30 November 2014

Psalm 146, 147; Isa. 1:1-9; 2 Pet. 3:1-10; Matt. 25:1-13

The Lord's complaint against Israel is that while she belongs to Him, He gave birth to her, they don't know or recognize Him as Lord.  They have become a rebellious child and the only way to get that child's attention and return her to the fold is some tough love.  When the parental protection and provision is gone, perhaps she will, like the prodigal son in the parable, realize that she has lost sense of who she is and whose she is.  Now, in the midst of devastation and destruction, will she turn back?  Isaiah sees the truth, that in all this judgment there is mercy, the Lord has not done here what He did in Sodom and Gomorrah, He has left a remnant, like Noah and his family in the days of the flood, from which to start again with the nation.  This is a time for us to take a good look around us and see what is in light of what will be.  Our lives right now might be pleasant, but in the broader scheme, what does it look like in your brothers and sisters lives, in the church at large, in the world.  Is this what God saw when He first created it all? 

The virgins were those who escorted the groom to the wedding.  The wedding didn't happen until the groom was finished adding the room he and his new wife would occupy in his parents' house to the satisfaction of his father.  In this parable, the groom was delayed and some of the virgins brought not only their lamps but additional oil in case this happened while some brought only their lamps.  These, Jesus says are foolish, they weren't prepared for a foreseeable delay and so when their oil runs low they beg the others to share.  The wise virgins remain wise, they don't know how long the delay will be and so refuse to share on grounds that then no one will have enough.  Preparation is key, being prepared always is essential.  When we lived at the beach we prepared for hurricane season and here in the mountains we are prepared for the possibility of snow that might shut down electricity and keep us from getting food.  If we prepare for such minor things as these, should we not consider our preparation for eternity?  Be ready if He comes at any moment.

Peter is warning his readers to be prepared for the day of judgment, just as John the Baptist warned the Jews of this same thing.  Peter says that the world was created through water and once was judged by water but this time it will be judged by fire and consumed.  In the time of Noah there was not only destruction but also re-creation.  As the waters were rolled back to their assigned places in creation, so the waters of the flood receded to those same boundaries and all forms of life began to repopulate the earth.  Peter and Paul both speak of judgment by fire this time round when they give their warnings.  Paul says all our lives will be tested by fire and what remains will prove itself.  Peter says the same here, and we therefore must be prepared to live or die based on what we are made of.  Let us build upon the foundation of Jesus by seeking and cultivating His righteousness in our lives.

29 November 2014

Psalm 137, 144; Zech. 14:12-21; Phil. 2:1-11; Luke 19:41-48

Zechariah certainly saw some horrible things.  The plague that would strike the enemies of Israel was extreme "their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths."  This plague would also fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps. Not surprisingly a great panic will fall upon them at this time.  After these things, after the utter defeat and despoliation of their enemies, Jerusalem will become a place of worship for all nations and those who do not will suffer from their neglect.  Everything in Jerusalem will be holy to the Lord, there will be no sin, no corruption, no disease there.  Zechariah certainly sees in the wealth of the nations being gathered into the nation after the plagues in a way that echoes the Exodus and the result being that final, eternal glory will be in the city of God.  All the world will see and know Him as the one, true, living God.

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because of what has been, what might have been, and what will be.  They have acclaimed Him as king but ultimately the day has simply passed away with nothing more than a memorable parade.  What will be is destruction by her enemies and this is the cause of sadness, but the future is a result of past and present.  All He can do is cleanse the temple of the moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial animals as a sign of what they have done to the temple, the House of the Lord.  It was intended that it might be a house of prayer for all nations but they have, instead, reduced it to nothing more than yet another way to make money, by overcharging the pilgrims there for Passover.  The people hung on His words and the leaders plotted to destroy Him.  Some things never change.

Of all that Jesus did, what was the greatest act of humility?  The incarnation itself, the divine condescension to become like one of us, something He created from dust, the leftover stuff after all else was created, is a shocking reality.  That He gave up His perfect, unbroken fellowship with the Father that He had enjoyed since before our time began is an act of love for that creation that should bring us to our knees.  That He made Himself subject to the same things we are subject to, the physical and emotional pain, the temptation to sin, is breath-taking.  That He emptied Himself of all He might have known in radical dependence on the Father is amazing.  His baptism in identification with sinners from the start of His ministry caused John the Baptism alarm.  His arguing with mere mortals over anything, particularly interpretation of the Word of God, amusing.  His death on the cross, preceded by the mocking, flogging, cursing, the crown of thorns, the walk of shame to Golgotha, and the spear thrust into His side, soul-crushing.  His greatest act of humility in my mind, however, is the prayer for those who crucify Him.  The love of God is immeasurable and we are called and equipped by the Holy Spirit to share it with others in utter humility.  Where does Christ weep over the church today?29 November 2014

Psalm 137, 144; Zech. 14:12-21; Phil. 2:1-11; Luke 19:41-48

Zechariah certainly saw some horrible things.  The plague that would strike the enemies of Israel was extreme "their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths."  This plague would also fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps. Not surprisingly a great panic will fall upon them at this time.  After these things, after the utter defeat and despoliation of their enemies, Jerusalem will become a place of worship for all nations and those who do not will suffer from their neglect.  Everything in Jerusalem will be holy to the Lord, there will be no sin, no corruption, no disease there.  Zechariah certainly sees in the wealth of the nations being gathered into the nation after the plagues in a way that echoes the Exodus and the result being that final, eternal glory will be in the city of God.  All the world will see and know Him as the one, true, living God.

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because of what has been, what might have been, and what will be.  They have acclaimed Him as king but ultimately the day has simply passed away with nothing more than a memorable parade.  What will be is destruction by her enemies and this is the cause of sadness, but the future is a result of past and present.  All He can do is cleanse the temple of the moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial animals as a sign of what they have done to the temple, the House of the Lord.  It was intended that it might be a house of prayer for all nations but they have, instead, reduced it to nothing more than yet another way to make money, by overcharging the pilgrims there for Passover.  The people hung on His words and the leaders plotted to destroy Him.  Some things never change.

Of all that Jesus did, what was the greatest act of humility?  The incarnation itself, the divine condescension to become like one of us, something He created from dust, the leftover stuff after all else was created, is a shocking reality.  That He gave up His perfect, unbroken fellowship with the Father that He had enjoyed since before our time began is an act of love for that creation that should bring us to our knees.  That He made Himself subject to the same things we are subject to, the physical and emotional pain, the temptation to sin, is breath-taking.  That He emptied Himself of all He might have known in radical dependence on the Father is amazing.  His baptism in identification with sinners from the start of His ministry caused John the Baptism alarm.  His arguing with mere mortals over anything, particularly interpretation of the Word of God, amusing.  His death on the cross, preceded by the mocking, flogging, cursing, the crown of thorns, the walk of shame to Golgotha, and the spear thrust into His side, soul-crushing.  His greatest act of humility in my mind, however, is the prayer for those who crucify Him.  The love of God is immeasurable and we are called and equipped by the Holy Spirit to share it with others in utter humility.  Where does Christ weep over the church today?

28 November 2014

Psalm 140, 142; Zech. 14:1-11; Rom. 15:7-13; Luke 19:28-40

It's going to get considerably worse before it gets better.  Can you imagine the pastor of your church coming in and saying on behalf of the Lord, "I will gather all the nations against (your town) to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped."  How could you possibly believe that the next thing he told you was don't worry about it because after this happens the Lord will come, separate the mountains nearby, create a valley of shelter and protection for you and then fight on your behalf?  Can't we have that second thing without the first?  He has always been clear that judgment begins at the house of the Lord.  We tend to overlook that though believing that the world will be judged and we will be left alone.  Because we have been given so much, entrusted with the knowledge of God, we are responsible above all others on earth to Him.  The world, while without excuse (see Romans 1), will witness the judgment of the people of God, as a witness, that they might fear Him before it is too late.

