30 September 2014

Psalm 97, 99; Hosea 4:1-10; Acts 21:1-14; Luke 5:12-26

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me."  They were to be a nation of priests, just as Peter said we are to be.  Lack of knowledge is deadly.  We ignore the word of the Lord at our own peril.  Too many Christians spend absolutely no time in the word for  themselves, content to have a second-hand relationship with both God and His Word.  The role of clergy relates to the exposition of the word but that exposition should produce a hunger for the word in the hearer.  They should want to know more for themselves, not decide that the Bible is so complicated it is best left to experts like the preacher.  In Deuteronomy Moses said, "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. "  If you have the Spirit of God, you can read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Scripture for yourself.  It is that personal knowledge, ownership of the Word, that keeps us safe and out of heresy.  We are all to abide in the Word that we might drive away erroneous teaching and remain in Him.  Ignorance of the law is no defense for sin.

Luke tells us that this man is full of leprosy.  He isn't mildly afflicted, he is eaten up with whatever leprosy meant and when Jesus touches him we should be in awe.  That he rises completely healed is beyond his imagining.  Asking him to tell no one but to go and show himself to the priest to certify the cleansing must surely have brought a smile to the man's face.  What was he going to do, keep this a secret?  Can you imagine the conversation with the priest when he presented himself?  "What has happened?" "I can't say.  I promised not to tell."  Right.  The paralytic is brought before Jesus and the press of those who have come for healing and to hear Him teach is great when suddenly the roof is opened and a litter bearing the man comes down and Jesus' response is to forgive his sins.  He knew what was necessary in all healings and did the important bit first.  He had real knowledge.

I love the little description Luke gives us in verse 8, Philip the evangelist, one of the seven.  One of the seven?  Philip was one of the seven deacons chosen in the early days of the church to take care of the food distribution and here we see him described as the evangelist.  We know that during the persecution in Jerusalem that broke out after Stephen's death by stoning Philip went to Samaria and found a great harvest of new believers.  Apparently he had left behind the work of waiting tables and overseeing the dole, and has become known as the evangelist.  All of us are to be prepared in and out of season to do the work of evangelists, not just the professionals.  Everywhere they go, people seem to know it won't go well in Jerusalem for Paul and attempt to deter him but Paul isn't afraid of suffering, he knows what likely awaits him there as well as Jesus had done. The temptation is always present to avoid suffering but Paul, like Jesus, knew that sometimes you have to go head on into the storm.

 30 September 2014

Psalm 97, 99; Hosea 4:1-10; Acts 21:1-14; Luke 5:12-26

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me."  They were to be a nation of priests, just as Peter said we are to be.  Lack of knowledge is deadly.  We ignore the word of the Lord at our own peril.  Too many Christians spend absolutely no time in the word for  themselves, content to have a second-hand relationship with both God and His Word.  The role of clergy relates to the exposition of the word but that exposition should produce a hunger for the word in the hearer.  They should want to know more for themselves, not decide that the Bible is so complicated it is best left to experts like the preacher.  In Deuteronomy Moses said, "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. "  If you have the Spirit of God, you can read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Scripture for yourself.  It is that personal knowledge, ownership of the Word, that keeps us safe and out of heresy.  We are all to abide in the Word that we might drive away erroneous teaching and remain in Him.  Ignorance of the law is no defense for sin.

Luke tells us that this man is full of leprosy.  He isn't mildly afflicted, he is eaten up with whatever leprosy meant and when Jesus touches him we should be in awe.  That he rises completely healed is beyond his imagining.  Asking him to tell no one but to go and show himself to the priest to certify the cleansing must surely have brought a smile to the man's face.  What was he going to do, keep this a secret?  Can you imagine the conversation with the priest when he presented himself?  "What has happened?" "I can't say.  I promised not to tell."  Right.  The paralytic is brought before Jesus and the press of those who have come for healing and to hear Him teach is great when suddenly the roof is opened and a litter bearing the man comes down and Jesus' response is to forgive his sins.  He knew what was necessary in all healings and did the important bit first.  He had real knowledge.

I love the little description Luke gives us in verse 8, Philip the evangelist, one of the seven.  One of the seven?  Philip was one of the seven deacons chosen in the early days of the church to take care of the food distribution and here we see him described as the evangelist.  We know that during the persecution in Jerusalem that broke out after Stephen's death by stoning Philip went to Samaria and found a great harvest of new believers.  Apparently he had left behind the work of waiting tables and overseeing the dole, and has become known as the evangelist.  All of us are to be prepared in and out of season to do the work of evangelists, not just the professionals.  Everywhere they go, people seem to know it won't go well in Jerusalem for Paul and attempt to deter him but Paul isn't afraid of suffering, he knows what likely awaits him there as well as Jesus had done. The temptation is always present to avoid suffering but Paul, like Jesus, knew that sometimes you have to go head on into the storm.

29 September 2014

Psalm 89:1-18; Hosea 2:14-23; Acts 20:17-38; Luke 5:1-11

What is God's answer to the adultery of Israel?  “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her."  What a God!  Mercy and love are His response to an adulterous wife.  Would that be your response if your spouse cheated on you?  I will woo him/her to myself and speak tenderly that I might ultimately bless them?  He says that after this Israel will call Him "husband" instead of "baal" which means master or lord.  In that day of restoration God promises to make a covenant between Israel and the rest of life, creeping things, birds, and beasts of the field.  They will know peace, no bow or sword.   The characteristics of the covenant relationship, betrothal, are to be righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy and faithfulness.  Anyone want a marriage like that?  Restoration means reversal.  Those who are not my children will become my children, those who had not received mercy will receive mercy.  What is required?  Repentance.  Rejection of all the false gods and competitors for His affection in our lives.  Do you want that marriage covenant partner badly enough to give up all that?

Our work produced absolutely nothing but because you, the rabbi, say so, we'll let down our nets into the deep water.  Peter's expectations for this act are nil.  He has been greatly impressed by Jesus' teaching and surely was delighted to be chosen as the host for His teaching but after working all night and having just finished cleaning and mending the nets for fishing this night, letting down the nets in a futile act and having to haul them and clean them again was the last thing he wanted to do.  He did so as an act of obedience, not an act of faith.  The result was absolutely amazing, a catch large enough to require his friends to come and help bring it in.  His reaction to this was the same as Isaiah's that day in the temple in Isaiah 6, "Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man."  Something in this revealed Jesus to him as other than a sinful man in whose presence Peter was not prepared to remain.  How truly amazing that he was then invited to follow Jesus.  He left behind his record catch just as the woman at the well in John 4 left behind her water jar.  Nothing else mattered now.

Paul's words to the church at Ephesus as he prepares to depart from them for what he realizes will be the last time are echoes of Moses' speech in Deuteronomy and Joshua's words to the nation prior to his own death.  They also refer to the charge given Ezekiel, that his job was to speak  the truth, point out sin, and if he did these things his hands were clean, he bore no guilt whereas if he failed to do this, he would share the guilt of the sins of the people.  Paul has no doubt that fierce wolves will come soon to destroy the work he has done in preaching the Gospel.  They have come everywhere he has ever been.  His charge is that they stand in the truth he has preached.  He is willing to lose his life, it is meaningful only because of Jesus.  Paul was willing to repent and walk away from all he had gained in order to have Jesus.  He was the most fully converted man who ever lived.  

28 September 2014

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

As I read this passage from Hosea I think about the church today and see many parallels.  Here, God's complaint is that the nation has whored after other lovers and left Him, her husband, behind.  He implores the children of Israel to call the nation to account for her adultery.  What, specifically is He talking about?  "For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’"  The nation has believed that other gods have provided what God Himself has done.  His reaction is to take away all these things and expose her nakedness without His provision so that her lovers will reject her in her shame.  Giving in the church is about 2.5% of income or about 25% less than the percentage given by Christians during the depression.  About 20% of church-going evangelicals give exactly nothing.  What does that say about us?  Does it say that our treasure is elsewhere and does it say that we, like the nation, have forgotten He is our true provider? 

