30 June 2014

Psalm 106:1-18; Num. 22:1-21; Rom. 6:12-23; Matt. 21:12-22

Having seen what happened to other nations who came against Israel, Balak the king of Moab wants to make certain the same fate doesn't befall him.  The Moabites, remember, are, like the Edomites, related to the Israelites.  They are the product of one of Lot's daughters who got her father drunk and had relations with him. The king calls for his prophet Balaam because he believes something about this particular prophet, "I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”  Have you heard those words before?  They sound much like what God said to Abram, Lot's uncle, "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  It is a bad idea to curse the descendants of Abram.  Balaam has an encounter with the Lord but does the prophet know who this God is?  He first refuses to go as he is told not to curse this people but then the Lord tells him to go with them but be careful to only do as instructed, so he goes with the men when they return.  God sometimes uses the unwitting and unwilling to accomplish His purposes.

Jesus actions in these passages, the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the fig tree were perfectly in keeping with the prophets of old.  God did send prophets to speak against His people when they were wayward.  Jesus' cleansing of the temple fits with a long-established prophetic pattern of the Lord criticizing the religious practices of the nation as displeasing to Him when they are nothing more than bribes to access His good side and receive favors from Him.  His desire was to be known and to be made known.  They have turned the festival into a profiteering venture in taking advantage of the pilgrims by driving up currency exchange rates and the selling of pre-approved sacrificial animals at exorbitant rates.  In so doing they have also taken over the area of the temple courts where Gentiles could come and hear what was being taught and pray.  The temple was to be a place where Jews worshipped and Gentiles could learn of Yahweh.  Jesus' cursing of the fig tree was a prophetic action whereby the fig tree represented Israel, particularly at the festival.  It looked good and ready to produce fruit but wasn't doing so.

Paul, in Romans, is writing to a mixed audience of Jews and Gentiles.  They do have one thing in common, sin.  Whether they had the law or didn't have the law makes no difference because all have sinned.  Now, however, they have something else in common, grace.  All are saved in the same way, whether they had the law or not, we are saved by grace, by the love of God in Jesus' death on the cross as the atonement for sin.  We come to that cross as sinners, all alike.  What is our response to the grace received and on offer to be?  Paul says that sin is like slavery and that before grace all were enslaved to sin but now that grace has come that yoke of slavery is broken and you can choose now to be slaves either of sin or righteousness.  If you continue in the old ways, you have chosen to reject or denigrate grace.  Balaam at least made a good start when the Lord spoke to him, he listened to the right voice.  Today, choose which voice you will obey.  Choose life.

29 June 2014

Psalm 118; Num. 21:4-9,21-35; Acts 17:12-34; Luke 13:10-17  

The people continue to rebel and complain when things get difficult.  As we are wont to do.  We are impatient by nature.  We are here a short time and when we aren't moving forward towards some goal we have in mind, we complain.  These people already know their lives will be spent here in the wilderness, there is no Promised Land for them.  Moses, though he will, likewise, not enter the land, intercedes for the people so that the plague of serpents doesn't completely destroy them and the Lord gives a strange answer, to make a bronze serpent on which they can gaze and be healed of the bites of the real serpents.  Which serpent, then, is more powerful, the "real" ones or the man-made one?  Afterwards, the people face enemies who are unwilling, as their kin the Edomites were, to allow them safe passage.  These, however, are spoiling for a fight and they find that though these people may be wanderers they are not pushovers in battle.  The Lord is on their side and it is folly to oppose them.

The ruler of the synagogue is a bit disingenuous isn't he?  His anger is roused because Jesus healed this woman on the Sabbath so he said, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”  This woman had lived with this condition for eighteen years prior to this encounter with Jesus.  Had she simply never been to the synagogue on one of those other six days before.  If she had, would she have gotten healing?  Nowhere do we have evidence that this or any other synagogue was a place of healing and the fact she had been disabled for nearly two decades tells us that this ruler was simply speaking nonsense.  Jesus points to the miracle itself and the people, but likely not the leader, rejoice in what He has done.

Paul in Athens is troubled in his spirit because of the idolatry in the city.  (I wonder what he would make of Asheville, particularly downtown.)  His response was to preach the Gospel and the people there wanted to hear more of this foreign God he was proclaiming.  Paul's tactic was to relate to their existing beliefs and he found a soft spot in their theological and philosophical defenses, a shrine to an unknown god.  The gods they had, many as they were, didn't fully satisfy, there was room for more.  Paul says he is here to proclaim the unknown God, who is the Lord of heaven and earth.  That ascription would elevate Paul's God to God of gods, He is lord of all there is.  This God is maker of all, needing nothing from those whom He created.  He sets men in their times and places, He is sovereign over mankind, over time, over all the earth, and we are His children.  Now, Paul says, is the time when He desires two things, to be known and to do away with ignorance of Him and His ways.  The choice is yours, now you know.  Some mocked, others wanted to hear more.  Did anyone believe that day?  If so, we aren't told, Paul was simply sowing.  We should never expect to have fully sympathetic listeners to the Gospel, we should always expect opposition.  The Lord, however, is on our side and we can't get impatient, all we are called to do is sow or reap, not give growth.

28 June 2014

Psalm 107:33-43, 108; Num. 20:14-29; Rom. 6:1-11; Matt. 21:1-11

Do you remember who the Edomites were? They were the descendants of Esau, Jacob who became Israel's twin brother.  They were of the line God rejected from being His people particularly.  It didn't mean that they couldn't come into the covenant but they weren't the chosen line.  Here we see that old animosities die hard.  About five hundred years have passed since the brothers made a mess of their relationship but they will not let the nation pass through their land unmolested.  They will not guarantee safe passage, in fact, they refuse to let Israel even pass through at all.  Kinship is meaningless to them.  At this time the old guard is passing from the scene.  In yesterday's lesson Miriam, Moses' sister passed away and now, the Lord tells Moses that Aaron too is going to die soon and is instructed to take the priestly garments off him, just as he once had clothed him in them, and now clothe Aaron's son Eleazar for the job.  How difficult that must have been for Moses and to see his brother die as the transition occurs on the mountain.  All these years together leading the people through difficulty and hardship and now Moses is alone.

Jesus knows what is coming and is fully in charge of all this scene.  He first orders the disciples to procure a donkey for him to ride into the city and if anyone asks they are to say the Lord needs it.  The owner had the pride of seeing this scene unfolding and knowing he played a central role in providing the donkey for the king to enter His kingdom.  The prophecy of Zechariah would surely have been on everyone's mind as Jesus rode in to fulfill the prophecy.  Passover was coming and now the fulfillment of all their hopes for Passover were going to be realized.  The Son of David was coming to restore the kingdom.  When people asked what this was, the answer seems a bit odd though, the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.  It is all a bit confusing.

Grace is the principle of salvation.  It is not, however, license to sin that grace may about all the more.  Grace is the principle by which we are delivered from sin, not only the penalty for sin but also from sin itself.  If we sin that grace may abound there is no grace at all.  We are to consider ourselves dead to sin.  Repentance means agreeing with God regarding the gravity of sin and turning away from that way of life to His way.  We are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ, at one in living the life we live to God and nothing or no one else.  We can't have salvation on our own terms, only the terms of the one who is the author and perfecter of salvation.  He is not only the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee, He is the incarnate Son of God by whose death we are redeemed to life eternal. 