Jesus' entry to the city would have been accompanied by a great number of pilgrims coming for Passover, an obligation for Jews.  The streets of the city would have been packed, there were more people than places to stay, just like in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth.  Jesus and the disciples stayed each night at the mount of Olives, camping out there because there was no place for them to stay in the city proper, so great was the multitude gathered there, even the one acclaimed as the Son of David had no room.  The city burst forth into acclamation and longing for salvation, Hosanna, Lord save us.  The Pharisees were concerned that the Romans might step in and take away the right to gather and practice their religion and asked Jesus to make them stop.  His response was that this had to happen, it was God's plan, if these didn't cry out, the stones would do so.  Salvation is here for the taking but they see it as something problematic, it must be stopped.

How did Jesus become a servant to the circumcised "to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy"?  He said that He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel and not to the nations.  He was the fulfillment of the promises given to the patriarchs, the fulfillment of the promise to David of a son who would sit on His throne forever.  He was the fulfillment of the prophetic word and in this He proved the truthfulness of God, that His Word and His promises were sure.  How, though, is this in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy?  The rejection of Jesus as Messiah to the Jews opened the door to the Gentiles to receive mercy, it is our exodus as theirs was in the time of Moses.  It is not God who has rejected Israel but they who have rejected Him and His deliverance.  The door remains open for those who will enter. 

27 November 2014

Psalm 131, 132; Zech. 13:1-9; Eph. 1:15-23; Luke 19:11-27

The first sentence of the reading reminded me of an old hymn that begins, "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains…" by William Cowper who was also an important poet in 18^th century England.  The story of the hymn is interesting to say the least and can be found here.  In that day when the fountain is opened says Zechariah, prophecy will cease, there will be no need of it in the traditional sense because the deliverance will be complete and final.  The final piece of this particular vision comes when God Himself wields the sword against His shepherd but from this action of judgment God will redeem a people who will be His own, a remnant of the whole.  The people thought they had executed their own judgment and God's against Jesus whom they considered a false Messiah.  Those who saw Him gloriously resurrected knew that it was God's judgment not against His Son but against sin and in that fountain of Jesus' blood and righteousness, we sinners lose all our guilty stains.

This parable really haunts me.  We have been given so much in the United States as far as the Gospel is concerned for over two hundred years and what have we done with it.  Too often we have done nothing at all with it, we have lived in fear rather than faith.  We have squandered our gift of freedom, we have owned more Bibles than any group of people in history and yet we have not read them, learned them, or practiced the teaching of Jesus.  We have allowed pop theology and psychology to guide us and we have allowed the gospel of health, wealth and prosperity to lead millions astray from the true Gospel.  We have failed to win the hearts and minds of the culture because we have failed to follow Jesus and make disciples.  We have sold a lie of easy-believism and that because someone once made a profession of Jesus they are Christians and have eternal security without discipleship or accountability or amendment of life.  We have dispensed the cheap grace Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned against and we need to fall on our faces and repent of that failure.  Then we need to get up and get at it.

Paul's point to the Ephesians is simple, everything, all your hope, your salvation, everything, comes from Him.  He gives thanks that they believe and prays that God "may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might…"  Paul, as well as any man who ever lived, knew that the knowledge of the things of God, the things we too often take for granted when we say the Creed for instance, are not common knowledge, they are priceless treasures, a revelation from God, without whose opening of our eyes we will never know.  It is Paul's aim to move them from the knowledge of these things in a simply intellectual way to the worship of God for these very things.  What we take for granted is the most amazing truth in the universe.

26 November 2014

Psalm 119:145-176; Zech. 12:1-10; Eph. 1:3-14; Luke 19:1-10

The prophet tells of the time of vindication and exaltation of the city of God and the people of God.  Often, judgment is spoken of as drinking from a cup the wrath of God and that judgment here is called a cup of staggering.  The nations surrounding Jerusalem will be destroyed by the nation that has risen from the ashes to great strength.  The hope of the nation was and is always that the Lord will come and deliver her and make her great in all the earth, that hope lives no matter what the situation Israel may find herself in at any given time.  The hope is based in the story of the Exodus itself, God delivering His people from slavery and bondage, if that story is not real, neither is the hope of a future deliverance.  It is also based in the nature of the covenant itself, an everlasting covenant made in Genesis 15 when the smoking firepot and the burning torch passed through the pieces of the sacrifice, a covenant not based in man's faithfulness or His temporality but in God's faithfulness and His eternal existence.  It is also based on the prophetic promise, the Word of the Lord that it will be done.  Here, Zechariah introduces an odd note into the prophecy, "when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn." Does that mean that they will repent of the piercing of the heart in their spiritual adultery that brought disaster upon them prior to deliverance or does it refer to the cross?  We know the answer don't we?

Jesus has had debates and harsh words for those who claim to be Abraham's seed and here He refers to Zacchaeus as Abraham's child.  Is that based in the man's repentance or in his birth?  He has acted as Abraham did in believing God and committing Himself to the covenant obligations.  He believes in God in the person of Jesus this day.  Why in the world does Jesus choose this man of all people in the crowd?  He knew what was in the heart of man and Zacchaeus, even though he would have been hated as a chief tax collector, would have been a man to be feared as well, and yet this man humbled himself by climbing the tree like a child in order to see Jesus.  This man, this notorious sinner, stood and confessed his sin and vowed to make restitution.  His offer is accepted and salvation has come to this house. 

Paul looks at Jesus and sees the one Zechariah promised, him whom they have pierced, and exalts Him.  This passage is one of my favorite passages in the Bible (along with Colossians 1) because it builds a platform of highest praise for Jesus.  This is the foundation Paul speaks of having laid, again and again he writes, "in Him" in order to say that without Him we are nothing but in Him we have all things.  He knows that he, Paul, was one of those who were responsible for piercing Him, he knows that He rejected this Jesus, failed to recognize Him, as John wrote, received Him not, but now He knows the grace of the Lord in Jesus, the one who spoke to him from heaven that day on the road to Damascus and who gave him life when he deserved death.  Paul knows that he, like Zacchaeus, was a notorious sinner in the eyes of God even though men thought him righteous.  We too have pierced Him by our sins and we too have received grace and life in Him.  

25 November 2014

Psalm 121, 122, 123; Zech. 11:4-17; 1 Cor. 3:10-23; Luke 18:31-43

The prophet is appointed a shepherd to a flock doomed to destruction.  Yesterday we saw that leaders are held to a high standard and I mentioned Ezekiel who, as a leader, was responsible to judgment for sins of others when he failed to confront them.  The other side of that is that the sinner was also liable for his own actions.  Here, the people are not let off because they have bad leaders, they are responsible for their own sins, they can know the Law because it is written in their own language.  The prophet is rejected by the people, they do not want his instruction nor his leadership and therefore he breaks his staffs which have been named favor and union, to illustrate that they have broken covenant with the Lord and His anointed.  Because of the hardness of their hearts toward Him, the Lord will be giving them worthless shepherds, like the ones of whom Jesus speaks as hirelings in John 10, they will lead for the benefits, financial and otherwise, not from loving concern for the flock.

The disciples surely were confused by these two moments in time.  First, Jesus says they are going to Jerusalem "and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished."  If He paused for breath there, their heads were filled with flights of fancy concerning thrones and kingdoms, the judgment of the world was at hand and the Son of Man was going to sit on His father David's throne forever.  Then, He says He will be delivered over to the Gentiles, mocked, shamefully treated, spat upon, flogged and killed but on the third day He would rise.  Surely they thought the Jews would protect Him from these things, they couldn't have imagined that the people doing the mocking, spitting and cheering His death would be Jewish.  As they come to Jericho a blind man shouts for mercy, calling Him the Son of David.  His plea is for healing of his blindness and Jesus obliges, to the delight and astonishment of all. 