Either the kingdom of God is our ultimate treasure or it is accounted of less value and worth than something else.  Where do we invest our lives, our time, talent and treasure?  Jesus says that we have yet to see the kingdom if we aren't willing to fully invest these things in the kingdom of God.  These parables sound wonderful in our ears but the reality is that we aren't living into them at all in western Christianity.  By any reasonable measure we are lukewarm Christians and that is not a good thing (see Revelation 3.14-22, the letter to the Church at Laodicea).  The world will never value the kingdom of God unless Christians do.

"if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body."  Can James really mean that?  If I don't stumble in my words and I able to bridle my body?  The tongue is indeed a serious problem for most of us.  I bet many of you had some words to say or that came to your mind when you read those first two paragraphs but where is the error?  When we get defensive or when we self-justify we continue to live out of step with our "faith."  Indeed, the tongue tells the tale on many of us.  The most amazing thing in the book of Job to me is that after he lost his wealth, his children, and his health it could be said of Job, "In all this Job did not sin with his lips."  Why?  He didn't want to lose the kingdom, the one thing remaining was the hope of the kingdom.  He suffered the loss of all else and held his tongue but when the friends attacked his hold on the kingdom, righteousness, he spoke.

27 September 2014

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

How would you feel if the Lord first began speaking to you by saying, “Find a whore and marry her. Make this whore the mother of your children. And here’s why: This whole country has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me, God.”(The Message version of Hosea 1.2)  Hosea's response was to go and do exactly as the Lord commanded.  He married a woman named Gomer which meant to bring to an end, complete or perfect.  Hosea had children with Gomer and named them incredibly unfortunate things in obedience to God.  The first child is to be named Jezreel, "for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel." It was in Jezreel that Jehu, as commander of the army of Israel, had wicked queen Jezebel killed in keeping with God's command and the line from which her husband Ahab hailed was overthrown.  Now, Jehu's own line had become wicked and would be similarly overthrown by the Lord.  The other children were to be called not my people and no mercy.  Can you imagine bearing such names to the world?  Inner healing would definitely be required.  Fortunately He is a covenant-keeping merciful God whose anger against His people is not forever. 

If you heard about a man who could heal things that doctors couldn't heal and without medicine what would be your reaction?  The people brought to Jesus, neither trained physician nor trained rabbi, all their sick and He laid hands on them and healed them.  It is truly amazing to think what this must have looked like, this train of sick people coming as the sun was setting on the Sabbath and they could begin to move about freely as the law's prohibitions were ending.  They came and He healed them, they went home well and whole.  Some had been oppressed by demons and they went home without oppression.  Can you just see this young man sitting outside the home of Peter's mother receiving these people, praying for them and seeing them healed?  They received mercy and were restored to life.  The next morning Jesus withdrew to a desolate place to be alone and then, in keeping with what the Father told Him in that alone time, moved on.  What an incredible twenty-four hours we have seen in the last two readings!

Paul continues on his missionary journey and along the way stops in Troas where he teaches all night long as Lionel Richie would sing.  Around midnight a young man listening to him falls asleep and falls out a window three stories up.  Paul scoops up the boy, reassures them he is alive, eats a bit, and then teaches through the night.  It all seems so blasé, one of those things that happens from time to time.  Luke, himself a physician, writes this account without apparent amazement, just another little episode from the road.  Are we hungry enough to learn about the truth that we would stay up all night, make little commotion about someone falling three stories and then just go back to the teaching?  We are those who have received mercy, those who were not but are now His people because of Jesus, do we appreciate that truth enough or is the thing we take for granted and are blasé about?

26 September 2014

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

To have the signet ring of the king was to have the authority of the king.  When a document was issued from the king, wax was poured onto the document and the signet pressed into the wax, making it official.  To have the king's signet was a sign of incredible trust, you could bind the king by your actions.  The king took his ring from Haman and gave it to Mordecai who had proven himself in the earlier matter when he heard of a plot to assassinate the king.  Laws and edicts thus sealed had the power of irrevocable law.  As Matthew Henry pointed out, this was a foolish pride that elevated men to the status of gods.  If their edicts were irrevocable they were, themselves, infallible, incapable of making mistakes.  Therefore, Mordecai was given power and authority to write an edict which would nullify without revoking the prior edict which Haman had issued in the king's name.  Ahasuerus may have been weak but he was not without great pride. 

The people of Capernaum were amazed at Jesus' teaching because it had an authority they had never heard before.  The reason was that He, like Mordecai, had the authority of the King.  If we had Thomas Jefferson before us today, he could speak with authority on every jot and tittle of the Declaration of Independence and James Madison with respect to the Constitution.  They could give us the exact intent of every phrase in a way that no one else could do because they wrote those phrases.  Jesus had intimate knowledge of not only the words but the intention of the Law and therefore the authority in His teaching was different from any one who had ever taught before.  As He teaches, for some reason, an unclean spirit in a man speaks out to Him and Jesus commands it with an authority and power that comes only from the one through whom and for whom all things, even this spirit, were created.  What authority has been given to us as Christians?

Follow the money.  That is always the best rule in investigations determined to get at truth and motive.  Jesus taught that very thing when He said that the love of money is the root of all evil.  Here, Demetrius is motivated by his wallet not his religious sensibilities.  How does his little speech begin?  “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth."  You can motivate business people by showing them the cost to themselves if a certain action is taken but you can motivate other people by appealing to their civic and religious pride and that was exactly what they did.  Most of the people demonstrating did not know why they were there.  If you took a poll at most demonstrations today you would find the same thing, that many people there were not there for the reasons the organizers tout.  Ultimately, the town clerk sorts out that the apostle is neither sacrilegious nor a blasphemer of Diana, there is some other motive and he rightly points to the culprits and their legal remedies if there is an issue at law.  He too is motivated by loss, rioting will get you in trouble with Rome. Authority matters and we should always be aware what authority we are obeying.

25 September 2014

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

Now, Esther has tested the waters these last two days, has seen the honor given to her uncle Mordecai, and has the faith to step out and make her request of the king on behalf of the Jews.  He is shocked at her words and only wants to know who has contrived such a thing as the destruction of his queen and her people.  Her response is assertive to say the least, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!”  The author tells us that Haman was terrified and rightly so, he has seen enough these last 24 hours to know the gig is up.  He falls on the couch with the queen to beg forgiveness and the king sees this and is even more angry, believing Haman is assaulting her (remember when Joseph was accused of something similar in Genesis) and now the man must die, literally hoisted on his own petard, the gallows he had erected for Mordecai's hanging.

After the temptations, Jesus returns to Galilee and begins teaching in the area is glorified by all.  He is becoming quite a celebrity in the region and now comes to the synagogue at Nazareth.  All eyes were on Him as He stood that day to read and took up the scroll of Isaiah.  What did they think He would say about the passage?  Surely and certainly not what He did say, that the time of Messiah had come and was fulfilled that day.  Who in the world does He think He is?  Initially, their reaction is amazement and yet the question remains, isn't this Joseph's son?  When Jesus then begins to speak approvingly of Gentiles and question the heritage of the Jews who rejected the prophets who were welcomed by these Gentiles, it all goes badly.  Now, He has lost His credibility, He has gone from preaching to meddling and we always want God to despise the same people we do.  Just like Haman did.

Jealousy nearly always gets you into trouble.  God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul and the sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, who were itinerant exorcists, want to have the same power without the same source.  They believe not in the power of God but in magic and they believe they have come upon the magic words that make this all possible.  If we are not in Christ then we take great risks by using His Name, it is not meant to be used in vain, for the purposes of vanity and that is exactly what these men were doing.  They wanted the notoriety Paul was receiving, they wanted to be great in their own right.  What they discovered is that without the Holy Spirit they were incredibly vulnerable and fighting enemies much more powerful.  Because of their routing at the hands of the evil spirit, however, many believed and renounced their own beliefs in magic.  The volume of books that came out of the woodwork here is truly amazing, about $35,000 in today's money.  We never know people's true beliefs until they come into contact with Jesus in power.