27 June 2014

Psalm 102; Num. 20:1-13; Rom. 5:12-21; Matt. 20:29-34

Moses makes a costly mistake of unbelief and, in my thoughts, presumption.  The people resume their grumbling and complaints against Moses for lack of water and also ask again why Moses has made them leave Egypt for this wilderness.  Wouldn't you think even they would grow weary of that story?  God's claim on them was that He, not Moses, had brought them out of Egypt, out of slavery, but now they look back on that time as if it were the halcyon days of nation's existence.  Moses is commanded to take the staff and speak to the rock.  Instead he takes the staff, speaks to the people, calling them rebels and then saying, "shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”  Who is this "we" of whom he speaks?  Can Moses bring water out of the rock?  Then, instead of speaking to the rock he strikes the rock.  That had always worked before so let's stick with what works.  The problem is that we too often rely on methodology rather than God's Spirit. For these sins, Moses is disqualified from leading the people into the Promised Land.  The standard for leaders is higher than for others.  Always has been and always will be.

These two blind men "see" their opportunity better than those without sight.  They cry out to the Son of David for mercy and how is that different from the cries that accompany His entrance into Jerusalem in a short time?  The city cries out to the Son of David to save them, these two men cry for mercy.  Possibly the crowd believes the men are asking for no more than a handout.  Jesus asks what they want and it seems easy to say that surely He could have known what they wanted but they needed to say it, express their belief that He could do more than give alms. Their simple request was that their eyes be opened and He opened them by touching them.  Allow yourself to be in their place for a moment, close your eyes and feel His touch on them, giving you sight.  What we take for granted, the sight He gave us at birth, is a gift. 

Salvation is a gift.  It is grace or it is nothing.  Adam's sin brought sin into the world, wove it into our DNA completely.  It is not for Adam's sin we are separated from God and in need of salvation, it is for our sins.  The only solution to the problem is grace.  We are so lost that there is no hope for us finding our way back, He has to come on a search and rescue mission we don't deserve.  In the mountains where we live there are occasions when people do stupid things and get lost and yet the Park Service will go all out to find them and hopefully save them from their own stupidity.  God has done that for us.  He has paid the price on the cross for our rebellion and has loved us into His family.  Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.  Moses led because God was gracious to him, not because he deserved that role, what was God's to give was also God's to take, there is only one Messiah, Jesus.

26 June 2014

Psalm 105:1-22; Num. 17:1-11; Rom. 5:1-11; Matt. 20:17-28

The Lord devises a test that will serve as proof that He chose Aaron and his house as priests.  Perhaps the continuing controversy over the issue was due to the fact that he was Moses' brother and therefore was open to the charge of nepotism, too much power in leadership was vested in this one family.  The test was that each tribe was to come forward with the staff of its leader and the staffs were to be placed together in the tent of testimony.  The staff which produced buds as if it were living would be the one who was chosen by God.  From Moses' perspective this was a no risk situation, he already knew what the outcome would be, but for the people it was to be a sign.  When, indeed, the staff of Aaron budded it was to be placed in the ark as a perpetual testimony on the matter, case closed forever. 

Could the disciples have possibly blithely accepted Jesus' prophetic words concerning His near term fate?  They knew there was certainly opposition to Him in Jerusalem.  In John 11 when Mary and Martha send for him to come and heal their brother, Lazarus, they are deeply concerned about going so near the city.  Thomas says, "Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  Here, they are told exactly what will happen to Jesus, "(he) will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”  James and John's mother then comes and asks that her sons be at his right and left hands as vice-regents when Jesus comes into the kingdom.  The brothers were apparently prepared for such a request and had given it some thought although they clearly had no idea what was in the mind of Jesus concerning the kingdom at this point.  It seems they were all still thinking of an earthly kingdom at this point and, unsurprisingly, this request introduced significant discord into the disciple community.  How could they go from hearing Jesus prophesy to this silly argument in such short order? Who is greatest is a game humanity seems designed to play but that is nothing more than vanity.

In the church, the church that is made up of people saved by the blood of Jesus and filled with His Spirit there is no vain striving for greatness is there?  So long as we continue to live we must fight against this temptation in our lives to desire greatness and recognition.  We must always remember that it is by grace that we not only enter the kingdom but also remain there.  We are saved, first, last and always by that grace and nothing else.  We never collect merits of our own that accrue towards positions in the kingdom, we have what He chooses to give us and we can either be thankful for that mercy and grace or we can be grumblers.  The best antidote for pride and vanity is remembering the cross and Jesus' sacrifice and our need of it. Let us seek to be like Him, seeking the fame and glory of God alone.

25 June 2014

Psalm 101, 109; Num. 16:36-50; Rom. 4:13-25; Matt. 20:1-16

How incredible is it that one day after the earth opened up and swallowed the leaders of the rebellion, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and the Lord ordered the priests to take those men's censers and beat them into a covering for the altar as a sign of their rebellion that the people grumbled against Moses and Aaron and accused them of killing those people?  They had seen an unbelievable event, the Lord's judgment against this idea of challenging Moses and Aaron as God's anointed and the destruction of the families.  Clearly this was punishment for sin from God so how is it that the people can now say Moses committed murder?  His prayer had been very specific as to his desire for God's wrath in the matter.  The people now have a sense that Moses' relationship with God may not be completely beneficial but they don't have fear of that relationship.  Do you see that when they make the accusation they turn to the tent of meeting, the place where Moses met with God?  They are also accusing God of being not good, unjust, a murderer.  Moses and Aaron know it and they again fall on their faces.  Ultimately the wrath of God is poured out but in the midst of that Aaron intercedes for the people and the destruction is not complete. 

The sovereignty of God means that sometimes what He chooses to do will seem unfair to us. In the parable, Jesus compares the Father to a man who owns a vineyard and needs laborers for the harvest, hiring some early in the morning at the prevailing daily wage and others later in the day at the same wage.  Those who came early see the owner paying these latecomers and assume he will increase their agreed upon wage when it comes their turn for payment.  They are disappointed not because what the owner pays is not fair or agreed upon but because the others don't deserve the same because they didn't work as long.  We have no idea about the relative production of the groups.  The answer is whether we are satisfied with Him and the reward we have been promised, not what others may get.  In the church planting world it is easy to be jealous of those who have larger numbers or more money but it is a trap we have to avoid.  None of us deserve anything but judgment, that we are allowed any place, any service in the kingdom is something that should make us fall on our faces and say we are not worthy and He is immeasurably good.

We prefer to work and take credit for what we get.  Paul reminds us that faith is the only way to receive from the Lord, not merit.  Abraham is the father not of one nation but many nations and he is the father of those who have faith.  In the outpouring of the Spirit and the opening of the kingdom of God to Gentiles, Abraham becomes father to those who receive it by faith.  You can see how this would arouse jealousy among the Jews.  Paul, later, will say that he hopes that jealousy becomes the means by which the Lord will draw them to Jesus.  We who come in now come in at the last minute, saved by grace from what would have been destruction but for the cross and the Holy Spirit which allows us to know Him.  Let us always give thanks for amazing grace that saved wretches like us.