One of the things we have to pay attention to is the word "you."  We tend to get it wrong here when we think of ourself as God's temple.  The "you" here is plural, y'all are God's temple.  It is both/and.  The Holy Spirit inhabits each of us but together we form something greater.  Paul speaks of building on the foundation of Christ, there is no other foundation that will stand, as Jesus taught in the parable of the man who built on sand.  The foundation of our lives, whether ethically, morally, or our hopes, is to be built on the solid rock of Christ.  When we have that foundation, all things hang together even when life doesn't meet our expectations.  The disciples had heard that three days later Jesus would rise, but nothing made sense to them until He had actually done so, then all things were bearable.  Is that true for you?

24 November 2014

Psalm 106:1-18; Zech. 10:1-12; Gal. 6:1-10; Luke 18:15-30

The people are going astray and God's anger burns hot against the leaders.  He has always held spiritual leaders responsible for the sins of the people and for good reason.  The people don't tend to go astray if there is a shepherd there who will bring them back.  The job of the shepherd is to keep all the sheep together because one who goes astray often becomes a de facto leader as others follow it.  The shepherd who truly cares about the sheep will not allow that to happen.  The role of shepherd has many facets, as the 23^rd Psalm tells us, but one of the most important is not letting the sheep go astray where it is no longer safe.  Here, they are seeking for answers and blessing from other gods because the leaders aren't doing their job.  Ezekiel was told that if he knew of the sin of another and didn't do anything about it, he would be responsible for that sin equally with the sinner.  Leaders bear a heavy burden for the trust given them.  Ultimately, He is the Great Good Shepherd and all others are no more than under-shepherd, stewards, and the good news is His concern for the flock is far greater than anyone else's and He has come and said, I am the Good Shepherd.

The rich young ruler wants a leader to lead.  He must have been a righteous-type person because he believes he has kept the commandments toward man since his youth, when he became responsible for them.  Jesus enumerate these, "Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.”  What is left out of that list?  The God-ward commandments, specifically of having no other gods before Him.  We find that when push comes to shove, when he has to choose, he chooses his wealth over the call to discipleship.  His gods are revealed to him this day.  We need people in our lives who can show us such things.

Paul says that if anyone is "caught" in a transgression they are to be restored in a spirit of gentleness.  This has much to do with our own need of grace.  Just because we haven't been "caught" in sin doesn't mean we haven't sinned and we need to have grace and mercy with those whose sins are known.  Restoration is a matter of confession and not excuse-making, we need to be clear that sin is treated seriously but so is the cross.  Paul also says that anyone who has been taught should share all good things with the one who teaches.  Our value for the things of God is sometimes measured in what we are willing to give up to have them, just as it was for the rich young man.  

23 November 2014

Psalm 118; Zech. 9:9-16; 1 Pet. 3:13-22; Matt. 21:1-13

                       

We live in a world of war.  As I write there are wars going on in many places in the Middle East and there are wars of one sort or another that fly under the radar in many other places.  In the United States we live in a peaceable society for the most part.  We are distant from most of these conflicts so we don't spend our time fretting about them.  The problem is that we are inured to fretting about them, they are an accepted part of the world we live in.  In this first reading, Zechariah promises peace from one end of the earth to the other and no one could imagine such a thing.  Remember when David committed adultery with Bathsheba?  The first sentence of that passage begins, "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle…"  Battle was an expected part of life in the region.  Peace is an invaluable thing and we have never known it.  I grew up in the midst of the Cold War and we worried about the bomb at some level all the time.  Here, the promise of peace is based in a war to establish that peace and we know from the Revelation that there will be a war prior to peace.  Whose idea is the war?  Let us seek peace.

When Jesus comes into town on a donkey He is fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy but He is also declaring peace.  Donkeys were symbols of peace where horses were symbolic of war.  Everything about this moment seems to indicate that the world will be utterly changed soon, all the prophecies will be fulfilled and Jerusalem will be the center of everything.  The city is filled with pilgrims and worshippers, and all are talking about this man Jesus who has done so many miracles.  The disciples surely were amazed that all went according to the plan He gave them and now the city was welcoming Him as king.  Why, then, does He go and cleanse the temple?  Judgment begins at the house of God.  We need to prepare our own house.

Peter writes as though he expects his readers to suffer one way or another, either for righteousness or not.  Some preachers today preach a message that denies that suffering has a place in the life of Christians.  This fails to take sin seriously.  We live in a world broken by sin and in part by our own sin.  When our theology fails to take suffering into account, it fails at the most basic level.  Jesus did not come to earth, die, resurrect on the third day, and ascend to heaven in order that we might live not blessed, but charmed lives.  He came to give us a hope that transcends everything the world throws at us because the hope is in another world, the world to come where suffering is no more.  He has brought peace, but only in the hearts of believers, peace in the midst of the storm of life.

22 November 2014

Psalm 107:33-43, 108; Mal. 3:13-4:6; James 5:13-20; Luke 18:9-14

Have you ever looked at your life and said, "What is the point in following God if life is so hard?"  That is exactly what He is saying that the people have done in Malachi's time.  One of the things about the prosperity Gospel that is so destructive is that it leaves people unprepared for life and difficulty.  There is no way to account for pain and suffering in that model other than unconfessed sin or I am not God's child.  He doesn't promise when He will make up His treasured possession but that in the day He does the distinction between the blessed and cursed will make sense to us.  The promise is sure and certain because of the resurrection of Jesus, until His coming again we are to pray for the coming of the kingdom with God's will being done at all times and in all places.  Pray fervently for that day, the day of justice.

How are we justified?  The answer is clear in this parable isn't it?  It isn't in believing ourselves to be righteous, it is confessing ourselves to be sinners.  The Pharisee looks at the tax collector and sees himself as comparatively holy.  His failure is in comparing himself to the tax collector.  The standard for holiness isn't sinful humanity, it is God Himself as Isaiah understood that day in the temple.  Moses asked to see God's glory and was told that wouldn't be possible, he would not live.  The only way we can be justified is to confess our sins and plead for the mercy of God, which He says is His very character.  In Jesus, we see the mercy and love of God for sinners.  We hear it from the cross in His prayer for forgiveness for those who knew not what they were doing.  We see it in the restoration of Peter to ministry.  We are justified by the perfect righteousness of Jesus, not the comparative righteousness of ourselves.  The process only works when we offer a guilty plea.

Prayer, for James, is rooted in confession.  He isn't suggesting that all sickness is related to sin but he isn't suggesting there is never a connection either.  He says, "the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."  The next thing he writes is "therefore", because this is true, confess your sins and then pray for healing.  Until we deal with sin, our prayers are less effective than they ought to be.  We don't know what to pray for, sin is in the way of our being heard.  Humility is called for in petitionary prayer.  Prayer book worship never omits confession, whatever form we use it is there, right at the beginning of worship.  In the Eucharist it is explicitly there twice, first in the Collect for Purity and then later in the more formal confession.  It is implicitly there throughout the Eucharistic Prayer as well.  Is that principle true in your personal and private prayers?

