30 September 2012

Psalm 66, 67; Hosea 2:2-14; James 3:1-13; Matt. 13:44-52

The Lord speaks as a husband who has been left by an adulterous wife.  The baals were fertility gods.  Baal worship was lewdness and debauchery.  Baal was supposed to watch the worship of his subjects and then, act likewise with his consort to provide rains for the earth in order that the ground would give of its increase.  Israel, from time to time, played the harlot with baal worship and ascribed the abundance of the crops to this god who was no god rather than Yahweh who was her husband.  It might not be the entire nation that had gone astray but only a portion.  The fact that it was tolerated at all is sin among God's people.  Where are we tolerating false worship in the church today?  Often we allow superstition to enter the house of God and we bear responsibility for that tolerance.  The passage ends with Yahweh deciding not to divorce Israel, His covenant is everlasting, but to woo her and bring her into the wilderness to speak tenderly to her.  His love is never ending and the wilderness is the place of isolation together.

Jesus speak in parables to describe the kingdom of heaven.  The first two parables tell us that the kingdom of God is the most important thing, the most valuable thing, and in order to possess it we must see and realize its value, being willing to sacrifice everything else for it.  We can't have the kingdom of God and something else.  We have promised the kingdom "and" for a long season in the church, seeing it as an addition to what else we have, freeing us to pursue those things because we have an irrevocable claim to the kingdom of God because we once said, "Jesus is Lord."  Does that theology fit with those first two parables?  The final parable tells us that universalism isn't possible, that there is a judgment in the end and that some won't enter the kingdom. 

James teaches what Isaiah learned one day in the temple.  When the seraphim showed up in the temple that day Isaiah realized the gap between the holiness of God and himself and he recognized that he was a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips.  The seraphim seared Isaiah's lips with a burning coal from the altar of incense, which represented the prayers of the nation going up to God.  James says the tongue is still the problem and is there any doubt he is right?  Let us pray with David, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. "  To this formula, James simply adds the works of our lives which are to speak loudly of our commitment to the kingdom of heaven.

29 September 2012

Psalm 87, 90; Hosea 1:1-2:1; Acts 20:1-16; Luke 4:38-44

Hosea's prophetic career certainly had a very strange beginning.  “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”  What would we think today of a prophet who said the Lord had said such things and named their children things like "No mercy" and "Not my people"?  We would surely think the person was mentally ill.  Hosea is commanded to live out the word of the Lord to the people of Israel in order to re-inforce the prophetic word.  He is sharing in the misery of the people by all these things.  The prophet is not standing outside the community lecturing or hectoring it, his own life is given up to the proclamation of the word.  The Lord is punishing the nation for its own whoredom, chasing after other gods, and announcing their punishment and ultimately their restoration through Hosea's message.

We learn here that Peter was a married man as Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.  Again we see demons giving testimony to Jesus as Messiah and yet it is not based on the testimony of demons that we come to Him.  His power over such demons, His power to heal, and His teaching with power and authority are to be the witnesses for us.  If our belief is based in the testimony of demons then have we not then allowed them control?  At the end of this passage we see Jesus going away to a desolate place to be alone in prayer and the word He received is that even though he was popular and there was much ministry to be done here, He was to move on to other places that the kingdom might not be a local phenomenon.

So, was Paul a boring preacher?  He put people to sleep because he delayed preaching until late and then went long.  A young man slept in the window and fell out to his death.  Paul, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is able to raise this man from the dead.  Paul was a man of God and he was so enamored with the Gospel and his desire to instruct and inform the people was so great he couldn’t help himself but to impart as much as possible.  We need men who are filled with that Spirit and passion for the building up of the church in our day if we are to walk in the authority and power we have been given by Jesus.  We need men and women who are prepared to be poured out for the kingdom of God.

28 September 2012

Psalm 88; Esther 8:1-8,15-17; Acts 19:21-41; Luke 4:31-37

It is very strange that the edict itself that was issued by Mordecai under the king's authority is omitted from the reading in the lectionary.  I have no idea why it would be removed.  The edict essentially does what was the policy of the superpowers during the Cold War years, force an impasse.  The Jews were authorized to defend themselves in the event of attack and to plunder in victory.  If your enemy is helpless to defend himself then you can attack with impunity but if he can defend himself and has also the right to plunder your goods in victory, you might think long and hard about whether the risk is worth the while.  Why the king's edict cannot be revoked is interesting, kind of like the pope being infallible in his ex cathedra pronouncements.  At any rate, all's well that ends well, except for Haman and his household.  The book of Esther was hotly debated as to whether it belonged in the canon of Scripture as it makes no mention of God whatever but was finally allowed in because it shows His sovereignty. The festival of Purim in Judaism is based on the story of Esther.

