Tag: Risk Taking

Pondering my Christianity! When I am “Called to Account.” When I “know” that only One Whopper of an Excuse will get ME through a Crisis. Exodus 32

Exodus 32:1-5Amplified Bible

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a [a]god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten [b]calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5 Now when Aaron saw the molten calf, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord!”

Exodus 32:21-24Amplified Bible

21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin on them?” 22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 I said to them, ‘Let whoever has gold [jewelry], take it off.’ So, they gave it to me; then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Accountability is absolutely essential for any society to function, and Christian accountability is no different. We are all held accountable in one way or another.

For example, there are laws to obey and if we fail to be obedient, we may have to be called to account and suffer the consequences set by the officials who hold us accountable. One’s accountability is simply being responsible for one’s actions.

Pathological excuse making (lying) is not a clinical diagnosis, though it can sometimes be a very definitive symptom of many other underlying issues.

Some people get so accustomed to lying they do so even when there is no clear purpose, and when their lies are easily disproven, leaves everyone scratching their heads over the point of their efforts at so easily creating the deceptions.

Over the years, I’ve experienced a large number of these people — and I have gained some insight into the ways they initially think, react and they speak.

Believe it or not, their rationales and reactions make some “obvious” sense, when you look at it through their eyes and listen to them try to explain them.

Here are some of the reasons behind their ‘rational’ reactionary excuse making.

1. The lie does matter to them. The number one reason people make excuses when it just doesn’t matter is because they actually do think it does matter.

While everyone around them thinks it’s an inconsequential issue, the liar believes it is critically important. They may be putting undeserved emphasis or pressure on themselves, or on the issue, but you won’t know unless you ask something like, “It seems like this issue is really important to you — why?”

2. Telling the truth feels like giving up control.

Often, people tell make excuses because they are trying to control a situation and exert influence toward getting the decisions or reactions they want. The truth can be “inconvenient” because it might not conform to their narrative.

3. They make their excuses because they don’t want to disappoint or harm you.

It may not feel like it to you, but people who tell one excuse after the other are often worried about their losing the respect of those around them. They want you to like them, be impressed, believe and value them. And they’re worried that the truth might lead you to rejecting or shaming them.

4. Lies lead to more lies.

I am sure we all saw the movie Pinocchio where his nose grew every time he lied. We tell a little bitty lie, but then to cover that lie, we have to tell another one, then another, and another — each gets bigger and bigger.

Finally, we’re arguing about senseless points because to admit anything correct creates the real (but unwanted) potential of the entire house of cards tumbling.

If a chronic liar admits to any single lie, they feel like they’re admitting to being a liar, and then you’ll have reason to distrust them and just cast them aside.

5. it’s not a lie to them.

When under pressure, our thinking about the big picture can be challenged.

Our memory of things is actually quite unreliable.

Our memories are influenced by many things, that they change over time, and that they are essentially reconstructed each time we think about them.

Often, repetitive liars feel so much pressure in the moment that their memory becomes simply unreliable. When they say something, it’s often because they genuinely believe, at that moment, that it is the truth.

Their memory has been overwhelmed by stress, current events, and their desire to find a way, find any way, to make this particularly stressful situation work.

Sometimes, this can become so severe that the person almost seems to have created, generated and then fully manifested, a complete alternate world in their head, one that conforms to their moment-by-moment beliefs and needs.

6. They desperately need and want it to be true.

Finally, the excuse maker might want their excuse to be true so badly that their desire and needs again compel and overwhelm their instinct to tell the truth.

Sometimes, excuse makers hope that they can make something come true by “sheer will” saying it over and over, and by believing it as hard as they can.

In today’s environment of “alternative facts and weaponized narratives,” it’s hard particularly hard not to see this as somewhat justified.

Please remember this – People, by and large, are accountable, honest by default.

Most people tell the truth most of the time.

Our very capacity for language is built on an assumption of honesty — we agree the words we use mean the very same thing consistently, and we do not seek to deliberately use words deceptively because this would render language and the very communication of ideas would become “weaponized” and implausible.

Some people lie more than others, but even frequent liars are actually honest most of the time. But it stands out dramatically when their deceptions are so blatant, so easily disproven, and seemingly implausible and unimportant.

As frustrating as it is when people tell whoppers, we can begin to understand the motivations behind them.

Asking the person, “Why is this situation so important to you?” or,

“Why do you need me to see this the same way you do?” can be a useful, non-threatening way to get at the foundations of stress and desperation that often underlie deceptions.

