Day 50; Ruth 1–4; Isaiah 43–48; 1 Corinthians 13–14
The story of Ruth begins with the tragic story of Naomi. Her husband Elimelech (his name can be translated (Molech is God or My God is Molech [king]). He dies and so do her two sons, Mahlon (means failing) and Kilion (means sickly). Naomi is destitute and thinks God is against her. Don't miss the fact that these men took refuge under Molech and Chemosh the gods of the Ammonites and Moabites by leaving Bethlehem during a famine. Why was there famine? Because of idolatry during the time of the judges. God's people were unfaithful to the covenant and so they are now experiencing the curses promised for unfaithfulness...famine, sickness and death (Deut. 28:15-68).
Isaiah reminds the people of this folly when God says through the prophet,
"All who make idols are nothing,
and what they treasure does not profit.
Their witnesses do not see or know [anything],
so they will be put to shame. (Isa. 44:9)"
I am not much for sappy romance stories, chick flicks and all manner of mushiness. And yet I have to admit I do have a heart for this romance between Ruth the Moabitess and Boaz the kinsman redeemer. There so much rich death to this short story if yo read the book in context of the Law and the Monarchy of King David and Messiah the Son of David. The scarlet cord that yarns through all of the scriptures (the thread of redemption) picks up again in the love story. Boaz is the descendant of Perez, a son of Tamar and Judah (Judah the unwitting family redeemer) and the ancestor of the Davidic kings (Gen 38:1-30; Ruth 4:18-22). Boaz is also the son of Salmon and the prostitute of Jericho, Rahab, who hung from her window a scarlet cord to save her and her family from the Israelite attack on the city (Josh 2:8-21; Mat. 1:5).
A family redeemer is one who saves the family name of a close relative who has died and left no sons as heirs to carry his name and property. The man would take the widow as his wife (polygamy with purpose). The woman would likely be destitute with no sons or husband to care for her. Through this redeeming act a son was meant to come through this union so the child born would carry the name of the deceased ancestor (Lev. 25:25-26).
When Naomi realized Ruth had come under the kindness of Boaz her dead husband's kinsman, her faith in God was restored. She realized God had not abandoned her as she thought before (Ruth 1:20-21; 2:20). Ruth had been gleaning the fields for grain and Boaz had taken notice of her and welcomed her. It was a covenantal ordinance to not glean grain that had fallen to the ground. Leave it for the poor and the foreigner (Lev. 19:9).
She devises a plan for Ruth to be married to Boaz. Naomi tells Ruth to go during the threshing and find Boaz sleep and uncover his feet and lie next to him. This is a delicate conversation. The bible uses euphemism to portray this test to see if Boaz is interested in Ruth as a sexual companion. Would Boaz consider taking Ruth as his wife as a family redeemer? When Naomi tells Ruth to uncover the feet of Boaz, it is a delicate way to say expose his genitals (Ruth 3:4). The cool air of the night on Boaz's naked body would cause him to stir from his slumber. He would see Ruth and realize what was happening. It was a big risk, even more so for a Moabite woman to try.
Boaz is moved and honored by this action and expresses his intimate feelings for her. It's just so beautiful! Can I have a tissue? ;)
The good news it that even in a time of terrible covenant unfaithfulness in the time of the judges, there are still good faithful and godly people keeping the covenant. They trust Yahweh alone. They love Yahweh with their whole heart and obey all His laws, commands and statutes. They trust that through covenant faithfulness they we enjoy the love and blessing of God. Covenant love is faithful love. It is real love. It can always be trusted. God will always be true, even when His people fail to be.
Isaiah writes inspiring words of God's faithful love for His people,
Now this is what the LORD says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel —
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
I will be with you...
Because you are precious in My sight
and honored, and I love you...
You are My witnesses" —
the LORD's declaration—
"and My servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe Me
and understand that I am He.
No god was formed before Me,
and there will be none after Me.
I, I am the LORD,
and there is no other Savior but Me. (Isa. 43:1-2a, 4a, 10-11)
Paul tells us of the true manner of love (agape - self giving). Love does not keep records of wrong is the one attribute we tend to most often forget. It's one thing to forgive, but it's another to forget. Yet Paul says love forgets wrongs. Love doesn't keep a score card. When the book of Revelation says there's a book of Life and records of right and wrong for all humanity, there seems a contradiction. It's not that what we do wrong or right has no consequence. It does. But God does not look upon us according to our sins. He has reconciled Himself with the world through Christ (2 Cor. 5:19). In the same way we who love like God look at others not by their failures, sins and shortcomings. We look upon them as precious in God's sight, as one for whom Christ died.
Paul applies the more excellent way of love to building up the church. Remember the church in Corinth was plagued by division. Paul is working as their loving father to heal the divisions by helping them to see the core reason for their problems are pride, a lack of humility and false worship (idols). Those who cling to charismatic leaders and teachers in the church are in danger of idolatry. They give praise to a mere mortal and take the honor due the Lord and give it to a man or woman. And those who allow others to praise and honor him/her lacks humility.
To seek the accolades of others is even more a danger. Think about how Americans' current fascination with celebrity and skinny models has caused millions low self image. It's not bad to be beautiful or popular. It is bad for us to worship them and it's bad for them to seek the limelight. Think of all the miserable stars who have sacrificed a private life or a family life. Few find the balance.
Remember how Paul and Barnabas stopped the people of Lystra from worshipping and sacrificing to them as gods after they had brought a lame man to healing in Christ? Paul said, "Why are you doing these things? We are men also, with the same nature as you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them."
Once Jesus was approached by a man who called after Him with a question. "Good teacher," he said, "what must I do to be saved?" Jesus responded, "Why do you call me good? There is only One who is good." There the Master set the example of humility.
We need more people who will show humility like Ruth who had shown wonderful faithfulness to Naomi was humble before Boaz's kindness when she said, "I am less than your own servant girls (Ruth 2:13)."
Paul taught the church to think of others first (1 Cor. 10:24). He deals with speaking in tongues in public worship, It is a private matter for personal prayer and worship. When one babbles in corporate worship and there's no one who is gifted by the Spirit to interpret the unintelligible speech, no one is built up. But if we prophecy (speak a timely and relevant word on God's behalf) people will be touched by the Spirit of God and proclaim, "God is really among you! (1 Cor. 14:25)"
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
The Bethlehem Mistress
Day 49: Judges 18–21; Isaiah 37–42; 1 Corinthians 10–12
Those who grew up in church all know Christmas Carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem." It is a wonderful song celebrate the miracle of the incarnation, God becoming human. It sounds like a lullaby with its sweet and gentle melody. But Jesus' birth, the visit of the shepherds and magi; these are not the only things to happen there.
Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife died and was buried near Bethlehem (Gen. 35:19). And of course Rachel weeps for her children when the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem (Jer. 31:15). The prophet is quoted in the gospel of Matthew when King Herod massacres all the boys aged 2 years and younger in Bethlehem (Mat. 2:18). It is the home of King David. Bethlehem looms large in the mind of Israel, this little town 5 miles south of Jerusalem. It is the home of saviors and sadness.
Judges ends with a terrible story about a concubine (a mistress, not a wife) of a Levite from the hills of Ephraim. She is from Bethlehem. She is described as unfaithful. She leaves the Levite and heads back to her father's house in Bethlehem.
Stop! Would a Levite dedicated as a holy servant for Yahweh have a live-in mistress? Why wouldn't he marry her if he loved her? Is he not the unfaithful one as well? Fornication is a sin, but hey...everyone else is doing it. Even the patriarchs had mistresses on the agreement of their wives. Sarai gave Abram her Egyptian slave Hagar to have a son through her. So one could argue the Levite was not in the wrong from the ancient customs. But today as Christians and the laws of most states in the USA, bigamy, polygamy are outlawed. Paul taught "each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband (1 Cor. 7:2)." I concede to give the Levite the benefit of the doubt. Men could have female slaves under the law of Moses and it is not unlikely they used them for sexual pleasures.
Feminist authors have much to say in these ending chapters in Judges. The incredible abuses of women in these chapters astound the modern reader. The women seem to have no rights and no voice.
Jephthah's daughter is sacrificed as an thanksgiving offering to Yahweh because of his hasty vow (Jdg. 11:31). God didn't stop Jephthah as he stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac. I don't think God was silent. I think Jephthah's ears are plugged with pagan traditions which he and his people have followed, disobeying Yahweh. Yahweh very likely would have told Jephthah to not sacrifice his daughter. In fact he had two months to do so (Jdg. 11:37-39), but would Jephthah have heard since he obviously doesn't pay attention to the words of the covenant? Was there even a Levite faithfully teaching the covenant so Jephthah could learn?
Preceding the story of the Ephraimite Levite and his Bethlehemite mistress, there is a story of a corrupt Levite from Bethlehem that moves to the hill country of Ephraim. Coincidence? I think not. At very least Judges carries the theme of the fall of Israel from faithfulness to Yahweh to its extreme when holy men steal and abuse their privilege for personal gain.
He moves into the home of Micah, a wealthy farmer who has idols like all the other pagan inhabitants. Micah knows enough of the teachings and traditions of Israel to recognize the presence of a Levite to be a blessing. Levites were chosen by the Lord as His holiest servants. The Levite tribe bore Aaron and his sons, the priesthood. And the rest of the Levites who were not sons of Aaron were servants of the holy tabernacle. So Micah invites the Levite to become his household priest and serves him in his home. He will pay the Levite handsomely and give him a home. So the Levite agrees.
A faithful Levite would have rejected the invitation because he was not a son of Aaron, called to be a priest. AND he would have rebuked Micah for his idolatrous practices having household gods (idols) and a gold ephod and installing his own son as a priest for pagan gods. There is little doubt Yahweh's name was invoked in the these pagan traditions like the ancestors did when they made the golden calf and said, "these are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Ex. 32:4b)."
Instead the Levite rather liked the idea. He shows his character when Danites who have not trusted Yahweh and driven the pagans from their inheritance go looking for some easy place to take. They approach the Levite about becoming their priest. So he steals Micah's idols and ephod and leaves with the Danite men of war.
All this leads to a Levite from the Ephraimite hills taking his runaway mistress back from Bethlehem. On the way back to Ephraim they stop in the Benjaminite city of Gibeah. What he trusted to be a hospitable place because these were Israelites was another Sodom tragedy. The story of Lot and the visiting angels is played out again (Gen 19:1-11; Jdg. 19:16-26). Perverts from Gibeah want to have sex with the Levite man who has come under the protection of an old farmer. They mean to take him by force, but the old man offers up his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine. The Levite pushes his concubine out the door and she is gang raped through the night. The horrific sexual abuse and violence kills her.
The Levite takes her dead body back to Ephraim to his home (no sense of ritual purity here). He cuts her body into 12 pieces and sends them to all the 12 tribes of Israel letting them know the horrible sin of the men of Gibeah. This leads to armed conflict. Israel has become like Sodom and Gomorrah. They have fallen this far. The 11 tribes rally against the Benjaminites. They lose two battles before finally crushing the Benjaminites in an ambush much like the one Joshua lead at Ai (Josh. 8:3-23; Jdg. 20:29-42).
Then they are sorrowful that a tribe of Israel, one of their brothers, had been cut off. They had no female survivors and the remnant of Benjaminites (600 soldiers) has no wives and no way to repopulate the tribe because the rest of Israel made a vow never to give their daughters in marriage to a Benjaminite. So they give 400 women from a town they had sacked and them offered them the opportunity to kidnap women from Shiloh who were dancing before the Lord in a holy festival! Somehow in their reasoning this made it all right. If the women were kidnapped by the Benjaminites, then they could not say they broke their vow never to give their daughters in marriage to a Benjaminite.
If this sounds ludicrous, it's because it is. The book of Judges ends with these chilling words that sums up this whole messy period in Israel's history.
"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted (Jdg. 21:25)."
Guess where the first king of Israel comes from...Benjamin, one of Rachel's sons, Saul from Gibeah!
I have little comment on Isaiah other than the fact that much my selection for this day is narrative about King Hezekiah and the Assyrian invasion of Jerusalem. It is a rare piece in Isaiah, because the overwhelming majority of the book is a collection of prophetic oracles. This leads to 2nd Isaiah which begins a pleasant series of comforting chapters where God promises restoration for His people.
"but those who trust in the LORD
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:31)
Did you know the Apostle Paul was a Benjaminite? By his time the tribe had risen back into notoriety. Saul, Israel's first king came from there. And Benjamin was the surviving son of Jacob's beloved Rachel. Joseph, her firstborn and Jacob's favorite, was believed dead although he was really in slavery in Egypt. Paul refers to himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews (Phil 3:5). The stain on Benjamin had washed away over time. All Israel had failed to be true and all Israel was sent off into exile.
Paul tells the Corinthians to flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14). All these stories of God's wrath upon the stiff necked people of Israel are written scripture as an example for us (1 Cor. 10:11). Paul wants worship to be holy and the celebration of the Lord's Supper (holy communion) to be sacred and in remembrance of Christ alone. To allow old habits of paganism (or secularism) seep in is to drink "the cup of demons (1 Cor. 10:21)."
Paul continues instructions about order. He reminds them of the tradition at the time that women should wear head coverings as a sign of man's authority over them. Men should not as a sign of his sharing in the glorious image of God. There is a troublesome tone here that looks a lot like the abusive oppression of women at the end of the book of Judges discussed here earlier. Paul really seems to be subjugating the woman and exalting the man. This was the tradition of the time in Jewish thought. However, reading further he says, "in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman.For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God (1 Cor. 11:11-12)."
Clearly Paul is speaking from his tradition. This seems to me to be more opinion and tradition than to be purely of God. I am entirely comfortable with women not covering their heads and preaching. I am comfortable with men wearing their hair long. I grew up with long haired hippies all around me! But Paul speaks the truth when he says, if anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other tradition in the churches (1 Cor. 11:16). Well brother Paul, now we do. I do not think it is an affront to God.
Paul ends this section talking about the Lord's Supper and spiritual gifts. The bread and cup represent the body and blood of Jesus. As we share in the bread and wine, we share in the body of Christ. The baby from Bethlehem, like the Levite's concubine, was tortured and abused and died. And just as her body was distributed in parts about the countryside to send a message about sin, the bread is broken and distributed among disciples to take, eat and do it in remembrance of Him. We remember that our sin lead God to offer up His perfect and only Son to die on the sacrificial cross. By drinking from the cup we remember that his blood washes away our sin once for all. Just as the Israelites destroyed the Benjaminites to remove sin from Israel, God conquered sin once for all in the body of His Son.
And He poured out the Spirit upon believers and gifted them to build up the church by sharing spiritual gifts. Each of us are part of the many members of the one body of Christ. We all have different gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. We need each other to be whole.
The Israelites mourned Benjamin for they sensed the nation was no longer whole if the Benjaminite died off completely. A remnant was saved. A king came through them. And the Apostle Paul came through them to write most of the New Testament. God is always at work redeeming, saving, reconciling, delivering and fulfilling His good purposes.
God, Your ways are a mystery and always right and true. I thank you for the tragic story of the Bethlehem mistress. May her soul rest in Your goodness. May every woman who has suffered abuse at the idolatrous altar to male ego be given justice, peace and rest. Thank You, Lord for being broken for our sakes. Thank you for dying for us, sinful men and sinful women washed in the blood of the Lamb of God. Amen.
Those who grew up in church all know Christmas Carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem." It is a wonderful song celebrate the miracle of the incarnation, God becoming human. It sounds like a lullaby with its sweet and gentle melody. But Jesus' birth, the visit of the shepherds and magi; these are not the only things to happen there.
Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife died and was buried near Bethlehem (Gen. 35:19). And of course Rachel weeps for her children when the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem (Jer. 31:15). The prophet is quoted in the gospel of Matthew when King Herod massacres all the boys aged 2 years and younger in Bethlehem (Mat. 2:18). It is the home of King David. Bethlehem looms large in the mind of Israel, this little town 5 miles south of Jerusalem. It is the home of saviors and sadness.
Judges ends with a terrible story about a concubine (a mistress, not a wife) of a Levite from the hills of Ephraim. She is from Bethlehem. She is described as unfaithful. She leaves the Levite and heads back to her father's house in Bethlehem.
Stop! Would a Levite dedicated as a holy servant for Yahweh have a live-in mistress? Why wouldn't he marry her if he loved her? Is he not the unfaithful one as well? Fornication is a sin, but hey...everyone else is doing it. Even the patriarchs had mistresses on the agreement of their wives. Sarai gave Abram her Egyptian slave Hagar to have a son through her. So one could argue the Levite was not in the wrong from the ancient customs. But today as Christians and the laws of most states in the USA, bigamy, polygamy are outlawed. Paul taught "each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband (1 Cor. 7:2)." I concede to give the Levite the benefit of the doubt. Men could have female slaves under the law of Moses and it is not unlikely they used them for sexual pleasures.