21 November 2014

Psalm 102; Mal. 3:1-12; James 5:7-12; Luke 18:1-8

He will purify the sons of Levi and then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.  The work of purification begins with the priests and Levites and if the spiritual and religious leaders are purified then they will teach truth and will uphold the glory and holiness of the Lord whom they serve.  When they do, true religion, in its best connotation, will flourish among the people.  The leaders' job is to make the Lord known among the people.  When the leaders don't know Him, no one will.  The Lord will not come in judgment until the work of purification and restoration is done.  Those judged will then have no excuse, they cannot shift blame, for they will have known and rejected the truth.  He makes the promise that if the full tithe is brought then He will pour out blessings.  Too often that is taught as a principle in the church, that if you tithe you will receive more and it isn't always true.  Many times in both the Old Testament and the Gospels we see that tithing as religion without heart transformation and without being willing to give it all up is not pleasing to God.  If you're tithing in order to receive more you've missed the point.

There is a simple promise here.  If you want justice pray for it.  The parable is comparable to pretty much every teaching Jesus gives on the power of prevailing prayer.  Prayer is based in the character of God and so to pray aright requires us to know Him aright.  In other places Jesus compares God to a parent who knows how to give good gifts to his children and here it is to a judge who is not a good man in any way so far as Judaism is concerned, but even this judge will do the right thing to stop the woman nagging him.  God wants His people to ask for justice to be done and to trust Him that it will be done.  To expect justice is also to know what is just.  It often means we have to accept the reality that we are sinners and that we live in a world broken by sin, our sin, others' sin.  The only appeal for true justice has to be made to the only one who is truly just.  He alone knows what justice is. 

Be patient in suffering.  Not only do I not want to hear that, I don't even want you to say it.  Saying it brings suffering into being.  Oh, wait, I am not a word-faith believer.  That means I have to deal with the fact that suffering is promised by Jesus to those who follow Him and seek after righteousness.  I also have to deal with the fact that Paul and most of the apostles suffered for their proclamation of Jesus.  I thought there was a correlation between believing, tithing and blessing.  There is, but the blessing may not be material.  Jesus enjoyed the blessing of obedience which is to be seated at the right hand of God but He also died on a cross after being rejected by those He came to save, beaten, mocked and pierced in His side.  Paul spent years in prison and died there but He was given the gift of eternal life and in this world received the blessing of seeing many come to know Jesus.  The blessings we count and look for tell us some uncomfortable things about ourselves.  Our ability to be patient in suffering tells us much the same thing.

20 November 2014

Psalm 105:1-22; Mal. 2:1-16; James 4:13-5:6; Luke 17:20-37

The judgment against the priests is particularly harsh.  They bear a special responsibility in the system as we talked about yesterday.  They teach the people about God and they have taught a lie.  Their blessings will be cursed and the Lord says He will smear the manure from the sacrifices on their faces.  When priests no longer have fear and awe of the Lord, anything goes.  When Luther was first ordained, as a Roman Catholic priest, he was unable to complete the celebration of the Mass because he was afraid to mishandle the body and blood of Christ.  The high priest entered the holy of holies with fear of his life.  The priests of Malachi's time had lost the fear of God and were too familiar, they forgot who they represented and served.  The way to get the attention of the people, then, was to abase the priests.  The people have become idolaters, chasing after false gods, and they have become adulterers in forsaking the wives of their youth.  He speaks as though there is some connection between faithlessness in the marriage vows and faithlessness to the covenant vows.  Faithlessness is faithlessness, when it is a characteristic it tends to be true across all relationships.

The Pharisees want to know when the kingdom of God will come and Jesus doesn't give an answer to their question.  Instead He says it won't be the way they think, for it is in the midst of them.  The King, in fact, is in the midst of them at the moment and He is doing things that should show them the kingdom is in their midst, healings, driving out demons, etc.  To the disciples, He gives a different view of things.  It will be as in the days of Noah and of Lot, days of judgment but days no one saw coming in advance.  People going about their business, with no thought of God and then suddenly things change for no apparent reason.  It is easy to fall into the mentality of one day after another, planning our futures without regard for the reality that He could come tomorrow or today.  It has been so long that we just go about our business.

If you knew you were going to die tomorrow what would be important to you today?  With the sure and certain hope of the resurrection what would you do and who would you see?  Jesus says we should live each day with that thought in our minds except He makes it even more immediate by saying that we don't even have tomorrow promised to us, only the moment in which we presently live.  How we live makes a difference.  What we live for sets the stage for how we live.  If we're living for the stuff of earth, we make moral and ethical decisions in line with that aim.  If, however, we're living for Him, our decisions are different.  We tend to keep faith with what we value.

19 November 2014

Psalm 101, 109; Mal. 1:1,6-14; James 3:13-4:12; Luke 17:11-19

When the Law of sacrifices was given the Lord was very clear about what was an acceptable sacrifice.  Sacrifices had to be without blemish, they had to be the best of the best animals.  Sacrifice was costly.  If the sacrifice was for sin, the price of the animal, whether purchased or culled from one's own flocks and herds, reminded the sinner of the seriousness of sin as violation against God's covenant and His holiness.  If the sacrifice was for thanksgiving it revealed the thankfulness of the worshipper.  When Cain brought the first sacrifice it was some of the fruit of the ground but when Abel brought his, it was "the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions."  Our worship reveals what we believe about God and when we offer less than the best we have to offer we fail to ascribe the worth and honor due to Him.  In our case, we diminish the value of His sacrifice of His Son.  The priests in the Old Testament stood in the shoes of God in examining the sacrifice, they taught the people what was acceptable to God by their approval of the offering.  They failed to honor Him and to uphold His Law, and ultimately that taught not only Israel wrongly about the Lord, but also outsiders.  Worship is a serious matter because God is a serious matter.  That is why we have the Collect for Purity right at the front of the liturgy.

In that first lesson God asks a question that says there is a disconnect between the titles given to Him by the people and their actions in worship towards Him.  They call Him Father and Master but they treat Him as inconsequential.  Here, the lepers come to Jesus by calling Him master and ask for mercy.  His response is to tell them to present themselves to the priests.  The only reason to do so is if they were healed, so that the priests could certify they were indeed healed and whole, suitable for worship and also the fellowship of the nation.  Their going at His command indicates that they have faith.  As they went, they were healed, their errand was not a fool's errand.  One, a Samaritan, returns to praise God who healed him.  The rest, apparently, continued on their way.  The Samaritan likely wondered why he was headed to the temple, he would be rejected not because of his leprosy but because he was a Samaritan.  The rest esteemed the priesthood and the temple above the one who healed them.

James enumerates the ways in which we bear false witness to the Lord in the same way Malachi did concerning the sacrifices.  When we allow jealousy and ambition to rule us we reveal that we don't believe He loves us as individuals and that He is not our greatest good.  When our desires are for things of earth, we covet and spend our lives working for their acquisition.  When we speak evil of one another we reveal to the world that we are the people of a God who speaks evil of us rather than a God who died for sinners.  We are to be a different people because of the cross, the resurrection, the Ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit but we allow ourselves to be ruled by, mastered by, our passions.  Who is your master and how would anyone know?

18 November 2014

Psalm 97, 99; Hab. 3:1-18; James 3:1-12; Luke 17:1-10

Sometimes the best place to go for hope for the future is to look back to the past.  Habakkuk recalls what has gone before, when God delivered His people from the nations.  With Him, the best picture of what He will do is often what He has done.  Our worship is centered on this principle.  We read the Word to recall His mighty acts and His will from long past in the belief that He is unchanging and unchangeable. What was holy then is now and will be forever.  What was true then is now and will be forever.  Also, His promises are from everlasting and we need to count on those promises.  We celebrate the Eucharistic feast by remembering the Last Supper when Jesus instituted this meal as a sacrament of His body and blood, using that very language.  We don't just remember the meal, however, it tells of the cross and the resurrection as well.  If it were only a meal it is a nice symbolic way of remembering someone.  If it represents the body broken and the blood shed on the cross as atonement for our sins, it is another thing altogether but because of the resurrection it is also life-giving as He said in John 6, "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."  The resurrection gives us assurance that what He said is true.  Habakkuk, likewise, can take hope for the future because of what God has done to prove He is able to do what He has promised, no matter what it may look like at any given moment in time.

