30 November 2011

Psalm 119:1-24; Amos 3:12-4:5; 2 Pet. 3:1-10; Matt. 21:23-32

Amos continues to prophecy concerning the Lord’s judgment against Israel. His primary complaints, it would seem, concern the idle rich and false worship offered at Bethel. Prosperous times are often a snare to God’s people. We build bigger houses and barns and give thanks for the blessings of this life but it is also a great temptation to set our store by these things rather than the One who has provided them. We have lived in our day through a time when the Gospel is preached as health and prosperity rather than eternal things. It did not prepare us for difficulty. Amos sarcastically addresses the people of Israel both for their wealth and their worship. Do we worship the Lord for who He is or what He provides?

What lies behind the question of authority? They are the authorities who can grant permission to teach and they want to know who gave Jesus permission to do as He does. Surely if we saw someone in our churches through whom God was healing people we wouldn’t ask by what authority they do such things. They have already broached this topic with Jesus and suggested it was by the power of satan that He cast out demons, so they are a bit more careful this time. Jesus returns their question by asking about John the Baptist, the people’s hero, who had been responsible for preparing a people to receive Jesus. The leaders know that they risk the people’s ire if they deny John in any way. Jesus’ rebuke that the tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom before these religious leaders surely angered these men more than we can imagine. In doing so, He answers His own question by affirming John’s ministry and its results in the lives of these others.

Even in his day Peter is dealing with scoffers who don’t believe that Jesus is returning. We, a couple thousand years later, surely must deal with the same and worse. As His return is delayed, we need more encouragement and reminding that the prophets, including Jesus Himself, promised that He would return and bring all things to subjection under He who created all things. Peter uses some interesting imagery to make His point that water was involved in the beginning of creation and yet all this will be destroyed by fire in the end. He gives comfort to those who are waiting and watching but also wondering why Jesus hasn’t returned in speaking of a thousand years as a day to the Lord. While we wait we must wait as those who are called and chosen, as those who are anxious for an eternity of life in the kingdom of God by preparing for it now and embracing its contours in this life.

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Tune

29 November 2011

Psalm 5, 6; Amos 3:1-11; 2 Pet. 1:12-21; Matt. 21:12-22

Amos prophesies further against Israel and the Lord’s complaint is based on the reality that they are “chosen” or “known” in a special way. They alone are known by Him in this way. The next few verses reveal that cause and effect is a reliable system for thinking. The reason Israel is to be judged is that they have plundered their own. They have stored up violence and robbery in their own strongholds. The judgment will be carried out by an enemy who will surround them and plunder those same strongholds. As Christians, we are responsible to the Lord for our chosenness in the same way the Jews were/are responsible. It doesn’t take long to see that we could certainly be charged with the same offenses towards other Christians. Jesus’ main charge was for us to love one another as the means of revealing who we are and whose we are.

Jesus drives the money-changers and sellers of sacrificial animals out of the temple. Indeed, they had turned it into a profit center, preying in some cases on pilgrims who needed to be sure their sacrifice would be guaranteed acceptable to the priests. In addition, these vendors were set up in the court of the Gentiles, where the nations could draw near and hear what was being taught and to pray to Yahweh even though they had no special standing with Him. They were being kept from knowledge, wisdom and understanding. As soon as the vendors are gone we are told of the blind and lame coming for healing and that the chief priests and scribes are indignant with Jesus and those who sing His praises. They are upset with the riff-raff who have come to Jesus. Sounds like the Amos passage doesn’t it?

What is the role of prophecy and what is true prophecy? Peter speaks of prophecy concerning the end times in this passage and assures us that all prophecy in the Bible is of God. The standard for prophecy is ultimately whether the prophetic word comes true but how do we deal with it in the meantime? We are told that the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets so we need to submit ourselves to one another when we hear from the Lord. Prophecy in the church is meant to build up but that doesn’t imply that it will always be pleasant to hear, sometimes the church needs correction as well as encouragement. We are called to be a peculiar people and we need sometimes to be reminded of that reality, mostly when we have gone astray from that mandate. If we heed a word in time, we will be spared much pain and anguish later.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

Tune

28 November 2011

Psalm 1, 2, 3; Amos 2:6-16; 2 Pet. 1:1-11; Matt. 21:1-11

The Lord’s complaint is based on what He has specifically done for Israel in giving them the land. They have seen and experienced His lovingkindness and for that reason they are held to a higher standard. The same is true of any who have taken the Name of Jesus and, as James reminds us, there is a higher standard still for those who would teach the Word of God. To whom much is given, much is expected. It is easy to point fingers at the world for its sinfulness but, as the old saw goes, when you do there are three other fingers pointing back at you. Amos, speaking for the Lord, promises that not only is the standard higher for Israel than for those nations who do not know the Lord or His ways, the judgment will be harsh and none will avoid it.