Feminist authors have much to say in these ending chapters in Judges. The incredible abuses of women in these chapters astound the modern reader. The women seem to have no rights and no voice.
Jephthah's daughter is sacrificed as an thanksgiving offering to Yahweh because of his hasty vow (Jdg. 11:31). God didn't stop Jephthah as he stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac. I don't think God was silent. I think Jephthah's ears are plugged with pagan traditions which he and his people have followed, disobeying Yahweh. Yahweh very likely would have told Jephthah to not sacrifice his daughter. In fact he had two months to do so (Jdg. 11:37-39), but would Jephthah have heard since he obviously doesn't pay attention to the words of the covenant? Was there even a Levite faithfully teaching the covenant so Jephthah could learn?
Preceding the story of the Ephraimite Levite and his Bethlehemite mistress, there is a story of a corrupt Levite from Bethlehem that moves to the hill country of Ephraim. Coincidence? I think not. At very least Judges carries the theme of the fall of Israel from faithfulness to Yahweh to its extreme when holy men steal and abuse their privilege for personal gain.
He moves into the home of Micah, a wealthy farmer who has idols like all the other pagan inhabitants. Micah knows enough of the teachings and traditions of Israel to recognize the presence of a Levite to be a blessing. Levites were chosen by the Lord as His holiest servants. The Levite tribe bore Aaron and his sons, the priesthood. And the rest of the Levites who were not sons of Aaron were servants of the holy tabernacle. So Micah invites the Levite to become his household priest and serves him in his home. He will pay the Levite handsomely and give him a home. So the Levite agrees.
A faithful Levite would have rejected the invitation because he was not a son of Aaron, called to be a priest. AND he would have rebuked Micah for his idolatrous practices having household gods (idols) and a gold ephod and installing his own son as a priest for pagan gods. There is little doubt Yahweh's name was invoked in the these pagan traditions like the ancestors did when they made the golden calf and said, "these are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Ex. 32:4b)."
Instead the Levite rather liked the idea. He shows his character when Danites who have not trusted Yahweh and driven the pagans from their inheritance go looking for some easy place to take. They approach the Levite about becoming their priest. So he steals Micah's idols and ephod and leaves with the Danite men of war.
All this leads to a Levite from the Ephraimite hills taking his runaway mistress back from Bethlehem. On the way back to Ephraim they stop in the Benjaminite city of Gibeah. What he trusted to be a hospitable place because these were Israelites was another Sodom tragedy. The story of Lot and the visiting angels is played out again (Gen 19:1-11; Jdg. 19:16-26). Perverts from Gibeah want to have sex with the Levite man who has come under the protection of an old farmer. They mean to take him by force, but the old man offers up his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine. The Levite pushes his concubine out the door and she is gang raped through the night. The horrific sexual abuse and violence kills her.
The Levite takes her dead body back to Ephraim to his home (no sense of ritual purity here). He cuts her body into 12 pieces and sends them to all the 12 tribes of Israel letting them know the horrible sin of the men of Gibeah. This leads to armed conflict. Israel has become like Sodom and Gomorrah. They have fallen this far. The 11 tribes rally against the Benjaminites. They lose two battles before finally crushing the Benjaminites in an ambush much like the one Joshua lead at Ai (Josh. 8:3-23; Jdg. 20:29-42).
Then they are sorrowful that a tribe of Israel, one of their brothers, had been cut off. They had no female survivors and the remnant of Benjaminites (600 soldiers) has no wives and no way to repopulate the tribe because the rest of Israel made a vow never to give their daughters in marriage to a Benjaminite. So they give 400 women from a town they had sacked and them offered them the opportunity to kidnap women from Shiloh who were dancing before the Lord in a holy festival! Somehow in their reasoning this made it all right. If the women were kidnapped by the Benjaminites, then they could not say they broke their vow never to give their daughters in marriage to a Benjaminite.
If this sounds ludicrous, it's because it is. The book of Judges ends with these chilling words that sums up this whole messy period in Israel's history.
"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted (Jdg. 21:25)."
Guess where the first king of Israel comes from...Benjamin, one of Rachel's sons, Saul from Gibeah!
I have little comment on Isaiah other than the fact that much my selection for this day is narrative about King Hezekiah and the Assyrian invasion of Jerusalem. It is a rare piece in Isaiah, because the overwhelming majority of the book is a collection of prophetic oracles. This leads to 2nd Isaiah which begins a pleasant series of comforting chapters where God promises restoration for His people.
"but those who trust in the LORD
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:31)
Did you know the Apostle Paul was a Benjaminite? By his time the tribe had risen back into notoriety. Saul, Israel's first king came from there. And Benjamin was the surviving son of Jacob's beloved Rachel. Joseph, her firstborn and Jacob's favorite, was believed dead although he was really in slavery in Egypt. Paul refers to himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews (Phil 3:5). The stain on Benjamin had washed away over time. All Israel had failed to be true and all Israel was sent off into exile.
Paul tells the Corinthians to flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14). All these stories of God's wrath upon the stiff necked people of Israel are written scripture as an example for us (1 Cor. 10:11). Paul wants worship to be holy and the celebration of the Lord's Supper (holy communion) to be sacred and in remembrance of Christ alone. To allow old habits of paganism (or secularism) seep in is to drink "the cup of demons (1 Cor. 10:21)."
Paul continues instructions about order. He reminds them of the tradition at the time that women should wear head coverings as a sign of man's authority over them. Men should not as a sign of his sharing in the glorious image of God. There is a troublesome tone here that looks a lot like the abusive oppression of women at the end of the book of Judges discussed here earlier. Paul really seems to be subjugating the woman and exalting the man. This was the tradition of the time in Jewish thought. However, reading further he says, "in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman.For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God (1 Cor. 11:11-12)."
Clearly Paul is speaking from his tradition. This seems to me to be more opinion and tradition than to be purely of God. I am entirely comfortable with women not covering their heads and preaching. I am comfortable with men wearing their hair long. I grew up with long haired hippies all around me! But Paul speaks the truth when he says, if anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other tradition in the churches (1 Cor. 11:16). Well brother Paul, now we do. I do not think it is an affront to God.
Paul ends this section talking about the Lord's Supper and spiritual gifts. The bread and cup represent the body and blood of Jesus. As we share in the bread and wine, we share in the body of Christ. The baby from Bethlehem, like the Levite's concubine, was tortured and abused and died. And just as her body was distributed in parts about the countryside to send a message about sin, the bread is broken and distributed among disciples to take, eat and do it in remembrance of Him. We remember that our sin lead God to offer up His perfect and only Son to die on the sacrificial cross. By drinking from the cup we remember that his blood washes away our sin once for all. Just as the Israelites destroyed the Benjaminites to remove sin from Israel, God conquered sin once for all in the body of His Son.
And He poured out the Spirit upon believers and gifted them to build up the church by sharing spiritual gifts. Each of us are part of the many members of the one body of Christ. We all have different gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. We need each other to be whole.
The Israelites mourned Benjamin for they sensed the nation was no longer whole if the Benjaminite died off completely. A remnant was saved. A king came through them. And the Apostle Paul came through them to write most of the New Testament. God is always at work redeeming, saving, reconciling, delivering and fulfilling His good purposes.
God, Your ways are a mystery and always right and true. I thank you for the tragic story of the Bethlehem mistress. May her soul rest in Your goodness. May every woman who has suffered abuse at the idolatrous altar to male ego be given justice, peace and rest. Thank You, Lord for being broken for our sakes. Thank you for dying for us, sinful men and sinful women washed in the blood of the Lamb of God. Amen.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
I Too Have the Spirit of God
Day 48: Judges 14–17; Isaiah 31–36; 1 Corinthians 7–9
The story of Samson has got to be the funniest story in the Bible. If not then it's a close second to Balaam's talking donkey (Num. 22:28-31). It contains one of the most hilarious lines of scripture it has been my good fortune to memorize.
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle.” (Jdg. 14:18b [NIV])
Or the Holman Christian Standard Bible puts it in rhyme.
"If you hadn't plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn't know my riddle now!"
It refers to his Philistine wife who the men coerced her to get Samson to tell her the secret to his riddle over which they wagered a bet. If they could not guess his riddle they owed him. Samson's wife is used by the Philistine enemy like a farmer harnesses a cow to pull his plow.
The riddle itself is telling of Samson and the silly stories that show just how far Israel had slipped from covenant keeping, or even knowledge of the covenant.
Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet. (Jdg. 14:14)
Samson is a Nazarite. He is to abstain from wine or anything from the grape, beer, cutting his hair and especially from anything unclean. A Nazarite is prohibited even to go to the funeral of a close relative. During the time of his vow he is to touch no unclean thing like dead bodies or animal carcasses.
But we see Samson break every rule in the book. He drinks wine with Gentiles. He marries a Philistine, prohibited by the law for all Israelites to marry non-Jews. He sleeps with prostitutes. He fornicates and commits adultery. He is constantly touching dead bodies, because he kills thousands of Philistines in battle. He even eats honey from a hive built in the rotting carcass of a lion. And he feeds the honey to his unwitting parents making them unclean as well as he.
And yet the Spirit of God rushes upon him giving him great strength like Superman. He kills 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey carcass...more unclean transgressions. But God is credited as the One behind these actions to save Israel from the Philistine oppressors.
In the end Samson reveals the secret to his strength. It is his Nazarite vows to keep his hair uncut. What a riot! What an ironic play! Samson breaks every vow but the outward appearance. I can think of Christians who do the same. They wear special clothing to communicate for all to see their devotion to God or their position in the church. Yet are they so devoted in every manner for life or is it only what others can see?
The Amish couple heard a sermon on humble dress and its importance for the humble people of God. On the way home in the buggy, the husband said gently to his wife, "Of all the people there today, I'll bet we were the most humbly dressed."
Or how about the woman driving her car erratically, weaving in and out of traffic in the interstate? She honks her horn and waves impolite hand gestures at those she hurries around. A policeman observed all this and pulled her over. After checking her license and registration he asks if the car belonged to her. She assured him that the car did belong to her. He said he wasn't certain because of the Christian fish decal on the back of the car!
The story of Samson and the other ridiculously imperfect judges for Israel illustrates God's faithfulness to His work through Israel. He must preserve them even while He chastens them in order to perfect them. So if a drunken, philandering, filthy, violent man is what He has to work with He will use Him, like a farmer uses a cow to plow.
Samson's strength was not in his hair, nor in other Nazarite vows. His strenght was the Spirit of God who propelled Samson's might into battle to subdue the Philistines. The Spirit of God strengthened Samson one last time when He begged the Lord to help him. He took more Philistines with him that day than all the other battles.
Isaiah speaks on God's behalf saying that trust in Egypt is folly.
"Egyptians are men, not God;
their horses are flesh, not spirit." (Isa. 31:3a)
Real power comes from God who is Spirit. When the creator raises His hand, nations topple and desert lands become fertile. This all happens by God's will...destruction and blessing.
Paul writes on three different topics in direct response to questions from the congregation in Corinth: marriage and other sexual relationships, food sacrificed to idols, and the homage and credence due a worker of the gospel.
He counsels them on marriage commitment and the greater commitment to the Lord. It's better not to marry so one can serve the Lord undivided. After all the world is coming to nothing. The new age, the kingdom of heaven, is near to arrive. It's pointless to invest in a dying era, so Paul believes.
He is careful to say when his teaching is his own thinking and not a teaching Jesus had explicitly said. But when he does he exerts his authority as one with the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 7:40). His word is informed by the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). His advise should be trustworthy.
He counsels love over knowledge. Love builds up the church. Knowledge puffs up the individual when they do not love and serve in humility. If one knows they are free to eat anything, they may do so in public and harm the faith of weaker members of the church. If in my conscience I believe God is not displeased if I drink alcohol, but another person of faith who looks up to me sees me drinking, my freedom may be his stumbling. Paul teaches concern for the weaker brother. Paul would never eat another bite of meat if it would save the conscience of someone who felt eating meat was wrong for Christians. He sacrifices what he knows he has the freedom to enjoy for the sake of the one who is offended.
Paul could ask the Corinthians for financial support for His ministry, let alone their obedience as their spiritual father. Paul planted the church in Corinth. But he does not ask for money for his desire is to preach the gospel unhindered. He wishes to owe no one and no one owe him. He is supported by a variety of persons and congregations, but not because he demands it, though it is his right. He rather wishes to obey Christ who called him to this ministry and he will become all things to all people in order to save some (1 Cor.9:22). He serves not in flowery speech, but in a powerful demonstration of the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:4).
To summarize: Do harmless controversial things in private which you know in your heart God does not care about one way or the other. (e.g. the films you watch or the music you listen to. Do everything with thanksgiving and for God's glory) Continue to be an encouragement to all. Don't be arrogant about your freedom in Christ. I too think I have the Spirit of God!
The story of Samson has got to be the funniest story in the Bible. If not then it's a close second to Balaam's talking donkey (Num. 22:28-31). It contains one of the most hilarious lines of scripture it has been my good fortune to memorize.
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle.” (Jdg. 14:18b [NIV])
Or the Holman Christian Standard Bible puts it in rhyme.
"If you hadn't plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn't know my riddle now!"
It refers to his Philistine wife who the men coerced her to get Samson to tell her the secret to his riddle over which they wagered a bet. If they could not guess his riddle they owed him. Samson's wife is used by the Philistine enemy like a farmer harnesses a cow to pull his plow.
The riddle itself is telling of Samson and the silly stories that show just how far Israel had slipped from covenant keeping, or even knowledge of the covenant.
Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet. (Jdg. 14:14)
Samson is a Nazarite. He is to abstain from wine or anything from the grape, beer, cutting his hair and especially from anything unclean. A Nazarite is prohibited even to go to the funeral of a close relative. During the time of his vow he is to touch no unclean thing like dead bodies or animal carcasses.
But we see Samson break every rule in the book. He drinks wine with Gentiles. He marries a Philistine, prohibited by the law for all Israelites to marry non-Jews. He sleeps with prostitutes. He fornicates and commits adultery. He is constantly touching dead bodies, because he kills thousands of Philistines in battle. He even eats honey from a hive built in the rotting carcass of a lion. And he feeds the honey to his unwitting parents making them unclean as well as he.
And yet the Spirit of God rushes upon him giving him great strength like Superman. He kills 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey carcass...more unclean transgressions. But God is credited as the One behind these actions to save Israel from the Philistine oppressors.
In the end Samson reveals the secret to his strength. It is his Nazarite vows to keep his hair uncut. What a riot! What an ironic play! Samson breaks every vow but the outward appearance. I can think of Christians who do the same. They wear special clothing to communicate for all to see their devotion to God or their position in the church. Yet are they so devoted in every manner for life or is it only what others can see?
The Amish couple heard a sermon on humble dress and its importance for the humble people of God. On the way home in the buggy, the husband said gently to his wife, "Of all the people there today, I'll bet we were the most humbly dressed."
Or how about the woman driving her car erratically, weaving in and out of traffic in the interstate? She honks her horn and waves impolite hand gestures at those she hurries around. A policeman observed all this and pulled her over. After checking her license and registration he asks if the car belonged to her. She assured him that the car did belong to her. He said he wasn't certain because of the Christian fish decal on the back of the car!
The story of Samson and the other ridiculously imperfect judges for Israel illustrates God's faithfulness to His work through Israel. He must preserve them even while He chastens them in order to perfect them. So if a drunken, philandering, filthy, violent man is what He has to work with He will use Him, like a farmer uses a cow to plow.
Samson's strength was not in his hair, nor in other Nazarite vows. His strenght was the Spirit of God who propelled Samson's might into battle to subdue the Philistines. The Spirit of God strengthened Samson one last time when He begged the Lord to help him. He took more Philistines with him that day than all the other battles.
Isaiah speaks on God's behalf saying that trust in Egypt is folly.
"Egyptians are men, not God;
their horses are flesh, not spirit." (Isa. 31:3a)
Real power comes from God who is Spirit. When the creator raises His hand, nations topple and desert lands become fertile. This all happens by God's will...destruction and blessing.
Paul writes on three different topics in direct response to questions from the congregation in Corinth: marriage and other sexual relationships, food sacrificed to idols, and the homage and credence due a worker of the gospel.
He counsels them on marriage commitment and the greater commitment to the Lord. It's better not to marry so one can serve the Lord undivided. After all the world is coming to nothing. The new age, the kingdom of heaven, is near to arrive. It's pointless to invest in a dying era, so Paul believes.
He is careful to say when his teaching is his own thinking and not a teaching Jesus had explicitly said. But when he does he exerts his authority as one with the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 7:40). His word is informed by the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). His advise should be trustworthy.
