Balaam looks not for omens, but turns to the wilderness, the
wilderness where the nation is encamped.
He sees, as he says, with eyes opened and ears hearing the words of God,
as though he were hearing truly for the first time and seeing as the only man
who can see. What he sees and what he
hears is that this nation he was called upon to curse is indeed blessed by God
and the future of that nation is brighter than anything that has gone
before. His oracle of blessing is too
much for Balak, king of Moab, to hear. He
is angry with the prophet for failing to do his bidding in cursing Israel. Balaam's response is like Luther's at his
trial, "… my conscience is captive to the Word of
God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience
is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen." The back story of this incident lets us know
that Balaam knew that he had to get this right or die. He knew he had to choose whom to fear, God or
man.
Jesus affirms that taxes should be paid to Caesar, in
recognition of his kingship. Essentially
what He says is that the money belongs to Caesar because it has his picture on
it, as ours has pictures of dead Presidents.
What is more important is the second part of the saying, "(render)
to God the things that are God's."
Where would we find God's inscription and likeness? We are His likeness, and our lives are to be
rendered to Him. The part about the
taxes is of far less significance than the call to recognize what is owed to
the true King. We may pay our taxes for
fear of the IRS but do we recognize God's claim on our lives. Do we fear Him? Jesus' death on the cross does not diminish
the holiness and the judgment of God, it enables us to overcome that fear to
approach the throne of grace but it is also the throne of judgment. To lose sight that He is a fearsome God to
whom an accounting of our lives will ultimately be given is to lose something
important. It is to lose sight of the
contingency of our existence, we exist because of His grace and love but we
exist only because He wills it and allows it.
The sermon, Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God, isn't for non-believers only.
We have received the Spirit of God not that we would fall
back into fear but that we would have the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry,
"Abba, Father." The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Perfect
love casts out fear. How do we reconcile
all these statements that are true? The love
of Christ on the cross has given us confidence to approach the throne, we know
that God indeed loved and loves the world because of Jesus' sacrifice and because
it was accepted. We know that when we
approach the judgment seat we do so in the knowledge that we have an advocate
sitting on the judge's right hand who has done the work necessary to secure our
pardon. We are guilty but He has taken
the punishment in our behalf. Fear is
replaced by love and we now live because of that love, seeking to please the
one who has given us grace. We need not
fear judgment but that fearsomeness is real.
Now, we are to fear disappointing Him because He is our loving
Father. We, like Balaam, know judgment
is real, and we should also choose to please Him as Balaam did.
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