24 June 2014

Psalm 97, 99; Num. 16:20-35; Rom. 4:1-12; Matt. 19:23-30

The Lord is prepared to destroy all those who have participated in the rebellion against Moses and Aaron's leadership but both men fall on their faces and plead for the congregation.  They don't plead for the leaders of the rebellion, they pray for the people who got caught up in it.  The Lord had said, in Exodus 34 that He will punish the wicked and here there is a swift punishment, the earth opens and swallows up the rebels and their families.  There is a clear correspondence with the sin and punishment.  Moses knows that ultimately this isn't a personal matter, they have rejected the Lord's choosing of he and Aaron as leaders.  The rebellion is against God Himself and therefore it will be dealt with by Him.  We too often personalize these matters, I have been horribly guilty of that very sin, and what we really need to realize is that sin is rebellion against God, it is a spiritual battle we fight not a fleshly one.  We spend too much time fighting flesh and blood by earthly means when we should be on our knees and on our faces fighting them.

Peter's question, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” seems to indicate that he believes they have done the essential work necessary to inherit the kingdom and he wants to know what the reward is for having done so.  Jesus' answer seems like a materialist answer doesn't it?  You'll have thrones, you will judge Israel, you will have a hundredfold whatever you give up, whether that is houses, land, relatives, whatever.  There are two questions that go begging here though.  What is this "new world" and when will it be that the Son of Man sits on His throne?  Second, how will we "have" these things?  Clearly Jesus is speaking of when His kingdom is fully established, in eternity, and He is not speaking of having these things in the same way we have things in this life, as possessions.  We will have them rightly, without ownership and dominion entering the picture. 

Abraham was justified by faith and not works and he is also the example to us of what it means to have things by promise and not by possession.  He was promised amazing things, progeny and prosperity, a name for himself forever, fame and renown.  Did he enjoy the possession of those things during his life?  It would seem that he had prosperity but it never mattered to him because he didn't have the one thing he really wanted, a son, one who would carry on his name.  When he received that promise, God tested him and told him to sacrifice him and Abraham's faith was proven in his obedience to a command that made no sense to him.  It was all about grace, we know nothing at all of Abraham apart from God's calling him, nothing to commend him as an obvious choice to be the father of the people.  It is all about grace, nothing else added to it.  

23 June 2014

Psalm 89:1-18; Num. 16:1-19; Rom. 3:21-31; Matt. 19:13-22

When I read this passage this morning it wrecked me.  I had this same thing happen to me several years ago when a guy that I got ordained came and essentially tried to say he should be in charge of the church and I should let him do as he pleased and take a step down.  He, not surprisingly, ended up leaving the church and trying to plant a church of his own which never got off the ground.  It is a painful and difficult thing to have happen in ministry when your leadership is challenged in this way.  Moses was gracious as to the challenge to himself and his leadership initially, defending Aaron against the charges of Korah.  When, however, Moses was blamed for failing to lead them into the land, he got his back up and prayed God's judgment.  He was vulnerable to this charge, they were going to die in the wilderness and that knowledge was an awful thing.  Sometimes all satan does is pile on and kick the wounded.

This rich young man had a high opinion of himself didn't he?  He says he has kept all the commandments from his youth, when he became responsible under the law for the keeping of the law.  He knows, however, that even if he has done it isn't enough, he doesn’t have assurance of the kingdom.  What must he do?  He must cast aside his earthly inheritance and do the good work of giving it to the poor, utterly rejecting all he has been given already, and following Jesus.  The disciples had to do the same in walking away from their past, present and future to follow Him.  We must all be prepared to do that very thing.  Some of us are fortunate that we got a second chance when we walked away at the demands of the Gospel the first time.  I hope this young man did too.  This day, however, he valued the kingdom a good bit less than he valued his earthly possessions. 

The principles of the Reformation were perfectly aligned with Paul's words here.  We are justified by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone.  There is no work of our own involved by which we can boast of our good sense or take credit for our salvation.  The work was all God's, what is called monergism.  Moses, in our first lesson, knew that he couldn't lead the people into the promised land to take possession of it without God doing the work to make it possible, the inhabitants of the land would drive them back out and destroy them.  He knew that ultimately every fight belongs to the Lord, he knew his own impotence to accomplish what God had promised and he also knew that no enemy could stand against God fulfilling His purposes.  The rich young man wanted to do something but the reality is all he had to do was follow Jesus and watch Him do the work of giving him the kingdom by grace in His sacrificial offering of Himself.  Likewise, I can't build the church God wants, He has to do that, I have only to cooperate with Him.

22 June 2014

Psalm 66, 67; Num. 14:26-45; Acts 15:1-12; Luke 12:49-56

The worst fears of the people from the time they stood between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea are realized and they have no one to blame but themselves, they will die in this wilderness.  The Lord is fed up with the murmuring and grumbling of the people against Him.  Their failure to believe and enter the Land He was giving them, the promise from five hundred plus years before, was the final straw.  The punishment will be in proportion to the sin.  They spied out the land forty days and forty years they will spend here in the wilderness.  It may seem harsh but it is a colossal failure.  There is another instance when there is a proportional punishment as well, in the exile in the time of Jeremiah.  They will be out of the Land for seventy years because they have failed to observe that many Sabbath years.  I recognize that idea that I have sinned but I will make it right now by doing what I was afraid to do before that gripped them in going up after the Lord had already pronounced against them and experiencing failure.  I have certainly been guilty of doing exactly that.

Jesus has already been baptized in water but He speaks of a baptism to come and of casting fire on the earth.  That language hearkens to John the Baptist and his prophecy concerning the one who was to come.  Jesus says that He has come to bring division and certainly within the Jewish community He has done so to this day.  The cost of believing in Him can be great for many people and we, in the west, often don't see that cost because we have grown up in a "Christian" country and time.  Culturally there is a greater price to pay for unbelief than belief.  Where we might see some measure of this is when someone walks away from the American dream to pursue Him wholeheartedly.  Have we truly understood the claims of the Gospel in and on our lives?

The controversy over what was required of a Gentile convert was critical for the early church leaders to decide.  The Spirit was moving among these foreigners in such a way that it was undeniable that they were equally Christian.  They were receiving the same gifts and the Spirit was manifesting among them in the same way He had done at Pentecost among the Jews.  This decision required the leaders to determine if this were a sect of Judaism or something entirely different.  If it were a sect of Judaism then there were certainly things that had to be required for inclusion in the covenant like circumcision and subscription to the Law.  They decided that inclusion was done by the Spirit alone, no externalities were necessary and there were only a few things that were required of converts with respect to the Law.  Those few things included sexual ethics, something some parts of the church aren't sure about today.  Christianity was decidedly distinct from Judaism after this time although the battle was certainly not over as the remainder of the book of the Acts and Paul's letters will attest.  There were always legalists who wanted to add to the Council's decisions. 

21 June 2014

Psalm 87, 90; Num. 13:31-14:25; Rom. 3:9-20; Matt. 19:1-12

It seems amazing that the people would rebel and begin to consider how to go back to Egypt, disbelieving and not trusting God but aren’t we very much like them?  We turn recalcitrant and turn back when the going gets tough.  We see the obstacles and we fail to move ahead.  The people are so angry that when Joshua and Caleb tell them the truth, that God is on their side and that He will do all He has promised, they make ready to stone them.  Why did the Lord have Moses choose spies?  Remember, like when He told them to double back so Pharaoh could see them and come after them, it was His idea to send men to spy out the land.  He knew what would happen.  Moses had chosen to rely on elders, had ceased to fully lead the people because they had become a burden for him and he was leading alone although the Lord was with him.  He laid the groundwork for this fiasco in that moment of weakness.  When the Lord says He will destroy the people and rebuild what is the basis of Moses' prayer.  In verses 17-19 he recalls the Lord's own self-description and calls on Him to be true to that proclamation.   When in our worship we proclaim forgiveness, we do so on this same basis, that His character is to show mercy to repentant sinners.  That does not mean we do not pay a price, however, for our sins.  Here, the people lost the opportunity to enter the land.