He counsels love over knowledge. Love builds up the church. Knowledge puffs up the individual when they do not love and serve in humility. If one knows they are free to eat anything, they may do so in public and harm the faith of weaker members of the church. If in my conscience I believe God is not displeased if I drink alcohol, but another person of faith who looks up to me sees me drinking, my freedom may be his stumbling. Paul teaches concern for the weaker brother. Paul would never eat another bite of meat if it would save the conscience of someone who felt eating meat was wrong for Christians. He sacrifices what he knows he has the freedom to enjoy for the sake of the one who is offended.
Paul could ask the Corinthians for financial support for His ministry, let alone their obedience as their spiritual father. Paul planted the church in Corinth. But he does not ask for money for his desire is to preach the gospel unhindered. He wishes to owe no one and no one owe him. He is supported by a variety of persons and congregations, but not because he demands it, though it is his right. He rather wishes to obey Christ who called him to this ministry and he will become all things to all people in order to save some (1 Cor.9:22). He serves not in flowery speech, but in a powerful demonstration of the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:4).
To summarize: Do harmless controversial things in private which you know in your heart God does not care about one way or the other. (e.g. the films you watch or the music you listen to. Do everything with thanksgiving and for God's glory) Continue to be an encouragement to all. Don't be arrogant about your freedom in Christ. I too think I have the Spirit of God!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Prostitutes and Other Poor Choices
Day 47: Judges 10–13; Isaiah 25–30; 1 Corinthians 4–6
The story if Israel in the time of the Judges is so sad it's hilarious. The choices the people make are those of a people with guidance. It is like they never learned the Law of Moses. The Israelites admit their guilt before God. They recognize their idolatry has brought about their oppression under the Ammonites (Jdg. 10:10). But when it comes time for a plan they ask "each other," and not Yahweh, who should lead them in battle. They turn to Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, because he is a great warrior. He was run off by the legitimate sons of his father, Gilead. He took up a criminal's life running with "lawless men."
It reminds me of California electing Hollywood actors to run their state. "Hey, he looks cool! Let's put him in charge over us! Besides he is really tough in all his movies!" Do we ask God for whom we should vote when the election season is upon us? Do we pray fro God to raise up righteous leaders for our country, state and communities? Perhaps we get what we deserve...mere children to rule over us.
Jephthah asks God for help to defeat Ammon. God empowers him with His Spirit, but Jephthah in his zeal and stupidity vows to sacrifice the first person who walks out the door of his house as soon as he returns from victory. Jephthah relates to the God of Israel like he would a pagan god offers human sacrifice to give thanks for victory in battle. He ends up sacrificing his only daughter, a virgin.
He even shows his ignorance when he confronts the Ammonites and confuses their Molech with the Moabite god Chemosh. Get your facts straight, Jephthah! Is this man going to serve Israel as judge? He does for six years.
God decides to raise up a deliverer by miraculous birth like God did for Abraham and Sara. The wife of Manoah was barren, but an angel of the Lord tells her she will be pregnant and birth a son. She is to raise him following the holy restrictions of the Nazarite vow (Num. 6:1-21). No wine, grapes, raisins, juice or beer. No haircuts. No unlceanness. Of course Samson is the worst expression of a Nazarite ever. It is comical. It is sad how far Israel has fallen away from its covenant with Yahweh.
Isaiah continues warning a variety of nations: God's Israel, Egypt, Assyria, etc., but he also shares God's plan to restore them after He has inflicted wounds (Isa. 30:26). This section gives one of the most striking predictions of the resurrection in the Old Testament. I found that delightful since these are the readings for Easter Sunday!
The LORD of Hosts will prepare a feast
for all the peoples on this mountain
[He] will destroy the [burial] shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations;
He will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears
from every face
and remove His people's disgrace
from the whole earth,
for the LORD has spoken (Isa. 25:6a, 7-8)
And again...
Your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,
and the earth will bring forth the departed spirits. (Isa. 26:19)
These texts spoke volumes after Jesus died and rose again. The words of the prophet took on new meaning and new life. Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies.
But the poor choices of the people, their prostitution to other gods becomes their downfall. They erected Asherah poles and altars to the Baals. They stagger from drunkenness, their prophets and priests alike in Ephraim. But God will become the crown jewel of Israel, not Ephraim (Isa. 28:5).
Paul writes to converted pagans in Corinth who have to be taught again the righteous life of the saints. Someone has poisoned their minds and they actually think their freedom in Christ and from the law of Moses is license for anything. One man is having sex with his father's wife (his step mother) and the church is bragging about their freedom to do so! Whoa!
Paul commands the church to throw the transgressors out (1 Cor. 5:13; Deu. 17:7). He appeals to Old Testament law as the right thing for the Corinthians to do! Otherwise this man's sin will affect the whole church. They are to hand him over to Satan. In other words, the transgressing church member is to be excluded from the congregation, without the support of the church, and left to live with the consequences of his sin. By doing so Paul hopes the man might come to his senses, repent and return to right living
This sort of self indulgence is just another form of idolatry. Paul teaches "everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful." In other words the Gentile community of Christ is not ruled by the restrictions of the holiness law of the Jew, but they are ruled by the Spirit of Christ. As such they are to recognize they are part of Christ's body. One does not lie down with a prostitute becoming one flesh with her and offer themselves to Christ as well (1 Cor. 6:15-18). Instead Christians are to see their bodies as a sanctuary for they Holy Spirit. Therefore they are to keep their bodies clean from sexual immorality.
Our bodies are not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. His blood paid the price for our redeemed bodies destined for death. God raised Jesus and will raise us up by His power (1 Cor. 6:14). Might we learn to pay attention to our Lord and our calling as His freed people? No longer are we ruled by sinful desire, so why act like we are still slaves? Why prostitute ourselves to that which is not of God?
The story if Israel in the time of the Judges is so sad it's hilarious. The choices the people make are those of a people with guidance. It is like they never learned the Law of Moses. The Israelites admit their guilt before God. They recognize their idolatry has brought about their oppression under the Ammonites (Jdg. 10:10). But when it comes time for a plan they ask "each other," and not Yahweh, who should lead them in battle. They turn to Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, because he is a great warrior. He was run off by the legitimate sons of his father, Gilead. He took up a criminal's life running with "lawless men."
It reminds me of California electing Hollywood actors to run their state. "Hey, he looks cool! Let's put him in charge over us! Besides he is really tough in all his movies!" Do we ask God for whom we should vote when the election season is upon us? Do we pray fro God to raise up righteous leaders for our country, state and communities? Perhaps we get what we deserve...mere children to rule over us.
Jephthah asks God for help to defeat Ammon. God empowers him with His Spirit, but Jephthah in his zeal and stupidity vows to sacrifice the first person who walks out the door of his house as soon as he returns from victory. Jephthah relates to the God of Israel like he would a pagan god offers human sacrifice to give thanks for victory in battle. He ends up sacrificing his only daughter, a virgin.
He even shows his ignorance when he confronts the Ammonites and confuses their Molech with the Moabite god Chemosh. Get your facts straight, Jephthah! Is this man going to serve Israel as judge? He does for six years.
God decides to raise up a deliverer by miraculous birth like God did for Abraham and Sara. The wife of Manoah was barren, but an angel of the Lord tells her she will be pregnant and birth a son. She is to raise him following the holy restrictions of the Nazarite vow (Num. 6:1-21). No wine, grapes, raisins, juice or beer. No haircuts. No unlceanness. Of course Samson is the worst expression of a Nazarite ever. It is comical. It is sad how far Israel has fallen away from its covenant with Yahweh.
Isaiah continues warning a variety of nations: God's Israel, Egypt, Assyria, etc., but he also shares God's plan to restore them after He has inflicted wounds (Isa. 30:26). This section gives one of the most striking predictions of the resurrection in the Old Testament. I found that delightful since these are the readings for Easter Sunday!
The LORD of Hosts will prepare a feast
for all the peoples on this mountain
[He] will destroy the [burial] shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations;
He will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears
from every face
and remove His people's disgrace
from the whole earth,
for the LORD has spoken (Isa. 25:6a, 7-8)
And again...
Your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,
and the earth will bring forth the departed spirits. (Isa. 26:19)
These texts spoke volumes after Jesus died and rose again. The words of the prophet took on new meaning and new life. Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies.
But the poor choices of the people, their prostitution to other gods becomes their downfall. They erected Asherah poles and altars to the Baals. They stagger from drunkenness, their prophets and priests alike in Ephraim. But God will become the crown jewel of Israel, not Ephraim (Isa. 28:5).
Paul writes to converted pagans in Corinth who have to be taught again the righteous life of the saints. Someone has poisoned their minds and they actually think their freedom in Christ and from the law of Moses is license for anything. One man is having sex with his father's wife (his step mother) and the church is bragging about their freedom to do so! Whoa!
Paul commands the church to throw the transgressors out (1 Cor. 5:13; Deu. 17:7). He appeals to Old Testament law as the right thing for the Corinthians to do! Otherwise this man's sin will affect the whole church. They are to hand him over to Satan. In other words, the transgressing church member is to be excluded from the congregation, without the support of the church, and left to live with the consequences of his sin. By doing so Paul hopes the man might come to his senses, repent and return to right living
This sort of self indulgence is just another form of idolatry. Paul teaches "everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful." In other words the Gentile community of Christ is not ruled by the restrictions of the holiness law of the Jew, but they are ruled by the Spirit of Christ. As such they are to recognize they are part of Christ's body. One does not lie down with a prostitute becoming one flesh with her and offer themselves to Christ as well (1 Cor. 6:15-18). Instead Christians are to see their bodies as a sanctuary for they Holy Spirit. Therefore they are to keep their bodies clean from sexual immorality.
Our bodies are not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. His blood paid the price for our redeemed bodies destined for death. God raised Jesus and will raise us up by His power (1 Cor. 6:14). Might we learn to pay attention to our Lord and our calling as His freed people? No longer are we ruled by sinful desire, so why act like we are still slaves? Why prostitute ourselves to that which is not of God?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Barefoot, Naked and Ashamed
Day 46: Judges 6–9; Isaiah 19–24; 1 Corinthians 1–3
Gideon blows his trumpet and the Midianites flee in confusion, killing each other in their panic. Paul confronts childish believers in Corinth who form fan clubs around church leaders. Isaiah walks around barefoot and naked for three years to shame the country who ran to Egypt or Lybia (Cush) instead of Yahweh for help (Isa. 20:1-6).
It is a natural thing for humanity to worship, to belong to something of someone greater than themselves. The problem with this natural tendency or giving honor and praise to great ones is that we give it to people and ideas or treasures and thrills rather than to the living God. We have a tendency toward false worship or idolatry.
I met a man who paints for one of my favorite cartoons. I was thrilled. I met a man who worked for the Beatles. We are on a first name basis. He likes me and thinks I'm cool! I am thrilled and feel good about myself. Why? Because I join in the pseudo-worship of the Beatles. I made my children memorize this line. It's a creed. Who are the Beatles, kids? They would respond in unison, "The most successful artists in the history of recorded sound." I had them do this over microphone at Christian Rock concerts where I played. What was I thinking?!!
The Lord delivered the Israelites from the Midianite oppression under Gideon's 300 men. There was no way anyone could take credit for the win, but God alone. It was a miracle. When we obey God who wants to glorify Himself, we get to see Him do amazing things. But when we wish to glory in mere men, we miss what God is offering. Communities rise and fall on false hope in mere mortals.
Gideon made an ephod of gold from the booty after the defeat of the Midianites. It became an object of worship, an idol. They wanted to make the judge Gideon (also called Jerubbaal) their king. But he replied, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you (Jdg. 8:23)." Smart judge. Too bad it didn't stick.
After he died one of his seven sons, Abimelech, convinced the princes of Shechem to choose him as king over his 70 brothers (Don't let the math confuse you. Gideon had 70 sons and Abimelech killed his 70 brothers, but one escaped. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that he killed 68 brothers? Perhaps 70 has a symbolic meaning like the gentile nations). He murdered all but one who escaped (Jotham). But his treachery lead to his undoing and the destruction of the men of Shechem who gave him the honor. Abimelech corners the fickle men of Shechem who rebelled against him by burning down a tower they had built to Baal. It is they had taken refuge. In their trust in Baal they perished (Jdg 9:46-49). And as Abimelech approach to do the same to people in Thebez, a woman dropped a grinding millstone on his head from the roof of the tower. Bummer!
Isaiah continues as a prophetic voice for the Lord. Like Paul's Corithian congregation divided against each other over those who applaud Apollos and those who applaud Paul, the Lord will turn Egypt upon itself (Isa. 19:2). Isaiah warns and warns, but he also consoles. Besides being a lewd sign in his barefoot and naked appearances, he also consoles Egypt with these lovely words,
"When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them. The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the LORD on that day. They will offer sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them. The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will return to the LORD and He will hear their prayers and heal them (Isa. 19: 20-23)."
I find hope in these words because it reveals the Old Testament God as one who really does love and care for all people, not just Israelites. Israel is called to be the way of blessing. Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel's calling. And all we Gentiles and Jews receive blessing upon blessing through faith in the Son of God.
It is not a bad thing to like and enjoy our sports heroes or our movie actors and pop singers, authors, artists and statesmen. But when we cast our hopes in them. When we draw our sense of self-worth from our love of them, we are on shaky ground. We are in a tower built in honor of them that comes crashing down with all of us inside.
Lord, help me to see what Paul teaches...that the leaders and popular folks in our world are simply servants. The real glory and honor belongs solely to You. Protect me from my tendency to pseudo-worship. Keep my heart from wondering. Seal it for Thy courts above. Let me not be ashamed before You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Gideon blows his trumpet and the Midianites flee in confusion, killing each other in their panic. Paul confronts childish believers in Corinth who form fan clubs around church leaders. Isaiah walks around barefoot and naked for three years to shame the country who ran to Egypt or Lybia (Cush) instead of Yahweh for help (Isa. 20:1-6).
It is a natural thing for humanity to worship, to belong to something of someone greater than themselves. The problem with this natural tendency or giving honor and praise to great ones is that we give it to people and ideas or treasures and thrills rather than to the living God. We have a tendency toward false worship or idolatry.
I met a man who paints for one of my favorite cartoons. I was thrilled. I met a man who worked for the Beatles. We are on a first name basis. He likes me and thinks I'm cool! I am thrilled and feel good about myself. Why? Because I join in the pseudo-worship of the Beatles. I made my children memorize this line. It's a creed. Who are the Beatles, kids? They would respond in unison, "The most successful artists in the history of recorded sound." I had them do this over microphone at Christian Rock concerts where I played. What was I thinking?!!
The Lord delivered the Israelites from the Midianite oppression under Gideon's 300 men. There was no way anyone could take credit for the win, but God alone. It was a miracle. When we obey God who wants to glorify Himself, we get to see Him do amazing things. But when we wish to glory in mere men, we miss what God is offering. Communities rise and fall on false hope in mere mortals.
Gideon made an ephod of gold from the booty after the defeat of the Midianites. It became an object of worship, an idol. They wanted to make the judge Gideon (also called Jerubbaal) their king. But he replied, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you (Jdg. 8:23)." Smart judge. Too bad it didn't stick.
After he died one of his seven sons, Abimelech, convinced the princes of Shechem to choose him as king over his 70 brothers (Don't let the math confuse you. Gideon had 70 sons and Abimelech killed his 70 brothers, but one escaped. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that he killed 68 brothers? Perhaps 70 has a symbolic meaning like the gentile nations). He murdered all but one who escaped (Jotham). But his treachery lead to his undoing and the destruction of the men of Shechem who gave him the honor. Abimelech corners the fickle men of Shechem who rebelled against him by burning down a tower they had built to Baal. It is they had taken refuge. In their trust in Baal they perished (Jdg 9:46-49). And as Abimelech approach to do the same to people in Thebez, a woman dropped a grinding millstone on his head from the roof of the tower. Bummer!
Isaiah continues as a prophetic voice for the Lord. Like Paul's Corithian congregation divided against each other over those who applaud Apollos and those who applaud Paul, the Lord will turn Egypt upon itself (Isa. 19:2). Isaiah warns and warns, but he also consoles. Besides being a lewd sign in his barefoot and naked appearances, he also consoles Egypt with these lovely words,
"When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them. The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the LORD on that day. They will offer sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them. The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will return to the LORD and He will hear their prayers and heal them (Isa. 19: 20-23)."
I find hope in these words because it reveals the Old Testament God as one who really does love and care for all people, not just Israelites. Israel is called to be the way of blessing. Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel's calling. And all we Gentiles and Jews receive blessing upon blessing through faith in the Son of God.