24 September 2014

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

Can you see God's sovereign hand in all this?  The king couldn't sleep so he asked that the chronicles of memorable events be brought.  If the king had slept well things would be different for the Jews.  If Haman hadn't hated Mordecai so much he wouldn't have been in the court at the right moment.  If Haman hadn't been the kind of self-absorbed narcissist he was, he would have asked who the king wanted to honor.  Instead of Mordecai bowing before Haman, then, Mordecai leads Haman through the streets while Mordecai the Jew is acclaimed by all the people and Haman serves him as escort.  Can you imagine the bitterness and anger Haman felt at this?  Can you imagine the smug grin that must have been on Mordecai's face as this procession wound through the city?  Now, his friends and family see that this isn't going to end well, he won't be able to talk the king into sending Mordecai to the gallows.  The banquet now looms before him.

Will we be led by the desires of the flesh or will we mortify them for the sake of being like Jesus?  Forty days He has fasted and satan comes to tempt Jesus.  The first temptation is to finish the fast by making some food from stones.  Jesus is fully able to do this.  He is in the wilderness where there is no food and He has a journey to make to get back to a place where there is food.  What harm could there be, out here, alone, in doing this thing?  Even after forty days, the most important thing to Jesus isn't bread and He refuses to comply.  Next, the appeal is to a desire for power and Jesus again turns away from the temptation for the sake of the cross and the kingdom of God.  The final temptation is the one that finds its fulfillment in the cross.  Jesus won't cast Himself off the temple mount this day to prove the Father's love, He will go to the cross in faith that the Father will bring Him back from death.  That day Jesus goes even farther in trust, all the way to the tomb.

At Ephesus Paul finds some disciples and for some reason he is moved to ask them about their baptism.  He asks specifically if they received the Holy Spirit when they believed. Their response could be the response of many Christians today, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  So little attention is given to the gift of the Spirit that this is a common idea, that no expectation exists that the Spirit is given.  They were baptized for the remission of sins, to prepare them for Jesus. Paul then baptized them in the Name of the Lord Jesus and laid hands on them that they might receive the Spirit.  They did.  We need to ask today for more of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we might trust Him more and proclaim Him more boldly and powerfully.  He is our power.

23 September 2014

Psalm 78:1-39; Esther 5:1-14; Acts 18:12-28; Luke 3:15-22

Have you ever noticed how often things happen on the third day in Scripture?  Esther appears before the king, unbidden, on the third day and finds favor in his sight.  There is a parallel here between Esther and Nehemiah when he speaks to the king concerning the city of God.  Here, Esther makes no statement at all, no request concerning her people.  The king, remember, has no idea that the Jews are her people.  All she asks is that a banquet be given and Haman be invited.  At the end of the meal, she is again asked what she wants and her request is to repeat the pleasant meal they have just completed.  Haman is now full of himself, believing not only is he in favor with the king, he is also in favor with the king's favorite.  Surely he will be able to do whatever he likes.  His one problem is his hatred for Mordecai.  Why does it matter so that this one man bow down to him?  His wife and friends come up with the solution, hang Mordecai, so he commands the gallows to be built.  It's going to be a good day tomorrow isn't it?

In spite of the great success of his mission John never forgot who he was.  The people were in great expectation and wondered if John himself were Messiah.  He quickly and thoroughly disabused them of such an idea.  “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."  That is lowliness compared to this one of whom he speaks.  Herod, a Jew, had married his brother's wife, and John spoke out against the marriage on religious grounds.  Herodias was like Haman, she wanted John to bow to her, to cease his speaking against the marriage.  Her daughter, Salome, will receive the same offer Esther received in our first reading, and Herodias, like Haman, will have a murderous plan.  Here, Jesus submits to the baptism of John, the dove descends, and He is announced as the beloved Son.  The mission has begun.

Gallio was willing to do what Pilate would not.  Gallio understood the problem with Paul among the Jews was a religious issue and not a civil issue and remanded the complaint to their court where Pilate tried but failed to do the same.  Neither man found the accused guilty of laws which they were charged with upholding but Gallio refused to play the game.  At this point, however, Paul begins a new missionary journey strengthening some of the work he had begun in the region.  At Ephesus, Apollos begins to preach powerfully but incompletely.  What is perhaps missing is the power of the Spirit.  Apollos seems to have the understanding of John the Baptist concerning Messiah, that there is some human effort needed here and not grace and the Holy Spirit empowerment.  Priscilla and Aquila listen to his teaching and then take him aside privately to explain the entire Gospel to him and afterwards he becomes a yet more powerful instrument for the kingdom.  We need always to make sure we know all we need to know.

22 September 2014

Psalm 80; Esther 4:4-17; Acts 18:1-11; Luke 3:1-14

Initially, Esther fears for her life if she goes in to the king without being summoned.  She is concerned about what will happen to her, not what will happen to the nation.  Self-preservation is usually our first response isn't it?  Mordecai, however, has faith in the outcome of this event.  "if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place."  He warns Esther that she won't be safe in the palace if she fails to act.  She might be safe from the king but if she takes no action, she and her father's house will indeed perish.  The Lord is requiring this of her, He has raised her up for this very hour.  Do we see our lives and our positions as the Lord's doing?  Whatever that place is, the Lord wants you right where you are but not simply for yourself, for Him and His people.  If you have a job, He gave it to you.  All that you have is from Him and if you withhold from Him the tithe you, like Esther intended to do, are failing to identify with Him and His people and His mission.  You are taking a greater risk than you have considered by playing it safe.  We live in an incredibly individualistic society, self-centeredness and self-preservation are the ways of the world, we are meant to be different.

John the Baptist takes the risk of proclaiming the kingdom and the King, are coming.  He risks the disapprobation of the leadership in his words and his actions but his role is to prepare a people for that coming.  They need to be prepared to receive the king whom John believes is coming in judgment.  It is his desire that no one may suffer in that judgment.  Is that your desire as well?  Are you willing to risk anything to share the Gospel?  The church today needs to have the urgency of John the Baptist.  The church of every day needs to have that urgency.  We don't know when the Lord is coming but we know He is coming in judgment and which of us wants to face Him having failed to warn those we love?  Not only is this preparation a matter of belief, it is also a matter of ethics and living.  People knew that heeding this call required them to do something different, to change, and John says get out of self-preservation mode, if you have two tunics, give one to someone who has none, don't get greedy, collect only the amount authorized, be content with your wages, live simply.

Priscilla and Aquila, Titius Justus and Crispus all take personal risks to welcome and support Paul and the ministry of preaching the Gospel and teaching.  All these people could have been secret believers but they welcomed Paul into their homes and allowed him to preach in spite of the opposition he received.  We are told that Titius Justus lived next to the synagogue and Crispus was the ruler of the synagogue.  These men lost whatever position and prestige they had in the Jewish community in order to align themselves with Paul's message concerning Jesus.  The call to discipleship is a costly thing and we have made it something else.  The world is changing around us and we will soon recognize that the call is costly.  Are we prepared for that day?

21 September 2014

Psalm 93, 96; Esther 3:1-4:3; James 1:19-27; Matt. 6:1-6,16-18

Mordecai's refusal to bow to Haman has nothing to do with the Law.  The Jews did not believe that bowing before kings and rulers was a violation of the first and second commandments, it was a matter of respecting the office, not worshipping either the man or the office.  It had to do with the fact that Haman was an Amalekite, (described here as an Agagite - see Agag) the enemies of the Jews from the earliest days of the nation in the wilderness.  He wouldn't bow because Haman was an enemy of the Jews, as he proves to be.  We are told that they cast Pur or lots in Haman's presence day after day as a way of determining the right timing to move against the Jews.  The festival associated with the book of Esther is the plural, Purim, certainly an odd choice for a name.  The king, in his weakness, ignorance and jealousy, determines that these people Haman describes as separatists, must die.  There is something eerily familiar about the decision to wipe out the Jews isn't there?