Through Moses, the law concerning divorce had allowed men to put away their wives at a whim.  Women were unable to divorce husbands, they were truly second-class citizens and yet Jesus says that the two become one flesh just as it was said in Genesis 2.  When two people become one flesh, united, does that not change the social structure?  I know that Suzanne and I are greater and stronger as a team than if we were separate from one another.  We have a strength that comes from that unity that neither of us would have if we were single.  Dissolution of the bonds of marriage weakens not only the partners but also society itself which is enhanced by the strength of the marriages in it.  Jesus says that if a man divorces and remarries he commits adultery if the divorce was not for sexual immorality.  In that case the bond has been severed by the immorality, but that is not a checklist, remember that Hosea was commanded by God to reunite with his adulterous wife as a sign of God's faithful love to an adulterous nation.  Marriage should not be entered into lightly and those who cannot receive the Lord's teaching on this are, in some ways, like the Israelites in the first lesson.

Paul has already argued that it is better to have the law than to not have the law.  The law brings clarity, absolute knowledge of God's will.  The other thing the law brings is the knowledge of sin.  If the law defines righteousness, it does so by defining the obverse side of the issue, defining sin.  When we know what sin is, failing to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind and failing to love others as ourselves, we know we have done these things.  The law convicts us of both righteousness and sin when we are honest, just as God's presence did in the Garden.  Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would do the same, but not for judgment unless we fail to repent.  There is none righteous, not one.  We can shake our heads at the Jews who failed to enter the land, we can click our tongues at divorce and other sin, but we cannot lay claim to any righteousness of our own.  We all have failed and need mercy, fortunately, as Moses prayed and we see in the cross, we have exactly the kind of God we need.

20 June 2014

Psalm 88; Num. 13:1-30; Rom. 2:25-3:8; Matt. 18:21-35

In yesterday's lesson the Lord gave Moses some "help".  Today, in the next chapter from Numbers, we see God commanding Moses to send out spies, one chief from each tribe.  The Lord didn't give detailed instructions for exactly why He wanted the spies to go but Moses certainly did.  It seems he sent spies exactly as if he were trying to decide whether the land was worth the risk of taking.  He sent them to make a report of the value of the land and the potential cost of invading it.  They were to see if the land were any good and also to make a fairly detailed report of the enemies, the people who were already there.  The report he receives confirms exactly what the Lord had promised, it is a good land, flowing with milk and honey.  Then comes the problem, "however", the people are numerous, the cities are fortified and we saw even descendants of Anak, giants of old.  Why, after all they have seen the Lord do to get them here, do they suddenly fear and believe that taking the Land He promised will depend on them?  We do it all the time.  Caleb knows better.

Peter's question regarding forgiving his brother follows immediately upon Jesus' words on how to deal with sin among brothers.  He knows that the purpose of confrontation is restoration of relationship and that will require forgiveness.  He proposes a sizeable number, there are few people in my life I have forgiven as many as seven times and maintained any semblance of real relationship.  (This forgiveness, by the way, supposes that confronting the sin head on has happened and repentance has followed, as prescribed in the preceding verses.) Jesus says we have to be willing to forgive as many times as necessary and tells the parable of the unforgiving servant to make His point.  The upshot of the parable in this context is that we tend to underestimate the amount of grace we need and because we don’t fully appreciate grace we tend to be unwilling to extend it to others.  We forget too easily, just like the people did when the report of the spies came back.

Paul's argument regarding the Gentiles concludes with the idea that a Gentile who keeps the law without having the law, from the heart, is better than an unfaithful Jewish person who is in the covenant by virtue of circumcision and having the Law.  Better to do God's will because you believe it to be right than to know what is right and not keep it.  Moving on to the Jews, he quickly says that even though the foregoing is true, it is in every way better to be Jewish and have been entrusted with the oracles of God.  You don't have to depend on the vagaries of conscience to know the will of God, it is knowable objectively.  Better than that, you are in covenant with a God whose faithfulness to His covenant is not dependent on the faithfulness of the people.  The wrath of God in judgment on His people's sin, however, reveals God 's righteousness.  Violation of that righteousness by those who were meant to reveal it must be judged if we are to know righteousness.  Though it isn't yet in view, God's judgment against His people's failure to trust Him and enter the Land is righteousness for the world to see.  

19 June 2014

Psalm 34; Num. 12:1-16; Rom. 2:12-24; Matt. 18:10-20

Who is the Cushite (northeastern African) woman Moses has married?  We don't see where Moses has married two wives but there has been much rabbinic debate as to whether or not Zipporah, his wife, the mother of his children, was not a Cushite as Midianites tended to be darker skinned.  Recall that there was some period of time when she was not with Moses and the rest of the Israelites, her father brought her and the two boys to the mountain in Exodus 18, the same mountain where Moses had his experience with the burning bush while tending Jethro's flocks.  Moses' brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, now bring a grievance against him for his marriage to this foreign woman.  In addition, they challenge his leadership in that God has spoken to them as well.  They are both older than he.  Boys were ordered to be murdered by Pharaoh and Moses was saved, as we know.  Aaron must then have been already living by the time of the edict and Miriam makes an appearance, though not named, in Exodus 2.4 watching on the river bank to see what would become of Moses after his mother put him in the basket in the river.  The Lord says that He has spoken to them but not as He speaks to Moses, face to face, not in dreams and visions, he is the chosen leader of the people.  For their actions this day, Miriam becomes leprous as a sign of God's choosing Moses not her.  Perhaps she had been the instigator in this rebellion rather than Aaron.  Coming against God's anointed is never a good idea.

Jesus' mission is to go and find the lost sheep, and describes the Father's joy over finding the lost one.  Do we not do the same with lost valuables?  How do we then transfer that idea to those who we know and love who are lost sheep?  The teaching on sins against brothers contrasts with the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 when Jesus says that when a wicked man strikes you or when outsiders treat you wrongly you are to allow yourself to suffer such indignities and sins against you without complaining but by going above and beyond their demands.  In the case of sin in the body, a different approach is counseled.  Confronting the sin is important for the growth of the one who sins, they are held accountable to the demands of the Gospel, the demand to love one another.  No excuses are made, all are held to the same standard of love.  The confrontation, then, must also be in love.  We need that accountability in order to grow in Christ-likeness and out of hypocrisy.

Who is the one justified?  The doers of the law.  We must not be two-faced people, holding ourselves out to be Christians while living as pagans.  Paul seems to argue that even those who do not know the law have some measure of the Spirit via the conscience that either accuses or excuses their conduct, all are accountable to conscience and all are then equally guilty of transgressing the law of God whether they know it by conscience or by teaching, there are none whose consciences are completely clear.  Paul's harshest words are for the Jews, particularly those who hold themselves out as expert in the law who themselves transgress.  No one can stand blameless before the judgment seat, all are guilty, Jew and Gentile alike.  We who know the Lord and know His commandments to love God and neighbor as self, know more acutely our guilt because we have no doubt what constitutes sin.  Repentance is necessary and fruitful because it is the occasion for grace in our lives.