Don’t ask, “Why are you lying?”

We need to remember that the person is often motivated by not being seen as a liar, and this question paints them into a corner they are going to fight against.

Of course, understanding a “Whopper of an Excuse” makers motivations and having empathy in such situations is valuable.

But to function effectively in the real world, we also need people to learn to be more honest and accountable to their actions and ever apparent dishonesty.

Communicating empathy for a person’s desperation can be a valuable tool to give them permission to tell the truth.

And then, recognizing and reinforcing when a person does tell the truth is a powerful way to get more truth-telling. It shows people that the truth is not actually scary, and that the world won’t end when the real truth comes out.

Exodus 32:21-24Amplified Bible

21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin on them?” 22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 I said to them, ‘Let whoever has gold [jewelry], take it off.’ So, they gave it to me; then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

Today we are going to learn how Moses’ brother Aaron when confronted for making a molten calf communicates to Moses that “Whopper of an Excuse.”

Let’s jump into today’s scripture to find out all the details.

We have in this chapter an interesting contrast between man’s way of worship and God’s way of worship.

Moses was in the Mount receiving from God careful instruction as to how future worship was to be conducted.

Its aim was in order to prevent any misconception of God.

But here at ground level, the people, assisted by Aaron, worked out their own way of worshipping God.

A way that could only have led them back into idolatry and rejection of all that was good and right in what the only living true God Yahweh had given them.

The chapter begins with the people being fearful of what has happened to Moses and rebelling against Yahweh.

Moses was in the Mount for forty days and forty nights receiving his written instructions from Father God Yahweh.

The people waiting in the plain below became restless, uneasy to worship.

They had somewhat fearfully seen him ascend and disappear into the cloud and then they had waited and waited, and he had not returned.

After that a whole moon period had passed and he had still not returned.

They knew personally the fearful nature of this God Who was in the Mountain and the warning of what would happen to any who approached the Mountain (Exodus chapter 32 verses 19.21).

Thus, they began to feel certain that they would not see Moses anymore.

By now they were most likely not sure whether they wanted to have anything more to do with this terrible God Who revealed Himself in the way that He had and had made such terrible threats against their lives if they dare approached.

They had agreed a covenant with Him out of a combination of gratitude and fear, but now they were not so sure that that was what they wanted.

They preferred gods with whom they could be more familiar, like the gods they had known in Egypt whom others worshipped.

Exodus 32:1 Amplified

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a [a]god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

It is understandable that the people would become alarmed.

In their minds, their very nerves had reached a breaking point at some of the revelations from the mountain. And Moses had now been gone for a long time.

Yes, the God Yahweh had delivered them, but they decided they wanted nothing to do with this God of the mountains whom unseen and who frightened them.

Does this “worship” sound like something straight out of our 21st century?

Worshipping a “God who was threatening and punitive versus all about “love?”

If one feels they have to choose between an always “threatening” and an always “punitive” versus an always “loving” and always “empathetic” God, which pew do you believe people will feel more compelled towards ‘visibly’ worshipping?

Rather would the Israelites like to approach Yahweh through the kind of images they were familiar with in Egypt, awe inspiring, but without causing trouble?

They wanted a god which was created by human hands to human standards and made to their socio-cultural, their own working socio-economic requirements.

As you know up to this point it was Yahweh Who had gone before them in the pillar of cloud and fire.

But that pillar had disappeared onto the mountain along with Moses.

Now they wanted visible representations of Yahweh instead, so that He could go before them in a way that was controllable.

They wanted Yahweh’s power on their behalf, they wanted to feel comfortable with Him.

They had had enough of this fierce God of the mountains, who fortunately for them and their personal security and physical safety, seemed to remain in the Mountain. They wanted to be on their way, and quickly, so that they could get away from Him. Thus, they demanded of Aaron to make their man-made God.

Now to see this in 2022, in a way, you have to consider the pressure on Aaron.

The people gathered together and sought him out. They were in an ugly mood and Aaron felt threatened. – Does this sound .1% familiar to our 2022 church?

Their confrontation with Aaron was a serious mixture of contempt and anger.

And here is where all the vitriolic excuses start flying in every which direction.

…. “After all he and Moses were the ones who “brought all this upon them.””

But their resentment is loud and clear, filled with high potential for violence.

No sympathy with Moses, only enmity.

Yes, he had delivered them from Egypt, but what had happened to him now?

He had trusted this mountain God, who surely was not the Yahweh Who had delivered them out of Egypt.