Jesus takes for granted that His followers will give to the needy, pray and fast.  He gives instructions based on "when" you do these things, not "if" you do these things.  In all these, we are encouraged to do them to the Lord, in secret, not to make a show of our righteousness.  These are all righteous acts in that they are commanded by God for His people.  The obedience to a command is no more than that and if such things are an act of obedience, then are they to be trumpeted before the world?  It has nothing to do with avoiding persecution by hiding your faith, this is a word against prideful action. 

James says that we must be doers of the word and not hearers only.  Christianity is an active thing, active obedience to both the commands of Jesus and to the prompting and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus invited the disciples to come and follow, do life together, not simply learn information and memorize facts and doctrine.  Life was the application of learning.  Judaism was and is a way of life, not simply a way of thinking.  The reason for the 613 laws and the interpretation of the Law was that people might know how to live as God's people.  Esther had to act on behalf of her people, to be willing to risk rather than simply pray for deliverance.  When we make Christianity an intellectual and private thing we have walked away from Jesus.

20 September 2014

Psalm 75, 76; Esther 2:1-23; Acts 17:16-34; John 12:44-50

We meet Mordecai, a Benjamite who had been brought out of Jerusalem in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and his niece, Esther.  The king has remembered his edict concerning queen Vashti and now must choose a replacement queen.  His advisers suggest bringing together many young virgins for him to inspect and from whom he will choose this next queen.  Esther, an orphan, was raised by her uncle and she was taken into the harem as one of the potential wives of the king.  During her preparation period we see a submissive young woman whose desire is to please those in authority over her, both her uncle Mordecai and the keeper of the harem.  She submits to their authority in not telling her religion or her Jewish roots and then in doing whatever the keeper suggests.  She seems to have no mind of her own, but not in a bad way.  Ultimately, she so pleased the king that she became his choice and was feted with a banquet.  In the meantime, Mordecai overhears a plot against the king and his information leads to subversion of the plot and this is recorded in the kings annals.  That will come back later.

Jesus doesn't just whisper this truth, He cries out.  He makes clear His claim to oneness and equality with God, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. ⁴⁵ And whoever sees me sees him who sent me."  His mission is not judgment but salvation of the world, just as we read in John 3 in the conversation with Nicodemus, He has come that through Him the world might be saved.  He has made the Father known and the results of that revelation are decidedly mixed.  Some have believed but most have not.  He has, however, been faithful to all the Father has told Him to say and do and the results are what they are.  We must be faithful to the revelation of God to us as well and trust the results to Him.  Ezekiel was told the same thing, that if He spoke truth about sin then he was innocent of judgment but if he failed to make sin known then he too was responsible for that sin, even if he didn't commit it.  We have an obligation to speak truth, no matter the cost to us and without regard to the results.

In Athens Paul's spirit is provoked by the presence of so many idols.  Athenians were open to anything it seems and therefore there were many gods worshipped, you never knew what you might need.  They were so open minded that they were willing to believe that there were likely gods that they had not yet heard of who were worthy so they had a shrine to the unknown god. This became Paul's opening gambit, he would tell them of this unknown God who was sovereign over all things, people, times and places.  He appointed times and places for people.  They were here, now, because it was this God's will.  In doing so, he clearly set God above all their gods.  He quoted their own poets, saying their wisdom was real wisdom but they didn't find the object of their wisdom in the gods they knew.  Ultimately, the problem for the Greeks was the resurrection from the dead.  This was a bridge they weren't prepared to cross, a dead man who was God.  Some believed, some didn't, some wanted to hear more.  Such will it always be.  Let us be found faithful, however. 

19 September 2014

Psalm 69; Esther 1:1-19; Acts 17:1-15; John 12:36b-43

Did you know that the Lord is not mentioned in the book of Esther?  He is evident in the protection of His people but He doesn't make an appearance by Name or direct reference.  The story begins in the court of the king of Persia, Ahasuerus or Xerxes, the son of king Darius, who ruled over a vast empire.  He is having a banquet for all his nobles and the edict for all is freedom of conscience, they can do as they like with respect to the drinking of alcohol at these festivities, none are under compunction.  At the same time, queen Vashti is giving a similar banquet for the women of these men.  After seven days of feasting and drinking the king decides it would be nice to have Vashti appear before the gathering that all might see her beauty.  Jewish interpreters from the earliest dates have said that the command would have been for her to appear naked before these men.  That certainly explains her refusal to obey the king who now has been disrespected by the queen.  He must come up with some punishment to show he is king over all.  The punishment is banishment, if she won't appear, I won't let her.

As Jesus admonishes the people to believe in the light that they might be children of the light, He takes His leave and hides Himself from them.  John's digression here points to the prophecy given Isaiah that he would make known the truth about God and the nation and yet no one would listen or perceive that truth because their ears were stopped and their eyes closed against the truth.  The first thing we always need to do when we share the Gospel is pray the Lord will enable the person to know the truth as spoken.  The other problem we see in this passage is that some of the leaders believed but they weren't prepared to follow Him as required, they didn't want to lose what they had in power, position and propriety.  We must be prepared to lose the glory we receive from men if we are to glorify Him, it might cost us our reputation and our friends to align with Jesus.

As Paul and Silas continue their journey they come to Thessalonica, to whom Paul wrote two letters we find in the New Testament.  As was his custom, Paul first went to the synagogue to proclaim Jesus to the Jews in hopes that some would believe in Him as fulfillment of the promises of God through the prophets.  Indeed, some do believe along with some of the devout Greeks (proselytes who had not taken the final step of circumcision).  This, as always, angers those who reject the message and they demand that Paul and those who have accepted the message about Jesus, be arrested.  I wonder if we are moving in a direction in our country where belief in Jesus will be, if not criminalized, at least marginalized in our lifetimes.  It is already considered objectionable to stand in favor of traditional marriage and state that homosexuality is a sin.  When the apostles move to Berea they see a similar result to the preaching, some believe, but the Thessalonians won't hear of their success, they must be driven out.  We need to get ready for the same treatment.  We must be prepared to move to the margins.

18 September 2014

Psalm 71; Job 28:1-28; Acts 16:25-40; John 12:27-36a

I bet you thought we were done with Job didn't you?  Yesterday's reading finished the book but now we drop back fourteen chapters, before God spoke, and look at the most truthful thing Job said in all his many words.  Mankind has uncovered many marvelous things by ingenuity and the sweat of his brow, but one thing eludes his efforts, wisdom.  Wisdom is not to be found in the same way as other items of knowledge.  It is to be found in God alone and must be sought from Him.  True wisdom knows things as they truly are, that they are only ephemeral in the sense that they were created and a time will come when they are no longer.  Wisdom cannot be found in temporal things, it must be sought from that which is eternal.  Job knows what Solomon knew, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  He who spoke and called forth all that is from nothing at all is to be feared and yet He created us in His own image, for relationship with Him.  Isn't that the most amazing thing in the universe?

Jesus knows what is going to happen and his soul is troubled.  Even though He knows what lies ahead, the suffering, agony, betrayal, abandonment and death, He still says, Your will be done.  Can you say, "Father whatever it takes, however unpleasant it may be for me, glorify Your Name"?  Even at this time, Jesus says that the world is going to be judged, the ruler of this world cast out, surely that means that He will take His place on the throne.  He speaks of being lifted up, and the crowd knew that He was speaking of His death.  They can't reconcile the idea of a dead Messiah with what they know from Scripture.  Then, He speaks of walking in the light while they have it and believing in the light.  He has already said He is the light of the world, they know what He is talking about.  Wisdom, real wisdom, comes from Him.  What does it mean that Messiah remains forever?  We think we have a handle on what death means but we should know from Genesis 3 that death doesn't necessarily mean physical death.  Adam and Eve died the day they ate the forbidden fruit but they didn't experience it fully until much later.  Jesus will remain forever but there is coming a time when He won't be with them bodily.

