31 May 2014

Psalm 87, 90; Num. 11:16-17,24-29; Eph. 2:11-22; Matt. 7:28-8:4

The burden of oversight and leadership of the people became too great for Moses to bear alone and the Lord graciously gave of His Spirit to seventy of the elders of the people.  Are these the same elders who went up the mountain with him in Exodus 19?  The elders were given some of the Spirit and there was immediate confirmation that this was true in their prophesying but they did not continue to prophesy.  We don't know exactly what it meant that they prophesied, we have only had one so far who is called a prophet, Miriam, so neither the office nor duties are clear in the books of Moses (Genesis-Deuteronomy).  Even Miriam's role as prophet is somewhat unclear.  The Lord also showed that no matter what He was still sovereign, as the prophetic gift was given to two in the camp not chosen by Moses, Eldad and Medad.  Moses' prayer, that all God's people be prophets, is the promise of Joel in the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh, fulfilled at Pentecost.

Jesus teaches with a power and authority that is greater than the scribes.  That authority is the authority of the Law giver Himself, no one knew and understood the original intent of the Law better than Jesus.  We, by the power of the Spirit, have an authority in understanding that surpasses all that came before Pentecost.  We can access the depths of the wisdom of God through the Spirit but that does not mean that we can understand anything contrary to Jesus.  All our understanding is subject to His teachings. As He comes down the mountain, a leper presents himself in humility.  Today I hear people teaching that we shouldn't pray as this man does, "If it is your will…"  We should always approach God in our prayers with exactly this humility, we don't fully have the mind of the Lord, we remain in the flesh with regards to good and evil in these situations.

It is by the Spirit that we all have access to the Father but that Spirit comes via Jesus.  If we make no confession of Him that is at one with the confession of heaven itself, from Revelation 5, that He alone is worthy to receive glory and honor, power and blessing, unique in the history not only of earth but of all creation, in heaven, on earth or under the earth, we do not have the Spirit of God.  We may have a spirit but it isn't holy unless it leads to a confession of Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life, all definite articles.  In that Spirit and confession we are made one with Him and one with one another.  There should be a unity among the church that is indivisible because it is a  unity of Spirit.  When we have disunity in the body there is a spiritual problem that should be addressed.  We are submitted to one head, pastor and people alike, or we are in the flesh.

30 May 2014

Psalm 85, 86; 1 Sam. 2:1-10; Eph. 2:1-10; Matt. 7:22-27

Why do we shift over to Hannah's prayer the day after the Ascension?  The work of salvation is complete in the ascension of Christ to the throne.  When He takes His rightful place and receives the worship of heaven it is as the lamb looking like it was slain, He has completed the assignment and now takes up the new role of intercessor for us.  The beginning of the end has come, now it is all over but the final battle but the victory is won.  Hannah has simply borne a child, nothing more.  She was barren, probably for a long time, but the Lord has heard her prayer for a child and now she exults not in that alone, but in all things.  Her faith is complete.  He is creator, He is sustainer, He is salvation.  Read back over that prayer and look at all that she affirms because she has a child and see where your own faith needs to be strengthened.

The working of miracles in the Name of Jesus could indicate only that someone was practicing magic and using His Name as their incantation.  The Name has power but the sons of Sceva found that unless you know Him using it can be dangerous.  Nonetheless, mighty things are possible by the proclamation of the Name, Jesus, the Lord saves.  Like Hannah, our lives are to be built on the truth of that Name.  If we stand on that truth, we will not falter in storms because we aren't standing in our own strength but His.  If we believe that we or someone else is responsible for our salvation in all things, we will fall because no other strength is sufficient.  I can't save myself, I am not a righteous man, I fail to meet God's standard of perfection, only Jesus has met that standard.  Revelation 5 tells me that no one was found under the earth (wherever that may be), on earth or even in heaven itself who could meet that standard until that lamb looking like it was slain appeared before the throne and then all eyes were on Him and heaven rejoiced at His appearing, the long reign of sin and darkness was ending.

You were dead in your trespasses and sin.  Not dying, not drowning, dead, at the bottom of the ocean, no life was in you.  You couldn't have caught and held onto a life preserver if one had been thrown.  Jesus had to dive into the depths, bring you back up, and give you life.  You were no less dead than Lazarus, and it could be said of you, "He stinketh" and that stink was the stench of death.  It is only by the mercy, love and grace of God that you live in Christ.  You were incapable of responding, like the lump of dust into which God breathed the breath of life and Adam became a living being.  The initiative was His to save you, the work was His to save you, you have only faith and that itself is a gift from God.  Is that truth worthy of praise to Jesus today?

29 May 2014 - Ascension Day

Psalm 8, 47; Dan. 7:9-14; Heb. 2:5-18; Matt. 28:16-20

Daniel sees what John saw, just in less detail.  The apocalyptic vision of Daniel is a condensed version of the Revelation.  This passage begins with one like the Ancient of Days seated on a throne with myriad attendants on Him, a fearsome image of judgment.  The beast is killed in judgment, its body destroyed and given to flames.  The other beasts' dominion is taken away and they are dealt with, the kingdom is being fully established.  At that time, one like a son of man came and to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom.  That kingdom is all the peoples of the earth and it is an everlasting dominion, not a temporal one.  The revelation Daniel saw was things taking place all at once whereas in the Revelation of John we see Jesus come before the throne, the end of the Ascension story, and then the events unfolding over a long (?) period of time that culminate in the overthrow of the beast and the establishment of the Kingdom.