There would have been enormous crowds in Jerusalem for Passover and some would have known about Jesus and others perhaps wouldn’t have recognized Him at all. In fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah Jesus comes into town on a donkey, a symbol of peace, as opposed to a horse which was a symbol of war. This was a different kind of King and a different kind of kingdom. What did the people expect would happen next after this word was fulfilled? Did they expect Jesus to somehow be enthroned? Their cry is “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” The plea is “Save us!” The cry is from Psalm 118 and is a song of deliverance, greeting the Messiah. Indeed, Jesus is going to answer that prayer, but not in a way anyone will recognize until after the Resurrection.

What a humble address, “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ…” Peter is an apostle, if some are believed, the apostle of apostles, and yet he recognizes these are equals in faith because of Jesus. Yesterday we talked about preparation, today Peter gives practical advice on how to prepare. His prescription is to add to faith things like virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. These do not save us more than faith, but they are the virtues of godly people, they keep our lives focused on the right things. We become the kind of people God wants us to be and we become more prepared to greet Him with joy rather than fear or shame. Just as He is a different kind of king, so are we to be a different kind of people.

27 November 2011

Psalm 146, 147; Amos 1:1-5,13-2:8; 1 Thess. 5:1-11; Luke 21:5-19

Amos’ prophecy begins with the Lord’s judgment against the surrounding nations and surely the people of God were happy to hear of this. In the second chapter, in verse four, Amos goes from preaching to meddling by pronouncing the Lord’s judgment against Judah and Israel. The nations were chastised for very particular sins, threshing Gilead, cutting open the wombs of the women of Gilead, etc., sins in any cultural setting, sins against natural law. God’s own people, however, are accused of rejection of His law and of not keeping His statutes, the rejection of righteousness, injustice to the poor and afflicted, and other moral failures. We are held to a higher level of responsibility than those who do not know Him.

As others admire the temple Jesus speaks of its destruction. Unlike Amos, Jesus does not lay the blame for this at the feet of the people or the leaders in this particular instance. He is simply warning them about what will come and that they are not to be fooled by anything that happens and they are not to believe claims that He has returned. The promise is that there will be persecution against Jesus’ followers and that they are not to prepare for their trials because they will be given all they need to speak in their own defense and that wisdom will confound their accusers. Endurance is the key to surviving this persecution.

We are to be always prepared to meet the Lord. In several parables He told the disciples that the best way to be prepared is to always be about the Father’s business. We live 2000 years after Jesus, any way you slice it that is an incredibly long time to wait for His return. Some days it seems amazing to me that one man who lived that long ago has had such an enduring impact on the world. We are waiting for Him but how we wait matters. We are to be awake and to encourage one another to remain awake and in service when the Master returns. Let us persevere.

26 November 2011

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

In the week of judgment prophecy we come to Micah’s vision of what remains after that fierce judgment has passed. Micah sees Israel as extending her borders and the nations in humility and fear coming to her. Their own lands and kingdoms lie in waste and they come to see the glory of Israel still standing. She is the Lord’s own and He has protected her in His great love for her and now all the surrounding nations will come and see her as the Lord sees her. In the end, Micah gives praise to God for His mercy and forgiveness but above all for His steadfast love and faithfulness to the covenant in spite of Israel’s apostasy. What a joy it is to know that our covenant relationship rests on His faithfulness and not our own. We know ourselves well enough to know that if it were there would be no hope for us.

In spite of what He knows will be His own lot, Jesus is never too busy to show compassion on others. In His own hour of need others still are more important. These two blind men on the road call out to Him using a Messianic title, Son of David and the crowds, eager to bask in the glory of Jesus, attempt to silence the men. Jesus, however, has compassion on them and asks what they want Him to do for them. They do not want alms or charity, they want something no earthly king could grant, their sight. No one ever stops me on the street asking for such things, it is always about money, but Jesus is no ordinary king. He is able and willing to grant them their request and they join in the apostolic band as they go to Jerusalem. They will now be eyewitnesses to something they would rather not have seen with their eyes. Better perhaps to have been blind than to see what will be done to the one who has given them sight.

It is strange to see Peter, of all people, encouraging the church to endure suffering gladly, thankful even for being counted worthy to share in Christ’s sufferings. You can almost see Jesus looking down at Peter with a wry smile on His face as He remembers that this same Peter was so afraid that he might suffer for Jesus that he denied knowing Him to even a slave girl. Peter was a man utterly transformed into the man he wanted to be by the death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in his life. Peter will indeed suffer for Jesus in his time and he will go willingly to his death. Peter had learned that eternal glory was far better than anything this world had to offer and now he lived for Christ alone, he knew there was life beyond the grave.

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.

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