It is not a bad thing to like and enjoy our sports heroes or our movie actors and pop singers, authors, artists and statesmen. But when we cast our hopes in them. When we draw our sense of self-worth from our love of them, we are on shaky ground. We are in a tower built in honor of them that comes crashing down with all of us inside.
Lord, help me to see what Paul teaches...that the leaders and popular folks in our world are simply servants. The real glory and honor belongs solely to You. Protect me from my tendency to pseudo-worship. Keep my heart from wondering. Seal it for Thy courts above. Let me not be ashamed before You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Halfway There and Living on a Prayer!
Day 45 Judges 1–5; Isaiah 13–18 Romans 13–16
It's Day 45! It's Good Friday! There is the rumbling of thunder outside! How appropriate! Tonight we remember when darkness covered Jerusalem and the earth shook as the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ, suffered and died on the cross.
I begin Judges today and continue Isaiah and finish Romans. I am halfway through reading the entire Bible and I feel like I've only just begun. Considering Old Testament history, I have read about creation, Noah and the great flood, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, the birth and calling of Moses, the Exodus, the Law, The Wilderness Wanderings and the Conquest. I have completed the Wisdom texts Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. And I have read all the New Testament Gospel accounts and the Acts of the Apostles. I have barely scratched the surface in regard to the narrative history.
Israel has no king in the days of the confederacy of tribes in the book of Judges. Judges settled disputes among the people according to the law of Moses, but they were more than that. They we deliverers called and empowered by God to save Israel from their enemies.
There is a pattern in Judges.
To say that the Israelites were living on a prayer is a big stretch. Yahweh was like an "emergency only" option. But to say they were halfway there is also a stretch. They possess the land, but they fail to drive out all the Canaanites. Judges chapter 1 reports six instances of failure to drive out the pagans. As a result they will become like thorns in their eyes (Jos. 23:13). Yikes!
I read about Othniel, the youngest brother to Caleb and how he won city for the hand of his niece in marriage. Uhhh... no comment.
Ehud stabs a fat Moabite king to death and leads the people to victory against the kingless hoard. Fun story for the boys in your home! Who said the Bible is boring?
And then there is the tent peg assassin, Jael (Jdg.4:21-22)! Don't ask a Kenite for a drink! Ouch! Deborah, the judge, sings her praises and credits the Lord for the courage and strength of those who answered the call to fight.
Isaiah is filled with woe and woo, confrontation and consolation. Babylon is warned of coming destruction from the Medes. Assyria is warned. Israel is warned. God is angry.
I get the feeling that God is playing a game of chess and the nations are pieces on the chessboard. But who is God playing against? God is playing against His oldest foe...chaos, the dark waters, the deep (Gen. 1:2). This life negating primordial ooze of futility has always been. It seeps into heaven and causes eternal angels to disobey the creator and be cast down to the earth (Lucifer, Satan, devil, Azazel, Baalzebul, Belzebub, the serpent). This chaos seeps into the hearts of humanity and causes sin and death (Gen 6:5-6).
God from the beginning has created safe places for life to exist, but this life must exist in harmony with Life. Life is revealed in the Law. Keep the covenant and have Life. Choose Life or choose death. But it is just not so easy, is it?
God's wrath is not an expression of an insecure hothead. Divine wrath is the jealous love of a rejected Lover, a dishonored Parent, a deposed Ruler. But God really is in control. From where the prophet is sitting, God uses nation against nation to continue His work to advance His rule in the hearts of humanity. Israel is His holy (pure and righteous) project. Israel is to become that shining beacon for God so that all nations will stream to Zion where God's name is exalted and His holy presence blesses. So God moves the nations to war to punish the wicked. He uses the wicked against the wicked to accomplish His goal, holiness on earth, heaven on earth, heaven and earth as one.
But The Lord will have compassion on Israel and the captors will become their captives (Isa. 14:1-2). The remnant who survive the tumultuous corrective actions of Yahweh will begin again the growth of a holy nation, a kingdom of priests.
Jesus suffered and died on a cross as the once for all sacrifice, the lamb of God. His death is God's compassion, God's love on display (Rom. 5:8). And His resurrection, His victory over death, is the first of a new kind of humanity. This new humanity is filled with the Holy Spirit and made holy by the blood of Jesus and the presence of Jesus in Spirit. Now we believers in the power of the gospel (Rom. 1:16) are empowered to be free of chaotic forces of sin that destroy lives. We are empowered to fulfill the law (Rom. 8:3-4) of Moses. This does not mean we are perfect rule keepers. It means we are becoming, through our faith relationship with Jesus Christ, what the law intends to create, a holy nation. Through the Holy Spirit we are becoming the people who reflect the glory of God.
Therefore, we are not longer to be conformed to the image of this world lost in futility and bound to corruption (Rom. 8:20-21, 12:2). We love because we understand love fulfills the law (Rom. 13:10). We love as Christ loved us sacrificially. We give ourselves away to serve others as Jesus gave Himself away.
We obey the government because we, like Isaiah, understand that God is in control. God uses the government as His avengers (Rom. 13:4). We know God is good all the time and His purposes can be trusted to bring His goodness to all. So we obey the government, even when the government is not serving God, because we know God uses them in spite of themselves.
In the strength of God's Spirit we serve the weaker in faith among us (Rom. 15:1). We lift up one another. The strength that comes from faith gives us the resources to love without fear and serve out of the abundance we carry within. We can love freely because we need nothing in return. We have everything we need because of God's grace (Gen. 33:11).
But even from the strength of faith I feel now in my 49 years of journeying with Christ (admittedly at times against Christ), I am only halfway there at best. The end of the journey is becoming one with Christ, to be as He is (Rom 8:29). I may boast to say I am even halfway. But I know I live on prayer. For it is in prayer that I open my heart to Life and fill again with the Holy Spirit. I study and pray and worship and serve with the love poured into me through faith.
Now to Him who has power to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the sacred secret kept silent for long ages, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God, to advance the obedience of faith among all nations— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to Him be the glory forever! Amen. (Rom. 16:25-27)
It's Day 45! It's Good Friday! There is the rumbling of thunder outside! How appropriate! Tonight we remember when darkness covered Jerusalem and the earth shook as the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ, suffered and died on the cross.
I begin Judges today and continue Isaiah and finish Romans. I am halfway through reading the entire Bible and I feel like I've only just begun. Considering Old Testament history, I have read about creation, Noah and the great flood, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, the birth and calling of Moses, the Exodus, the Law, The Wilderness Wanderings and the Conquest. I have completed the Wisdom texts Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. And I have read all the New Testament Gospel accounts and the Acts of the Apostles. I have barely scratched the surface in regard to the narrative history.
Israel has no king in the days of the confederacy of tribes in the book of Judges. Judges settled disputes among the people according to the law of Moses, but they were more than that. They we deliverers called and empowered by God to save Israel from their enemies.
There is a pattern in Judges.
- The people get comfortable in the land and forget about Yahweh.
- They turn to pagan gods because of the Canaanites still living among them
- Yahweh hands them over to their enemies
- The people suffer and cry out for help
- Yahweh pities them sends them a savior...a judge.
To say that the Israelites were living on a prayer is a big stretch. Yahweh was like an "emergency only" option. But to say they were halfway there is also a stretch. They possess the land, but they fail to drive out all the Canaanites. Judges chapter 1 reports six instances of failure to drive out the pagans. As a result they will become like thorns in their eyes (Jos. 23:13). Yikes!
I read about Othniel, the youngest brother to Caleb and how he won city for the hand of his niece in marriage. Uhhh... no comment.
Ehud stabs a fat Moabite king to death and leads the people to victory against the kingless hoard. Fun story for the boys in your home! Who said the Bible is boring?
And then there is the tent peg assassin, Jael (Jdg.4:21-22)! Don't ask a Kenite for a drink! Ouch! Deborah, the judge, sings her praises and credits the Lord for the courage and strength of those who answered the call to fight.
Isaiah is filled with woe and woo, confrontation and consolation. Babylon is warned of coming destruction from the Medes. Assyria is warned. Israel is warned. God is angry.
I get the feeling that God is playing a game of chess and the nations are pieces on the chessboard. But who is God playing against? God is playing against His oldest foe...chaos, the dark waters, the deep (Gen. 1:2). This life negating primordial ooze of futility has always been. It seeps into heaven and causes eternal angels to disobey the creator and be cast down to the earth (Lucifer, Satan, devil, Azazel, Baalzebul, Belzebub, the serpent). This chaos seeps into the hearts of humanity and causes sin and death (Gen 6:5-6).
God from the beginning has created safe places for life to exist, but this life must exist in harmony with Life. Life is revealed in the Law. Keep the covenant and have Life. Choose Life or choose death. But it is just not so easy, is it?
God's wrath is not an expression of an insecure hothead. Divine wrath is the jealous love of a rejected Lover, a dishonored Parent, a deposed Ruler. But God really is in control. From where the prophet is sitting, God uses nation against nation to continue His work to advance His rule in the hearts of humanity. Israel is His holy (pure and righteous) project. Israel is to become that shining beacon for God so that all nations will stream to Zion where God's name is exalted and His holy presence blesses. So God moves the nations to war to punish the wicked. He uses the wicked against the wicked to accomplish His goal, holiness on earth, heaven on earth, heaven and earth as one.
But The Lord will have compassion on Israel and the captors will become their captives (Isa. 14:1-2). The remnant who survive the tumultuous corrective actions of Yahweh will begin again the growth of a holy nation, a kingdom of priests.
Jesus suffered and died on a cross as the once for all sacrifice, the lamb of God. His death is God's compassion, God's love on display (Rom. 5:8). And His resurrection, His victory over death, is the first of a new kind of humanity. This new humanity is filled with the Holy Spirit and made holy by the blood of Jesus and the presence of Jesus in Spirit. Now we believers in the power of the gospel (Rom. 1:16) are empowered to be free of chaotic forces of sin that destroy lives. We are empowered to fulfill the law (Rom. 8:3-4) of Moses. This does not mean we are perfect rule keepers. It means we are becoming, through our faith relationship with Jesus Christ, what the law intends to create, a holy nation. Through the Holy Spirit we are becoming the people who reflect the glory of God.
Therefore, we are not longer to be conformed to the image of this world lost in futility and bound to corruption (Rom. 8:20-21, 12:2). We love because we understand love fulfills the law (Rom. 13:10). We love as Christ loved us sacrificially. We give ourselves away to serve others as Jesus gave Himself away.
We obey the government because we, like Isaiah, understand that God is in control. God uses the government as His avengers (Rom. 13:4). We know God is good all the time and His purposes can be trusted to bring His goodness to all. So we obey the government, even when the government is not serving God, because we know God uses them in spite of themselves.
In the strength of God's Spirit we serve the weaker in faith among us (Rom. 15:1). We lift up one another. The strength that comes from faith gives us the resources to love without fear and serve out of the abundance we carry within. We can love freely because we need nothing in return. We have everything we need because of God's grace (Gen. 33:11).
But even from the strength of faith I feel now in my 49 years of journeying with Christ (admittedly at times against Christ), I am only halfway there at best. The end of the journey is becoming one with Christ, to be as He is (Rom 8:29). I may boast to say I am even halfway. But I know I live on prayer. For it is in prayer that I open my heart to Life and fill again with the Holy Spirit. I study and pray and worship and serve with the love poured into me through faith.
Now to Him who has power to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the sacred secret kept silent for long ages, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God, to advance the obedience of faith among all nations— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to Him be the glory forever! Amen. (Rom. 16:25-27)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
How Unsearchable!
Day 44: Joshua 21–24; Isaiah 7–12; Romans 10–12
Tonight is the Holy Thursday service where we remember Jesus' last night on earth. He celebrated the Passover meal with His closest friends. He told them that the unleavened bread they ate was His body given for them and the cup of wine was His blood shed for them and for many for the forgiveness of sins. They went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus knew the suffering and death He was about to endure and He prayed that He might be spared. In the end He surrendered Himself saying, not my will, but Your will be done."
Judas Iscariot lead soldiers to Him and He was taken away, tried before the religious rulers, handed over to Pilate the Roman governor and sentenced to death by crucifixion. By the afternoon of the next day He was nailed to a cross, bleeding and dying and offering a prayer of mercy. "Father forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."
As I finish Joshua and hear His challenge that the people will turn to other gods; and then see how Isaiah predicts the destruction of Jerusalem because of their disobedience; and then hear the Apostle Paul say that Israel is not rejected by God, but a partial hardening of Israel has lead to salvation for Gentiles, I feel strangely blessed. It is as if I realize more fully just how fortunate I am. I know how undeserving I am and yet how blessed I am because of God's mercy.
Tornadoes ripped through parts of Indiana a few days ago. I feel lucky my property remained safe. But God save me from arrogantly believing I am somehow exempt from such tragedy because of God's love for me. That implies God does not love those who were harmed in the storms. God loves all His children, even when tragedy strikes them. God did not cease loving Israel when He used Assyria like an axe to chop them down (Isa. 10:15). God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy (Rom. 9:15).
After all the inheritance is assigned and the cities for the Levites and the Cities of Refuge established, Joshua gathers the people at Shechem before he dies and renews their commitment to the covenant. He recounts Israel's history. The focus is not on what Israel had accomplished, but rather on God's faithfulness to them. The wars were won because God fought for them.
Generations later an established Israel, with kings descending from the legendary David, will prove Joshua's challenge that they will not be able to worship Yahweh and will turn to other gods. Isaiah prophecies to Israel at a time of military threat. The Arameans and the Ephraimites join forces against Judah and plan an attack. King Ahaz of Jerusalem is shaking in his boots, like trees that shake in the wind (Isa. 7:2).
Even though Ahaz is a horrible king leading Israel to worship pagan gods, God chooses to encourage him and bolster his courage. But He also warns that Assyria is coming. They will wipe out the current threat, but they will become a threat to Judah later. God will use Assyria to correct His people, purge their evil, save a remnant for Himself and restore them.
There are several passages that point to Messiah in Isaiah. The virgin will give birth to Immanuel (Isa. 7:14). And the stump of cut down Jesse (the father of the Davidic line of kings) will produce a shoot (Isa. 11:1). He will be call wonderful counselor, mighty God, Eternal Father and the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). It is so tempting to read these as I have always heard them as advent readings as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Messiah. But the virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14 does not point to a miraculous birth, but a time period of about two years. Basically before the child is weaned, the current threat from Aram and Ephraim will no longer be an issue because of the Assyrian invasion.
Nevertheless, hope in a Davidic king and a restored Israel compels Isaiah to write,
"I will praise You, LORD,
although You were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion on me.
Indeed, God is my salvation.
I will trust [Him] and not be afraid.
Because Yah, the LORD,
is my strength and my song,
He has become my salvation."
Paul writes the church in Rome to be careful about becoming conceited over the mercy shown them in Christ and exalt themselves over the Jewish people who reject Jesus as the Messiah. For it was not by the righteousness of the Gentiles that they are now saved through Christ, but rather through God's mercy shown them through Israel's disobedience (Rom 11:30). Just as God used Assyria to save Judah and them perplex Judah, God is using the Gentiles to make Israel in Paul's day jealous (Rom. 11:11).
When I get to thinking I have got faith and God all figured out, I am in that place where conceit may creep in. These readings today remind me I cannot lift a finger for either good or bad in the great things of God. For in the end, it is not my will or efforts that brings salvation and righteousness. It is God's mercy. It is God's work of love alone that saves, that makes me right.
I realize I am part of a great history that has been unfolding since the beginning of the universe. Such thoughts are too wonderful for me (Psa. 139:17).
"How unsearchable God's judgments and untraceable His ways!" (Rom. 11:33)
Tonight is the Holy Thursday service where we remember Jesus' last night on earth. He celebrated the Passover meal with His closest friends. He told them that the unleavened bread they ate was His body given for them and the cup of wine was His blood shed for them and for many for the forgiveness of sins. They went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus knew the suffering and death He was about to endure and He prayed that He might be spared. In the end He surrendered Himself saying, not my will, but Your will be done."
Judas Iscariot lead soldiers to Him and He was taken away, tried before the religious rulers, handed over to Pilate the Roman governor and sentenced to death by crucifixion. By the afternoon of the next day He was nailed to a cross, bleeding and dying and offering a prayer of mercy. "Father forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."
As I finish Joshua and hear His challenge that the people will turn to other gods; and then see how Isaiah predicts the destruction of Jerusalem because of their disobedience; and then hear the Apostle Paul say that Israel is not rejected by God, but a partial hardening of Israel has lead to salvation for Gentiles, I feel strangely blessed. It is as if I realize more fully just how fortunate I am. I know how undeserving I am and yet how blessed I am because of God's mercy.