18 June 2014

Psalm 119:97-120; Num. 11:24-35; Rom. 1:28-2:11; Matt. 18:1-9

(Did you notice that we skipped two verses in the Romans passage from yesterday to today.  The reading yesterday ended at verse 25 and yet today we begin at verse 28.  Do you wonder what verses we skipped?  Here they are, could the motive be clearer?  "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."  This goes all the way back to 1979 and the BCP, it isn't something that was done recently.)

There are several things to note in this passage from Numbers.  Moses took seventy of the elders and God took some of the Spirit from Moses and put it on the other men and there was proof this happened, they prophesied, but they did not continue to do so.  It is as though there were some finite amount of Spirit and whatever one got reduced the amount available to anyone else.  Now this could certainly be a lack of understanding of the Spirit of God at the time that we see.  The Spirit, in the Old Testament, was typically given for a reason and a season.  It was given for a task and for the time needed to do that task.  That is the reason in Psalm 51 David prays that the Holy Spirit not be taken from Him.  We believe that we are given the Holy Spirit as a Helper and He is a constant presence in our lives whether we acknowledge Him or not, He is the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to be with us always, even to the end of the age.  These men were confirmed as God's anointed by the prophecy.  God, however, proved His sovereignty by giving also the Spirit to Eldad and Medad, precursors in some ways of His choice of Paul when the disciples had chosen Matthias to take the place of Judas.  Finally, the hoarding of the quail was the thing that roused God's anger against the people.  The plague was probably brought about through spoilt meat from the hoarding without refrigeration.  God was disgusted with their desire for meat overcoming them and causing them to gather unlike they had been commanded with the manna.

We live in a child-centered culture while in the ancient world children were valued, if at all, for their validation of the parents as accepted by God, for their ability to provide additional labor, and little else.  They were not responsible for their own actions until they attained a certain age.  Prior to that they were extensions of the parent.  Jesus said to the disciples that they must become like this child whom He had singled out and brought to the center of the group in order to enter the kingdom of heaven much less become greatest.  They would never have considered such an idea without His suggestion.  What would it mean to be like a child?  It would mean submission to one who was greater, accepting the limitation of dependence and humility.  We have made the relationship with God too much "buddy" and too little humble dependence.  We have become like the Israelites in our first reading and too little like Jesus in His earthly life.

Had we not left out the two verses at the beginning of the reading we would have seen that there is a flow from first failing to recognizing God's way of things in the created order of men and women to all other kinds of sin, choosing our own desires over God's plan.  Sin begets sinfulness.  The first commandment in Scripture is to be fruitful and multiply, that can only be obeyed between a man and a woman.  When we fail to accept God's will in that place, where can we set other boundaries on human conduct?  People today don't understand the Roman Catholic stance on birth control but look at the world and sexual ethics since birth control became readily available and you will see that Paul's argument makes perfect sense.  When we make possible sexual profligacy without consequences we ensure the result.  Confining desire into God-prescribed boundaries is an act of humble submission and when we fail to do so, all manner of evil and sin is the result.  Sexual ethics matter more than we realize, all sexual ethics, not just homosexuality.  Desire is strong, we must always submit not to desire but to God's Word in such matters.  The judgment of God is on untrammeled desire, see the first passage for proof.

17 June 2014

Psalm 78:1-39; Num. 11:1-23; Rom. 1:16-25; Matt. 17:22-27

The passage begins with a complaint about meat and the Lord's answer, a fire on the outskirts of the camp.  Moses prays and the Lord relents.  The problems become greater from here though.  The rabble among the people renew the complaint and their complaint isn't only about meat, they are looking back to Egypt with a longing that distorts reality.  They now act as though they had it better when serving the Egyptians than they do here under God.  Not only that, Moses' response is to make a similar complaint, to long for his own past, serving his father-in-law, to ask why did you take me from that and give me all this difficulty and burden me with these people.  He has set down his own leadership and questioned God's plan.  All the people, including Moses, have asked why did you, God, bring us out of the land of Egypt, the basis for the covenant itself.  It isn't the desire for meat that is so wrong here, it is that all of them alike have rejected Him, they have considered their situation as worse since He got involved and they long to go back to the past.  The first time Moses questioned God on this score He gave him Aaron and now he is given an additional seventy men to assist.  We need to always be on the watch for our own attitudes towards the Lord in this regard.  Do we believe God is good no matter what?

The disciples apparently began to believe Jesus about what was going to happen to Him as we are told they were greatly distressed about these things.  It was the first time we see them receiving these words as truly prophetic rather than being either doubtful or confused.  What was the source of their distress though?  They didn't understand that these were actually good things rather than bad things.  They were earth-bound distresses.  At Capernaum, Peter's home, the synagogue rulers ask if Jesus and the disciples do not pay the temple tax and Peter says, "Yes." Jesus, who wasn't there when the question was asked, confronts Peter on his arrival with a question which clearly says that they have a special relationship with God that exempts them from paying this tax.  Nonetheless, Jesus sends Peter on what seems a ludicrous errand and one which Peter must have felt foolish to complete.  His former life as fisherman didn't have him baiting a hook and casting a line but hauling nets, and this must have seemed embarrassing to him yet, just as Jesus said, here was the money for the tax in the mouth of  fish.

Who is it that will live by faith?  The righteous.  Faith is a beginning point not a stand alone point on the journey.  Paul moves immediately from this great truth from Habbakuk and on which the Reformation was launched in the sixteenth century to a diatribe against unrighteousness.  Faith is where we enter the journey, it must be our starting point but from there we are called to change the path we have been traveling, it is the recognition that the old path was the way to destruction and death, not life.  On this new path, the one Isaiah called the Highway of Holiness, the redeemed of the Lord travel and "the unclean shall not pass over it.  It shall belong to those who walk on the way…"  Our desires are to be examined and curbed rather than indulged.  We cannot allow our desires to drive the bus because they will often be frustrated and we cannot allow that frustration to become frustration with God and rejection of Him as God in their favor.  We are called to take up a cross, that should give us all the information we need as to the journey.  It won't be easy but it leads to glory.

16 June 2014

Psalm 80; Num. 9:15-23, 10:29-36; Rom. 1:1-15; Matt. 17:14-21

It seems strange that this Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, would have had any inclination to return to his people after seeing the Lord leading the Israelites and providing for them.  He was a Midianite, however, and these were not his people.  Moses implores him to remain with them and promises that if he does he will share in the blessings of the nation, surely thinking of the Abrahamic covenant that the nation was blessed to be a blessing to those who bless them.  It sounds contradictory that the Lord led them with a cloud by day and fire by night and their movements were entirely directed by the Lord and yet Hobab is credited with helping scout and direct their movements.  He would have been familiar with the territory as it was his homeland and he would have been able to specifically direct them to the places where they could encamp as the Lord led them to a place, remember this was an enormous camp of people.  It would seem, even though we aren't particularly told this, that Hobab chose to remain with the people, leaving his own family to become one of them.  Perhaps he had seen enough to know the Lord's favor was with this people.

So is Jesus that guy?  You know the one, the guy who blames either the prayer or the victim for lack of faith as the reason healing isn't effective.  He has just come down from the mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John and is met by this man with the epileptic child.  The man is at the end of his rope and has brought the boy to the disciples, probably seeking Jesus Himself but making do with these others and they have failed to help.  Jesus is frustrated with the disciples but later says that this one is definitely a failure of faith on their part, not the man's.  Did they not believe enough?  We don't know what was the problem here except that in Mark's account of the incident Jesus adds that this kind come out only with prayer.  Perhaps the problem is that their faith was misplaced, in themselves and not in God as healer.