The jailer awakes, sees the doors of the prison cells open, assumes that all have escaped and thinks it best to kill himself because the Romans will kill him anyway when they discover the security breach caused by his carelessness.  What a shock it must have been to hear the voice of Paul saying they were all still there.  No wonder he was in fear.  His reaction is to ask what he might do to be saved, not from the Romans, but from whatever power had done this thing on Paul's behalf.  He was an amazing man, taking them to his own home, caring for their wounds and believing in Paul's God.  Perhaps this was the man of Macedonia Paul had seen in the vision.  Paul, when informed he was being set free the next day, refused to come out without an escort and apology.  Wisdom was in knowing God had done this thing, wisdom was in also forcing the leaders to admit their mistake.  In wisdom is strength.

17 September 2014

Psalm 72; Job 42:1-17; Acts 16:16-24; John 12:20-26

At the end of God's soliloquy Job can only say, now that I have seen you rather than just heard of you, I will be silent, my wisdom and knowledge is so limited I can't comprehend all that I don’t know.  Afterwards, the Lord rebukes Job's friends and commands them to sacrifice before Job seven bulls and seven rams for their folly of speaking wrongly of Him.  When we counsel with those in grief or in the midst of a calamity, it is important that we speak rightly of Him, that we present them with a truthful picture of the Lord.  That includes a truthful and honest understanding of this world and His love for it.  Ultimately the Lord prospers Job more in the end of his life than in the beginning.  There has been great loss, including his children, yet Job now has no more questions for the Lord, only worship. 

Greeks who had come to the Passover festival in Jerusalem seek out Jesus via His disciple Philip.  When Philip presents their request to "see Jesus" he doesn't get the answer he might have expected.  It begins well, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified."  Surely Philip's expectations were high in interpreting that particular statement, particularly as it was just after the triumphal entry where Jesus was hailed as the Messianic King, the Son of David.  Immediately, however, Jesus speaks of dying, losing this life, hating this life, and eternal life.  Can't you just see Philip going back to the Greeks saying, "I don't have any idea what's going on."  Even at this late date it seems doubtful that the disciples understood that Jesus was really going to a cross, especially in the short term when all looked like it was going well.  These Greeks, who were probably proselytes to Judaism, had heard of Jesus, just as Job had heard about God, but they wanted not only to hear of Him but see Him.  They would, but what would they make of what they saw?

The spirit of prophecy and the spirit of divination are two different things as they come from two different sources.  Divination always points to itself, glorifies itself and the one who possesses the spirit and frequently is used to make money.  Paul is annoyed with this spirit that speaks truly, he and Silas were servants of the Most High God and were proclaiming the way of salvation, but they needed no one else to witness to that, particularly one who had not received this salvation herself.  Paul spoke to the spirit and commanded it to come out of the girl in the Name of Jesus and it obeyed, a sure sign that the spirit was not of God.  Her owners, whose servant she was, and for whom she was a profit-center, were angry about their loss, even though it had meant the girl was demon-possessed.  When she was giving a word, it didn't matter what Paul and Silas proclaimed, but now, they must be arrested and punished.  They, like so many others, saw but did not see. 

16 September 2014

Psalm 61, 62; Job 40:1,41:1-11; Acts 16:6-15; John 12:9-19

"Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine."  We were given the job of exercising dominion "over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  Nonetheless, here the Lord speaks of Leviathan and says good luck with bringing him into submission.  We don't know what is being referred to here but we know that we do not exert dominion over all things and that is because of the fall.  Sin means we no longer exercise the kind of dominion God would have us exercise, instead we exploit the natural order to satisfy our desires.  Here, the Lord says that all under heaven is His, that should be an important part of our ethics of creation care and dominion, it doesn't belong to us, we are caretakers and stewards of the property of another.  While this isn't the focus of God's lecture, that focus is not ownership but sovereignty, it surely has something to say about such issues.  The one unruly part of creation that refuses to bend itself to the will of God is man.  While God is sovereign over all things, with us that sovereignty is exercised ultimately in judgment.

This reading begins with what we believe is the reason Lazarus isn't mentioned in the other Gospels.  The same ones who killed Jesus also decided to kill Lazarus, to get rid of the evidence of Jesus' greatest miracle.  John's Gospel was the last written and it is assumed that the other writers omitted the story of the raising of Lazarus to not draw attention to him so long as he lived but that by the time John wrote Lazarus had died.  Again.  John tells us that Lazarus was "the reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign."  Why would they not believe?  It is an amazing thing that they could hear the story, see Lazarus, and determine to kill the man who raised him from the dead.  We will not bend the knee unless it exalts us to do so.

Paul is a man who understood that God's will was preferable to his own.  Upon seeing the man of Macedonia beckoning him to come, he laid down his plans and immediately set his course for Macedonia.  It is interesting that a man of Macedonia beckoned and yet when he arrived there the person to whom he preached the Gospel wasn't a man at all, but a woman from Thyatira named Lydia.  Lydia was a proselyte who was prepared to hear the Good News and receive it as true.  Her response was not only to accept the truth but to invite Paul, Silas and Luke to her own home to remain, she was a person of peace.  Are we prepared to change our plans to suit God's call and need?  Is He sovereign over us?

15 September 2014

Psalm 56, 57; Job 40:1-24; Acts 15:36-16:5; John 11:55-12:8

"Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?"  That, indeed, is what Job has been doing in his speeches.  He is so concerned with his rightness that his only option was to say that God was in the wrong.  He asked for a redeemer but that redeemer's work was to plead Job's case in the face of God's unrighteous punishment of him when he had done nothing to deserve it.  There is injustice in this world.  There are many things that will not make sense to us because we believe ultimately in justice and fairness.  We can't imagine the intricacy of the web of sin and the scope of things which work together in this life, the complexity of it all.  I continually marvel that Abram and Sarai conspired to have a child by her maidservant and that this decision taken four thousand years ago by wandering Bedouins plays havoc with the world today as the sons of Ishmael, the Muslims, and the sons of Isaac, the Jews, are at old enmity with one another.  The long view of history stretching into eternity and the new creation is the only way to reconcile these things.  God gave Job that picture.

The Jews are looking to arrest Jesus when He comes to Passover, if He comes.  They have spies on the lookout for Him but we know that they will not need spies to find Him when Jesus enters the city, it will be open and to extraordinary acclaim.  First, six days before Passover, we find Jesus back in Bethany at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, who had recently been dead.  I smile when I read the words, " Martha served".  Lazarus reclines at table and then we find a strange word, "therefore."  Therefore Mary took a pound of expensive ointment, nard, and began to anoint Jesus such that the aroma filled the house.  (here is the Wikipedia article on nard, it grows only in the Himalayas and was therefore wildly expensive).  Judas is the dissenter, why wasn't this sold for the benefit of the poor, like Jesus told the rich young man to do with his earthly inheritance?  This time, Jesus says the poor will always be among us.  Too often that is an excuse to do nothing for the poor but what Jesus is saying is that this is a once in a lifetime or once in history chance to serve Him directly, this is more important. 

Sometimes splits happen in ministry.  The disagreement between Paul and Barnabas was over John Mark who seemingly lost heart when the going got tough.  Paul isn't ready to forgive, forget and restore while Barnabas, the man most responsible for Paul's own position (he was the one who retrieved Paul and brought him to Antioch for his first mission work), is prepared to move on and let the past go.  Luke is content to not take sides in the matter and see now two missionary teams going out.  Along the way, Timothy joins Paul and Silas and Paul demonstrates what he will later write in his letter to the Corinthians, that we need to consider the weaker brother in our practices .  The Jerusalem Council has spoken and not required circumcision but with Timothy, Paul chooses to circumcise him.  Was this because he saw Timothy becoming a leader and therefore wanted to remove any impediment to him being received as leader?  At any rate, Paul modified his practice in order to avoid the inevitable arguments to Timothy.  The long view sometimes calls us to do that which we otherwise would find objectionable.