Tornadoes ripped through parts of Indiana a few days ago. I feel lucky my property remained safe. But God save me from arrogantly believing I am somehow exempt from such tragedy because of God's love for me. That implies God does not love those who were harmed in the storms. God loves all His children, even when tragedy strikes them. God did not cease loving Israel when He used Assyria like an axe to chop them down (Isa. 10:15). God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy (Rom. 9:15).
After all the inheritance is assigned and the cities for the Levites and the Cities of Refuge established, Joshua gathers the people at Shechem before he dies and renews their commitment to the covenant. He recounts Israel's history. The focus is not on what Israel had accomplished, but rather on God's faithfulness to them. The wars were won because God fought for them.
Generations later an established Israel, with kings descending from the legendary David, will prove Joshua's challenge that they will not be able to worship Yahweh and will turn to other gods. Isaiah prophecies to Israel at a time of military threat. The Arameans and the Ephraimites join forces against Judah and plan an attack. King Ahaz of Jerusalem is shaking in his boots, like trees that shake in the wind (Isa. 7:2).
Even though Ahaz is a horrible king leading Israel to worship pagan gods, God chooses to encourage him and bolster his courage. But He also warns that Assyria is coming. They will wipe out the current threat, but they will become a threat to Judah later. God will use Assyria to correct His people, purge their evil, save a remnant for Himself and restore them.
There are several passages that point to Messiah in Isaiah. The virgin will give birth to Immanuel (Isa. 7:14). And the stump of cut down Jesse (the father of the Davidic line of kings) will produce a shoot (Isa. 11:1). He will be call wonderful counselor, mighty God, Eternal Father and the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). It is so tempting to read these as I have always heard them as advent readings as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Messiah. But the virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14 does not point to a miraculous birth, but a time period of about two years. Basically before the child is weaned, the current threat from Aram and Ephraim will no longer be an issue because of the Assyrian invasion.
Nevertheless, hope in a Davidic king and a restored Israel compels Isaiah to write,
"I will praise You, LORD,
although You were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion on me.
Indeed, God is my salvation.
I will trust [Him] and not be afraid.
Because Yah, the LORD,
is my strength and my song,
He has become my salvation."
Paul writes the church in Rome to be careful about becoming conceited over the mercy shown them in Christ and exalt themselves over the Jewish people who reject Jesus as the Messiah. For it was not by the righteousness of the Gentiles that they are now saved through Christ, but rather through God's mercy shown them through Israel's disobedience (Rom 11:30). Just as God used Assyria to save Judah and them perplex Judah, God is using the Gentiles to make Israel in Paul's day jealous (Rom. 11:11).
When I get to thinking I have got faith and God all figured out, I am in that place where conceit may creep in. These readings today remind me I cannot lift a finger for either good or bad in the great things of God. For in the end, it is not my will or efforts that brings salvation and righteousness. It is God's mercy. It is God's work of love alone that saves, that makes me right.
I realize I am part of a great history that has been unfolding since the beginning of the universe. Such thoughts are too wonderful for me (Psa. 139:17).
"How unsearchable God's judgments and untraceable His ways!" (Rom. 11:33)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Breach
Day 43: Joshua 16–20; Isaiah 1–6; Romans 7–9
Joshua continues passing out the inheritance to the remaining 7 tribes. In order for him to do that he has men go and map the remaining territory. There are still Canaanites inhabiting cities within their borders they fail to drive out. Joshua casts lots to see who gets what portions of the land at Shiloh where the tabernacle is set up. This section is like reading property details at a courthouse. Not too life changing, if you know what I mean?
But if you were to look closely and pull out a map and try to follow the landmarks mentioned in each passage you will find breaches, open spots or vague boundaries that blend into the other tribal areas. One commentator interprets this not to be sloppiness on the part of the writer of Joshua, but purposeful. It communicates the loose attention to covenant keeping.
Since the remaining tribes inhabit the north for the most part, they belong to that group who will secede from Judah and become an independent state. The 10 tribes to the north break from Judah and Simeon within Judah's borders after King Solomon's death. The vagueness in the boundaries may point to this sad rebellion in the future.
But there are clear breaches in faithfulness already here in Joshua. The Epharaimites and Manassehites fuss over their inheritance and complain about the Canaanites with their horses and chariots. They don't seem to want to work to settle their portion. They want it easy. They want it handed to them (Josh 17:14-18). Is this an example of being "strong and courageous?"
I began reading the Prophets today. Isaiah is a whopping 66 chapters spanning the rule of 4 kings: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Some think of Isaiah as three different books...chapters 1-39 as book one, 40-55 as book two and 56-66 as book three. The writings address pre-exilic and during exile and post-exilic communities, some scholars say. There's a breach in the unity of Isaiah as a singular text, you might say.
Isaiah is calling Israel from its terrible breach in covenant.
God calls them disobedient children, evildoers, depraved. He reasons, "Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep on rebelling?" (Isa. 1:5)
God compares Israel with Sodom and Gomorrah which He destroyed for their wickedness. Because they do not practice justice and mercy toward the poor, orphaned and widowed, God is no longer interested in their sacrifices and offerings. They are useless to Him (Isa 1:11-15). Their lack of obedience has brought them to empty religion...the ritual without the divine substance. There's a breach in the relationship between God and His people.
But promises to fix the breach and cleanse Israel. It will happen through God's mighty hand to correct them by letting the consequences of their rebellion consume them. They will be denied of sleep and they will have mere children and fools govern them. War will come from foreign enemies and God will not protect them or hear their prayers. God has handed them over to their sins. The covenant breach allows chaotic poisons to flow into them and they will suffer.
But the prophet lifts a beautiful vision for a redeemed and restored Israel.
In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's house will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
All nations will stream to it,
and many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about His ways
so that we may walk in His paths."
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isa. 2:2-3)
God cares for Israel, disobedience and complacent as she is, like a gardener tends a vineyard. He planted, nurtured and protected the vineyard (Israel), but it did not produce (Isa. 5:1-4). So now he will take away the protection, tear out the hedge and break down the wall (Isa. 5:5). But this is all designed to correct a disobedient child, cleanse a poisoned body. The remnant that survives will be the start of a restored and redeemed people.
Paul tells how sin is a breach in our very flesh. It's like our skin is torn and an infection has taken over our minds and hearts making us weak and disobedient (Rom 7:14-25). We are helpless against sin apart from the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ given to us. Sin leads us to death, but the Spirit gives life! And those controlled by the Spirit (not sin) are empowered to be obedient to God (Rom. 8:7-10).
We often hear people blame God for the mess the world is in. Some doubt a good God exists or believe in none at all because of the world gone wrong. If only they could hear the gospel. It is a breach in our relationship with our creator. As a result we have "worshipped the creature rather than the creator (Rom 1:25)." And so God has given us over to futility "in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God's children (Rom 8:20b-21)."
Just as God hands Israel over to enemies for purging the evil from her, He hands the world over to its fallen futile decadent life in order that the misery might turn us toward hope in His mercy. Paul writes from the heart with such power and beauty about God's faithfulness and love for us. "If God is for us, who is against us?" No "created thing will have power to separate us from the love of God this is in Christ Jesus, our Lord (Rom. 8:31b, 39b)!"
Lastly there is a breach in Paul's own heart. He is a Jew and yet many of his own people reject the gospel. He would willingly be cut off from Jesus if it would serve his brothers (Rom 9:1-3). He will lay out for us his hope in God's promises to Israel which can never be broken. God is showing mercy to Gentiles to draw Jews from works righteousness to a righteousness that comes by faith.
The breach has been healed in the broken and bleeding body of Jesus. But will we, Jew and Gentile alike, be ever listening, but not understanding? Will we keep looking, but not perceive (Isa. 6:9)?
It is the mercy of God on which we must depend, not on our own feeble abilities. Faith in God's mercy through Jesus heals the breach.
Joshua continues passing out the inheritance to the remaining 7 tribes. In order for him to do that he has men go and map the remaining territory. There are still Canaanites inhabiting cities within their borders they fail to drive out. Joshua casts lots to see who gets what portions of the land at Shiloh where the tabernacle is set up. This section is like reading property details at a courthouse. Not too life changing, if you know what I mean?
But if you were to look closely and pull out a map and try to follow the landmarks mentioned in each passage you will find breaches, open spots or vague boundaries that blend into the other tribal areas. One commentator interprets this not to be sloppiness on the part of the writer of Joshua, but purposeful. It communicates the loose attention to covenant keeping.
Since the remaining tribes inhabit the north for the most part, they belong to that group who will secede from Judah and become an independent state. The 10 tribes to the north break from Judah and Simeon within Judah's borders after King Solomon's death. The vagueness in the boundaries may point to this sad rebellion in the future.
But there are clear breaches in faithfulness already here in Joshua. The Epharaimites and Manassehites fuss over their inheritance and complain about the Canaanites with their horses and chariots. They don't seem to want to work to settle their portion. They want it easy. They want it handed to them (Josh 17:14-18). Is this an example of being "strong and courageous?"
I began reading the Prophets today. Isaiah is a whopping 66 chapters spanning the rule of 4 kings: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Some think of Isaiah as three different books...chapters 1-39 as book one, 40-55 as book two and 56-66 as book three. The writings address pre-exilic and during exile and post-exilic communities, some scholars say. There's a breach in the unity of Isaiah as a singular text, you might say.
Isaiah is calling Israel from its terrible breach in covenant.
God calls them disobedient children, evildoers, depraved. He reasons, "Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep on rebelling?" (Isa. 1:5)
God compares Israel with Sodom and Gomorrah which He destroyed for their wickedness. Because they do not practice justice and mercy toward the poor, orphaned and widowed, God is no longer interested in their sacrifices and offerings. They are useless to Him (Isa 1:11-15). Their lack of obedience has brought them to empty religion...the ritual without the divine substance. There's a breach in the relationship between God and His people.
But promises to fix the breach and cleanse Israel. It will happen through God's mighty hand to correct them by letting the consequences of their rebellion consume them. They will be denied of sleep and they will have mere children and fools govern them. War will come from foreign enemies and God will not protect them or hear their prayers. God has handed them over to their sins. The covenant breach allows chaotic poisons to flow into them and they will suffer.
But the prophet lifts a beautiful vision for a redeemed and restored Israel.
In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's house will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
All nations will stream to it,
and many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about His ways
so that we may walk in His paths."
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isa. 2:2-3)
God cares for Israel, disobedience and complacent as she is, like a gardener tends a vineyard. He planted, nurtured and protected the vineyard (Israel), but it did not produce (Isa. 5:1-4). So now he will take away the protection, tear out the hedge and break down the wall (Isa. 5:5). But this is all designed to correct a disobedient child, cleanse a poisoned body. The remnant that survives will be the start of a restored and redeemed people.
Paul tells how sin is a breach in our very flesh. It's like our skin is torn and an infection has taken over our minds and hearts making us weak and disobedient (Rom 7:14-25). We are helpless against sin apart from the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ given to us. Sin leads us to death, but the Spirit gives life! And those controlled by the Spirit (not sin) are empowered to be obedient to God (Rom. 8:7-10).
We often hear people blame God for the mess the world is in. Some doubt a good God exists or believe in none at all because of the world gone wrong. If only they could hear the gospel. It is a breach in our relationship with our creator. As a result we have "worshipped the creature rather than the creator (Rom 1:25)." And so God has given us over to futility "in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God's children (Rom 8:20b-21)."
Just as God hands Israel over to enemies for purging the evil from her, He hands the world over to its fallen futile decadent life in order that the misery might turn us toward hope in His mercy. Paul writes from the heart with such power and beauty about God's faithfulness and love for us. "If God is for us, who is against us?" No "created thing will have power to separate us from the love of God this is in Christ Jesus, our Lord (Rom. 8:31b, 39b)!"
Lastly there is a breach in Paul's own heart. He is a Jew and yet many of his own people reject the gospel. He would willingly be cut off from Jesus if it would serve his brothers (Rom 9:1-3). He will lay out for us his hope in God's promises to Israel which can never be broken. God is showing mercy to Gentiles to draw Jews from works righteousness to a righteousness that comes by faith.
The breach has been healed in the broken and bleeding body of Jesus. But will we, Jew and Gentile alike, be ever listening, but not understanding? Will we keep looking, but not perceive (Isa. 6:9)?
It is the mercy of God on which we must depend, not on our own feeble abilities. Faith in God's mercy through Jesus heals the breach.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Love: The Many Splendored Thing
Day 42: Joshua 11–15; Song of Songs 5–8; Romans 4–6
Love is a many splendored thing, the old standard says, sung by crooners for decades. The song has been recorded by the Four Aces, Sinatra, Andy Williams, Barry Manilow and even Ringo Starr! The title says what I think is on my heart as I write.
When we talked about love, we often think of warm and romantic feelings, caring and compassionate actions and generally good things. Rarely do we think of love in terms of war, except perhaps for love of country. In the case of religious fanatics we could think of love in terms of terrorism who destroy innocent noncombatants out of devotion to their beliefs about God and their cause.
When I read Joshua, I see a love story coming into fulfillment. God courted her through Abraham and waited patiently through all the years she was in another country growing up (Egypt). Even though it was hard for God to watch His beloved suffer as she did in those years, He waited until she has grown into a multitude ready to move into His promised land. He rescued her from Pharaoh and they were wed with vows to be faithful to one another at Mount Sinai. They honeymooned there for a year and then moved on toward their home together in Canaan. On the way there they quarreled at times, but He was always willing to reconcile when she came to her senses and His anger cooled. Yahweh picked a feisty gal who complains and argues. She is high maintenance! But He loves her. What can He do? He loves her.
They begin moving into their new home together, but there are roaches and other pests in the home they have to drive out. The land has to be cleansed and rid of these filthy pests if they are going to be able to settle in together and enjoy their marriage.
Forgive me for romanticizing the bloodshed and horrors contained in the wars of Yahweh against the Amorites, Canaanites, Hivites, Gergashites, Perrizites, Hitties, Jebusites and others. Among them were giants, the unholy spawn of disobedient angels (demons) and human women. Joshua and the Israelites crushed them all, just like you would step on a bug and squish it without mercy (Josh 11:20).
Next God started choosing which of their children would get which room. The land was parceled out. The inheritance to the sons of Jacob was now to be possessed. Caleb got Hebron. Judah got southern Canaan with its crown Jerusalem. Unfortunately Jerusalem had a persistent infestation he couldn't clear out yet...the Jebusites where Melchizedek was once high priest for God Most High. Remember how Melchizedek blessed Abram (Gen 14:18-20)? Reuben, Gad and Manasseh's boy Machir get the areas in the east wing across the Jordon.
God loves Israel and love has many faces. If my family, my wife were threatened, I would lash out with violence to protect her. Like a mother bear protecting her cub, God protects His beloved Israel and beats down the threat both outside enemies and the enemy within her.
For love is as strong as death;
ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Love's flames are fiery flames —
the fiercest of all.
Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away. (Song 8:6b-7a)
God's jealousy is fierce. His love for His bride cannot be quenched and He will fight for her and fight her, if necessary, to keep her the spotless beauty He knows she is and can be.
And so love can cause craziness and dangerous acts in order to preserve the bonds of the heart. The Apostle Paul urges Rome in His letter to trust in God's love through the gift of His Son, Jesus (Rom 6:23). We cannot work for this love. We are unable to earn so great a gift. We can only receive it and by doing so we are made right in His eyes (Rom. 4:5). To reject His love through Christ would spurn His jealous anger.
To receive the love God offers through Christ, our hearts must open to Him. We invite Him into the bedroom, so to speak, like the lover of Song of Songs (Song 5:4-5). And God pours His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). Though we have behaved as a harlot at times, unfaithful and untamed, God still did what He had to do to gain our hearts by giving up His Son to conquer sin and eradicate Death (Rom. 5:8,10; 6:8-9).
This love changes us. We are enabled to become like the One who loves us. We die to our old life or running around and now live faithfully in the love of God and live for Him (Rom. 6:11). This love rescues us and sets us free from our spiritual enemies of sin, fear and weakness. Now through Christ we are strong and free and unafraid!
Yes, indeed, love is a many splendored thing!
Love is a many splendored thing, the old standard says, sung by crooners for decades. The song has been recorded by the Four Aces, Sinatra, Andy Williams, Barry Manilow and even Ringo Starr! The title says what I think is on my heart as I write.
When we talked about love, we often think of warm and romantic feelings, caring and compassionate actions and generally good things. Rarely do we think of love in terms of war, except perhaps for love of country. In the case of religious fanatics we could think of love in terms of terrorism who destroy innocent noncombatants out of devotion to their beliefs about God and their cause.