And look what good it had done him.

Where was he?

He had disappeared and they did not know where he was.

Indeed, in their minds he was most probably dead – never to be seen again.

And he deserved it. What they wanted was immediate help and assurance from someone they knew and relied on, and to return to the old compromising ways.

32:2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

It is clear from this that both men (‘your sons’) and women in Israel wore earrings.

And Genesis 35.4, where their earrings are closely connected to their false gods and have to be disposed of, makes clear these had strong religious significance.

They were thus very suitable for the making of ‘their standardized gods’ and would automatically give maximum credence to all the gods which were made.

32:3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

The people responded willingly.

This demonstrates how concerned they were and how urgently they felt the need to escape. After the extraordinary events of a month previously they felt a religious need, and that they had been deserted, and so they were willing to offer their valuables if it meant that they could have a god whom they could see.

32:4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

Aaron received the earrings from them, melted them down and fashioned a golden calf.

Notice how specific this is.

Later he will make the excuse that it just somehow happened.

Please take note that it is never described as ‘the golden calf’. It is a ‘molted calf’.

One fashioned and shaped.

The use of ‘calf’ rather than ‘bull’ is probably deliberate in order to put it in proper perspective. Before God this great bull was but an infant.

The significance of this raises complicated questions which are linked to today.

We demand immediate results from our politicians when we feel we are being threatened by highly stressful, “catastrophic events” and as radical changes are being “thrust” into our psyche’s, we react highly emotionally, highly irrational.

We want our “ordered way” – the way we ourselves believe we should have our lives ordered – according to our biblical view versus our worldview standards.

We highly demand of our ‘leadership” a suitable way that immediately moves us forward toward the future where we alone believe our God wants us to go.

No other way is acceptable to us. No other view of the future becomes tolerable.

It is no bother whatsoever to us to leave “Moses” behind – on the Mountain top.

Along the way, we leave YAHWEH behind to – “deal with a dead, dying Moses.”

“Find us our ‘Aaron!’ We will gladly turn over our ‘riches’ to fashion our “God!”

“We’ll gladly “worship” the “God” which is fashioned by Aaron’s great skills!”

“Moses had his chance, clearly he was never truly strong enough for the task!”

“YAHWEH had His chance too – but, seriously folks, He was just too harsh, too judgmental, much too threatening to our physical and spiritual well-beings!”

So, we the Christians of these times of crisis and seasons of great adversity of this, the 21st century we must minister and unto, fashion our “Golden Calves!”

“Our Golden Calves” according to our “worshipful” standards of our ‘future’ in our living, our moving, ministering to our neighbors in “God’s neighborhood.”

Our 2022 “Christian” response to the enormous spiritual pressure Aaron felt?

We fervently hope, we thrice fervently pray our YAHWEH sees “it our way!”

We fervently hope, we thrice fervently pray YAHWEH won’t get ‘too mad’?

Our “”Way?” – through our “we versus them” uncompromisingly divided eyes?

1 Corinthians 1:10-15Amplified Bible

10 But I urge you, believers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in full agreement in what you say, and that there be no divisions or factions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your way of thinking and in your judgment [about matters of the faith]. 11 For I have been informed about you, my brothers and sisters, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are quarrels and factions among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I am [a disciple] of Paul,” or “I am [a disciple] of Apollos,” or “I am [a disciple] of Cephas (Peter),” or “I am [a disciple] of Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided [into different parts]? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? [Certainly not!] 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,15 so that no one would say that you were baptized into my name.

1 Corinthians 3:1-9Amplified Bible

Foundations for Living

3 However, brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as to spiritual people, but [only] as to [a]worldly people [dominated by human nature], mere infants [in the new life] in Christ! 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Even now you are still not ready. 3 You are still [b]worldly [controlled by ordinary impulses, the sinful capacity]. For as long as there is jealousy and strife and discord among you, are you not [c]unspiritual, and are you not walking like ordinary men [unchanged by faith]? 4 For when one of you says, “I am [a disciple] of Paul,” and another, “I am [a disciple] of Apollos,” are you not [proving yourselves unchanged, just] ordinary people?

5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Just servants through whom you believed [in Christ], even as the Lord appointed to each his task. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was causing the growth. 7 So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but [only] God who causes the growth. 8 He who plants, and he who waters are one [in importance and esteem, working toward the same purpose]; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers [His servants working together]; you are God’s cultivated field [His garden, His vineyard], God’s building.