"Increase our faith."  Just before this He has commanded them to be careful concerning causing another to be tempted and to rebuke sin in a brother but to be prepared to forgive on repentance as often as necessary.  It does require faith to live in this world with the assurance that sin isn't final and to forgive.  My ability to forgive you has some basis in my faith that I am forgiven by God, it means I don't have to come up with an excuse for my actions, I can accept them for what they are, sin.  We are called to live cross-shaped lives, arms outstretched in forgiveness for others, in order that reconciliation is always possible.  Jesus' response is essentially to say you have all the faith you need, only use it, do your duty, and you will grow in faith.  When do you have enough information to take a step in faith?

It is not only our words spoken over people in cursing or gossip that are at issue here.  James begins with an admonition for teachers, that not many should teach.  Every time I preach or teach I have to pray that the Lord would guard my lips from speaking falsely about Him.  One of my mentors taught  me that everything you do (or say) teaches.  That means that every word, every action, every attitude I have teaches if I am a Christian.  When people know I am a Christian, particularly that I am a pastor, whatever I do should, at some level, tell them about what that means.  It reveals what kind of God I serve.  Do I fear?  If so, is God not trustworthy? If I speak ill of others, is God like that too?  If He is holy, we should likewise be holy.  What does your life today reveal about the God you believe in?

17 November 2014

Psalm 89:1-18; Hab. 2:1-4,9-20; James 2:14-26; Luke 16:19-31

What does it mean to live by faith?  Is it only speaking to life after death?  The faith of the righteous has a particular content that makes it specially relevant to this life.  There are current applications to this rule of faith listed by the prophet: getting unjust gain for your house, building a town with blood and founding a city on iniquity, getting a neighbor drunk and exposing his/her nakedness, and idolatry.  These all point beyond the immediate towards the larger picture.  It is not only defrauding the purchaser of your house but all fraud designed to enrich.  Building a town with blood isn't only related to violence but recall that life is in the blood and therefore unjust treatment of laborers is in view as well.  It is not only getting someone drunk to take advantage of them physically, we can be intoxicated without stimulants, we can believe a vision that causes us to expose ourselves to shame in pursuing it as well.  The righteous shall live by faith has a present application, the life of faith is a life that chooses righteousness over self-interest and self-aggrandizement.

The rich man lived by his wealth while the poor man, Lazarus, was forced to live by faith.  The rich man had all he wanted, his needs were cared for by his wealth while Lazarus was forced to beg from others but his hope, apparently, was in the Lord.  After death, however, it was Lazarus who received a reward while the rich man spent eternity in the flames, apart from God.  His fate is clearly connected with his failure to respond to the need of Lazarus when he had the means to do so.  In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character is stuck in one day in his life which repeats itself many times over until finally, it is February 3^rd.  The turning point seems to be when he not only sees the old beggar on the street but responds to his need.  His response, however, is insufficient and the man dies, his role is not to save apparently, but to respond in loving kindness, doing all he can do.  The rich man begs now, first for water and then for someone to go to his family and warn them but the Lord says it wouldn't make any difference if they received a witness, they wouldn't have the faith. 

James says that faith is more than intellectual assent to propositional truth.  Faith extends itself, risks much, for the sake of love.  He likens the life of faith to the prostitute Rahab who forsook her citizenship and alliance with her kinsmen in Jericho to align herself with Yahweh and His people by informing the spies of the fear of her people and then hiding them from those who would arrest them.  She took action that potentially threatened her own life for the sake of these foreign men.  In return, she was rewarded by being saved from the destruction of her own city.  We know a bit more about her as well, she was the mother of one of the truly righteous men of the Bible, Boaz, who married the Moabite Ruth.  This, then, makes her an important link in the chain, the great-grandmother of king David and therefore indispensible in the line of Messiah.  Faith is a way of life not only a way of believing.

16 November 2014

Psalm 66, 67; Hab. 1:1-2:1; Phil. 3:13-4:1; Matt. 23:13-24

Habakkuk begins his prophetic word by asking how the Lord can put up with the sinful behavior of His people.  The prophet is crying out for justice and judgment on the wickedness of the nation.  The answer he receives is not what he expected and it brings horror to the prophet.  The Lord announces that the wickedness in the nation is worse than the prophet realizes, He is bringing the dreaded and fearsome Babylonians against Israel as instruments of His judgment.  Habakkuk is appalled at the idea. How could the Lord use such ruthless pagan idolaters against His own people?  He can't reconcile this and says, I will lean not on my own understanding in the matter, I will position myself on the watchtower and look for wisdom elsewhere, to the Lord.  Sometimes we can be overwhelmed by the events of the day and we can miss what the Lord is doing because it doesn't fit neatly with what we think or believe.  He is Lord of all, whether they acknowledge Him or not, and all is at His disposal.  Wisdom requires us to move beyond our own common sense if we are to understand the times.

Jesus, like Habakkuk, is highly critical of the leaders of the nation in His own day.  Particularly singled out are the evangelicals, the scribes and Pharisees, those who know and take the Word seriously.  Their entire lives are consumed with the smallest jots and tittles of the Law, it is the most important thing in their lives.  The problem is that they have missed the forest for the trees, they have so finely tuned their understanding that they have lost sight of the story itself.  Sometimes we can exposit verses in such a way that we lose the larger picture, God's mercy and love, the incredible reality that we are chosen by Him in Christ.  They have forgotten that the temple is greater than anything in it but more than that, the temple is less than the one who is worshiped there and who dwells there.  The world, the heavens, all of creation, is less than the One who created it.  The small matters of tithing are nothing compared with the great matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness.  All these come down to loving God and loving our neighbors. 

If I truly thought the goal was the prize of the upward call and that my real and only citizenship was in heaven, that I should forget what lies behind and should expend all my effort in straining forward, what would change in my life?  At the very least the things that concern me would change.  My life, the way I spend my time, the things in which I invest my time, talents and treasure would be different.  The things I think are important in this life would be shaped by the commandments to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves and thus the stuff of earth, accumulating treasure, would be a lower priority.  Becoming like Him would be my goal and I would spend more time in prayer, worship, meditation and less time watching TV, movies, sports, Facebook, etc.  Today might be a good day to start.

15 November 2014

Psalm 87, 90; Joel 3:9-17; James 2:1-13; Luke 16:10-18

Is God "pro war"?  Is He against humanity other than His chosen?  In both cases the answer is no but we are both pro war and against God.  He works with what He has to work with and we will have that ultimate war at all costs.  He does not declare war, His enemies are coming against Him and His people, not the other way round.  They are coming against Jerusalem and He will not allow them to triumph over His will, His chosen or His creation.  Ultimately, God acts to defend and uphold His glory and righteousness.  Since Genesis 9, when He hung His battle bow in the clouds, He is not at war with us.  We, His representatives on earth as His chosen, are in a battle but as Jesus says, we are to love our enemies, those who choose to be our enemies, and as Paul wrote, our war is not with flesh and blood.  We, therefore, need to sharpen our spiritual weapons for the spiritual battle.

These first verses from the reading clarify the parable.  The words faithful and dishonest point back to the parable as does the idea of being trustworthy with a stewardship of someone else's assets.  True riches are what should entice us, not the things of earth.  There is a stewardship interest in the Gospel.  Can we be trusted with God's self-disclosure, His Name, His most important asset?  Do we value the right things?  The Pharisees, we are told, were lovers of money and they laughed at this teaching.  It would seem, wouldn't it, that Luke is telling us that they were prosperity preachers, believing that their good works and righteousness got them stuff?  Jesus slams them as unrighteous, unjustified before God, and says that the world's value system is not God's (see Isaiah 55).  What in the world is that verse about divorce and remarriage doing here?  God's will is clear, one man, one woman, for a lifetime.  Are we willing to fight for that?

