26 July 2011

Psalm 61, 62; 2 Sam 3:6-21; Acts 16:6-15; Mark 6:30-46

The reunification of the kingdom begins when Abner sees the handwriting on the wall. Having been responsible for the elevation of Ish-bosheth, Abner understands that it is important to get out front of the inevitable rise of David to the kingship of Israel. David is growing “stronger and stronger” so Abner decides it would be a good time to make overtures to David with him being the deliverer of the kingdom. David’s stipulation is that first Saul’s daughter, David’s wife, Michal, must be returned to him. Recall that when David was on the run Saul treated David as a non-person and had given her to another man. Ish-bosheth decides that his hand is weak so he retrieves Michal from her husband who clearly loves her and Abner brings her to David., having gotten consent from the tribes of Israel to accept David as king. Political intrigue is always the rule.

“You give them something to eat..” The disciples have just returned from the mission on which Jesus sent them without provisions, trusting the Lord for all they will receive, housing, food, etc. They have seen the Lord’s ability to provide and have rejoiced in Him and yet no one could imagine that He could feed 5000 people. They had relied upon Him providing through people of peace on their mission but today there was no one with resources adequate to provide for the mass of people assembled. Amazingly, Jesus is able to provide miraculously for the needs of the people with only five loaves and two small fish. Could the kingdom be coming together with one king accepted by all the people?

Notice here the transition in pronouns from verse 6 to verse 11. Luke begins verse 6 with third person plural, “they went” and in verse 11 he says, “we made a direct voyage.” At this point his story becomes personal, he is an eyewitness to all that will follow, he is not relying on any source but his own eyes and ears. He sees first a person of peace, Lydia, who implored the missionaries to stay with her, she would provide for their needs while they were in Philippi which is clearly a Roman city without many Jews there. To establish a synagogue required ten Jewish men based on Abraham’s bargain with God over Sodom that He would not destroy the city if ten righteous men were found there. Absent a synagogue, the Jewish women in particular would have gathered at the riverside as a place of prayer and discussion of their faith and so Paul goes there and finds these women receptive to his evangelism concerning Jesus. Lydia, a worshiper of God, she would not have been a Jew but a believer in Yahweh, accepts Paul’s testimony and there is a base for missions quickly established in this place. The lessons today all are about the establishment and enlargement of kingdoms and acceptance of a rightful king.

Crown Him the Son of God, before the worlds began,
And ye who tread where He hath trod, crown Him the Son of Man;
Who every grief hath known that wrings the human breast,
And takes and bears them for His own, that all in Him may rest.

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25 July 2011

Psalm 56, 57, 58; 2 Sam 2.1-11; Acts 15:36-16:5; Mark 6:14-29

The succession isn’t clean. David is accepted as king of Judah but Abner, the commander of the army under Saul, takes Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and has him made king over Israel. This won’t be a permanent situation but it will show the future and the divided kingdom. The kingdom was never meant to be ruled by a man because men are fallible and imperfect. Saul’s failings opened the door for David and yet David failed with Bathsheba among other things and that failing opened the door for the division of the people. So long as there is power to be had, there will be abuse of power. There is no perfect system in a fallen world because it requires a perfect person to be the leader. David was a good king in almost every way but not in every way, so his kingdom didn’t last. Jesus’ kingdom, however, is eternal.

Herod had married his brother’s wife whom she divorced for the purpose of marrying Herod. The family was a mess. Herodias, the wife, was also a close relative, he was her half uncle, the son of her grandfather. (Complicated, huh?) There were many objections to this marriage within Judaism, immorality and illegality for instance, and to have such a one rule over them was a powerful insult. Herod was also, nominally, a Jew and therefore John was using the moral authority that Judaism gave him to speak into Herod’s life and this greatly displeased Herodias who gained much in her divorce and remarriage and had no interest in losing what she had gained. Herod apparently had a problem with lust for his step-daughter Salome, whose dance caused him to make a rash promise. John was an innocent man in the eyes of God whose death was due to the sins of others. The fallout for sin is everywhere.

