5 November 2012

Psalm 56, 57; Ecclus. 38:24-34; Rev. 14:1-13; Luke 12:49-59

So is my job as pastor, devoted to the word of God, better than any other?  It certainly sounds so in this passage from Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Sirach, whichever you prefer.  All it truly means is that we need people who are given to the work of understanding the Word of God if we are to recognize the kingdom of God and differentiate it from the world.  The writer acknowledges that there is a purpose for all the other work that is done, if it is not done there is no human society as we know it.  For the people of God, however, there is a need for a different type of society, one that expresses the will of God for human society.  When Martha fussed at Jesus about her sister Mary not helping her with the chores that needed to be done to provide hospitality, Jesus said that Mary had chosen the one thing needful, learning the wisdom of God.  In the older Prayer Books, including the one I chose for my ordination to the priesthood, the candidate is asked, " Will you be diligent in Prayers, and in reading the Holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same, laying aside the study of the world and the flesh?"  The most recent Prayer Book asks the following, " Will you be diligent in the reading and study of the Holy Scriptures, and in seeking the knowledge of such things as may make you a stronger and more able minister of Christ?"  Not quite the same is it?  Which one fits better with the passage today?

Why division?  Jesus says he came to bring not peace but division and so He has.  We believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation, that we can "coexist" in this world but that if you don’t put your faith in Jesus alone we won't coexist in the new creation because we will be in different places.  That is called the scandal of particularity and it divides people.  We should neither be surprised nor alarmed by that truth, but simply pray for those who don't receive Him and stand firmly on the truth.  Part of interpreting the time is the wisdom of sharing the Gospel truth in ways that connect with our culture, knowing where the culture is looking for truth and answers, even in an age that asks, "What is truth?"  That truth is a person actually fits that cultural question.  Truth is not pragmatic, it didn't "work" for Jesus, pragmatism wasn't His concern, eternity was.  If we live consonant with truth we will be salt and light.

It seems simple doesn't it?  One angel proclaims, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” The next proclaims the destruction of Babylon due to sexual immorality (I thought that didn't really matter - it seems that we may be out of step with culture here if we go with the Word on what constitutes sexual immorality).  The third proclaims that those who worship the beast and accept His mark are doomed for all eternity.  Simple choice to make except that it means, potentially, starvation and death.  Jesus chose truth and says we are to follow Him.  The choice is plain, we are to "keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus."  That is wisdom.

4 November 2012

Psalm 24, 29; Ecclus. 36:1-17; 1 Cor. 12:27-13:13; Matt. 18:21-35

It is different to not be a "nation" but rather a "people."  We don't have a Land of our own, so we don't have the kind of enemies that the writer speaks of here.  His desire is for the Lord to destroy their enemies and in doing so, to reveal His glory and His might.  It is a stretch to say that the Lord has used the nation to reveal His holiness to the nations, the prophets would beg to differ.  Is this a prayer that we can understand or is it dependent on being a nation?  We are given an ethical teaching by both Jesus and Paul that would have us love and pray for our enemies.  Does that mean that in no case we should pray for military victory?  In World War II I would personally have made a case for prayer against the success of the Axis powers or at least the leaders of those nations but the destruction of the nations is a different matter. 

I wonder who Peter had in mind when he asked Jesus the question about how many times he had to forgive his brother?  Jesus' response points back to our own need for forgiveness in answer to the question.  We have been shown much grace and granted extraordinary forgiveness and we are to be shaped by that experience.  When we have been forgiven of so much, we should be those who extend grace to others.  We learn to be a forgiving people by being forgiven.  Jesus took our sins on Himself, submitting to pain and suffering inflicted not because of His sin but ours.  We are to take up our own cross and follow Him by forgiving others their sins against us.  From that cross He prayed for forgiveness for those who put Him there, mocked and taunted Him.  Then, He gave us His Spirit to enable us to do the same.

Unfortunately, I regularly see those who desire the gifts who do not practice love with brothers and sisters.  Paul says that the more excellent way is the way of love and love of a specific kind.  It is a love that sets self last, that doesn't seek to justify itself, that can't bear to hurt another by the exercise of the gifts, that understands what it means to allow our freedom to be circumscribed by another not by force but because we love them.  The kind of love Paul commends here is the kind of love we should have within marriage but extends it outward to all our relationships within the body of Christ.  Most of the church arguments I see and hear about involve a desire to justify self in some way or another, we practice very little forebearance, take remarkable offense, and walk away rather than reconcile.  Love requires more of us than we realize.

3 November 2012

Psalm 55; Ecclus. 35:1-17; Rev. 13:11-18; Luke 12:32-48

The writer understands the reality that sacrifice offered by a righteous person, not a perfect person, but one who is pursuing righteousness and is therefore more attuned to sin and grace, is a proper sacrifice.  Often we see the prophets upbraiding Israel for their manifold sacrifices in times of prosperity, they can afford to sin because they can afford to pay the price of the sacrifice.  The pursuit of righteousness is job 1 in the life of God's people.  That pursuit makes us more keenly aware of sin, that which needs to change and separates us from God.  Knowing good, or, more properly, the good, requires us to identify that which is not good.  The first time God says something is not good is when there is no balance, there is no mate for Adam and everything else in creation has a mate.  The sun has the moon, the earth has the sky, dry land has sea, and the animals have their mates.  By contrast, Adam is alone.  The pursuit of righteousness reveals more acutely that which is not righteous and then we can make a proper sacrifice of a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Seek the kingdom with everything you have and all that you are because, ultimately, nothing else matters.  Everything on earth will pass away eventually, no one disputes that.  The only question we have is when.  Jesus says that there is something which never passes away so we should seek that.  Our hearts and treasures are in the same place.  What we value is revealed by how we spend our time and energy far more than by what we say.  If I value time with the Lord my life will reveal that to be true.  I will change whatever is necessary to make that happen.  Jesus says there is a reward for being prepared always and a price to be paid for sloth in our lives concerning the kingdom.  We have been given work to do, proclaiming the kingdom and making disciples.  Where does your life reveal that is a priority?