14 September 2014

Psalm 24, 29; Job 38:1,18-41; Rev. 18:1-8; Matt. 5:21-26

God's sarcasm.  It sounds like, "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!"  God's answer to Job is a beat down of epic proportions.  Job needed to be put in his place but God isn't responding this way in order to belittle Job or tear Him apart, but to help him get true perspective.  We ask a great many questions regarding why things are the way they are, whether those questions are motivated by perceived injustice or pain in our lives or the same regarding others.  We ask the why questions when great tragedy strikes in the world and we expect to have understanding of meta-issues.  The Lord is essentially telling Job to rest in His sovereignty, that his understanding and even his ability to understand is insufficient to understand.  Trust me, God says.

Can Jesus mean these things?  Is it possible to never be angry with my brother?  I have never had a real relationship with anyone in my life without having at least a moment when I was angry with the person.  I get angry at the slightest provocation.  If I went to everyone who has something against me before I come to the Lord's table I would likely never be able to receive Communion again.  There are people from whom I am estranged today who are my brothers and sisters in Christ and I know that a good many of them have something against me, not just me against them.  Jesus knows that we are sinful and therefore we will have things against one another but He is getting at the larger point about who we should be.  We should be those who seek peace and reconciliation always.  Taking human nature seriously and realistically tells us that there are two ways of dealing with one another, war or peace.  Choose peace.  Jesus made peace for us and He is our peace.

The great city which has promised much and enticed many by her promises, is fallen and degraded.  We are attracted to pleasing images and the promise of pleasure and prosperity.  Ultimately these things and allurements of the flesh and the eyes will pass away.  Sinfulness is forsaking the things of God and choosing those things He has prohibited.  It is ultimately saying to God that what He offers pales in comparison to what else can be had.  We choose the material over the immaterial all the time because we, like Job, forget all that He has done and is doing.  When we choose pleasures of the flesh we forego greater pleasures of intimacy with Him.  When we choose separation because we are right, we forego the greater pleasure of reconciliation.  Let us walk humbly before our God.

13 September 2014

Psalm 55; Job 38:1-17; Acts 15:22-35; John 11:45-54

Put on your big boy britches and let's have at it.  The Lord speaks into this abyss of human words and wisdom and says, who in the world is it that is talking all this nonsense.  You shouldn't talk about things you know nothing about.  While all the participants in the theological gabfest that has been the previous 36 or so chapters have affirmed the sovereignty of God they have not fully accepted that reality.  They have bounded it within their theological framework.  We tend to do that, circumscribe limits for God and allow Him theaters of action.  We don't do so without consultation of Scripture, we do so because we honestly believe, but we still carry vestiges of folk theology with us.  Either God is entirely sovereign which implies that "for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" or He is not.  Our problem is that we believe we have a handle on what is good and what will produce good.  The truth is that we don't, only He does.  If He is not sovereign over the concept of good, He is not sovereign at all.

What would have been the motivation for some of the mourners who saw Lazarus raised from the dead to go tell the Pharisees?  They had seen a miracle the likes of which had never been done and their response to it was to go tell the teacher?  Even so, the Pharisees and the council admit that Jesus "performs many signs."  They somehow missed the obvious conclusion that they should perhaps reevaluate what they thought of Him.  If He performed many signs then it would be a good idea to see what those signs point to.  A sign has a function, it points to something.  If I see a sign with a red background and golden arches on it, I know that there must be a McDonalds restaurant somewhere in the vicinity. That He might be of divine origin was the one possible explanation but it was also the one they refused to consider.  Would God act on Sabbath in a way that was considered sinful?  We know what Messiah will do and from whence He will hail and this man is failing on both counts in our opinion.  God's sovereignty to do as He wills within the limits He has set for Himself in prophecy are in question.  Our interpretation cannot be the boundary.

The apostolic council sends its decision, in letter form, via Paul and Barnabas and sends two others from Jerusalem, Judas and Silas, to accompany them in order to verify its authenticity.  It seems that they were very particular in their instructions, very limited, and therefore we should take those prohibitions seriously today.  I sometimes see comparisons made in order to justify sexual sin between laws concerning diet or a mixture of cloths in a garment and we as Christians need to be able to point to this decision and Paul's teaching in keeping with this decision as the important point.  The apostles laid down what were the parts of the law that would apply not only to the Gentiles but also for the Jewish believers.  Did they have the Holy Spirit or did they not and on what basis would we, 2000 years later, determine they did not?  Their ministry and apostolicity was confirmed by signs, anyone who proposes to have the Spirit and teaches in opposition to this should be required to prove equally their own apostolicity.  Either God is sovereign as lawgiver or He is not.

12 September 2014

Psalm 40,54; Job 29:1,31:24-40; Acts 15:12-21; John 11:30-44

Job continues to make his defense, beginning with he has not worshipped idols or false gods of any sort, money or the created order.  Further, he has never even celebrated at the misfortune of others, not even those who have hated him.  No one can complain that Job has failed to offer hospitality of any sort.  He has not lived in fear of man and kept silent in order to keep the peace.  What is it he wants?  "Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!"  His adversary?  Who is Job's adversary?  Job has concluded that God is his adversary and in so doing has made a great mistake.  God is on Job's side but Job is looking at the evidence and making the wrong conclusion.  The adversary is satan and he has accused Job of one simple thing, loving God for the gifts and protection He has given Job rather than because of Himself.  Perhaps there was some degree of truth in that accusation.  Job has loved the God he thought was God, the God who paid out favors to the people who kept the rules.  He needs a new understanding of God.

Now that Mary is present the time has come for Jesus to act.  Can't you just hear the little sniping side conversation that we see here: “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”  There is faith but doubt about Jesus' goodness all at the same time.  Was that same basic idea behind the word of both sisters when they saw Jesus, "If you had been here my brother would not have died."  We know their faith in Him was great but it had limits.  It seemed to all particularly rude that Jesus would ask for the tomb to be opened and Martha clearly stated the reason, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”  Amazingly, what looked like a failure of love and concern became the occasion for the greatest manifestation and proof both of His love and of His identity.  Everything else was prelude to this moment until His own resurrection.

James has now become the leader of the Jerusalem church and it is then his statement that carries the day in regards to the Gentiles.  It is their considered decision that only a few things are to be observed in regards the law by these converts, "to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood."  There has always been the need for a certain amount of separation from the world by God's people in order to reveal Him and these were the things the council chose to enforce because these were the things that reveal different gods and different ethics of the kingdom of God.  In our day we hear things about sexuality like Jesus never mentioned such things but when the church first had to decide what set it apart, sexual ethics was one of the prime issues.  Can it be much simpler than that?  God reveals Himself in these prohibitions in that He is one God not one of many and He is a jealous God, not sharing His glory with any other.  He cares about life, all of life, including animal life, and the Word has always said that the life of anything is in the blood, this prohibition was one of the first in the entire Bible once meat was allowed into the diet.  As in the garden, the prohibitions were few and, not surprisingly we have come to focus on the thing prohibited rather than the great freedom we have been given.

11 September 2014

Psalm 50; Job 29:1,31:1-23; Acts 15:1-11; John 11:17-29

Job looks back over his life, in search of sin, and finds righteousness.  He is willing to find sin, looking for obvious sins like adultery, mistreatment of his servants, or a failure to help the poor.  He finds himself innocent of all these potential accusations.  As I have continually reminded us, Job was blameless and upright.  He isn't falsely or superficially acquitting himself of sin.  Underneath all his thoughts on the matters at hand, however, is the little problem that has been the problem all along in Job's argument.  The last sentence sums it up, "For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty."  Several times in this defense he says similar things, "Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?... if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out."  Has Job's righteousness more to do with fear and a belief that his actions bring and deserve either blessing or curse or is he pursuing righteousness for its own sake because God wants that from him?