Paul writes the church in Rome and expresses his long-standing desire to come among those Christians whose faith is celebrated through the world.  Paul has heard of them, knows of their strength but also believes that he has something to offer to strengthen them further and that in their interaction he too will receive a blessing.  This Gospel that has been laid on him as a responsibility has made him acutely aware that it is a blessing from God for both Jews and Greeks, all are alike in this regard, the Gospel re-unites mankind as one.  We are to be a blessing to one another and to the world by bringing hope and  light into a dark and despairing world.  We do so as those who are deeply rooted in Him, not trusting ourselves but in God's Word and its promises.  Do our lives reveal the blessing of God to the world no matter what our earthly circumstances, that He is our hope and our treasure is in heaven?

15 June 2014

Psalm 93, 96; Num. 6:22-27 ; Acts 13:1-12 ; Luke 12:41-48

The high priestly blessing is an amazing thing.  Moses hears God speak and then whispers to Aaron the words he is to speak over the people.  If you look back at the chapters preceding this one you will find a little formula that repeats itself again and again, "the Lord spoke to Moses and said…"  and then Moses will speak to the people as the Lord speaks to him.  Occasionally there is a variation on the theme that says, "the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron…"  In these cases it is to give instruction to the priests for their duties.  This is the first time Moses hears the Lord speak and then gives Aaron the words to say rather than speaking them himself.  Moses gives the commandments of God but to Aaron is reserved the right to speak the blessing of God over the people.  His role is defined then by this action, he is to lovingly speak God's word over the people of God, " The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."  What a precious gift to Aaron, the man who made the golden calf.  That is restoration, God style.

Jesus tells a parable of a manager of a household, the servant who oversees the household and the other servants.  That servant has a unique responsibility and relationship to the master.  He sets the tone by acting as his master would himself.  If that servant is unfair and severe with the others, the master will be harsh and severe with him in return.  If he knows what to do and fails, the punishment will be heavy and if he knows not what to do and fails, even then will he be punished, however lightly.  The principle is enshrined in our own law, ignorance of the law is not a defense.  There is a responsibility to know the demands of the job of leader.  Leaders in the church have a high call but a heavy responsibility and the way they carry out that responsibility matters.  It is our job to make Him known in all things.  God is love but that needs some unpacking to make the truth known.

Paul sees clearly that this Jewish magician, Elymas or bar-Jesus, is not truly Jewish at all, he is a son of the devil, and is doing what he can to get in the way of the Gospel as it is preached to his master the proconsul.  Paul chooses blindness as the curse for this false guide as a sign of the power of the Gospel.  The Gospel was and is not only words, it is also power and Paul identified the impediment to the Gospel and spoke to it directly.  Paul himself was blinded for the sake of the Gospel.  Surely he saw the irony in this moment of blinding one so that the Good News might be received by another.  Our words do have power when we speak the Lord's words, not when we presume to speak in order to bind him by our words.  That is a dangerous false teaching in the church today.  

14 June 2014

Psalm 75, 76; Num. 3:1-13; Gal. 6:11-18; Matt. 17:1-13

The Levites are ministering priests, they assist the high priest in his duties.  They are set aside as a tithe to the Lord as a people and receive their income from the temple.  The duties of the high priest were quite specific and all the other work of the tabernacle while in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem were carried out by these men.  They cared for the holy place, changing out the bread of the presence, the twelve loaves perpetually before the Lord, re-supplying the oil in the lamps, they accepted the sacrifices of the people and kept the fire on the altar of sacrifice lit, did all the maintenance work, sang in the choir, and all the professional ministry.  These, along with the high priest, born of the line of Aaron, formed the cohort who were privileged to do the work of ministry. 

Here on the mountain Jesus is transfigured, the three disciples get a glimpse of His glory.  The two men, Moses and Elijah, represent the ideals of the law and the prophets.  Moses promised that there would be a prophet like him arise as a messianic figure, one who like Moses would speak God's word to the people and make plain His will.  (Deuteronomy 18.15-19) Elijah, recall, didn't die but was taken up in the whirlwind (2 Kings 2) and Malachi's prophecy, the last Old Testament prophet, closed with a call to remember Moses and the statutes and rules commanded at Horeb and then says "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes."  For this reason, the Jewish people today continue to look for Elijah's return.  That Jesus is here with these two harbingers of Messiah and then the voice of God says to listen to Him implies that their work is now complete and fulfilled in Him. 

All the prior things are done away with because they have been fulfilled in Jesus.  The demands of the Law are fulfilled in His perfect obedience.  At the ceremony between Abram and God when the smoking pot went between the pieces of the sacrifices (Genesis 15), that was a sign that the covenant depended only on the faithfulness of God not Abram or his descendants.  God swore on His own life that the covenant would be everlasting.  Abram, two chapters and who knows how many years later, had only to practice circumcision and command it for his descendants in perpetuity, to be in covenant with God.  That act was the dedication of the seed of Abraham and his descendants to God, the fruit of his body were in covenant with the Lord.  In Jesus, God has given His life in the willing sacrifice of Jesus, the incarnate God, the perfect man, living and dying for mankind, to fulfill the covenant and seal it between God and man.  We all, like the Levites, are set aside as priests of the New Covenant, to render service to our savior.  We are the tithe of humanity and our job is to make clear the Good News of the Gospel that others may come without obstacle to the throne of grace.  Our participation in the covenant is contingent on nothing but faith alone, in Christ alone through grace alone.  Let us live to the glory of God alone!

13 June 2014

Psalm 69; Eccles. 11:9-12:14; Gal. 5:25-6:10; Matt. 16:21-28

What a bright lesson to start the day! Not!  Enjoy your youth while you've got it to enjoy because soon enough it will all catch up with you, your eyesight will fail, getting around will be the highlight of the day, your senses of taste and smell will diminish and life will generally be a misery until you die.  Why does Solomon write such things?  Is Ecclesiastes the ultimate buzzkill book right in the middle of the Bible?  Solomon had it all, in spades, and what he seems to have discovered is that none of it satisfied either by itself of taken together.  Having it all still left him with a vast empty hole in his life, the hole he was trying to fill with all the possessions, women, power and pleasure he could shovel into it.  He started well, only desiring wisdom and receiving everything else into the bargain.  So much of our modern church encourages us to seek to have more in this life and I wonder if this book is ever in their sights.  Solomon's summary judgment of life is right, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.^"  In keeping that idea ever in mind, you will find contentment and joy no matter what life throws at you.

Peter went from commendation to condemnation in only a few minutes.  Jesus gladly accepted his confession of Him as Messiah and praised him more highly than He praised anyone else, ever.  Now, however, Jesus is prepared to reveal further truth to the disciples but they aren't ready to receive it and in fact, Peter outright rejects it.  Where the Spirit revealed the truth about Jesus as Messiah to him, now satan is operating in him to keep him from knowing and accepting the truth about what is to come.  Peter wants Jesus to come into not the kingdom the Father was offering, the eternal kingdom, but an earthly kingdom, the same kind of kingdom satan had offered in the wilderness after Jesus' baptism.  It seems simple for us now to understand Jesus' words regarding taking up our cross and following Him but this was before the cross was a symbol of victory.  His words would have been nearly incomprehensible to them at the time, shocking words.  No one could imagine Him or themselves taking up a cross, the most hideous idea imaginable.