Again, we see division due to sin. Paul is not ready to forgive John Mark for failing to persevere in the work with him. Barnabas, the one who brought Paul out his semi-exile state to build the church in Antioch, is prepared to restore John Mark to fellowship and the mission. They disagreed “sharply” over the matter and ultimately decided that they would not continue to work together because of this disagreement. Paul finds another young disciple for the work, Timothy, in Lystra. It is interesting that Paul feels the need at this juncture to avoid unnecessarily upsetting the Jews and circumcises Timothy in order to take their objection off the table. Is this a place where Paul determines not to offend what he refers to as the “weaker brother”? Where do we draw the line on such matters? Division is, unfortunately, a reality and we have to choose where we will allow ourselves to be divided, what are the principles on which we cannot compromise?

Crown Him the virgin’s Son, the God incarnate born,
Whose arm those crimson trophies won which now His brow adorn;
Fruit of the mystic rose, as of that rose the stem;
The root whence mercy ever flows, the Babe of Bethlehem.

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24 July 2011

Psalm 24, 29; 2 Sam 1:17-27; Rom 12:9-21; Matt 25:31-46

It seems strange to hear David eulogize Saul so extravagantly in this passage, "Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!” and "You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.” This is the same Saul who had sought out David to kill him lo these many years. David always recognized Saul as king over God’s people, the one chosen and anointed by God as the first king. Even after running and hiding from Saul for years, David never lost sight of that. It is understandable that he laments over Jonathan, a man who was willing to lay down any claim he might have to the throne because he believed that David was chosen and anointed by God to be the next king. Jonathan was a true friend and brother to David at great cost to himself. Remember that Jonathan was a daring soldier and leader himself and yet he subordinated whatever desire he may have had to be king when he saw David and recognized him as God’s anointed. In this lament, David shows himself to be truly a man of God, a man who can weep even over the death of his great enemy.

So is faith the determiner of our eternal destiny or is it works? We have focused for so long on the moment of salvation, the big decision, the aisle walk, that we have forgotten that that is only the beginning, it is meant to bring about transformation. The idea that Jesus is indeed the incarnate Son of God and that His death is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, that He was resurrected from the dead and that simply believing in Him means that we will have eternal life is meant to bring about a changed way of thinking about our lives and the way the world works. If we do not see such change, that we begin to love God with all that we have and all that we are, and that we begin to move in the direction of loving others as we love ourselves, then can we say that we were saved because we once said the right thing? It seems here that Jesus is saying that our faith needs to have evidence that we have changed from selfishness to selflessness.

This passage from Romans follows the verse about the transformation of life by the renewing of the mind. That idea needs to be fleshed out with content, what does transformation look like? Paul says that it has everything to do with an “other” focus, loving one another as a primary way of life. In that first passage we see David’s heart that never avenged itself on Saul and in the end is able to lament over his death. We see also the depth of love that is to pass between brothers and sisters in Christ. There should be observable change in a Christian’s life and that change should set us apart from the world. We should see Christ formed in us, the Jesus that counted equality with God as not to be grasped and the attitude of sacrifice for the sake of God and our neighbor, realizing that this life isn’t all there is, therefore we can let go of much in order to receive the prize that awaits.

Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne.
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity.

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23 July 2011

Psalm 55; 2 Samuel 1:1-16; Acts 15:22-35; Mark 6:1-13

Did this young man believe he would be rewarded for killing Saul and bringing the crown and armlet to David? He must have done as he concocted this story out of whole cloth. We just read that Saul’s death was ultimately at his own hand, he fell on his own sword in suicide. What a surprise it must have been to him to have seen David and the others whose lives had been at risk from Saul all these years now mourning his death. David had always believed that Saul was the Lord’s anointed and would not raise his hand against the king and his relationship with Saul’s son, Jonathan, was covenantal. David was a man of extraordinary honor here and this young Amalekite terribly misjudged the situation and it cost him his life.