We do have a value problem.  Some parts of the church exalt the rich man and some parts exalt the poor man.  James says, show no partiality.  It would seem that the church to whom he wrote had a problem with valuing wealth, as some believers in the prosperity Gospel would do.  Poverty, in those circles is a sign of God's disfavor, there must be something wrong in your relationship with God that causes him to withhold the blessings that are yours by right if you are a child of the king.  In other circles, God has a preference for the poor.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, certainly gives license to that idea when she said, "He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away."  In all things, it comes down to what is it that satisfies you.  Are you seeking that which is true food and drink or are you satisfied with something less? With people, we are to make no distinction between rich and poor, Jew and Greek, male or female, etc, we are all created in the image of God.  That which God values along with His Name is His image.  People are more important than anything else on earth.

14 November 2014

Psalm 88; Joel 2:28-3:8; James 1:16-27; Luke 16:1-9

One of the problems we have with prophetic words is that we don’t know timing.  John the Baptist saw the coming of the Lord but what he didn't see was the distance in time between, for instance, the fulfillment of the first part of this prophecy, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the second part, the coming in judgment, the end of time.  The horizon of events is never quite clear and now we are two thousand years from the fulfillment of the first prophecy and still awaiting the fulfillment of the second.  We have the assurance from Jesus that the day of the Lord in judgment is coming, and His words are trustworthy and true because of the resurrection, it validates his own prophetic voice concerning all other things.  The problem with waiting is complacency.  We can become blasé about the coming again because it has delayed so long.  Did you get up this morning with any sense of urgency about His coming?

This is a very difficult parable because it looks possible that the manager is commended for doing something underhanded.  The tough part is sorting out the "rich man" and whether he is the good guy in the story or not.  It actually seems that there is no hero of the story.  The manager is going to be fired, right from the start, and he knows it.  He will now have to work out what to do with his life and it seems possible that he has already failed as a manager and is not prepared to lower his standard of living or the means by which he secures it.  His decision is to ingratiate himself into the houses of his master's debtors by reducing the amounts owed.  It is unlikely that the reduction is to principal, that there have been sizeable markups is more likely and he is reducing the markup.  The debtors know that this is truly gracious and they will soon hear that he did this as he was going to be fired, they will know the favor was done by him not the rich man.  He still represents the owner at the time, so the actions are legally binding.  Jesus says that the actions will win favor in this life "so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings."  The uncertain part is who "they" are who will receive you. The parable teaches the proper use of the world's wealth, to help others. 

When David wrote Psalm 119 he understood the relationship between the Law and life in the way that James does here.  "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path" makes clear that the purpose of knowing is to instruct me in walking out this life.  James isn't preaching another Gospel, a Gospel of works as opposed to faith.  If I have learned anything in my walk with Christ it is that faith must be applied to life if we are to make progress.  His desire is for a lived out, incarnational faith as opposed to an intellectual assent to truth.  The incarnation tells us that belief and truth are meant to be lived out, that this life and the way we live it somehow matters to God.  We aren't meant to be Gnostics, we are meant to merge mind and soul and body into life.  Materialism teaches this is all there is, Gnosticism teaches that this flesh doesn't matter, Christianity teaches that there is more than materialism and yet that the material of the flesh has meaning and purpose both now and hereafter.

13 November 2014

Psalm 23, 27; Joel 2:21-27; James 1:1-15; Luke 15:1-2,11-32

The Lord relented from the disaster promised based on the repentance of the people.  Not only did the destruction of the land not occur, instead there was blessing and restoration of the years that were lost to them.  There is that old promise that gets quoted so often from 2 Chronicles 7, "if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  That promise was made in connection with the dedication and consecration of the first temple in Solomon's day.  Joel's call for the fast was based in that promise.  We don't have a "land" of our own so how could we think about this in the context of the church today?  Does the promise have any meaning for the church or is it only applicable to Israel? 

The prodigal desired to get his share of his father's estate now, not when dad died, right now.  In other words, he was saying to his father, I wish you were dead, you mean nothing to me other than the value of the assets I will receive upon your death.  He squandered all he received and then hired himself out in an occupation that would be utterly detestable, unthinkable even, to a Jewish man, caring for pigs.  When he "came to himself" he hatched a plan to improve his situation, return home repentant and offer himself as a servant in his father's household.  He practiced his little speech and made his way home, surely amazed that his father came running to greet him.  He begins his speech but doesn't get a chance to finish.  The terms of reconciliation are up to the one who was sinned against, not the sinner.  The father does more than could be asked or imagined in this regard, and the older brother resented it.  He had kept the rules and been the dutiful son but never loved his father.  The setting for the parable is important, tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus like prodigals and the scribes and Pharisees, the elder brothers, were angry.  Don't be the elder brother, don't let your righteousness cause you to fail to enjoy being His child.

Can you even begin to relate to James' assertion that you could be "perfect and complete"?  He says that testing produces steadfastness and that in its full effect you will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  I have had some tests to my faith and I know that I am long, long way from being perfect and complete.  I haven't, however, counted it all joy when testing comes.  This opening to the letter surely calls us back to the Sermon on the Mount, reminding us that this life is meant to be seen from God's perspective not our own ground level view.  It is easy to get ourselves caught up in the moment rather than keeping the long view of it all.  If our reward is in this life we miss opportunities to grow into the image of Jesus.  We need that long range perspective of the difference between temporal and eternal.

12 November 2014

Psalm 119:97-120; Joel 2:12-19; Rev. 19:11-21; Luke 15:1-10

What would it look like for the church to repent as commanded by the Lord through the prophet?  When I look at the state of the church today, powerless in large part, losing ground in the culture and lost in the wilderness, I believe it is time for us to call for a solemn assembly, a holy fast.  Rather than fasting for the nation, however, we need to fast for the church.  We have lost our way, gotten too connected with the culture, believed too much in politicians of every stripe, and invested ourselves and our resources in things other than the Gospel of Jesus and loving our neighbors.  We have lost our way, failed to be the missionary force we are called to be.  We have depended too much on money and strategies and too little on the Holy Spirit.  All these things are nothing more than idols and we need to repent and ask Him to restore His church and give it the power to do the work we are called to do. 

What have we lost?  Both parables tell of someone who has lost something and risks everything else to restore that which was lost.  In the letter to the church at Ephesus in the book of the Revelation the Lord says that they had abandoned the love they had at first, the love of Jesus, and they had substituted something else.  They are doing good work, blowing the whistle on false apostles, enduring patiently and bearing up for His Name's sake, holding up the banner of truth, opposing the teaching of the Nicolaitans, but they are told they will lose their lampstand if they don't find the love they abandoned.  We can be very much like them.  We are those who have held firm, given up much, and stood for truth.  It is quite possible that we have forgotten that the truth is a person not a proposition.  Love is the key to all we do, love for Him and for our neighbors.  Are we committed to that which we have lost?

Jesus comes in judgment against the powers of earth.  Until we see them for what they are, we will never long for this day, the coming of the kingdom, His will being done on earth as it is in heaven.  We are called to stand apart from the world, critiquing it and praying for it, sharing the light of the Gospel.  If we are faithful to that, we will weep over the judgment and destruction to come but we will also long for the establishment of the kingdom.  Our attitude will be like that of Jesus when He said He longed to comfort her but she would not come.  Nonetheless, He offered Himself for her and for us in love first.  If we do not delight in His coming then we will never properly long for His coming again.