When I read Joshua, I see a love story coming into fulfillment. God courted her through Abraham and waited patiently through all the years she was in another country growing up (Egypt). Even though it was hard for God to watch His beloved suffer as she did in those years, He waited until she has grown into a multitude ready to move into His promised land. He rescued her from Pharaoh and they were wed with vows to be faithful to one another at Mount Sinai. They honeymooned there for a year and then moved on toward their home together in Canaan. On the way there they quarreled at times, but He was always willing to reconcile when she came to her senses and His anger cooled. Yahweh picked a feisty gal who complains and argues. She is high maintenance! But He loves her. What can He do? He loves her.
They begin moving into their new home together, but there are roaches and other pests in the home they have to drive out. The land has to be cleansed and rid of these filthy pests if they are going to be able to settle in together and enjoy their marriage.
Forgive me for romanticizing the bloodshed and horrors contained in the wars of Yahweh against the Amorites, Canaanites, Hivites, Gergashites, Perrizites, Hitties, Jebusites and others. Among them were giants, the unholy spawn of disobedient angels (demons) and human women. Joshua and the Israelites crushed them all, just like you would step on a bug and squish it without mercy (Josh 11:20).
Next God started choosing which of their children would get which room. The land was parceled out. The inheritance to the sons of Jacob was now to be possessed. Caleb got Hebron. Judah got southern Canaan with its crown Jerusalem. Unfortunately Jerusalem had a persistent infestation he couldn't clear out yet...the Jebusites where Melchizedek was once high priest for God Most High. Remember how Melchizedek blessed Abram (Gen 14:18-20)? Reuben, Gad and Manasseh's boy Machir get the areas in the east wing across the Jordon.
God loves Israel and love has many faces. If my family, my wife were threatened, I would lash out with violence to protect her. Like a mother bear protecting her cub, God protects His beloved Israel and beats down the threat both outside enemies and the enemy within her.
For love is as strong as death;
ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Love's flames are fiery flames —
the fiercest of all.
Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away. (Song 8:6b-7a)
God's jealousy is fierce. His love for His bride cannot be quenched and He will fight for her and fight her, if necessary, to keep her the spotless beauty He knows she is and can be.
And so love can cause craziness and dangerous acts in order to preserve the bonds of the heart. The Apostle Paul urges Rome in His letter to trust in God's love through the gift of His Son, Jesus (Rom 6:23). We cannot work for this love. We are unable to earn so great a gift. We can only receive it and by doing so we are made right in His eyes (Rom. 4:5). To reject His love through Christ would spurn His jealous anger.
To receive the love God offers through Christ, our hearts must open to Him. We invite Him into the bedroom, so to speak, like the lover of Song of Songs (Song 5:4-5). And God pours His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). Though we have behaved as a harlot at times, unfaithful and untamed, God still did what He had to do to gain our hearts by giving up His Son to conquer sin and eradicate Death (Rom. 5:8,10; 6:8-9).
This love changes us. We are enabled to become like the One who loves us. We die to our old life or running around and now live faithfully in the love of God and live for Him (Rom. 6:11). This love rescues us and sets us free from our spiritual enemies of sin, fear and weakness. Now through Christ we are strong and free and unafraid!
Yes, indeed, love is a many splendored thing!
Eros: The Longing of Desire
Day 41: Joshua 6-10; Song of Songs 1-4; Romans 1-3
Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is more delightful than wine.
The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating;
your name is perfume poured out.
No wonder young women adore you.
Take me with you—let us hurry.
Oh, that the king would bring me to his chambers. (Song 1:2-4)
Joshua is bringing down the house in Jericho, falling on his face at Ai and kicking butt everywhere in southern Canaan. Death and destruction fill the pages as Yahweh drives out the chaotic forces aligned with false gods and demons, the seven nations inhabiting the land.
From the other side of the conquest a wealthy and wise king surveys his established kingdom filled with peace and prosperity and says, "Futility! All is Futility!"
And The Apostle Paul sits on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in Corinth and writes to a church in Rome he has never met.
There is a longing expressed in each of the selections I read today. Joshua longs to be the kind of leader his predecessor Moses was. Can you imagine the pressure on Joshua as he tries to fill the shoes of Israel's greatest prophet? Even the scriptures attest to the magnanimity of Moses in the mind of Israel. "No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. [He was unparalleled] for all the signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do... (Deut. 34:10-11a)."
Joshua is encouraged by the Lord at the crossing for the Jordan. "Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses (Josh 2:7)." And indeed the Lord did as He promised. And the Lord lead the Israelites to take the fortress city of Jericho. The walls came down after seven days of marching around the city. The miraculous event further encouraged the armies of Israel and Joshua.
But there was a problem. Achan, a descendant of Zerah, The twin brother of Perez ancestor to David, took booty for himself that was set apart for destruction as sort of a firstfruits to Yahweh. He hid silver and fine cloth and money in the ground beneath his family's tent. And the Israelites were defeated by the men of Ai at a time when they judged it would take a small number to take the city. The Lord was not with them.
Joshua, filled with grief and longing cries out to the Lord. "Oh, Lord GOD ," Joshua said, "why did You ever bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites for our destruction? If only we had been content to remain on the other side of the Jordan (Josh 7:7)!" Sounds just like his ancestors who died complaining in the desert.
God explains that one of their number has broken the covenant and taken the dedicated things. Until the dedicated things are destroyed and the criminal destroyed with them (Achan became a firstfruits offering as it was written in Deuteronomy 7:25-26) they would continue to fail in battle. Joshua does as God commands and destroys Achan and all His household and belongings along with the items he had stolen.
Joshua and the Israelites fight many more battles and win them all. On one occasion the Lord killed more with hailstones thrown down from the sky than did the soldiers of Israel. God even stopped the sun from setting at Joshua's request that they might utterly defeat the enemy without delay due to nightfall (Josh. 10:12-14). Very clearly Joshua is exalted by this sign in the minds of Israel. His longing to be the kind of leader Moses was is fulfilled.
The Song of Songs (Also known as the Song of Solomon) is a romantic poem celebrating the courtship and love of the King of Israel, the Lord's Anointed, and a beautiful woman with a dark tan and perfect complexion. The church has struggled with what to do with this book and it's erotic imagery. The standard application is to think of the church as the bride of Christ longing for her love. But the text would have been more of a royal text read to celebrate kings and their loves. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. In the ancient world this wealth of women was a sign of power and blessing. If the king is blessed, so is the nation he governs. It is sort of the reverse of the tragedy of Achan. His sin cursed all Israel. So it's a good thing to celebrate the not so celibate king! When the king is happy, we all get to be happy.
But how can we be edified by the longing within the pages of Song of Songs? I think it is in the wisdom shared with the young women who attend the bride to be.
"do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time." (Song 2:7b)
To long is to suffer until the desire is fulfilled. Why suffer needlessly before it is time for such things? You can bet I shared these words with my daughters as they were growing into young women in my home. There is a time for marriage and a time to be a girl. I always encouraged my kids to enjoy the age they were at and not be so eager to be older. It only comes once and then its gone. Innocence is brief. Nowadays it is even briefer than it was in my day.
But longing can be sweet as we dream of its fulfillment. Paul writes to Rome and says, "I want very much to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine (Rom 1:11-12)." He tells them he had often planned to come and see them, but was prevented. He longs to have fruitful ministry among them. He is "eager to preach the good news."
Paul's eagerness is met for the moment in his letter. Little did he know the fruit his letter would bear. Paul meant to introduce his message and ministry to the church in Rome. He had no idea this masterpiece of his would become Christian scripture and part of the Holy Bible right along with the Torah of Moses and the writings of the prophets which he freely quotes throughout.
Paul's longing to come to Rome was fulfilled in his arrest and transport there by the Roman government. His letter had preceded him and been read in the churches in the area. As he approached Rome under Roman guard the believers came out to greet him.
"And so we came to Rome. 15 Now the believers [e] from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as Forum of Appius and Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage (Acts 28:14b-15)."
The psalmist says it beautifully about longing and desire:
Take delight in the LORD,
and He will give you your heart's desires. (Psa. 37:4)
May all your godly desires be fulfilled as you wait patiently in hope in the Lord in whom you delight.
Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is more delightful than wine.
The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating;
your name is perfume poured out.
No wonder young women adore you.
Take me with you—let us hurry.
Oh, that the king would bring me to his chambers. (Song 1:2-4)
Joshua is bringing down the house in Jericho, falling on his face at Ai and kicking butt everywhere in southern Canaan. Death and destruction fill the pages as Yahweh drives out the chaotic forces aligned with false gods and demons, the seven nations inhabiting the land.
From the other side of the conquest a wealthy and wise king surveys his established kingdom filled with peace and prosperity and says, "Futility! All is Futility!"
And The Apostle Paul sits on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in Corinth and writes to a church in Rome he has never met.
There is a longing expressed in each of the selections I read today. Joshua longs to be the kind of leader his predecessor Moses was. Can you imagine the pressure on Joshua as he tries to fill the shoes of Israel's greatest prophet? Even the scriptures attest to the magnanimity of Moses in the mind of Israel. "No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. [He was unparalleled] for all the signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do... (Deut. 34:10-11a)."
Joshua is encouraged by the Lord at the crossing for the Jordan. "Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses (Josh 2:7)." And indeed the Lord did as He promised. And the Lord lead the Israelites to take the fortress city of Jericho. The walls came down after seven days of marching around the city. The miraculous event further encouraged the armies of Israel and Joshua.
But there was a problem. Achan, a descendant of Zerah, The twin brother of Perez ancestor to David, took booty for himself that was set apart for destruction as sort of a firstfruits to Yahweh. He hid silver and fine cloth and money in the ground beneath his family's tent. And the Israelites were defeated by the men of Ai at a time when they judged it would take a small number to take the city. The Lord was not with them.
Joshua, filled with grief and longing cries out to the Lord. "Oh, Lord GOD ," Joshua said, "why did You ever bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites for our destruction? If only we had been content to remain on the other side of the Jordan (Josh 7:7)!" Sounds just like his ancestors who died complaining in the desert.
God explains that one of their number has broken the covenant and taken the dedicated things. Until the dedicated things are destroyed and the criminal destroyed with them (Achan became a firstfruits offering as it was written in Deuteronomy 7:25-26) they would continue to fail in battle. Joshua does as God commands and destroys Achan and all His household and belongings along with the items he had stolen.
Joshua and the Israelites fight many more battles and win them all. On one occasion the Lord killed more with hailstones thrown down from the sky than did the soldiers of Israel. God even stopped the sun from setting at Joshua's request that they might utterly defeat the enemy without delay due to nightfall (Josh. 10:12-14). Very clearly Joshua is exalted by this sign in the minds of Israel. His longing to be the kind of leader Moses was is fulfilled.
The Song of Songs (Also known as the Song of Solomon) is a romantic poem celebrating the courtship and love of the King of Israel, the Lord's Anointed, and a beautiful woman with a dark tan and perfect complexion. The church has struggled with what to do with this book and it's erotic imagery. The standard application is to think of the church as the bride of Christ longing for her love. But the text would have been more of a royal text read to celebrate kings and their loves. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. In the ancient world this wealth of women was a sign of power and blessing. If the king is blessed, so is the nation he governs. It is sort of the reverse of the tragedy of Achan. His sin cursed all Israel. So it's a good thing to celebrate the not so celibate king! When the king is happy, we all get to be happy.
But how can we be edified by the longing within the pages of Song of Songs? I think it is in the wisdom shared with the young women who attend the bride to be.
"do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time." (Song 2:7b)
To long is to suffer until the desire is fulfilled. Why suffer needlessly before it is time for such things? You can bet I shared these words with my daughters as they were growing into young women in my home. There is a time for marriage and a time to be a girl. I always encouraged my kids to enjoy the age they were at and not be so eager to be older. It only comes once and then its gone. Innocence is brief. Nowadays it is even briefer than it was in my day.
But longing can be sweet as we dream of its fulfillment. Paul writes to Rome and says, "I want very much to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine (Rom 1:11-12)." He tells them he had often planned to come and see them, but was prevented. He longs to have fruitful ministry among them. He is "eager to preach the good news."
Paul's eagerness is met for the moment in his letter. Little did he know the fruit his letter would bear. Paul meant to introduce his message and ministry to the church in Rome. He had no idea this masterpiece of his would become Christian scripture and part of the Holy Bible right along with the Torah of Moses and the writings of the prophets which he freely quotes throughout.
Paul's longing to come to Rome was fulfilled in his arrest and transport there by the Roman government. His letter had preceded him and been read in the churches in the area. As he approached Rome under Roman guard the believers came out to greet him.
"And so we came to Rome. 15 Now the believers [e] from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as Forum of Appius and Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage (Acts 28:14b-15)."
The psalmist says it beautifully about longing and desire:
Take delight in the LORD,
and He will give you your heart's desires. (Psa. 37:4)
May all your godly desires be fulfilled as you wait patiently in hope in the Lord in whom you delight.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Be Strong and Courageous
Day 40: Joshua 1–5; Ecclesiastes 7–12; Acts 25–28
40 days...that's a biblical benchmark! I began Joshua, the 5th book in the Old Testament and the first of a new section called history. Joshua is the book telling about the conquest and settlement of the Promised Land. It begins with God encouraging Joshua and the Israelites and ends with a recommitment tot he covenant. In between is much bloodshed, miraculous moments and passing out the inheritance like the reading of a will.
Joshua chapter one has not once, twice, but three times the exhortation to "be strong and courageous (Josh. 1:6-7, 9, 18)." One time God adds "be very courageous." The source of Joshua's courage is that God is will be with him and win the battles for Israel (Josh 1:5).
So the people prepare. Joshua sends two spies to Jericho. The story is reminiscent of the two strangers visiting Sodom for the men of the city tell the prostitute Rahab, "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house." The men of Sodom said something similar to Lot. And just as Lot protected the two angels, Rahab protected the two Israelite spies. Because of her kindness and the fact that she recognized the God of the Hebrews was going to hand Jericho over to them, she was given a chance to be saved. She hung a scarlet rope from her window.
The scarlet rope has deep meaning. The Israelites put blood on the doorposts at passover to spare them from death during the plague of the firstborn. A distant relative to King David and later Jesus has a red string of yarn tied to his wrist at birth (Zerah the twin to King David's direct ancestor Perez) (Gen. 38:27-30; Ruth 4:18-22). The scarlet thread/rope points to atonement...blood shed to bring salvation from sin. Rahab is saved by the redemptive purposes of God. She ends up becoming a wife of an Israelite Salmon and an ancestor to David and Jesus as well (Mat. 1:5).
As a Christian it is inspiring to see what the early disciples began to see when their eyes were opened to the scriptures by the resurrected Lord and the counsel of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24: 27, 30-32). For I see God's divine plan to bring salvation through the scarlet blood of Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29).
God leads Joshua and the people by the ark of the covenant to cross the Jordan on dry land through a miraculous act to stop the flow of the river. Remember that water in Genesis 1 and the flood story both represent chaos. The ark of the covenant contains the Ten Commandments on the two stone tablets, a jar of manna and Aaron's staff. The ark's contents that hold back chaos and provides a safe passage with the power of the Holy God are covenant law, divine provision and chosen priesthood.
To celebrate they set up 12 stones they took from the riverbed of Jordan as a memorial.
The men who crossed were the next generation of Israelites. They have never known slavery in Egypt. They grew up wandering about in the wilderness under Moses' leadership. They had not circumcised their sons during the wilderness years. So Joshua has all the males circumcised as a means of marking their holy connection to the God of Israel, the God of their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And they ate from the produce of the promised land. And when they did the manna stopped falling from heaven. For 40 years they had eaten bread from heaven, fed by God's miraculous hand. Now they enjoy the sweet fulfillment of God's promise.
They prepare for battle and the Angel of the Lord visits but reminds Joshua that He and the angel army hosts serve God's purposes alone. He is not for Israel. He is a servant of God and as long as Israel is a servant of God, they will find God's army defeating their enemies.
The writer of Ecclesiastes has heard the stories of the ancestors and how God promised blessing for obedience and curse for rebellion. He sees that not every time this is so. There are times when the evil flourish and enjoy long life with little struggle while the righteous suffer and seem to miss the promised blessing (Ecc. 8:14). And so he tells his audience to not be too righteous or too wicked. One should not wear themselves out by too much righteous law keeping or die young from excesses in wicked behavior (Ecc. 7:16-18). In his mind there is no trustworthy means to spare the righteous from suffering. Both the wicked and the righteous end up in the same place...dead in Sheol (Ecc. 9:9-11).
Ecclesiastes is an acquired taste. It is not a book for rank and file Christians who tend to focus only on the positive. This book smacks of realism, but it also seems to lack any real hope. There is more a resigned acquiescence to the way of things. In some ways the message of the book could be heard like the bumper sticker that reads "Life Sucks and then You Die." But there is more to it than that. It takes a certain amount of courage to live life on life's terms. The wise man knows life in the end will be as God desires, however little we may understand it, and that is good. There is a wisdom that says life is meant to be enjoyed. Work is meant to be enjoyed. Food and drink are meant to be enjoyed. And though life is fleeting and ends in death, there is an order to things in the world. So fear God and keep His commands. That is the purpose for the life of an Israelite in King Solomon's view.