The two beasts work in tandem with one another.  If we go back three chapters we find the seventh angel standing with one foot on earth and one on the sea.  John is given the little scroll and commanded to eat it and then prophesy.  Standing astride the earth and sea is a sign of dominion and the angel then proclaims God's dominion over all things, including the earth and sea.  Now, two beasts emerge from the earth and the sea to assert themselves and to take dominion over all things.  The final scene here is the mark of the beast necessary to buy and sell.  There is a choice between life and death and on whose terms, submission to God or submission to the beast.  It is all about treasure and pursuit.

2 November 2012

Psalm 40, 54; Ecclus. 34:1-8,18-22; Rev. 13:1-10; Luke 12:13-31

Dreams indeed are deceptive to many.  Not all dreams come from the Lord and we need to be careful about ascribing them to Him.  Prayer is always required when we believe that a dream has been given to us, we need to seek wisdom from Him whether the dream is a word or sign or whether it has come from the enemy.  He counterfeits the truth constantly in order that we might be carried away from our God-given mission on a rabbit hunt.  Care must always be exercised when we have dreams that seem to be of the Lord.  Many a leader has been enticed to make a wrong decision based on their dreams or someone else's.  All things must be submitted in prayer before we take action.

Keep first things first.  CS Lewis wrote, " To sacrifice the greater good for the less and then not to get the lesser good after all–that is the surprising folly. . . Every preference of a small good to a great, or a partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial good for which the sacrifice was made… You can’t get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first.”  I can't say it better.  We need to know the mission and keep our lives pointed in that direction.  The man asks Jesus to divide his family's inheritance with him, Jesus says that isn't a primary thing so He isn’t going to get involved and the man needs to know it shouldn't be primary with him either.  We are simply to seek the kingdom of God, period, full stop. 

The beast rises from the sea and it has a mortal wound that has been healed and the earth marvels that it has come back from the dead.  Its reign is the same length as the woman's sojourn in the wilderness, forty-two months.  The world, all except those whose names were long ago written in  the Lamb's book of life, are deceived and follow after the beast even though it spouts blasphemies against God.  We make value judgments about blasphemy all the time, we don't see that anything that attempts to diminish God or to put Him and His Anointed on par with another, such as in a COEXIST bumper sticker, is a foul blasphemy against the Lord.  Any false god raised up, false messiah, anything that claims equality or superiority with the living God is blasphemy.  We live in a day and a place where there is much blasphemy, we do well to be grieved over this situation.  We have a work to do, proclaiming the truth no matter the cost in life, limb or repute.  Let us not be deceived about who our enemy is or about truth simply based on the offense taken by another.  If we don't tell them the truth we have failed to love both God and our neighbor.

1 November 2012

Psalm 50; Ecclus. 31:12-18,25-32:2; Rev. 12:7-17; Luke 11:53-12:12

Why the injunctions regarding table manners?  There is more at stake than simply good manners.  Greediness, gluttony, drunkenness are all more than bad manners, they are windows into our souls.  They tell us much about what we are satisfying ourselves with and how we are trying to fill the void in our lives.  Food and drink should be enjoyed, they are gifts of God to us, but they are not to be enjoyed to excess.  When Jesus began His ministry, after the baptism by John, the first thing He did was go on a forty day fast, and the first temptation was to make food to satisfy His hunger.  His response was that man was meant to be satisfied with every word that comes from the Father, not food, even after a fast.  He also provided more wine for a feast as His first miracle.  There is nothing wrong with either food or drink, we must however, keep such things in their place.

Did you notice this, "so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another…"  What an amazing scene that must have been.  The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus into saying something they could attack Him with and enormous crowds are gathering for Him.  The Pharisees are jealous of His following, and their only aim is to destroy Him, one way or another.  In the midst of the mob scene Jesus turns to the disciples and gives them some wisdom they will eventually all need to remember.  They are not to fear those who can only destroy the body, they are to reserve their fear for the One who can not only deal with the body but who can determine their eternal destiny.  This life is important but not so important that we compromise eternity.  We are called to glorify Him as His image bearers to the rest of creation.  Perspective makes all the difference.

We see in the vision the ancient serpent, now a dragon, thrown down from heaven in failed rebellion there, now lashing out at the woman, the vehicle through which God brings forth new image bearers.  The serpent's hatred of God is now directed at His image on earth and towards the woman.  The imagery is of a flood and the earth comes to the aid of the woman, swallowing up the flood.  We need to wake up and realize that we have an enemy who is blinded with hatred and rage towards God, whose image we bear, and if He can destroy that which the Lord loves, it is almost as good as destroying the Lord Himself.  John tells us that the serpent knows His days are numbered, that ultimately He will lose, but He knows not when.  We live in a day when womanhood, child bearing, and the very nature of being are under assault.  Do we not see the enemy at work?