Life matters.  We are to live by the Spirit and not by the flesh.  The fruits of the Spirit that Paul enumerated for us are to flow out in life.  The Christian life is not merely an inner experience to be cherished. It is to be lived and embodied. Others should know your inner life by observing you.  We are not meant to be hermits but to be like Jesus, publicly living out the life of the Spirit.  When we do, people are drawn to us and we will extend ourselves on their behalf when they are burdened.  We do not look down on others in judgment, we first judge ourselves and find that we are two things at once, deeply loved and deeply and fundamentally unworthy of that love.  Living as the beloved who receives that love as a gift rather than a right allows us to live with joy and not fear. Knowing that His love is not based on performance frees us to love as well.  Knowing that He is sovereign frees us to give generously.  The cross is the way of self-sacrifice and the lack of self-regard.

12 June 2014

Psalm 71; Eccles. 11:1-8; Gal. 5:16-24; Matt. 16:13-20

Solomon continues to discourse on the vagaries of the world we live in.  Indeed, the world is an uncertain place. All of life is a gamble of sorts in that way.  He counsels diversity in investments in verse two and in verses three and four his admonition is to action rather than inaction.  Forrest Gump's mother was right, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."  The imperative is to live anyway, rejoicing in each day, knowing that, as Jesus will say in Matthew 6 "sufficient to the day is the trouble thereof."  If you have lived long at all you know these truths, that nothing can truly be counted on, sometimes what you see isn't what you get, and there will be trouble for all.  In worldly matters there is wisdom in diversifying your investment portfolio (if you have one) and in taking action to do what is necessary in life to preserve life.  Because we understand why such things are, sin, we should also then undertake our lives to live for things eternal and unchangeable, things not subject to the vagaries of this life.  Simply said, but the doing is the important part.

The rock on which the church will be built has to be eternal if it is to stand against the gates of hell.  The rock, then, cannot be Peter can it?  It would seem that the confession of Peter, the truth about Jesus as Messiah, must be the rock on which the church is built.  When Jesus names him "Petra", the rock, is it an inherent change of being in Peter that takes place to make him rock-like?  We don't see that stability at the time of Jesus' trial, although after the Spirit is given we see him in that way in the immediate aftermath.  Paul, however, has to confront Peter as wavering in his witness depending on which audience, Jews or Gentile Christians, he is addressing at the moment.  So long as the church maintains its conviction and witness as to the identity of Jesus we will be able to withstand the gates of hell. If we get carried along every wind of doctrine rather than the Holy Spirit which enabled Peter to make his confession, we will fall before them.

Paul highlights the differences between a life characterized by the gratification of the flesh versus a life characterized by the gratification of the Spirit and the difference couldn't be more apparent.  Which would you rather your life look like: "sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these," or, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."  Even worldly people want the second but they don't know how to get there.  There is no such hope without Jesus, without eternal hope being secure.  The real problem is that they see their Christian friends as not having those things in their lives and they don't believe such life truly exists.  The reason Buddhism is so appealing is that its escapism makes possible that peace.  We have a better hope than Nirvana but who would know it?

11 June 2014

Psalm 72; Eccles. 9:11-18; Gal. 5:1-15; Matt. 16:1-12

Solomon sees that the world isn't fair and equitable, things don't work out the way you think they would, time and chance play important roles in human affairs.  We have a built-in sense that the world should be a certain way and one of the most difficult journeys is to the wisdom that we will be surprised and disappointed because it doesn't work the way we believe it should.  Psychological and spiritual issues frequently arise when that basic truth is not assimilated into our worldview.  As the writer notes, one sinner destroys much good.  Since sin came into the world there is nothing as it should be, nothing predictable, nothing truly good, right and faith about the world.  Sin, the fall, has brought about the world we live in and until we see our part in that and grieve over our own sins, we will never be completely whole in our spirit.  Jesus came and recognized the world for what man has made of it, grieved over it, and gave His Spirit to those who will believe that we might point to that time and place where things are restored to their intended state.

What "sign of Jonah" did the Pharisees and Sadducees think Jesus was speaking about here?  We know that the sign of Jonah could refer to the three days Jonah spent in the fish before God brought Him forth again to prophesy to Nineveh but it would be curious to know what they thought He was referring to.  Jesus accuses the generation of Jewish leaders of being evil and adulterous, strong language to be sure, language used by the prophets of old.  Remember here that Jesus has just fed four thousand people and healed all that were brought to Him for that purpose.  They have either just missed or completely overlooked signs galore.  As they travel back across the lake, Jesus warns the disciples regarding the leaven of these men and the disciples completely misunderstand the metaphor but also are guilty of forgetting what they have just seen as well.  The leaven of which He speaks is that which will never take the step of faith, never be truly satisfied based on available evidence, that makes more room for doubt than faith.

The Galatians are essentially hedging their bets by accepting the law.  Their faith is no longer entirely in Christ but in Christ and the keeping of the law.  Paul reminds them that the Gospel includes being set free from the law by the Spirit.  Either you believe that Jesus has fulfilled the law or you believe that you add something to your salvation by some righteousness under the law.  That truth does not mean we have the freedom of a libertine but freedom from fear and doubt about eternity.  In Jesus, all has been done that was necessary to purchase us from sin and death.  We deserve death for our sins, but we have instead received grace.  Grace is a game-changer, our worldview is completely turned on its head by grace.  Fairness is no longer the issue, we have received more than fairness, we are called to be those who live by the principle of grace rather than fairness.  As we have received, so we are to bestow.  Grace can change the world.  A world of sin needs grace far more than it needs fairness.

10 June 2014

Psalm 61, 62; Eccles. 8:14-9:10; Gal. 4:21-31; Matt. 15:29-39

Did you get the message?  Your life is ultimately meaningless.  There are no benefits for righteous living.  The same lot befalls us all so enjoy yourself during this brief life you have.  At the end of it there is nothing but death and Sheol where you won't know anything.  The Jewish idea of afterlife took a long time to work itself out, there was a focus on this life and not so much on what happens after.  At the time of Jesus, remember, there was the party of the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection from the dead.  Solomon obviously believed the same, as, apparently, did his father David.  The Psalms make clear that the dead have their own shadowy place that isn't well defined.  Sheol is neither life nor death in many ways.  Thankfully, Jesus made clear that there is indeed life after death for those who believe in Him, life was the most important thing He gave us.  As the Father gave us life in beginning, so do we have life in Him eternally. 

Sometimes we seem to have the idea that this whole Christianity thing has everything to do with the afterlife.  Solomon had it wrong in one direction and we get it wrong in the other.  Jesus went up to the mountain and crowds came brining all those who had physical infirmities and He healed them.  Then, He also fed them, all four thousand of them.  The incarnation and all that Jesus did in the flesh tell us that this life matters also.  He dealt with physical problems and restored health to people.  His life in the flesh shows us the way to live in this life and that what we do here has some value, life is indeed a gift from God to be used to make Him known.  As the Westminster Shorter Catechism says, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. 