11 November 2014

Psalm 78:1-39; Joel 1:15-2:11; Rev. 19:1-10; Luke 14:25-35

Joel begins the lamentation before the Lord.  He sees the destruction that has already come upon the land through the plagues of locusts and that all Israel suffers from drought and famine.  We're not quite sure when Joel exercised his prophetic ministry in Judah, so the particulars are not available to us.  He pleads with the Lord for Him to relent of this judgment and to come save them and yet the response is exactly the opposite, sort of, "You haven't seen anything yet."  The Lord's army, disciplined, mighty and ruthless is coming in judgment.  There is none who can endure the coming of this army, nothing can be done to stop it by human armies.  That day will ultimately come for all the earth, our only hope against God's judgment is His Son's sacrifice on our behalf.  He has provided a way to survive. 

Can you imagine choosing to follow Jesus and all your friends and relatives turning away from you, hating you even?  When Jesus called the disciples like the Galileean fishermen, they had to choose between their families and following Him.  They left their fathers behind to keep up the family business to go with Jesus.  Others at that time had to choose between their unbelieving families and belief that Jesus was Messiah and that choice divided families.  In the Middle East today men and women choose Jesus over their families and it costs them all they have known, all the love of the ones who raised them.  We typically don’t have to make that choice the same way but we do make weaker choices to follow, we prefer peace to fanatical devotion, the kind of devotion that led to the cross.

While merchants, sailors and men lament over the destruction of the city, heaven exults.  From the perspective of earth, the city looked like something wonderful but from heaven it was an abomination that led people away from God.  The kingdoms of earth must be overthrown for the kingdom of heaven to be established.  Have you ever seen the aftermath of a disaster?  My friend's house burned a few years ago and when I went to see him he took me in and showed the damage.  It was a nice house but in that moment, looking at the destruction, it lost its luster and appeal to the eyes.  We have to see things as they really are if we are going to assign them their proper value.  Even John is tempted to worship the angel, so great is his splendor.  Ask Him today to show you things as they are that you might worship Him alone.

10 November 2014

Psalm 80; Joel 1:1-13; Rev. 18:15-24; Luke 14:12-24

The land has been devastated by plagues of locusts, multiple varieties of locusts, not just one.  They have successively ravaged the crops, what one doesn't destroy the next does, until nothing is left.  This plague is an economic disaster for an agrarian economy.  It is worse than that for the nation whose prosperity is promised by the Lord if they will obey Him.  It is a sign of judgment and yet they seem to have missed it.  When we become syncretists in our religious life, merging a variety of religious ideas into one, we lack the ability to see clearly in such matters.  We have hedged our bets so many times that we no longer know where our problem might lie and it lies in the syncretism itself.  The destruction of the crops leads to another crisis, a crisis in the church where the priests receive no offerings because the people have nothing to offer.  The symbiotic relationships of people and land and priests and people are disrupted due to sin.  The priests are commanded to put on sackcloth and lament for "grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God."  Fasting and mourning are always for the purpose of hearing, not because there is a quid pro quo relationship between fasting and blessing.

Jesus gives more ethical and moral instruction, that we are to eschew the idea of using hospitality as a means of social ladder climbing.  Instead of inviting those who can raise you up the ladder, Jesus says to invite those who can do nothing for you in return.  In doing so, He brings a ringing indictment against the ways of the world.  One cries out in response, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”  Jesus' reaction to that is to speak of the judgment of God on the nation.  Clearly, the ones invited to the heavenly feast were the Jews, the chosen people, the covenant nation of priests.  They are the ones who cannot be bothered to attend when the time comes to punch their ticket, and the king declares that they will not be allowed in, but the feast will be enjoyed by those who now have nothing at all, the ones scorned.  What does that say to us today in the church?  In an odd coincidence, just before I read this passage I listened to a song by Sandra McCracken about this feast, I share it here now with you.

The city was aligned with prosperity for many and these mourn her destruction.  In the midst of this mourning, however, heaven and the saints are enjoined to rejoice over her downfall.  It feels unseemly to rejoice at such a time doesn't it?  Prosperity is often a gateway drug, leading to many vices and little concern for anything other than continuing the good times.  Having that taken away can be devastating.  I know that in my own life I have experienced failure at a time when I was prospering greatly and also tithing to the Lord but in retrospect I know that my attitude was more that of attempting to bribe Him to continue the material blessing that I really wanted.  We have to come to grips with the reality that we are deeply entangled in the world in many of our attitudes.  The time is nigh to consider the divine condescension of the incarnation and to remember just how far He stooped to come among us.

9 November 2014

Psalm 93, 96; Ecclus. 51:13-22; 1 Cor. 14:1-12; Matt. 20:1-16

Wisdom is only truly wisdom when it is applied to life.  We can know a great many things but wisdom is walking in light of what we know.  The writer sought wisdom with the intention of living in accordance with it.  That is actually the hard part isn't it.  Wisdom can be found throughout the entire Bible but if we don't put it into practice, if we only read the word for the purpose of knowing it in our minds, we fail to have true wisdom.  The Holy Spirit was given to us to assist us in the work of application and practice.  To grow in wisdom actually requires us to walk in what we already know, to act based on belief or revealed truth.  The philosopher William James called this precursive faith, "We need to move forward with an openness of mind, and even the first glimmerings of a positive conviction, in order to discover some truths.... Sometimes something like the positive state of belief, however tentative, helps to create a situation in which evidence is more likely to be forthcoming."  When we take the step of faith, moving from knowledge to action, we open ourselves to the revelation of greater truth and wisdom but we must always keep walking in what we know to receive more.

What is the reward you're seeking?  The master went out and hired a group of people who believed that a denarius, a day's wages in the first century Roman empire, was a reward worth spending the day working to receive.  At the end of the day, however, having seen the master hire other workers who spent less time working than they and receiving the same denarius, no longer believed it to be sufficient.  All who accept Jesus get the same reward, eternal life, whether they accept Him at the last minute or early in life.  Everything else is benefit not reward.  Some receive earthly blessings of one sort or another and along the way, some are jealous of those people because they have served and not received those benefits and blessings.  That attitude reveals a certain painful truth, that He is not our greatest good.  It is a sure sign we have lost our first love.

Paul speaks into the issue of the spiritual gifts in the church in Corinth.  I have certainly seen this problem in the church where those who speak in tongues have set that gift on a pedestal as the highest of the gifts.  Paul corrects that idea on the basis that it builds up the one who has the gift, not the church.  He is not rejecting the gift but placing the edification of the whole above the edification of the part.  The gift of prophecy has a place for building up the church as its message is intelligible and can give guidance, comfort and encouragement to the church.  I have also had experience with prophets who, having received some encouragement in their gifting also turn it to the building up of themselves as prophets, all good things can become a place for pride in our lives.  The admonition to walk humbly in all things is the best advice.  

8 November 2014

Psalm 75, 76; Ecclus. 51:1-12; Rev. 18:1-14; Luke 14:1-11

We don't know the situation from which the Lord delivered our writer but it seems it was indeed a dire set of circumstances, lies had been told to the king about the scribe and it would seem that his life was in danger.  What we do know is that the writer was deliberate about thanking the Lord for what He did for him.  Thankfulness is easier when the situation is life or death or when it seems like life or death.  It isn't as easy or natural or effusive in other times.  We have much for which to be thankful and we who are Christians have already been delivered from an even more advanced life and death situation by the blood of Jesus.  Do we live in a state of awareness always of not only the grace we have received but that we have been delivered from death and are being delivered from death every moment of every day of our lives?  Thankfulness should be our default mode.