Finally I complete the Acts of the Apostles, Luke's second work. Paul is tried by Festus, but Paul appeals to Caesar and wishes to be tried before the emperor in Rome. A terrible storm threatens their lives and the ship on which they travel is destroyed. But Paul glorifies God and encourages the men. Not one of them die. They all make it safely to shore in Malta. God is with Paul and because Paul is with the 275 other men, they are saved (Acts 27:37). The book ends with Paul under house arrest preaching the gospel to Romans and Jews at the center of the western world.
God is with us still in this work to advance the kingdom of God. Just as Joshua and the Israelites will face enemies, and Paul faces death in Rome, we too will have trouble in this world trying to serve God. But take heart, be strong and courageous, Jesus overcame the world (Jn. 16:33) and He promises to be with us always even to the end of the age (Mat. 28:20).
40 days...that's a biblical benchmark! I began Joshua, the 5th book in the Old Testament and the first of a new section called history. Joshua is the book telling about the conquest and settlement of the Promised Land. It begins with God encouraging Joshua and the Israelites and ends with a recommitment tot he covenant. In between is much bloodshed, miraculous moments and passing out the inheritance like the reading of a will.
Joshua chapter one has not once, twice, but three times the exhortation to "be strong and courageous (Josh. 1:6-7, 9, 18)." One time God adds "be very courageous." The source of Joshua's courage is that God is will be with him and win the battles for Israel (Josh 1:5).
So the people prepare. Joshua sends two spies to Jericho. The story is reminiscent of the two strangers visiting Sodom for the men of the city tell the prostitute Rahab, "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house." The men of Sodom said something similar to Lot. And just as Lot protected the two angels, Rahab protected the two Israelite spies. Because of her kindness and the fact that she recognized the God of the Hebrews was going to hand Jericho over to them, she was given a chance to be saved. She hung a scarlet rope from her window.
The scarlet rope has deep meaning. The Israelites put blood on the doorposts at passover to spare them from death during the plague of the firstborn. A distant relative to King David and later Jesus has a red string of yarn tied to his wrist at birth (Zerah the twin to King David's direct ancestor Perez) (Gen. 38:27-30; Ruth 4:18-22). The scarlet thread/rope points to atonement...blood shed to bring salvation from sin. Rahab is saved by the redemptive purposes of God. She ends up becoming a wife of an Israelite Salmon and an ancestor to David and Jesus as well (Mat. 1:5).
As a Christian it is inspiring to see what the early disciples began to see when their eyes were opened to the scriptures by the resurrected Lord and the counsel of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24: 27, 30-32). For I see God's divine plan to bring salvation through the scarlet blood of Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29).
God leads Joshua and the people by the ark of the covenant to cross the Jordan on dry land through a miraculous act to stop the flow of the river. Remember that water in Genesis 1 and the flood story both represent chaos. The ark of the covenant contains the Ten Commandments on the two stone tablets, a jar of manna and Aaron's staff. The ark's contents that hold back chaos and provides a safe passage with the power of the Holy God are covenant law, divine provision and chosen priesthood.
To celebrate they set up 12 stones they took from the riverbed of Jordan as a memorial.
The men who crossed were the next generation of Israelites. They have never known slavery in Egypt. They grew up wandering about in the wilderness under Moses' leadership. They had not circumcised their sons during the wilderness years. So Joshua has all the males circumcised as a means of marking their holy connection to the God of Israel, the God of their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And they ate from the produce of the promised land. And when they did the manna stopped falling from heaven. For 40 years they had eaten bread from heaven, fed by God's miraculous hand. Now they enjoy the sweet fulfillment of God's promise.
They prepare for battle and the Angel of the Lord visits but reminds Joshua that He and the angel army hosts serve God's purposes alone. He is not for Israel. He is a servant of God and as long as Israel is a servant of God, they will find God's army defeating their enemies.
The writer of Ecclesiastes has heard the stories of the ancestors and how God promised blessing for obedience and curse for rebellion. He sees that not every time this is so. There are times when the evil flourish and enjoy long life with little struggle while the righteous suffer and seem to miss the promised blessing (Ecc. 8:14). And so he tells his audience to not be too righteous or too wicked. One should not wear themselves out by too much righteous law keeping or die young from excesses in wicked behavior (Ecc. 7:16-18). In his mind there is no trustworthy means to spare the righteous from suffering. Both the wicked and the righteous end up in the same place...dead in Sheol (Ecc. 9:9-11).
Ecclesiastes is an acquired taste. It is not a book for rank and file Christians who tend to focus only on the positive. This book smacks of realism, but it also seems to lack any real hope. There is more a resigned acquiescence to the way of things. In some ways the message of the book could be heard like the bumper sticker that reads "Life Sucks and then You Die." But there is more to it than that. It takes a certain amount of courage to live life on life's terms. The wise man knows life in the end will be as God desires, however little we may understand it, and that is good. There is a wisdom that says life is meant to be enjoyed. Work is meant to be enjoyed. Food and drink are meant to be enjoyed. And though life is fleeting and ends in death, there is an order to things in the world. So fear God and keep His commands. That is the purpose for the life of an Israelite in King Solomon's view.
Finally I complete the Acts of the Apostles, Luke's second work. Paul is tried by Festus, but Paul appeals to Caesar and wishes to be tried before the emperor in Rome. A terrible storm threatens their lives and the ship on which they travel is destroyed. But Paul glorifies God and encourages the men. Not one of them die. They all make it safely to shore in Malta. God is with Paul and because Paul is with the 275 other men, they are saved (Acts 27:37). The book ends with Paul under house arrest preaching the gospel to Romans and Jews at the center of the western world.
God is with us still in this work to advance the kingdom of God. Just as Joshua and the Israelites will face enemies, and Paul faces death in Rome, we too will have trouble in this world trying to serve God. But take heart, be strong and courageous, Jesus overcame the world (Jn. 16:33) and He promises to be with us always even to the end of the age (Mat. 28:20).
Saturday, April 16, 2011
There is a Time for Everything
Day 39: Deuteronomy 31–34; Ecclesiastes 1–6; Acts 22–24
Moses dies, Solomon cries and Paul flies into prison. And all this is from God.
OK, I am behaving like a journalist trying out eye-catching headlines. Well there is a time for headlines and a time for headstones. Did I mention there is a time for headaches? OK! Enough cuteness, let's get into today's summary response.
Moses dies at the end of Deuteronomy. He has fulfilled his part of God's purpose. He has written down the law and put it in a form that the priesthood (the sons of Levi) can teach. He has also passed on his authority to Joshua, who will lead the Israelites across the Jordan to take the land from its inhabitants. Moses commissions Joshua before all Israel at the tent of meeting. God's presence is seen in the pillar of cloud at the entrance to the tent. It is a time of reminders for the elders to lead Israel to keep the laws, commands and statutes of the covenant given through Moses. It is a time to remember that God is their deliverer and provider and protector. The Lord goes before them into the battle. Deut. 31:8 says, "The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
It is also a time to to remember their weakness. Moses prophesies that Israel will be unfaithful and as a result they shall bear God's wrath. The Lord told Moses, "these people will soon commit adultery with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon Me and break the covenant (Deut 31:16). It is a bleak forecast. Moses even writes a song to teach the following generations how the failure of the Israelites to keep covenant with Yahweh lead to their undoing. Their turn to idolatry leads to their fall to the hands of enemies. Israel will fall to "an inferior people" and "a foolish nation."
There is a time for correction, discipline. But there is also a time for restoration. For God promises to bring them back home "when He sees that their strength is gone." He will have "compassion on His servants (Deut. 32:36)."
Moses blesses the twelve tribes of Israel by name and then goes up the mountain (Nebo/Pisgah) to see the Promised Land and dies. The text implies that God buries Moses' body. The New Testament letter from Jude draws on material outside the Bible in a book called "The Assumption of Moses." In it the archangel Michael wants to bury Moses' body but the Devil tries to stop him claiming authority over the earth(Jude 9). There is a time for mysteries and myth which calls us to deeper truth.
By now you may realize I am inspired by the despairing thoughts of the writer of Ecclesiastes, traditionally attributed to King Solomon. His very first words are "Absolute futility!" "Everything is futile (Ecc. 1:2)." I cut my teeth on reading the New International Version in the 1980's which says, "Meaningless, Meaningless! Everything is Meaningless!"
Back then these words liberated me. Because I found comfort and catharsis in having my own experience validated by scripture. The good book spoke affirmation to what most people would tend to censor. I had a friend in Solomon. We understood each other. For I too had tried just about everything by then and found that everything was nothing...a chasing after the wind (Ecc. 1:14). There is a time for recognizing that all the pretty things of this life are empty when one realizes death will steal it away.
Life has its moments of joy and pain, gain and loss. The wise man realizes that God is in the midst working His good purposes (Rom. 8:28). I used to spend a lot of emotional energy fretting over a world that won't bend to my will. A wise man realizes there is one will by which the world turns. And regardless of what meaning there is for me or not, It is my Father's world. I am only a child in His world. According to Solomon, we are no better off than the animals (Ecc. 4:19). We both die and return to dust. While Solomon may hope in his spirit rising upward to God, nobody really knows for sure (Ecc. 3:21). So just learn to enjoy life as it comes.
This is the wisdom of a man worn down by the world but who trusts in God's faithfulness. Solomon was not wise to the coming promise of eternal life through one of David's sons. But the apostle Paul knows the promise and preaches resurrection. His preaching lands him in prison. But he is in prison more to protect him from the murderous threat of the Jews in Jerusalem than for any crime he had committed. His preaching stirs anger and jealousy from the Jews (because of his ministry to the Gentiles), but fear and amazement in the Roman governor Felix who married a Jewess (Acts 24:24-27).
Felix kept Paul in prison and conversed with him a number of times over a two year period before being replaced by his successor Festus. One might think that Felix's desire for a bribe kept Paul in prison (Acts 24:26), but there is more going on here than Jewish rage and Roman greed or curiosity. God has designed all this for His purposes to spread the gospel all the way to Caesar's ears in Rome, the center of the western world (Acts 23:11).
There is a time to decide who is really in control of your life. Will it be you, prone to despairing or happily ignoring the futility of life lived invested in this world? Or will it be God, whose purposes are always pure, right and good, even when it means you will suffer while doing His will?
There is a time for ultimate decisions which lead to life or death. May God give you courage as you consider the time you face.
Moses dies, Solomon cries and Paul flies into prison. And all this is from God.
OK, I am behaving like a journalist trying out eye-catching headlines. Well there is a time for headlines and a time for headstones. Did I mention there is a time for headaches? OK! Enough cuteness, let's get into today's summary response.
Moses dies at the end of Deuteronomy. He has fulfilled his part of God's purpose. He has written down the law and put it in a form that the priesthood (the sons of Levi) can teach. He has also passed on his authority to Joshua, who will lead the Israelites across the Jordan to take the land from its inhabitants. Moses commissions Joshua before all Israel at the tent of meeting. God's presence is seen in the pillar of cloud at the entrance to the tent. It is a time of reminders for the elders to lead Israel to keep the laws, commands and statutes of the covenant given through Moses. It is a time to remember that God is their deliverer and provider and protector. The Lord goes before them into the battle. Deut. 31:8 says, "The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
It is also a time to to remember their weakness. Moses prophesies that Israel will be unfaithful and as a result they shall bear God's wrath. The Lord told Moses, "these people will soon commit adultery with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon Me and break the covenant (Deut 31:16). It is a bleak forecast. Moses even writes a song to teach the following generations how the failure of the Israelites to keep covenant with Yahweh lead to their undoing. Their turn to idolatry leads to their fall to the hands of enemies. Israel will fall to "an inferior people" and "a foolish nation."
There is a time for correction, discipline. But there is also a time for restoration. For God promises to bring them back home "when He sees that their strength is gone." He will have "compassion on His servants (Deut. 32:36)."
Moses blesses the twelve tribes of Israel by name and then goes up the mountain (Nebo/Pisgah) to see the Promised Land and dies. The text implies that God buries Moses' body. The New Testament letter from Jude draws on material outside the Bible in a book called "The Assumption of Moses." In it the archangel Michael wants to bury Moses' body but the Devil tries to stop him claiming authority over the earth(Jude 9). There is a time for mysteries and myth which calls us to deeper truth.
By now you may realize I am inspired by the despairing thoughts of the writer of Ecclesiastes, traditionally attributed to King Solomon. His very first words are "Absolute futility!" "Everything is futile (Ecc. 1:2)." I cut my teeth on reading the New International Version in the 1980's which says, "Meaningless, Meaningless! Everything is Meaningless!"
Back then these words liberated me. Because I found comfort and catharsis in having my own experience validated by scripture. The good book spoke affirmation to what most people would tend to censor. I had a friend in Solomon. We understood each other. For I too had tried just about everything by then and found that everything was nothing...a chasing after the wind (Ecc. 1:14). There is a time for recognizing that all the pretty things of this life are empty when one realizes death will steal it away.
Life has its moments of joy and pain, gain and loss. The wise man realizes that God is in the midst working His good purposes (Rom. 8:28). I used to spend a lot of emotional energy fretting over a world that won't bend to my will. A wise man realizes there is one will by which the world turns. And regardless of what meaning there is for me or not, It is my Father's world. I am only a child in His world. According to Solomon, we are no better off than the animals (Ecc. 4:19). We both die and return to dust. While Solomon may hope in his spirit rising upward to God, nobody really knows for sure (Ecc. 3:21). So just learn to enjoy life as it comes.
This is the wisdom of a man worn down by the world but who trusts in God's faithfulness. Solomon was not wise to the coming promise of eternal life through one of David's sons. But the apostle Paul knows the promise and preaches resurrection. His preaching lands him in prison. But he is in prison more to protect him from the murderous threat of the Jews in Jerusalem than for any crime he had committed. His preaching stirs anger and jealousy from the Jews (because of his ministry to the Gentiles), but fear and amazement in the Roman governor Felix who married a Jewess (Acts 24:24-27).
Felix kept Paul in prison and conversed with him a number of times over a two year period before being replaced by his successor Festus. One might think that Felix's desire for a bribe kept Paul in prison (Acts 24:26), but there is more going on here than Jewish rage and Roman greed or curiosity. God has designed all this for His purposes to spread the gospel all the way to Caesar's ears in Rome, the center of the western world (Acts 23:11).
There is a time to decide who is really in control of your life. Will it be you, prone to despairing or happily ignoring the futility of life lived invested in this world? Or will it be God, whose purposes are always pure, right and good, even when it means you will suffer while doing His will?
There is a time for ultimate decisions which lead to life or death. May God give you courage as you consider the time you face.
Choose Life
Day 38: Deuteronomy 26–30; Proverbs 27–31; Acts 19–21
What makes for a life...the good life? We might think of financial wealth to live in ease and have everything you could possibly want. I heard just today a story about a wealthy man here in Indianapolis who hired the legendary Ray Charles to perform in his him for his birthday. I thought to myself, "It's good to be the king!" I also heard an NFL football professional say that celebrity status is empty, a vanity, a chasing after the wind. Popularity, wealth and status do not make Life.
Moses summarizes the law in Deuteronomy and reminds the people of Israel to keep it when the enter the Promised Land. For covenant obedience God promises prosperity, protection, privilege and peace. For disobedience, just the opposite will occur...poverty, plague, putdown and peril. (That's a lot of "P's")
Moses ends his big sermon by saying, "today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life (Deut. 30:19)."
The blessings of obedience are lifted in the Proverbs continually in the form of wisdom and understanding, compassion and integrity. If one pursues wisdom and righteousness, they will be blessed. If they rebel, their downfall is certain.
Happy is the one who is always reverent,
but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
The one who lives with integrity will be helped,
but one who distorts right and wrong
will suddenly fall.
A faithful man will have many blessings,
but one in a hurry to get rich
will not go unpunished. (Pr. 28:14, 18, 20)
The wise know the source of life. It come from obedience to God's truth revealed to us in scripture.
The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love will find life, righteousness, and honor. (Pr. 21:21)
But there is in the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles that seems to point to Life beyond this mortal existence in such a way that obedience to Christ, even to death, means the fullest life possible. Jesus taught that He came to give the abundant life, life overflowing (Jn 10:10). And he also taught that if one wants to save their life, they will lose it, but if they lose their life for Him and the gospel, they will gain Life (Mat. 10:39; 16:25; Mk. 8:35; Lk. 9:24; 17:33; John 12:25).