The commission is important: baptize, make disciples, teach them to obey all Jesus commanded.  More important still is the promise of presence.  We aren't alone, Jesus continues to be with us by the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work of fulfilling the Great Commission.  He is with us as individuals as we do the work but more still He is with us in the church as we do the work collectively.  It is in that particular context that we see more of the Spirit's power than when we work alone.  He is made evident in the members of the body working together to obey this commission than when we work separately.  A few years ago Hillary Clinton wrote a book entitled, "It Takes a Village".  The work of making disciples requires a village for two reasons, we need encouragement and correction and we need others to love and serve.  We recognize that when in our baptismal service we ask the congregation to "do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ."  We do the same at weddings by asking all present to " do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?"  We aren't alone spiritually and we aren't intended to be alone physically either.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we live in the in-between times, the times between Jesus' comings and also the times between the giving of the kingdom and the possession of it, almost like an engagement period.  All things have been given to Him and subjected to Him but that subjection is not yet fully realized, either cosmically or even our own lives which still remain in sinfulness.  The Son of God became, for a time, like a son of man as well in order to suffer with us, to redeem this fleshly life, to bring many sons and daughters to glory.  His kingdom begins in us.  We join our voices with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of His Name:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
    Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    Hosanna in the highest.

28 May 2014

Psalm 119:97-120; Lev. 26:27-42; Eph. 1:1-10; Matt. 22:41-46

Compared with anything, much less the promises of yesterday's reading for obedience, these are hideous thoughts: eating the flesh of your sons and daughters, bodies piled up on their idols, cities laid waste, sanctuaries desolate, devastation of the land, in exile.  Does God paint a clear picture for what happens if they are disobedient?  It doesn’t seem particularly safe to be in covenant with Him.  It certainly doesn't seem safe to be faithless to the covenant.  Interesting that He points to the land's enjoyment of the Sabbath while the people are in exile, that is exactly what happens in the time of Jeremiah. Why does God believe that they will not keep Sabbath particularly?  Does He perhaps know something about the future?  There is, however, a remedy, repentance.  If they repent, He will remember the Land.  They are His people in perpetuity and wherever they may be.

Whose Son is the Christ?  It seems an insignificant question and a bit like some sort of Buddhist answer to the question, an answer but not really an answer, only a refutation of the answer given.  If the Christ isn't David's son, whose son is he?  They are certainly expecting one from David's line, so their answer makes perfect sense but Jesus appeals to Psalm 110 for proof they are wrong.  In doing so He affirms David's authorship of that Psalm but also points not only to that verse but to the entire Psalm which is used in Hebrews as well.  It contains the verse, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”  It also speaks of ruling among enemies and the day of God's wrath.  Some of this is fulfilled in the life of Jesus while some awaits His coming again.  He is God's Son, one who appears, like Melchizedek, out of nowhere but is a priest nonetheless as well as  a king.

Paul tells the Ephesians that God has known all things concerning our salvation since before the foundation of the world.  He reassures them for the future based on the fact that God has had a plan all along to save them.  In the little song by Dottie Rambo, Behold the Lamb, that we sometimes sing at the fraction of the bread in Communion, we say that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world and we miss the theological statement in those words.  Jesus' sacrifice reaches back all the way to creation, this world was founded upon that sacrifice otherwise Adam and Eve would have died upon eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It is upon the foundation of  that sacrifice and God's grace that we exist at all.  We should be thankful with every breath that this is so.

27 May 2014

Psalm 78:1-39; Lev. 26:1-20; 1 Tim. 2:1-6; Matt. 13:18-23

Can you see the picture of what it all looks like if the nation will only obey God?  It is an Edenic paradise in the midst of a world gone wrong. Everything in that garden will be lush and green, no worries about the rain for the crops, no fears of enemies because they will fear the nation so greatly, a blessed nation for all to see.  All they have to do is "walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them."  Alas, they couldn't do it.  Neither can we, the problem of sin is too pervasive in our lives for us to completely obey. There was only one who ever did and He was put on a cross by a world that hated Him.  We know only a fallen world and yet we cling to it and set out store and hopes by it rather than by the One who created it.  We need to lift our eyes to Him and trust Him for and in all things.  He has promised certain things to those who believe in His Son and follow Him, but the greatest promise is the promise of presence, we are never alone. Would we rather have Him or the things He has created?

We are the garden in which God sows His word.  Some don't understand at all and He makes no statement about why they don't understand, just some don't understand and the birds eat the seed.  Some receive it with joy and yet they are unprepared for trials and tribulations, persecution for believing, and because they have no root they will wither and die.  Others will be overcome by the cares and desires of the world and produce nothing ultimately. Some, however, will understand and flourish and bear fruit.  The key seems to be understanding, as all parables of the kingdom are about understanding, knowing the true worth and value of the kingdom and forsaking everything else to have it.  Pray this day to the One who gives understanding that He will open your eyes and heart to the surpassing worth of what He offers.

As the leader goes, so go the people.  Paul writes that we should pray for all people, especially the leaders and so we do each Sunday in our worship.  If the leaders have peaceable and quiet lives, it is likely that the people will as well.  We concentrate our prayers on Sundays on our own leaders, for their wisdom and faith.  Leadership is a heavy, almost unimaginable burden when you think of all that leaders of nations have on their shoulders all the time, there is no getting away from that responsibility.  Wise leaders know they can't bear those burdens and that they have no wisdom that doesn't come from above, from the only One who sees and knows all things.