Struggling mightily and vitriolically against the constant prodding of the Holy Spirit to remember a central tenet of our living, moving and being, ministering to our “neighbors” for the sake of God’s Kingdom in God’s own neighborhood:

By Jesus’ own Words spoken to us – as He confronted His own eternal destiny:

John 10:11-18Amplified Bible

11 [a]I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd [b]lays down His [own] life for the sheep. 12 But the hired man [who merely serves for wages], who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away; and the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. 13  the man runs because he is a hired hand [who serves only for wages] and is not concerned about the [safety of the] sheep. 14 I am the Good Shepherd, and I know [without any doubt those who are] My own and My own know Me [and have a deep, personal relationship with Me]— 15 even as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father—and I lay down My [very own] life [sacrificing it] for the benefit of the sheep. 16 I have [c]other sheep [beside these] that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they will listen to My voice and pay attention to My call, and they will become [d]one flock with one Shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life so that I may take it back. 18 No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down voluntarily. I am authorized and have power to lay it down and to give it up, and I am authorized and have power to take it back. This command I have received from My Father.”

We have “our ways” and YAHWEH has His and Moses and Aaron are long dead.

The Apostle Paul is also long since dead as are all of the Apostles ….

But JESUS IS 100% STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE AND SITTING WITH HIS FATHER!

So, what about pondering our accountability to God & 21st Century Christianity?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us dare to Pray,

God of all truth, Author of all Wisdom, Author of my Life, sometimes I not so sure if I’m actually hearing your voice, or if it’s just my own thoughts or even another spirit. Please Sharpen my spiritual hearing, Lord, so I can recognize your words when you are speaking to me. Help me know it’s really you, with no doubt or second-guessing. When I’m asking for your guidance in important decisions, give me your peace that surpasses understanding with your answer. Help me remember that your words to me will never go against your written word in the Bible. Give me a clear mind and push out all my confusion. Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Weaponized Narratives. Romans 3:5-8

An old proverb states that truth is the best advertising, propaganda and public relations tool.

Fact-supported truth is a powerful narrative.

Unfortunately, the truth can be hidden, ignored, obscured or inundated by error, creating what is identified as a weaponized narrative.

The concept of a narrative has become increasingly popular in contemporary society.

One American President popularized the idea of the narrative in political and social discussions. 

This concept of “the narrative” has been trumpeted by talk-show hosts and politicians of various stripes during the past decade.

Promoting the idea of a narrative implies manipulation of perception to ensure a particular outcome during any debate between proponents of opposing views.

Narratives as currently employed have a tangential relationship to truth, at the best.

Increasingly, the idea of a narrative is being weaponized in contemporary society.

I suppose this movement to weaponize the narrative was inevitable since the concept has been aggressively promoted by the media in support of favored political views.

Narrative warfare embraces more than Public Relations and propaganda campaigns.

Narrative warfare employs “weaponized narratives” which are spun from “highly selective truth,” outright lies, false accusations, distorted and altered quotations, emotional appeals, sensational outrage, fear mongering, blame-shifting, intimidating threats, victim posturing, virtue signaling and fabricated imagery. These are all facets of contemporary argument.

Indeed, these disruptive and often destructive techniques have been in the human political and psychological warfare tool kit since our first parents first appeared in the Garden of Eden.

Tragically, modern mass media and digital communications can quickly and pervasively spread the weaponized narrative, often without challenge.

Emotional arguments tend to overwhelm logic and reason.

Narrative warfare advocates argue that a powerful psychological weapon is capable of many things, including influencing national and international opinion. Worse still, weaponized narratives are employed among the faithful.

The inevitable result is devastating to the Faith.

When I speak of weaponized narratives, I am speaking of the creation and employment of a narrative driving the activity of those who hear the narrative.

Among the faithful, we witness an increasing appeal to narratives rather than the truth.

The narratives sound reasonable, though they are false; they have the ring of truthiness, though they lack either evidence or logic.

Ofttimes, the narratives have the ring of veracity, though they do not tell the whole story; they are partial truths.

Remember, a half-truth is a total lie.

That is what makes them so dangerous!

The unwary are susceptible to succumbing to the error promoted by these false narratives.

Romans 3:5-8Amplified Bible

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? God is not wrong to inflict His wrath [on us], is He? (I am speaking in purely human terms.) 6 Certainly not! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But [as you might say] if through my lie God’s truth was magnified and abounded to His glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, (as some slanderously report and claim that we teach) “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? Their condemnation [by God] is just.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The devotional message I am bringing today is intended to challenge us to think Christianly.