Paul uses a metaphor that is, if nothing else, offensive to Jewish people.  It is amazing that a man so deeply embedded in Judaism most of his life could write such things.  To compare the Judaism of his day with Hagar and Ishmael and the Christian church with Sarah and Isaac is nearly unconscionable.  He sees Christianity as freedom and Judaism as slavery as only one who has been under the law can truly see things.  In Galatia he is dealing with a group who have come into the church and are imposing the law, or at least a portion of the law, on the believers.  Grace and law are two different things with two different outcomes in mind.  The law has been fulfilled in Jesus and that has both a present and eternal effect on believers.  The resurrection from the dead is intended to change the way we live here, we are secure in eternity and therefore free to live this life to His glory, risking everything if necessary. 

9 June 2014

Psalm 56, 57; Eccles. 7:1-14; Gal. 4:12-20; Matt. 15:21-28

The Ecclesiastes passage sounds countercultural doesn't it?  It sounds, in fact, like the Beatitudes.  Solomon is telling us to not set our store by the things of the world.  Better to go into the house of mourning rather than the house of feasting?  We need to keep the end in mind in all things.  That doesn't mean we are to be miserable, like Macbeth in the soliloquy after the death of Lady Macbeth, "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing."  If our life finds its meaning here than this is true, but looking to the end for Christians means something a good deal more, it means eternity.  We take this world for what it is, busted, broken, fallen and tragic, but we tell of a renewed world that is to come for those who believe.  We mourn now but only for what might have been but for sin.  Rejoicing will be forever.

Matthew describes the woman as a Canaanite, one of the peoples who were driven out of the Land by the Israelites.  Jesus engages her in uncomfortable dialogue to say the least.  Her faith is such and her love for her daughter so great that she is unconcerned what Jesus may say about her or her people in order to get Him to act on her behalf.  When He says, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs", it surely gave great offense, but she will not be dissuaded from continuing her plea.  She is both brazen and humble at once, wiling to suffer any insult in order to see her child healed.  I had a seminary professor who suggested that Jesus was merely vocalizing the prejudices of the disciples and causing them discomfort by doing so in this exchange.  Certainly, some struggled with prejudice against Gentiles greatly and yet there are several times when the faith of Gentiles is on display in the Gospel.  Why do you think Matthew thought it important to preserve this awkward dialogue?

Apparently Paul's initial time in Galatia was due to a problem with his eyes and not by design.  (As he points to their willingness to have gouged out their eyes and given them to him, I would assume the problem was in those organs.)  After Paul shared the Gospel with them others, those who would force the church to adopt more Jewish practices in order to be fully Christian, have come and the church has welcomed them as though Paul were wrong in spite of the fact that he had nothing to gain by his message.  His heart is broken that these who have loved him have now rejected the message he preached.  We have a propensity to turn relationship into religion.  We like to have a club that has its own conformity rules, it gives us comfort. 

8 June 2014

Psalm 24, 29; Eccles. 6:1-12; Acts 10:9-23; Luke 12:32-40

Vanity is the inability to be satisfied, to be content.  What is the root of that vanity and evil?  It is the constant searching for satisfaction in that which can never satisfy, things of earth.  We are cut off from ourselves by sin.  The separation caused by sin is not only separation from God it is separation from our true selves which are true and right only in relationship to Him.  Augustine wrote that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him but sin has separated us from that central truth of our existence.  We have life because He breathed life into us but we look for "life" or some reasonable facsimile in this world.  We hope that we can find satisfaction for our desires within the system when we were made for another world, the world God called good prior to sin.  Vanity is seeking to exalt myself and my desires and therefore the things we think can make us happy by anything other than Himself.  Vanity is self-exaltation and is a chasing after that which is nothing more than wind.

To receive the kingdom is to willingly give up everything else in life as of no real lasting value.  It is to recognize things for what they are, to cease striving after things of earth or cease striving to keep what you've got, it is no longer of consequence.  He can't give us the kingdom until we open our hands to receive it and we can't add it to what we're already holding, we have to empty our hands of what we have.  It is not an addition to our life, it is our life.  Our real occupation is waiting for His return that we may receive that kingdom that does not perish.  The opposite of vanity is the true understand of self that includes the idea that we are servants waiting our master's return.  It puts Him on the throne in our life.

Peter was learning what it meant to have the kingdom.  Before, in the old covenant, there were certain foods that were forbidden to him as a Jew.  Now, in this vision, he had to decide if it were God giving him the vision and if so, did he really have a new freedom with respect to food. Little did he know at the time that what God was really saying was how big the kingdom tent was going to be, that it would include not only dietary restrictions being removed, that was for the purpose of bringing those who did not observe those restrictions into the kingdom.  There was no longer room for pride in diet as a differentiation.  The kingdom was broader and more open than he would have imagined.  In the garden, if they had eaten of the tree of life first then literally nothing would have been off limits, even the tree of knowledge.  In Jesus, all things can be enjoyed for themselves, not as matters of ultimacy and satisfaction.  He is our contentment and satisfaction.

7 June 2014

Psalm 107:33-43, 108:1-6: Ezek. 36:22-27; Eph. 6:10-24; Matt. 9:18-26

The Lord is clear that He isn't vindicating His people He is magnifying His Name which they have profaned.  What He is going to do is to give them His Spirit so that they will become truly His ambassadors and through them the nations will know Him.  Does it seem amazing that not only does He announce this several hundred years prior to doing it but He did it?  The nation had always, like the church, been a mixed bag of some people who were devoted to Him and others who were nominal followers along with those who weren't followers at all, they were born into the covenant community but were not, in any recognizable way, God's people.  When He addressed the nation it was always clear that all would not receive His Spirit but there would be some type of dramatic change in those who received this gift.  They had some historical experience of such gifting through Saul receiving the Spirit and prophesying, the leaders and Eldad and Medad receiving some of the spirit given to Moses and the prophets like Ezekiel himself speaking by the power of the Spirit.  This promise is that the nation will receive this gift, not just one person or a few people, and the purpose is to gather in the nations.  There was something to look forward to in great anticipation.

In one case, the woman with the issue of blood, there is amazing faith in the one healed, "If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.”  In the other, there is only the faith of the father of the child, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”  No one else in the crowd believed, they thought Jesus was a fool because He didn’t even size up the situation correctly, "the girl is not dead but sleeping.”  Faith was a necessary component in the healing in both cases because it was the force within that impelled both the woman and the official to take risks to get to Jesus and believed that in spite of every obstacle He could do something.  The woman risked going into the crowd and making all others, including Jesus, unclean by simple contact and the official knew where Jesus had been, in the country of the Gadarenes, among the tombs and now touched by this unclean woman and yet persevered in faith inviting Jesus to his home no matter how much uncleanness He had potentially contracted along the way, those were secondary issues.  Their faith, unswerving, desperate and entire, was rewarded that day.  Things don't always work out this way, sometimes people aren’t healed, but we must always believe He is able while maintaining He is also sovereign, both great and good no matter the outcome.

I have to constantly remind myself of the truth that we aren't at war against flesh and blood.  I have spent and am always tempted to spend time fighting the wrong battle with the wrong enemy.  I war with flesh and blood not the spirits that are actually my enemy.  People are the living, breathing image of God but the spirit within, the controlling spirit, is the problem and this passage reminds me that the weapons I might choose, are of no use in that war.  I am to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Jesus wasn't at war with humankind, He told Nicodemus that He wasn't here to condemn the world but that through Him the world might be saved.  The Spirit was given that His Name might be great, it isn't people as created who oppose that agenda, it is the spirit of the antichrist.  The war is won by faith and the Spirit nothing else.  Let us spend the time evaluating our tactics and our weapons and then replace that which is useless to the task at hand.