What must Mary and Martha have thought when now, finally, too late to do anything, Jesus comes?  Four days Lazarus has been dead and now in the tomb.  We sent word, if you had come when we called you could have done something.  Our hope and faith were in you and your love for us and you ignored us and because of that Lazarus is dead.  Really dead.  Four days is too long in Jewish theology for resuscitation. They believe the soul keeps vigil for three days to see if the body will reanimate and then leaves without hope for the place of the dead.  Martha says, however, even now God will give whatever you ask.  Jesus, far from comforting her, seems to almost crush her hopes by saying "I am the resurrection and the life and if anyone believes in Him they will not die and if they die they will yet live and asks if she believes that.  She believes He is the Christ, but at the moment death is too real to speak to such matters directly.  At this confession Jesus weeps because death is so powerfully soul crushing. 

The first apostolic council of the church has to deal with the matter, "What about the Gentiles?"  Some, from Judea, have gone out and are teaching that all must be circumcised in order to be in the covenant while Paul and Barnabas dispute with them over the matter.  Wouldn’t you love to know the arguments mustered by Paul and Barnabas since, ultimately, they won the debate?  The matter has to be decided in order to know how the Gentile mission is to go forward and it required the apostles, those who had been with Jesus, to settle it, so to Jerusalem they went.  Peter finally decides the matter decisively, circumcision is submitting to the yoke of the law and Jesus set us free from that yoke.  No one but Him was able to carry it and therefore the only salvation is by grace.  God's sovereignty, what we call monergism, is affirmed forever by the council.

10 September 2014

Psalm 119:49-72; Job 29:1,30:1-2,16-31; Acts 14:19-28; John 11:1-16

While it used to be that people rejoiced to see Job, sought him out for counsel and companionship, admired his wisdom, generosity, righteousness and justice, now they laugh at him and mock him.  He seems a bit bitter about that doesn't he?  Job has every reason in the world to lament his situation, no one should begrudge him that and we shouldn't judge him for it.  In such pain men are apt to turn to God and ask why and to bemoan their lot.  There is nothing particularly wrong with that reaction so long as we continue to look for answers from Him rather than recite our answers and conclusions to Him.  Job sees God now as his enemy, not because Job has rebelled or declared war with God but for some unknown reason that makes no sense given their history.  The pain of God's silence in suffering makes the pain ever more acute.  If we know He hears and is with us we can bear pain.  If we know it will end, that there are better days ahead, we can bear it.  If He is silent, we lose hope, but we are to wait, just as the people waited in Egypt for deliverance, just as they waited in Babylon.  As Tom Petty sang, the waiting is the hardest part.

The sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, send word to Jesus that their brother is ill.  Surely their expectation was that because Jesus loved Lazarus He who had healed so many would come and make things right but their expectations weren't met, Jesus delayed His coming.  As in the story of Job, we know that Jesus did love this family, John tells us that, but the next sentence doesn’t logically follow that declaration, "So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was."  If someone you love is sick and there is something you can do about it do you stay where you are two more days or do you go immediately to help?  In John's Gospel this is now the third time Jesus has refused to do what someone asked.  The first time was when Mary asked him to help at the wedding feast in John 2 and He said it wasn't His time.  The second was when His brothers urged Jesus to go to Jerusalem in John 5 and He said it wasn't His time.  Here, Jesus explains Himself in much the same way.  In all three cases He ultimately does something but only on His own time.  In the mean time, the sisters wait and watch their brother die.  He was their hope and their hope is disappointed.

The people who come to Lystra and stone Paul are those from the last two cities he has visited.  This is truly an amazing story of perseverance.  They stone him, drag him out of the city and leave him for dead but Paul rises up and goes back into the city.  There is something in this story that feels like a Clint Eastwood western or a professional wrestling plot line.  I love this story because it tells of Paul's commitment to the work he was given to do.  Why does he go back to Lystra?  It also tells us something of truth that one day he was worshipped as a god and the next (whether literally or no) he is being stoned as a heretic.  Jesus experienced that.  How in the world would you react if you were new in the faith and saw this man's faith and perseverance?  Waiting on God to make things perfect for you to do ministry is nothing more than an excuse.  Paul never waited to do mission, never made an excuse not to do it.

9 September 2014

Psalm 45; Job 29:1-20; Acts 14:1-18; John 10:31-42

Job was one heck of a guy wasn't he?  "I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy…I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know."  I don't doubt these things are true, God singled Job out of all men on earth when He spoke to satan.  Job is looking back on his life and saying that indeed he cared about his fellow man and in return God blessed him and walked with him.  Who knows which came first in the equation, the chicken or the egg, Job's righteousness or God's favor and blessing.  Those were the good old days.  Now, however, when he isn't enjoying God's favor, instead is suffering, where is God?  Where indeed?  Is God only in favor and blessing?  Is God good only when we enjoy blessing and prosperity or is He always good?  All Job is thinking about is himself.

The Jews make their choice, Jesus isn't one with the Father, isn't the Messiah, so He must be a blasphemer.  The logic is actually unassailable if the initial conclusion were correct.  The problem is that Jesus is one with the Father, He is the Messiah so now who is blaspheming God?  They, like the friends of Job, don't know God, don't see Him when He makes Himself known in person.  He is to do their bidding and when He won't, illogically then He is not God.  Jesus continually points to the evidence of the signs He is doing but they will not see and come to the right conclusion, there are none so blind as those who will not see.  The consequences are horrific and eternal.  Jesus withdraws across the Jordan and many come to Him professing that John did no signs at all and many believe, does it not make sense to believe more then in the one who does such wonders.

At Iconium the pattern continues.  Some Jews and Gentiles believe but some of the Jews don't believe and they rouse opposition to the apostles.  Here, Paul and Barnabas remain "for a long time" and continue the work, including signs  and wonders, of building up the faith of those who are coming to put their trust in the message of Jesus.  Ultimately, just as we saw in the Gospel, the opposition gets too heated to remain and the apostles leave town.  At Lystra, Paul, through the power of the Holy Spirit, heals a lame man and the people conclude that Hermes and Zeus, Greek gods, have come down from Mt Olympus and they are then offered worship and sacrifice.  What in the world?  The contemporary Roman poet Ovid wrote a tale of these gods coming down to earth set in the region near Lystra and the people treated them badly because they didn't recognize them.  The end was something like Sodom and Gomorrah because they weren't treated hospitably by anyone other than a couple named Baucis and Philemon.  The people of Lystra didn't want to make the same mistake, failure of recognition.  They saw the sign, formed a conclusion and acted accordingly.  Do your actions match your conclusion?

8 September 2014

Psalm 41, 52; Job 32:1-10,19-33:1,19-28; Acts 13:44-52; John 10:19-30

Elihu is apparently a much younger man than the three friends, Zophar, Eliphaz and Bildad.  This is the first we have heard of him, we were only told three men came to be with Job in his suffering.  Elihu begins by explaining why he has heretofore kept silence.  He was deferring to age and experience, in the belief that these things were the source of a wisdom greater than any he might possess.  Now, he says, I was completely wrong to believe that about you people, including Job.  He doesn't convict Job of sin but he has concluded that Job's argument has run to convicting God of unrighteousness in visiting all this upon Job.  Job has not claimed this directly but certainly his theology of correspondence between righteousness and prosperity has indirectly led to such a conclusion logically.  If Job is righteous as he claims, and he is suffering unjustly, where is the injustice?  Elihu divorces suffering from sin and so calls upon Job to affirm God as good no matter what his situation.  In this, he says, Job will find peace and rest and this will end.  Still, we aren't there theologically, there remains the idea that if Job gets his theology right about God and pain, the pain will end. 