In a scene similar to the one where the woman who was suffering from a condition that caused her to be unable to stand upright is before Jesus on the Sabbath, here we find Jesus at the home of a Pharisee on the Sabbath and a man is there who suffers from dropsy which was a  disease in which fluid collected in the cavities of the body, evidenced by abnormal swelling.  Jesus first asked if it were lawful to heal on Sabbath, healed the man and then made the defense that if an animal were at risk the law allowed action, how could one do less for a fellow human.  This is followed by a parable that demonstrates that the value system of the world are upside down.  Serving is better than being served, we should not seek places of honor for ourselves, the opposite of what culture taught and teaches.  When we observe these mores, we are able to be thankful for being lifted up, we know we don't deserve it.

In this lesson, as with the Gospel and the first reading, I am reminded of Mary's song, the Magnificat, upon her encounter with her cousin Elizabeth during their pregnancies.  Her words were that God was lifting up the humble and abasing the exalted, overthrowing the order of the world.  In this reading, the great city is being overthrown and debased for all the world to see.  All who plied their wares with her are in mourning for she was the source of their prosperity and now she is no more.  We cannot rely on the system of the world, the Lord is sovereign over all things.  He calls us out of the world's value system and into a new one, an eternal value system.  Have we heard and acceded that call?

7 November 2014

Psalm 69: Ecclus. 50:1,11-24; Rev. 17:1-18; Luke 13:31-35

The priest and other worship leaders have an important role to play in the liturgical work.  Here the writer pens a paean to a priest whose leadership led the people truly to worship.  If the leaders are worshipping and not simply performing their duties we know it don't we?  We have all experienced worship which is nothing more than going through the motions, getting it all right but without any sense of awe and wonder and worship.  When we are prepared for encounter, when we recognize we do all to His glory and in His presence, everything changes.  Worship should be anticipation, not just what we do on Sundays.  If it engages only our heads then we fail because we are more than simply minds.  The writer here remembers what might seem insignificant details, " he held out his hand for the cup and poured a drink offering of the blood of the grape; he poured it out at the foot of the altar, a pleasing odor to the Most High, the king of all."  These details, however, must have been powerful for him to recall them as leading to worship.  Simple things done over and again, but sometimes magic happens.

How nice of the Pharisees to warn Jesus of Herod's wrath against Him.  (Sarcasm)  Their only intent was to find a way to get Jesus to be quiet or, better yet, leave the area in fear.  Jesus has already covered that ground though in telling the disciples to fear not the one who can kill the body but the one who has power also over the soul eternally.  Jesus gives them a message to Herod telling the king where He may be found.  He must needs go to Jerusalem for that is where the prophets always find their Waterloo, a sad summary of the city of God.  His desire is to comfort her and to keep her safe and yet they will not come to Him.  They will soon say within her walls, "Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!" but they will then soon also say of Him, "Crucify Him!"  Acclaim is usually short-lived.

John sees a prostitute seated on a scarlet beast enticing the nations to sexual immorality and idolatry.  This woman has a powerful allure.  She represents, in the contemporary context, Rome.  Ultimately, other kings will arise and they will align with this beast to kill her, destroy her and ruin her.  We know that the Roman Empire fell within a relatively short time after this book was written.  We also must know that this cycle will repeat itself through history and that we must always be on watch against the temptation to sin that will draw us from the Father.  We are called and chosen by Him and we also are to be faithful to Him.  Worship is one of the ways we keep ourselves on the right path.

6 November 2014

Psalm 71; Ecclus. 44:1-15; Rev. 16:12-21; Luke 13:18-30

Let us now praise famous men.  We call them saints in the church and they are to be praised for their examples of following Jesus.  As the writer says, some we know their names and some we don't, they are forgotten to posterity but they are no less important because they were godly and their children were as well.  History may not remember them, even their own families may not remember them specifically but their legacy is in the family faithfulness.  I know men and women have influenced and shaped my life by their example and by their prayers in ways that I may never be fully aware of but if we ever get a chance to look back at our lives I may see clearly.  The cloud of witnesses the Lord has put around us are sometimes obvious and sometimes hazy and the thing to remember is that we are part of that cloud for others, our witness to Christians and non-Christians alike is important whether we are famous or not. 

Jesus speaks on the kingdom in ways that use something small to become something large and it causes people to wonder how small the kingdom may be.  He compares it to a mustard seed, the smallest seed that grew into a tree and to a small amount of leaven put into a large amount of dough and its effect on the dough.  These examples prompted the crowd to ask if those who will be saved are few.  Jesus' response is indirect in that He doesn’t say either yes or no.  He says that many will be unsaved, left out of the kingdom, and we are to strive to enter the narrow door.  The example Jesus gives of those who say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets', should tell us that we must not be passive in our pursuit.  The word "strive" should have already told us that but the example says that we must do more than listen and that there is no such thing as a Christian country simply because we tolerate, allow, or even encourage through tax policies, the preaching and practice of the Gospel.  We must be born from above, believe in His Name, if we are to be children of God rather than simply creations of God.

The armies are ready for battle.  The Euphrates is dried up and becomes a pathway for the kings of the east.  The armies are come to Armageddon for the final battle.  The Lord, however, has a final plague for "Babylon", a plague of hail unlike even the plague of hail sent upon Egypt in the time of Moses, hundred pound hailstones pounding that city.  Wouldn't you think that surely they would repent as in the days of Jonah?  Not so, however, they continue to curse God.  They are under a demonic deception from the beast and the false prophet.  If we are talking about the city of Babylon then it seems likely that the demonic deception is Islam itself.  They would not curse the name of their god but they will not praise the Name of Jesus who is the narrow door.  Let us pray for those caught in this deception that the Lord will reveal Himself to them.

5 November 2014

Psalm 72; Ecclus. 43:23-33; Rev. 16:1-11; Luke 13:10-17

In surveying all the heavens, the earth, the deeps, and the creatures that fill all those environments the writer sums it up in one verse, "We could say more but could never say enough; let the final word be: “He is the all.'"  If He is the all after considering all of creation then we can definitely never say enough.  There have been innumerable volumes written on the things within creation and He is greater than the sum of all of them.  We could indeed then never say enough.  Don't you just love these two verses, "Glorify the Lord and exalt him as much as you can, for he surpasses even that. When you exalt him, summon all your strength,
and do not grow weary, for you cannot praise him enough."  Why, then, do we glorify and exalt Him so little and concern ourselves with the small things of life that ultimately don't matter?  Why do we seek to limit His works by denying Him as creator?  All this is designed to force us into cramped small spaces rather than the spacious expanse of His creation.  We can see Him everywhere or we can see Him within limited activity.  It is our choice.

The leaders of the synagogue sought to limit Jesus' power and authority, to set limits for Him, but they failed.  It was the Sabbath and while He was perfectly in His rights to teach, He was not to be allowed to heal this woman.  It rings a bit hollow doesn't it when they say that she could come on any other day and be healed but not now, on Sabbath.  The passage begins by telling us that she was bent and couldn't stand upright for EIGHTEEN years.  Are they attempting to imply that she has simply failed to seek them out for healing during all those years and now if she will only endure this condition one more day they will set things right?  Can you imagine Jesus' facial reaction to that statement?  The law allowed a man to rescue his animals from danger or trouble on Sabbath and Jesus' argument is that this woman, created in the image of God, is infinitely more valuable than an ox.  Values and priorities need to be right.

Could this possibly happen?  Could people suffer from a series of plagues similar to Egypt but worse and curse the name of God?  Surely they would turn to Him.  You don't have to live long as a Christian to hear the question, "If God is good, how or why does He allow…"  They won't turn to Him, they will question Him and ultimately I certainly know people who have chosen to hate Him for the suffering in their lives.  The altar said, John says, " Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!"  The inhabitants of earth curse Him.  If we deny Him as creator, deny Him as righteous by questioning His goodness in the face of suffering and evil, we are in a position to curse His Name in exactly the way John describes.  We have limited Him to doing good as we see it and He won't be limited by us.