The people of Jesus’ home make a wrong judgment concerning him, even after considering the evidence. They have heard all that He has done and they hear His teaching and are in awe concerning Him then they fall back on what they “know” concerning Him, His family and the like and they are offended. How ridiculous. Just as yesterday we saw great things happen because of the faith of the woman with the issue of blood and the synagogue ruler, here we see that without faith little is possible, Jesus can only heal a few people. Not a bad day’s work but hardly as dramatic as in other places. After this, Jesus begins to send the disciples out to do the work He has previously done. They have seen with their own eyes what is possible and now they are sent out to do the same things. They are sent out with strict orders concerning what to carry with them, this is a mission that will be fueled by faith, if God doesn’t provide it will be a failure. Indeed, they see success as they walk in faith.

The council sends Paul and Barnabas back to Antioch with a letter bearing the council’s decision and also with two other men, Judas and Silas, who will speak for the Jerusalem church on this matter. The people of Antioch will hear it directly from the Jerusalem church, there will be no doubt concerning the issues and in this missive they will hear that they are brothers, not second-class citizens and they will know it by the presence of these two men. It is little wonder that the reception of the church at Antioch was gladness and joy. They are now relieved of the obligation to circumcision and accepting the Jewish law and set free to simply follow Christ wherever He leads. The judgment of James, led by the Holy Spirit, is an amazing thing and makes possible the spread of the Gospel to all people.

Musing on my habitation,
Musing on my heav’nly home,
Fills my soul with holy longings:
Come, my Jesus, quickly come;
Vanity is all I see;
Lord, I long to be with Thee!
Lord, I long to be with Thee!

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22 July 2011

Psalm 40, 54; 1 Samuel 31:1-13; Acts 15:12-21; Mark 5:21-43

Saul’s end comes by his own hand. He is wounded and asks his armor-bearer to finish the job by running him through with the sword but this servant refuses to kill his master, the king. Saul can’t bear the thought of what the Philistines might do to him, how cruelly they may treat him before killing him so he takes matters into his own hand and falls on his sword. The nobility of the armor-bearer is striking in that he immediately falls on his own sword as his master does. Saul’s fears concerning the Philistines intentions concerning him are well-founded as we see how they mistreat his body and those of his sons as well. The people of Jabesh-Gilead show themselves to be brave and noble as well as they come and take down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall after traveling all night, braving the Philistines, to care properly for their king and his family.

On His return from healing the demon-possessed man Jesus encounters great crowds and a synagogue ruler. In this passage we see hope and faith and also unbelief but even the unbelief we see is reasonable. The synagogue ruler surely knows where Jesus has been and how unclean He must be but He doesn’t care, he believes that Jesus can heal his daughter even though she is close to death. The woman with the issue of blood seems to have no doubt that she will be healed if she can but touch the hem of His garment and so she is. Jesus affirms that her faith has made her well, but has her touch made Him even more unclean? The logic of clean and unclean is interesting. Did they exchange states of clean and unclean? Jesus, however, has power in Him to make clean without spoiling His own condition. Priests cannot heal they can only inspect and proclaim clean that which God has made clean. Jesus continues with the ruler even though a servant has come to say that the girl has died. The mourners are already gathered and yet Jesus tells the ruler to continue to believe, even after death, that his daughter is not beyond Jesus’ ability to restore her and his faith is rewarded. There is no situation beyond the hope of Jesus, nothing is too hard for him.

James, the brother of Jesus, delivers the decision of the council. He makes no mention of Paul and Barnabas and their mission in his decision, only of Peter’s mission to the Gentiles. Perhaps Peter’s work carried more weight with the Judaizers and his methods were more acceptable to this group. That is an interesting thing though as Paul was a Pharisee and Peter a Galileean and here we are told that the group who objects are Pharisees. It is a measure of what God has done in Paul that he is more liberal with respect to the Gentiles than the rest. The decision is that there is no need to circumcise the Gentile believers, that the new covenant supersedes the old covenant but that these Gentiles should abstain from certain practices so that the fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers is not compromised. The law has not passed away, it is written on the hearts of believers who have the Holy Spirit which impels us to please the Lord and we know that the law is the expression of God’s will for living in this world. In Jesus, the dividing wall between “us” and “them” and the enmity therein has been destroyed. The Philistines, in a metaphorical sense, are now joined together with the Jews.

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,
Feed me till I want no more;
Feed me till I want no more.

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