Paul seems to be captive to this very thought. He considers his life nothing compare to knowing Jesus Christ (Phil 3:8). As he wraps up his third missionary journey, Paul finds himself called by the Holy Spirit to return to Jerusalem and suffer. On his way there he stops along the way and encourages the Christian communities in he helped to foster. At Ephesus, the disciples are heartbroken to hear they will never see Paul's face again (Acts 20:37-38). And at Caesarea, the disciples try to detain him to save his life, but Paul rebukes them tenderly saying, ""What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13)." They stopped begging him not to go. They finally recognized that Paul was determined by a spiritual force beyond their compassion to keep him from harm. "The Lord's will be done," they conceded.
Jesus made the same choice. He asked not to suffer the cross by asking the cup to pass from Him at Gethsemane, but in the end His prayer was, "not my will, by Your will be done, Father (Lk. 22:42)."
But by His sacrifice Life was poured out on us all through the exalted Christ. The Holy Spirit fills His church and we are walking by faith toward eternal life in the knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son.
What makes for Life is The One who is Life, Jesus Christ. All who come to Him will have Life and have it to the full.
What makes for a life...the good life? We might think of financial wealth to live in ease and have everything you could possibly want. I heard just today a story about a wealthy man here in Indianapolis who hired the legendary Ray Charles to perform in his him for his birthday. I thought to myself, "It's good to be the king!" I also heard an NFL football professional say that celebrity status is empty, a vanity, a chasing after the wind. Popularity, wealth and status do not make Life.
Moses summarizes the law in Deuteronomy and reminds the people of Israel to keep it when the enter the Promised Land. For covenant obedience God promises prosperity, protection, privilege and peace. For disobedience, just the opposite will occur...poverty, plague, putdown and peril. (That's a lot of "P's")
Moses ends his big sermon by saying, "today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life (Deut. 30:19)."
The blessings of obedience are lifted in the Proverbs continually in the form of wisdom and understanding, compassion and integrity. If one pursues wisdom and righteousness, they will be blessed. If they rebel, their downfall is certain.
Happy is the one who is always reverent,
but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
The one who lives with integrity will be helped,
but one who distorts right and wrong
will suddenly fall.
A faithful man will have many blessings,
but one in a hurry to get rich
will not go unpunished. (Pr. 28:14, 18, 20)
The wise know the source of life. It come from obedience to God's truth revealed to us in scripture.
The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love will find life, righteousness, and honor. (Pr. 21:21)
But there is in the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles that seems to point to Life beyond this mortal existence in such a way that obedience to Christ, even to death, means the fullest life possible. Jesus taught that He came to give the abundant life, life overflowing (Jn 10:10). And he also taught that if one wants to save their life, they will lose it, but if they lose their life for Him and the gospel, they will gain Life (Mat. 10:39; 16:25; Mk. 8:35; Lk. 9:24; 17:33; John 12:25).
Paul seems to be captive to this very thought. He considers his life nothing compare to knowing Jesus Christ (Phil 3:8). As he wraps up his third missionary journey, Paul finds himself called by the Holy Spirit to return to Jerusalem and suffer. On his way there he stops along the way and encourages the Christian communities in he helped to foster. At Ephesus, the disciples are heartbroken to hear they will never see Paul's face again (Acts 20:37-38). And at Caesarea, the disciples try to detain him to save his life, but Paul rebukes them tenderly saying, ""What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13)." They stopped begging him not to go. They finally recognized that Paul was determined by a spiritual force beyond their compassion to keep him from harm. "The Lord's will be done," they conceded.
Jesus made the same choice. He asked not to suffer the cross by asking the cup to pass from Him at Gethsemane, but in the end His prayer was, "not my will, by Your will be done, Father (Lk. 22:42)."
But by His sacrifice Life was poured out on us all through the exalted Christ. The Holy Spirit fills His church and we are walking by faith toward eternal life in the knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son.
What makes for Life is The One who is Life, Jesus Christ. All who come to Him will have Life and have it to the full.
Friday, April 15, 2011
And Now For Something Completely Different...
Day 37: Deuteronomy 21–25; Proverbs 22–26; Acts 16–18
I love the British comedy troupe Monty Python. They have a film entitled "And Now For Something Completely Different...," which is a collection of skits from their popular television series. It is random and seems to have very little order. It's just silly.
Forgive me, but that's how Deuteronomy felt today and the Proverbs are getting to be monotonous as well. The summary instructions for the Israelites as they prepare to cross the Jordan and take possession of the land includes a ritual for atonement in the case of an unsolved murder. The priests along with elders from the city nearest the murder (It is assumed that a murder in a city can't go unnoticed. The writer of Deuteronomy hadn't imagined a place like New York City!) take a young cow to a river and break its neck. They proclaim innocence of the bloodshed and no knowledge of the murderer. This absolves them of guilt. There are rules for taking a woman as your wife from the women of a conquered city. There are rules for killing your rebellious son who won't do what his parents tell him to do (Deut. 21:20-21)! There are rules as to when to take down the bodies of the executed. Crossdressing is prohibited. Justice for chickens is commented upon (Deut. 22:6-7). Safety considerations when building a home, and where to bury your crap because it wouldn't be proper for God to step in your poop...these are a sample of the kind of commands, statues and laws recorded in this section.
Hey, it's practical, I guess. But it sure is odd...completely different...I'd say.
The Proverbs are very practical, but they can be a little odd to my sensibilities too. For instance,
The slacker says, "There's a lion outside!
I'll be killed in the streets!" (Pr. 22:13)
stick a knife in your throat
if you have a big appetite (Pr. 23:2b)
He who gives an honest answer
gives a kiss on the lips. (Pr. 24:26)
I don't get these. The explanations from commentaries attempt to bridge the gap between my world and the world of the Old Testament, but in the end...it's completely different.
I suppose that is how the Jews and the Athenians felt about the proclamation that Jesus is the Christ, that through His execution on the cross we are given forgiveness of sins and offered eternal life through belief in the good news about His resurrection from the dead. The Jews became jealous of the response of some of the members of the synagogue converted to belief in Jesus. And the Athenians looked upon Paul as a "seed picker" or a person of no account (a pseudo-intellectual as the Holman Christian Standard Bible translates). The Greek philosophers questioned Paul about the religion he was preaching in the Aeropagus on Mars Hill, but when they heard about the resurrection, some of them sneered. It was completely different...utter nonsense in their minds.
Yet there is something about this gospel that meets deep needs in the heart of humankind. Some wished to hear Paul speak again and learn more. Some believed and accepted the good news with joy and joined Paul. Everywhere Paul went there were those who strongly opposed his message about Jesus and those who were glad to receive it in faith.
I suppose I would rather find a way to be glad to receive the scriptures even when they are downright odd. It's better than becoming a jealous zealot and stirring up trouble. In fact it can be quite humorous.
"A wife's nagging is an endless dripping" (Pr. 19:13), written by King Solomon, a man who had 300 wives and 700 concubines. He should know. ;)~
I love the British comedy troupe Monty Python. They have a film entitled "And Now For Something Completely Different...," which is a collection of skits from their popular television series. It is random and seems to have very little order. It's just silly.
Forgive me, but that's how Deuteronomy felt today and the Proverbs are getting to be monotonous as well. The summary instructions for the Israelites as they prepare to cross the Jordan and take possession of the land includes a ritual for atonement in the case of an unsolved murder. The priests along with elders from the city nearest the murder (It is assumed that a murder in a city can't go unnoticed. The writer of Deuteronomy hadn't imagined a place like New York City!) take a young cow to a river and break its neck. They proclaim innocence of the bloodshed and no knowledge of the murderer. This absolves them of guilt. There are rules for taking a woman as your wife from the women of a conquered city. There are rules for killing your rebellious son who won't do what his parents tell him to do (Deut. 21:20-21)! There are rules as to when to take down the bodies of the executed. Crossdressing is prohibited. Justice for chickens is commented upon (Deut. 22:6-7). Safety considerations when building a home, and where to bury your crap because it wouldn't be proper for God to step in your poop...these are a sample of the kind of commands, statues and laws recorded in this section.
Hey, it's practical, I guess. But it sure is odd...completely different...I'd say.
The Proverbs are very practical, but they can be a little odd to my sensibilities too. For instance,
The slacker says, "There's a lion outside!
I'll be killed in the streets!" (Pr. 22:13)
stick a knife in your throat
if you have a big appetite (Pr. 23:2b)
He who gives an honest answer
gives a kiss on the lips. (Pr. 24:26)
I don't get these. The explanations from commentaries attempt to bridge the gap between my world and the world of the Old Testament, but in the end...it's completely different.
I suppose that is how the Jews and the Athenians felt about the proclamation that Jesus is the Christ, that through His execution on the cross we are given forgiveness of sins and offered eternal life through belief in the good news about His resurrection from the dead. The Jews became jealous of the response of some of the members of the synagogue converted to belief in Jesus. And the Athenians looked upon Paul as a "seed picker" or a person of no account (a pseudo-intellectual as the Holman Christian Standard Bible translates). The Greek philosophers questioned Paul about the religion he was preaching in the Aeropagus on Mars Hill, but when they heard about the resurrection, some of them sneered. It was completely different...utter nonsense in their minds.
Yet there is something about this gospel that meets deep needs in the heart of humankind. Some wished to hear Paul speak again and learn more. Some believed and accepted the good news with joy and joined Paul. Everywhere Paul went there were those who strongly opposed his message about Jesus and those who were glad to receive it in faith.
I suppose I would rather find a way to be glad to receive the scriptures even when they are downright odd. It's better than becoming a jealous zealot and stirring up trouble. In fact it can be quite humorous.
"A wife's nagging is an endless dripping" (Pr. 19:13), written by King Solomon, a man who had 300 wives and 700 concubines. He should know. ;)~
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Gentiles and Jews
Day 36: Deuteronomy 16-20; Proverbs 17-21; Acts 13-15
It becomes clearer to me as I journey between Old and New Testaments that God's plan of redemption, His work among the Israelites to glorify His name and draw the nations to Himself in worship and righteousness, was a work that required a single-minded, take no prisoners, show no mercy, kind of campaign.
That is a really long sentence that needs revising! But it took a really long time for God to bring Israel to a place to produce the Son of Man, Jesus. "In the fullness of time," the Bible speaks of the appearance of Jesus (Gal. 4:4; Eph. 1:10). God sent His Son when the time was ripe.
A scholar and leader in Jewish Christian relations, David H. Stern, wrote "The central figure of the New Testament, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) was a Jew...His twelve closest followers were Jews...The New Testament was written entirely by Jews and its message is directed to the Jew especially and equally to the Gentile (Rom. 1:16)...The main issue was not whether a Jew can believe in Yeshua (Jesus), but whether a Gentile could become a Christian without converting to Judaism. Jesus said, "Salvation is from the Jews." (Jn 4:22)"
The early church struggles with its mission to "go and make disciples (Mat. 28:18)" and "be Jesus' witnesses...to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8)." They face fierce resistance from the Jewish leadership (Acts 13:26; 45; 14:2, 19) and there were sharp disagreements about how the Gentiles might be included in the church. Some of believers of the Pharisee sect of Judaism believed the Gentiles must be circumcised (Acts 15:1,5).
What is the reason for this disagreement? This is where I really feel for the Jews and their zeal for their holiness traditions. I empathize with them for consider the hard lessons endured by the people of Israel in order that they might learn obedience to keep the laws, commands and statues of the covenant. I have read story upon story of God's wrath taking the lives of tens of thousands of the Israelites in the wilderness in recompense for their disobedience. There is no room for error and no compromise. Israel will be holy as God is holy (Deut. 7:6).
Consider also that God commanded through Moses to kill all the inhabitants of the Promised Land and take no pity on them (Deut. 7:16; 20:18). To let these Gentile nations live would be a snare to the people for they may be lead into idolatry and the detestable practices of these people.
What is so detestable? Leviticus 18 outlines many destestalbe practices, especially sexual immorality. Deuteronomy 18 also speaks against sorcery, divination, consulting spirits and the dead, fortune telling and witchcraft. Apparently the gentiles of Canaan consulted such people who practice these things for guidance. Instead God will provide prophets to guide His people. They are to listen to them and discern that they are in fact speaking on God's behalf (Deut. 18:15,21-22). And do not forget the forbidding of boiling a goat in its mother's milk (Ex. 23:19; Deut. 14:21).
So gentile pagan practices are the sort of things the Jews grew to despise as God's separated people. Now the trend is to bring holy Jew and filthy pig eating, incestuous, vile gentiles together in the same community of faith? Do you see the wall of hostility between them (Eph 2:14)?
The wisdom of Israel says about the disobedient,
Lashes and wounds purge away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts. (Pr. 20:30)
So you can imagine how the committed and disciplined Jewish Christians feel about letting in the Gentiles without conforming to their holy practices. They feel much like the older son in Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son.
‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ (Luke 15:29-30)
But Peter names what the new covenant in the blood of the Son of God means.
We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:11)
And so now through Christ God is building a new holy community, not based simply on keeping laws ans statutes, but keeping in love with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit who reminds us of all that Jesus has taught and done. This abiding Spirit causes us to abide in Christ and as such our hearts are made new and willing to please Him. We long to obey because of the love we feel and give through the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:8).
God, You know my heart. I thank You for Your mercy shown us in Jesus Christ. Continue to make this Gentile holy as You are holy. In Jesus' name, Amen.
It becomes clearer to me as I journey between Old and New Testaments that God's plan of redemption, His work among the Israelites to glorify His name and draw the nations to Himself in worship and righteousness, was a work that required a single-minded, take no prisoners, show no mercy, kind of campaign.
That is a really long sentence that needs revising! But it took a really long time for God to bring Israel to a place to produce the Son of Man, Jesus. "In the fullness of time," the Bible speaks of the appearance of Jesus (Gal. 4:4; Eph. 1:10). God sent His Son when the time was ripe.
A scholar and leader in Jewish Christian relations, David H. Stern, wrote "The central figure of the New Testament, Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) was a Jew...His twelve closest followers were Jews...The New Testament was written entirely by Jews and its message is directed to the Jew especially and equally to the Gentile (Rom. 1:16)...The main issue was not whether a Jew can believe in Yeshua (Jesus), but whether a Gentile could become a Christian without converting to Judaism. Jesus said, "Salvation is from the Jews." (Jn 4:22)"
The early church struggles with its mission to "go and make disciples (Mat. 28:18)" and "be Jesus' witnesses...to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8)." They face fierce resistance from the Jewish leadership (Acts 13:26; 45; 14:2, 19) and there were sharp disagreements about how the Gentiles might be included in the church. Some of believers of the Pharisee sect of Judaism believed the Gentiles must be circumcised (Acts 15:1,5).
What is the reason for this disagreement? This is where I really feel for the Jews and their zeal for their holiness traditions. I empathize with them for consider the hard lessons endured by the people of Israel in order that they might learn obedience to keep the laws, commands and statues of the covenant. I have read story upon story of God's wrath taking the lives of tens of thousands of the Israelites in the wilderness in recompense for their disobedience. There is no room for error and no compromise. Israel will be holy as God is holy (Deut. 7:6).
Consider also that God commanded through Moses to kill all the inhabitants of the Promised Land and take no pity on them (Deut. 7:16; 20:18). To let these Gentile nations live would be a snare to the people for they may be lead into idolatry and the detestable practices of these people.
What is so detestable? Leviticus 18 outlines many destestalbe practices, especially sexual immorality. Deuteronomy 18 also speaks against sorcery, divination, consulting spirits and the dead, fortune telling and witchcraft. Apparently the gentiles of Canaan consulted such people who practice these things for guidance. Instead God will provide prophets to guide His people. They are to listen to them and discern that they are in fact speaking on God's behalf (Deut. 18:15,21-22). And do not forget the forbidding of boiling a goat in its mother's milk (Ex. 23:19; Deut. 14:21).
So gentile pagan practices are the sort of things the Jews grew to despise as God's separated people. Now the trend is to bring holy Jew and filthy pig eating, incestuous, vile gentiles together in the same community of faith? Do you see the wall of hostility between them (Eph 2:14)?
The wisdom of Israel says about the disobedient,
Lashes and wounds purge away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts. (Pr. 20:30)
So you can imagine how the committed and disciplined Jewish Christians feel about letting in the Gentiles without conforming to their holy practices. They feel much like the older son in Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son.
‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ (Luke 15:29-30)
But Peter names what the new covenant in the blood of the Son of God means.
We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:11)
And so now through Christ God is building a new holy community, not based simply on keeping laws ans statutes, but keeping in love with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit who reminds us of all that Jesus has taught and done. This abiding Spirit causes us to abide in Christ and as such our hearts are made new and willing to please Him. We long to obey because of the love we feel and give through the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:8).
God, You know my heart. I thank You for Your mercy shown us in Jesus Christ. Continue to make this Gentile holy as You are holy. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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