Authority over the unclean spirit is an important part of the package.  The demon attempts to give testimony to Jesus, but He needed not the testimony of demons.  Speaking the Name, knowing a person, implies control and yet here the control all belongs to Jesus.  He makes no inquiry into the name of the spirit, simply commands it to be silent and come out of the person.  The power of Jesus to deal with unclean spirits is important but little talked about in the church.  There are unclean spirits in our world, even though most of us will never come into contact with such things, at least not in this confrontational manner.  In these first two lessons we see authority as important.  Does the church walk in authority?

The riot in Ephesus is completely traceable to a loss of income experienced by those who made their money from supplying idols to the people of their local goddess Artemis.  The people are quickly persuaded that their goddess is under attack and that cannot be tolerated.  There was a temple to Artemis here that was a wonder of the ancient world and she was central to the import of Ephesus.  The crowd apparently has no real idea what is going on and simply proclaim over and again the greatness of their goddess until finally a town clerk speaks sense to them that they are at risk of being charged with rioting, violating the pax Romana, by their actions.  The authority of Rome, it seems, is greater than the authority of Artemis and they quickly disperse. 

27 September 2012

Psalm 146, 147; Esther 7:1-10; Acts 19:11-20; Luke 4:14-30

Apparently the king had a drinking problem.  Again he is drinking when Esther makes her appeal to him concerning her people, just as he has now been on at least three other occasions.  Haman is caught with the queen and even though he is begging for his life to be spared, the king presumes that there is something more in Haman's mind.  Here the story is reminiscent of Joseph's problem in Genesis where he is falsely accused of molesting his master's wife (although the master must have either trusted Joseph or mis-trusted his wife as Joseph was only put into prison).  The king's decision in the matter is that Haman must die, hoisted on his own petard.

Teachers sat to teach, Jesus didn't sit in the congregation, they remained standing to hear the teacher, the opposite of our custom.  The congregation expectantly awaited Jesus' message on this portion of Isaiah and were initially quite pleased when He proclaimed that it was fulfilled this day, the local boy was doing well.  Then, Jesus turns it on them and says that He is actually not accepted in His hometown and points to Old Testament prophets, Elijah and Elisha, and the reality that they were less well accepted in Israel than among the Gentiles.  This is too much, He is lifting up the outsiders to the covenant against them and they apparently decided to kill Jesus for this teaching that began with praise for the gracious words that were coming from His mouth.  Jesus passes through the mob, however. 

Itinerant Jewish exorcists?  These sons of Sceva see the miracles being done in the name of Jesus by Paul and assume that there is some magic in the  Name of Jesus so try it out on some demons and end up fleeing naked from the demons.  These men have no power because they do not believe in Jesus themselves, they have second-hand knowledge of Jesus and that isn't good enough.  Some preachers today teach that the Name of Jesus is a sort of incantation that if we pray in His Name then God is bound to do that thing.  The Name is precious and powerful but only for those who use it aright and with great reverence and humility.  We need have no fear if we stand in Him but the Name is not a magic word.  These men find themselves, like Haman, ruined by their own abuses.

26 September 2012

Psalm 119:97-120; Esther 6:1-14; Acts 19:1-10; Luke 4:1-13

The irony in Haman's misunderstanding is rich.  The king uses the term, "the man whom the king delights to honor" in speaking of Mordecai and Haman believes this surely refers to himself.  He could never have imagined that it was his arch-enemy about whom the king was speaking.  What a shock it would have been for him to be told to do all the great honor he prescribed for Mordecai!  He and his counselors now conclude that this won't end well for Haman, it is going to get worse.

The temptations presented here continue through Jesus' life and ministry.  The first, to turn stones into bread, is something that seems harmless enough but the Father has not commanded it and the fast has not been ended.  Forty days seems a nice Biblical number but it is not the Father commanding Jesus to eat.  In John 6 the people want Jesus to feed them for a second day, but He refuses and the cost is 5000 followers, there Jesus chose the Father's voice over the people's voice.  The second temptation, the offer of kingdom, is one that appears time and again, particularly on Palm Sunday when the crowds greet Him with acclaim as He enters the city for the festival.  Jesus refuses to step into that kingly Messianic role the people want.  The final temptation, to test the Father's love, is heard in Peter's rebuke of Jesus when He spoke of the cross.  What was Jesus' retort?  "Get behind me Satan."  When He heard Peter speaking, He heard Satan's voice.  The only change satan makes in tactics is to use those who are in God's image to present the variations on the basic themes.

Paul recognizes that something is missing in these Christians in Ephesus.  They have received only the baptism of John, they have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit.  How many Christians today are in that same place?  In some churches the Holy Spirit is hardly mentioned and then He is limited in His role today.  In other churches you would conclude that He was the single most important person of the Trinity.  It is important that we have a proper theology of the Holy Spirit and that we know that we have received Him into our lives in order that we can know that we are moving in truth and that we are fulfilling God's plans for our lives, doing those good works that He has prepared for us to walk in.  The church needs more of the power of the Spirit if we are to be effective in a poly-theistic world.