doing, to love our neighbor according to the command of Jesus. Obedience to the command requires mercy on our part and in showing mercy we fulfill that portion of the law of Jesus and we are able to stand in that moment.

If e’er to bless Thy sons
My voice or hands deny,
These hands let useful skills forsake,
This voice in silence die.

Tune

28 August 2011

Psalm 148, 149, 150; 1 Kings 8:22-40; 1 Tim. 4:7b-16; John 8:47-59

Solomon’s prayer of dedication is based very simply on the faithfulness of God to covenant promises. Covenant matters completely to Yahweh. The prayer begins by saying that there is no one like Him who keeps covenant with His people and that there is a covenant with David that did not end with David’s death. The covenant is an everlasting covenant that David will not lack an heir to sit on his throne so long as they are faithful to God, that they walk before Him and keep His ways. In the midst of this prayer, it seems that Solomon suddenly realizes that the idea of a dwelling place for God is sublimely ridiculous. The heavens cannot contain Him, but there is a presumption that He will indeed dwell in this temple in the midst of the people. How can such things be? How amazed would Solomon be to behold Him in the flesh in the form of a baby? Are our prayers, like Solomon’s, based in the covenant promises of God towards us, and the desire to walk before Him?

Indeed, what Jesus says of Himself sounds ludicrous. He claims to have pre-existed Abraham, that Abraham saw Jesus’ day and rejoiced, that if you keep His words you will never taste death. These things are impossible to believe. Without the Holy Spirit bearing witness that these things are indeed true, we cannot believe. The Jews with whom He argues here are very rationally arguing the points, their silly statement, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" aside. As Solomon has noted in his prayer, the things of God are a bit silly to our rational minds, but as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Rationalism has its limits but rationalism denies limits because reason is its god. What lies outside reason is deemed to be superstition or folly. That is the reason that Scripture, tradition and reason, the presumed “three-legged stool” of Anglicanism is a fallacy, faith stands outside of reason and, we would argue, above it. Reason itself must be redeemed to be of true value, it must, paradoxically, understand its own limitations.

Paul tells his young protégé Timothy to pursue godliness. What is godliness? The pursuit of godliness must begin with knowing God, knowing His character. If we are to become like God then we must know what God is like. Solomon begins his prayer by affirming God’s character is faithful covenant keeping. He recognizes also that God keeps covenant with those who are like Him, keeping covenant by obeying the terms of the covenant. Would we enter into a human covenant with someone if we knew that ultimately they had no value for faithfulness, truth or integrity? If we are to be the people with whom God can remain in covenant, we must pursue godliness, to be like the one who made the covenant, and in Jesus the Lord has revealed the character we should have. Have we made a commitment to character development to be like Jesus? He has given us the example and also the Holy Spirit to empower that transformation, what keeps us from the pursuit?

I love Thy kingdom, Lord,

The house of Thine abode,

The church our blessed Redeemer saved

With His own precious blood.

I love Thy church, O God.

Her walls before Thee stand,

Dear as the apple of Thine eye,

And written on Thy hand.

Tune

27 August 2011

Psalm 20, 21; 1 Kings 7:51-8:21; Acts 28:17-31; Mark 14:43-52

The temple is completed and now can serve as a home for the Lord. The ark is brought into the temple and we are told that the only thing in the ark now are the tablets on which the law was written. What has happened to the jar of manna and the staff of Aaron? As the ark is set in its place, the glory of the Lord descends on the temple just as it had on the tabernacle in Exodus 40. The shekinah glory is the symbol of God’s presence in the temple, He has accepted the offering of His servants and this is now the city of God as all can see. Solomon’s prayer of dedication recalls the Lord’s promise to his father David and claims the fulfillment of the divine promise. He has been faithful to David, His promises are sure. Who could have guessed this was the high water mark for the nation?

And so it begins. Judas comes out with the chief priests, scribes, elders and their police force. Judas chooses a kiss as the sign, a symbol of his intimate relationship with Jesus becomes the means by which he betrays Him to them. Jesus has said that the one who dips the bread with him, another symbol of intimate relationship will be the sign given to the disciples. The worst betrayals are those who were formerly intimate with us. What is it that Judas expects to happen next? Surely he believes that this will be the beginning of the overthrow of the existing power structures and now Jesus will step into the role of Messianic king but he will be sorely disappointed. The one promised is preparing to ascend to the throne but it will not be the throne of an earthly king. The path to the throne is through Golgotha. It will be far less glorious to earthly eyes than the dedication of the temple.

As always, Paul’s first audience are the Jews. They come at his bidding and request that he tell them of this Jesus and how Paul has come to his views on this sect which is widely spoken against by the Jews. Paul’s evangelistic efforts yield little result with the Jews and finally he gives up with the words the Lord spoke to Isaiah. Paul has, like Isaiah, been faithful and yet they will not hear or see and come to be healed. For the next two years Paul lived in Rome at his own expense as a prisoner although with much freedom to preach and teach and with that, Luke concludes Paul’s story, leaving it unfinished. All we can assume is that Theophilus knew the ending. Paul trusted in the promise of God from Matthew 28, that Jesus would be with us always, even to the end of the age as we went about the work He gave us to do, the work of baptizing and making disciples.

Savior, if of Zion's city,

I through grace a member am,

let the world deride or pity,

I will glory in thy Name.

Fading is the worldling's pleasure,

all his boasted pomp and show;

solid joys and lasting treasure

Tune