I want us to give some consideration of the narratives which are mistakenly treated as valid in the realm of the Faith.

I am challenging each of us to weigh what is promoted through such narratives in light of what is revealed in the Word of God.

I am asking and indeed, challenging, God’s people to lay a foundation for solid Christian service that equips us for honorable and truthful service to the cause of Christ the Lord, the Son of God. I do want to encourage believers to think, to act with discretion, and then to serve as God would have His people serve.

NARRATIVES THAT MARGINALISE REVEALED TRUTH —

“If our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way)” [Romans 3:5].

The Apostle Paul has presented a solemn truth.

We are unrighteous.

However, our unrighteousness reveals the righteousness of God.

If we are recognizing our condition, it means there is a standard by which we ourselves are able to gauge our actions. If there is a standard, and we recognise that standard, we are accountable to the One who judges by that standard.

Breaking this down, the particular point the Apostle makes in this verse is sobering for anyone who actually grapples with the thought we must give an accounting to the One who is qualified by His inherent righteousness to judge.

It means there is a judgement.

It means that we are held to a standard outside of our own condition.

It means that judgement is pending for all mankind.

Thus, it should not be surprising that almost all the narratives constructed for millennia revolves around our vain attempt to evade responsibility for our own character. The narratives constructed by us, humankind, seek to reduce God to a mere caricature, easily dismissing the wickedness of man’s fallen character.

Ultimately, all narratives attempt to avoid facing our pending, well deserved and well-justified, judgement by God who is our ultimate Judge.

Since time immemorial, sinful people have endeavored to marginalize God.

No doubt, well-meaning individuals are just as guilty of constructing narratives to fit their particular point of view.

Nevertheless, a favorite effort of sinful people is to construct a narrative that sounds reasonable, so long as the narrative is not examined too closely.

The narrative we construct presents a god who is pleasant and nice; this god is inclined to grant mankind’s desires rather than being holy and righteous.

What people want is “good;” holiness and righteousness are “bad.”

This newly constructed god is a fantasy of mankind, a fabrication of minds enamored of this dying world without commitment to the True and Living God.

However, the construct is dangerous precisely because it is attractive.

What are some of these narratives?

The first narrative to be considered was popularized some years ago, having been pushed hard by one major campus organization:

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”

This particular narrative is popular; it is undoubtedly loved by many who have repeated it during past years.

The narrative certainly has an appeal, beginning as it does with the love of God.

In Scripture, we are taught,

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So, we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” [1 John 4:13-21].

None of us would ever argue against the truth that God loves mankind.

After all, God created mankind; He gave us life.

God does love the creature He made.

The evidence for this affirmation is that He sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world. Everyone has heard JOHN 3:16:

“This is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God’s love is not that icky, treacle-sweet sort of emotion that supposedly gives people a warm, fuzzy feeling from the top of their head to the soles of their feet.

God’s love is real, practical, tangible.

God’s love is muscular.

Above all else, God’s love is transformative. Those who receive the love of God cannot remain as they were, for the Spirit of God will take up residence in the life of those who have received that love, and HE will change the individual!

One great problem with this particular narrative is the revelation of God’s hatred. Perhaps you will recall this statement from the Prophecy of Malachi.

“‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’ ‘Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the LORD. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert’” [Malachi 1:2-3].

Later, the Apostle Paul would cite this passage when teaching of God’s election of the righteous. Paul would write,

“As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” [Romans 9:13].

As an example that the LORD is capable of hatred, the Wise Man informs us,

“There are six things that the LORD hates,

seven that are an abomination to him:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil,

a false witness who breathes out lies,

and one who sows discord among brothers.”

[Proverbs 6:16-19]

The Psalmist gives us startling insight into God’s character when he writes,

“God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.”

[Psalm 7:11-13]

Indeed, God is love; but we must never forget that God is holy, and His holiness excludes unrighteousness from His presence.

Any who fail to receive the grace of God, that one who has never been made righteous through faith in the Son of God, must face God’s wrath.

Jesus warns, “I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” [Luke 12:5]!

Let me be very clear on this. I do not want anyone to conclude from the knowledge that God does hate that He is some sort of cosmic killjoy, a celestial ogre constantly glaring down at mankind while seeking opportunity to strike down anyone who expresses joy or who happens to engage in pleasant acts.

God seeks the best for mankind, and that includes our joy.

We so easily confuse happiness with joy; we constantly and fruitlessly pursue “happiness.”