The division is based on the claims Jesus has just made to be the Good Shepherd.  God alone is the Good Shepherd, see Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34 and Zechariah 11 and you'll see that there is but one Good Shepherd.  Jesus' claim is surely blasphemous but the question is begged because of the healing of the man born blind in John 9 whether maybe He is who He claims to be.  They make a good decision, they ask Him to say one way or another if He is the Christ.  He doesn't refuse to answer, He says they have all the information they need to make the decision themselves, which is a claim in itself isn't it?  If He and the Father are one, He is the Good Shepherd, simple logic.  At the end of the day, they don't know because they aren't God's sheep, these hear His voice and respond.  The sovereignty of God in salvation is clear.  Today, be thankful He is sovereign, He has manifest Himself to you and called you by name, no matter your situation, He deserves that. 

Paul's message in the synagogue that Jesus was the fulfillment of the messianic expectations, the heir of David, made quite an impression.  Luke tells us that almost the entire city turned out the next week to hear more.  Unsurprisingly, the message aroused opposition, as it had always done.  The Jews rejected Paul and Barnabas' message and the men themselves.  Paul, at this point, says that because of this rejection, they will turn their attention to the Gentiles, that the light was and is meant to enlighten the nations, not just Israel.  This identification with Gentiles was something remarkable for Paul in particular but his mission was given by God Himself and as he turns to the Gentiles, all who were appointed to eternal life believed.  The sovereignty of God was argued by Elihu, Jesus, and Luke as the author of the book of the Acts in plain terms.  We are to rest in that but we are to witness as if it depended on us.

7 September 2014

Psalm 63, 98; Job 25:1-6,27:1-6; Rev. 14:1-7,13; Matt. 5:13-20

Bildad, like his companions, asks a couple of good questions, "How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure?"  Indeed, they understand that the reality is that we are sinful human beings, there is none righteous, not one.  These questions take God and His holiness seriously.  The problem is that the implication continues to be that Job has some sin that he needs to deal with and this sin has been the catalyst for all this devastation in his life.  Job will not have his reputation impugned, he knows that he has done nothing to deserve this calamity.  We know that too.  Does that mean we should be angry with God for allowing it or humble before a holy God who allowed it?  Can we believe He has good reasons for all this?

Jesus says that we have to be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees to enter the kingdom of heaven.  He said this not to criticize the scribes and Pharisees but in some ways to lift them up and, simultaneously, to say their example is not enough to get into the kingdom.  We are called to be salt and light and told that we aren't to hide these things from the world but to offer them to the world which has to be held in tension with Jesus' teaching to hide our acts of righteousness like giving and praying from the world lest we be exalted.  Our personal righteousness is never going to be enough to enter the kingdom, only Jesus' perfect righteousness is good enough.  That said, our personal righteousness is to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, it is to be from the heart not the head.  Sanctification matters, not only justification.

Why has there been such an obsession with the 144,000?  An entire denomination, the Jehovah's Witnesses, arose around this passage.  They believe most of those righteous are already in heaven and will be joined at the end to fill out that exact number to be priests serving with Jesus in heaven.  These are virgins who have not defiled themselves with women, so they are men.  Here, they are defined also as those in whose mouths no lie was found, they are blameless, the same word used for Job.  This is the only time they are mentioned.  The final words of the passage are haunting for us when we realize that our deeds follow us.  Justification must lead to sanctification, the desire for righteousness, conviction of sin.

6 September 2014

Psalm 30, 32; Job 22:1-4,21-23:7; Acts 13:26-43; John 10:1-18

"Mock on!"  Why do the friends of Job continue to hang around and speak against him?  The problem is that they believe they're speaking for God, doing His work when in truth they are doing satan's work of accuser and they're doing it badly.  Even satan couldn't find anything of which to accuse Job.  Job clearly doesn't want or need them around.  He knows the drill by now, I speak, they mock.  Job goes all Psalm 73 in his argument here, that the wicked prosper and never suffer.  Nothing makes sense, things aren't the way they are supposed to be if there is fairness in the world but there is no fairness.  The search is truly who to blame for the way things are.  The reason Genesis matters is that it ends the search for blame right in the third chapter.  If we read the rest of the book and the world around us through that lens we can stop blaming God and begin to ask for the wisdom, the knowledge of good and evil in all things, all choices, and begin to cooperate with Him in bringing justice to the world.  We should go back to the Sermon on the Mount more often.

Does it give you comfort to know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd?  It should.  You know that He came to give rest and restoration, to shepherd you all the days of your life so that you might reach the destination prepared for you.  He, as the door of the sheepfold, is your protection when you are vulnerable.  He is your defender, your provider, your companion.  He tenderly cares for your wounds and gives you confidence in Him, that you might trust Him in and for all things.  You are to be so bound up with Him that His voice is the only one to which you respond.  You are to know His voice, calling your Name, calling you to Himself.  That knowledge of good and evil is found in following Him.

What an amazing proclamation Paul makes!  He says that God raised this Jesus, crucified by the Jews of Jerusalem and their leaders, from the dead.  That, he says, is in keeping with the prophecies of David himself in the Psalms.  More than just making Jesus amazing because of God's work on His behalf, all this has implications for these people to whom Paul is speaking.  Simply through believing Paul's message they can have forgiveness of sin and freedom that even the law of Moses couldn't give them.  It is an incredible claim to say the least, it seems there must surely be a catch to this offer, it is too good to be true isn't it?  Not surprisingly the people clamored for more of this message the next week and tagged along with Paul and Barnabas to hear more.  How long has it been since the Gospel was this Good for you?  If it has been awhile you need to remember why it is so amazing.  Job longed for vindication and things to be set right, he longed for this redeemer we too often take for granted.

5 September 2014

Psalm 31; Job 19:1-7,14-27; Acts 13:13-25; John 9:18-41

Job has had everything taken away from him in one way or another.  He has lost his wealth, his family and his health.  He has really only two things to hold onto and one he is willing, and more, to lose while the other he will cling to with all he has.  He wants God to take his life, without everything else and so long as he is being blamed for his situation, it is nothing more than a burden to him.  Have you ever felt like Job?  I know that I have felt that living was more trouble than it was worth and that there was no hope of alteration for the better and I wanted God to take me.  Job is there, he, however, maintains the hope of one thing, that ultimately he will be vindicated, he is an innocent man and his life has been taken away but there will be one who ultimately, even after he dies, who will stand before God and proclaim Job's innocence.  He believes in Jesus whether he knows His Name or not.  The problem is that Job's innocence isn't the point here.  At the end, God will vindicate not only Job but more, Himself.

The leaders' theology is at one with the disciples.  They are first in disbelief the man has been healed and, once reassured by the man's parents that indeed this is their son, that he was born and has always been blind, and now, in some way they don't care to discuss, has been rendered able to see, they return to the idea that sin was somehow involved in this mess.  A sinner can't possibly give credible testimony so that ties the matter up nicely.  The problem is that an explanation is still necessary for what has happened.  There is the indisputable fact before them of a man born blind, now over forty years old, who can now see that must be dealt with before anyone can rest.  Not just any explanation will do, it has to be satisfactory and fit within the prevailing theological consensus.  Ultimately, they dismiss the man with the judgment, "You were born in utter sin, and you would teach us?"  How often do we miss God moving and working because we don't like the explanation for the inexplicable?

You have to be really careful who you allow to speak in your church don't you?  The synagogue leaders asked Paul and Barnabas as visitors from Jerusalem if they had anything to share with the congregation.  He clearly had no idea what he was setting himself up for in that question.  It all starts well, Jewish History 101, the abridged version, from Genesis to David and then jumps forward a thousand years or so to "Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised."  There is a good bit left out isn't there?  It seems likely that word of this Jesus would have gotten here before now, so there would have been some basic knowledge of this but Paul proclaims it incredibly matter-of-factly.  This probably won't go without incident will it?  Paul knows how to get your attention in a sermon.