But happiness is never promised in the Word of God;

joy is the heritage of the children of the Living God.

Jesus promised His disciples,

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” [John 15:10-11].

Jesus is concerned that His followers possess joy, and He intends for that joy to be full, overflowing.

OVERFLOWING JOY IS THE HERITAGE OF THOSE WHO LOVE THE MASTER.

Again, preparing those who followed Him for His departure, Jesus said,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” [John 16:20-24].

The Master promised to pour out His goodness so that His followers may overflow with an abundance of joy! That is genuine joy!

Yet another narrative which has been weaponized states, “God is too good to judge a person.”

This narrative is an expression of the philosophy that we have come to know as universalism.

Though you may not have heard the term universalism, you will no doubt recognise it as a variant of the Apostle’s statement in the fifth verse of the text.

There, the Apostle has written, “If our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)” [Romans 3:5].

The instruction is crafted in such a way that we must answer in the affirmative concerning God’s judgement.

Throughout the New Testament are warnings concerning “the wrath of God.”

Here are just a few examples to illustrate the point.

As he opens the Letter to the Saints in Rome, Paul warns,

“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse” [Romans 1:18-20].

After listing a dark catalogue of wicked acts (sexual immorality, all impurity, greed, filthiness, foolish talk and crude joking), the Word of God solemnly warns,

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” [Ephesians 5:6].

Those who engage in such practices or who tolerate them are identified as “the sons of disobedience.” Clearly, God means to punish those so identified.

A similar passage warning against such acts is found in the Letter to Christians in Colossae.

There, Paul has written, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming” [Colossians 3:5-6].

Clearly, if Scripture is held to be authoritative, the Lord not only disapproves of such acts, but He holds those who engage in these acts 100% responsible for all of their own actions. His wrath will be poured out on sinful people.

Let’s come right out and everyone admit we are fearful of a God who is holy.

Intuitively, we prefer a god characterized by what we might call “benevolent neglect.”

We want a god who delights to give us what we want, a god who doesn’t interfere with our mad pursuit of getting what we want, a god who keeps his hands off our lives, allowing us to do whatever it is that we want.

Because our desires dictate the sort of god, we imagine we want, we choose to focus on God’s goodness to the exclusion of recognizing His holiness.

By exalting our own desires over the character of God, we craft a narrative that shields us from the harsh reality that our holy God demands of us our holiness.

I freely acknowledge and confess that I am speaking in sweeping generalities when I make such a statement.

Nevertheless, the most of mankind is greatly and heavily and mightily angered at the mere thought we are not in control of our lives, we should need to give an account to anyone, especially unto the Living God! We want a “genial god” who smilingly approves of our choices, doting upon us, giving us what we all want.

Peter’s words have proven to be a source of consternation for every single one of us in this modern world.

You will remember that Peter instructed Christ’s followers,

“Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” [1 Peter 1:13-21].

Among one prominent group of cultists, and tragically even among a surprising number of allegedly “professed Christians,” who are obviously untaught, we will often hear the vehement protests,

“Why, I wouldn’t I throw firebombs at police cars – they are the enemy.”

“If my “cause is just” I know God won’t condemn sinners to eternal flames.”

Undoubtedly, none of us would throw firebombs at police cars.

Such an action betrays a sick mind to even contemplate such a thing.

Police are not the ultimate enemy. I don’t want to see anyone come to harm.

You will recognise this narrative as a variant of the previous narrative.

Essentially, this narrative argues that because I am kind (at least according to my own standards), God is at least as good as me! I don’t believe that I would torment anyone; and those holding to this particular narrative take this to mean that God won’t pronounce judgement that causes eternal pain to anyone.

What is not so immediately apparent is those who are advancing this “cause – effect” argument have, without any authority whatsoever, brought God down to the level of a mere human rather than raising people up to God’s level of living.

I must reiterate—I would never throw any firebombs anywhere at any time.

The implication is that eternal judgment is somehow gratuitous torture, and no one will accuse God of delighting in torture!

The Lord God has no pleasure in the death of sinners.

God, speaking through Ezekiel, declares,

“Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so, turn, and live” [Ezekiel 18:31-32].

We know that the immediate focus of God’s pleading was Israel, however, the overarching emphasis is applicable to anyone.

Again, God pleads with lost people when He appeals through the same prophet,

“As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die” [Ezekiel 33:11]

What is missed, or ignored, when people appeal to this narrative is that God does not send anyone to hell.

Let me iterate: GOD CASTS NO ONE INTO THE FIRES OF HELL.

People who have rejected the grace of God have positioned themselves with the devil and the demons who are opposed to God and under sentence of eternal condemnation.

The fact is that people do choose to pursue their own desires, knowing that the consequences of what is chosen leads to eternal death.

Is that not the warning presented in the Word?

We read, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23].

Because this is true, the warning must be announced, “The wages of sin is death” [Romans 6:23a].

I am so grateful there is a corollary to that warning when God promises,

“The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Romans 6:23b].

Should an individual stumble into hell, that person will stumble into eternal damnation having stepped over the grace of God, having ignored the pleas of the godly and the warnings of those who are saved.

The lost will have decided, if only through deliberate neglect, they prefer the prospect of eternity without the mercy of God to the glory that flows from the grace of God.

Therefore, lost people choose, they receive, the consequences of their choice.

Yet another narrative says, When you’re dead, that’s it—you’re finished, you’re done.

Again, this is a variant of an earlier narrative already considered.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to address the narrative, if for no other reason than that the unthinking imagine it is unanswerable.

This narrative is wishful thinking, a case of people whistling past the graveyard.

It is assuredly not a matter of conviction growing out of what is written in the Word.

Does death end it all?

However much an individual may wish that was the case, every expectation leads us to reject that view.

We demand accountability of those who do evil.

Since we are incapable of exacting retribution on the wicked of this world after death, we expect justice beyond this existence.

Sometime past, we watched a situation illustrating the danger of adopting a narrative rather than seeking truth.

A native activist supposedly advocating for native rights accused a group of youth from a Catholic School of “stealing his narrative.”

This is the language of the social justice warrior and not the language of reason, it is not the language of logic.

There was scant logic in his complaint and no logic whatsoever. This activist felt the youths had “stolen his narrative,” so, he refused to sit down with them to seek a peaceful resolution to the situation his own actions had precipitated.

It soon became apparent that this man was only casually acquainted with the truth. This illustrates one major tragedy of a narrative—those holding the narrative become wed to what they have created rather than seeking the truth.

As though such narratives are the “hot as hell-button” stuff of our modern journalism, we have also witnessed an actor who fabricated a story of being assaulted simply because he is black and/or because he is a homosexual.

He claimed he was assaulted by two men whom he identified as “far right thugs.” However, the Chicago police demonstrated that this man was lying.

Here is the narrative that is so hurtful!

The story became the means for news outlets, for politicians and for Hollywood stars and starlets to very publicly and very verbally attack and threaten those whom they fervently considered to be politically right of their own positions.

The narrative became the story. Even after it was demonstrated that the actor had lied, apologists continue to argue for the necessity of the story. Thus, a lie enters into the “stinking” thinking of the populace as though it was the truth.

Narratives almost always mask reality, deceiving those who buy into the narrative. Grave as that situation is for us, the adoption of narratives among the people of God creates a real and present danger that threatens righteousness.

GOD’S TRUTH — The real danger of narratives is that they so easily become substitutes for facts.

When narratives are substituted for facts, those individuals that have become wedded to a narrative tend to deny what they are hearing because it doesn’t fit exactly, politically and precisely into their ever so carefully crafted narrative.

What I happen to believe is ultimately immaterial—what matters is the truth, and truth is, by absolute necessity, completely independent of my assessment.

What God has written in His Word is truth. As a young Christian, a saying often heard among the saints stated, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it for me.”

Undoubtedly, those reciting this couplet thought it sounded impressive—at first glance it was impressive.

Nevertheless, my own analytical mind forced me to correct the couplet to say, “God said it. THAT SETTLES IT!”

It does not matter what I believe about a given issue. What matters is what God has said. I need to know what God says, and not what others wish He had said.

The smallest words recorded in the Bible, words that some might argue are insignificant, are given for our sake by God who seeks what’s best for us.

You may recall Jesus’ affirmation concerning the Word.

The Master said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” [Matthew 5:17-18].

Elsewhere, the Saviour is recorded as saying,

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” [Matthew 24:35].

I believe all that has been recorded as the Word of God for the Children of God is morally essential toward a fuller understanding of the mind of the Living God.

God has provided a perfect revelation of His character and of His will in His Holy Word.

The seemingly least significant words are essential for a complete revelation of the Person of God.

This is apparent in multiple instances, but at one point when the Apostle is presenting an argument in his Letter to the Christians in Rome this truth is emphasized in dramatic fashion.

Paul had just made the argument that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. Then, ensuring that we grasp the correct application of what he had presented, the Apostle wrote,

“The words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” [Romans 4:23-25].

Paul’s point is that we must not pass over seemingly insignificant words such as these, “it was counted to him.”

God carefully guided the writers as they penned the words we now read in the Bible.

Peter emphasized this precise truth when he wrote,

“We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” [2 PETER 1:16-19].

More germane to the issue now before us, the Big Fisherman informed readers,

“No prophecy of Scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” [2 Peter 1:20b-21 Net BIBLE].

“Men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

We are informed that the Holy Spirit of God was both the motivator and the divine guide ensuring what God wanted to be recorded was what was written.

God did this for our benefit, so that we would have a firm foundation on which to base our faith.

In the Letter to Roman Christians, we are taught that Abraham’s faith was sufficient for salvation.

The point of this information is that if Abraham’s faith sufficed for salvation, then our own faith in God’s promise is enough for salvation.

God was showing by this means that He is not attempting to mask what He has done for fallen people.

The Living God has acted openly so that no one need feel that God somehow was unfair or unjust.

All people alike are invited to come to life in the Beloved Son of God.

In other words, we are instructed by God with the very thoughts of God because the Spirit of God was overseeing Paul, directing Him as he wrote, to ensure that what was written would be precisely what God wanted to be written.

This was done to ensure what is written would be beneficial for His redeemed people. God did this so we would not fall into the trap of crafting a narrative, but that we would reflect His perfect will.

Therefore, we are not attempting to construct a narrative, we are carefully presenting what God has revealed through His Word.

This is the truth expressed through the Apostle’s plea,

“Do your best to present yourself to God as an approved worker who has nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of truth with precision” [2 Timothy 2:15 ISV].

Our responsibility as witnesses is not to make the teaching of the Word “more” palatable or acceptable to those who hear us, our responsibility is to strive for accuracy in declaring what God has already revealed.

The Spirit of God will work in the hearts of those who hear us as we teach.

He will “prov[e] the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgement” [John 16:8 Net BIBLE].

It is instructive to observe how the arch-deceiver of mankind operates.

We have an example of Satan’s methods revealed when he approached Eve.

Satan did not begin by calling God a liar; he raised doubt in Eve’s mind. Satan approached Eve with the seemingly innocuous question, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’” [Genesis 3:1b]?

This was not a direct attack against God’s warning—it was tangential, asymptotic, it was Satan’s sidling up to the woman in an attempt to disarm her.

Satan couldn’t topple God with one question, though toppling God was the ultimate goal.

Satan sought only to generate doubt in Eve’s mind.

The devil seldom will come to the child of God and say, “God is a liar!”

No! He will seek to create lingering doubt, which leads to dishonoring God in our mind. The ultimate goal of Satan is to cause us to cease worshipping God; but the immediate act will always seem quite completely innocuous.

Having raised the question of what God said, or what He might have meant, Satan then dismissed God’s warning, saying

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” [Genesis 3:4b-5].

Eve sinned.

The text makes it apparent that she walked into sin knowingly; nevertheless, she was deceived, just as people continue to be deceived.

John warns believers,

“All that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” [1 John 2:16-17].

The world can offer “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life,” but the world cannot offer life.

The world can promise complete satisfaction, but the world can never deliver.

Perhaps you will recall the proverb that states:

“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,

and never satisfied are the eyes of man.”

[Proverbs 27:20]

How many ways to our Sunday Worship does that proverb condemns us?

Nothing ever satisfies the desires that bubble up from within!

The human condition seems to create a thirst for more.

Whatever acquisition we believe will satisfy the longing that drives us, it is certain that obtaining that thing will not satisfy.

What we believe will satisfy can never quench the thirst driving us in our mad pursuit to acquire more.

Later in this same collection of sayings of the wise, we read,

“The leech has two daughters:

‘Give! Give!’

There are three things that are never satisfied,

four that never say, ‘Enough’—

the grave, the barren womb,

land that is not satisfied with water,

and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’”

[Proverbs 30:15-16 NET BIBLE]

Eve sinned in the areas that plague us to this day.

Therefore, Scripture reveals, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” [Genesis 3:6a].

We are told that Eve saw “that the tree was good for food.”

What is described is nothing less than the desire of the flesh.

She also saw that “[the fruit of the tree] was a delight to the eyes.”

What can this be other than the desire of the eyes?

Then, Eve saw “that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.”

She succumbed to “the pride of life.”

What is described are the same elements that cause us to stumble to this day.

The great need for each one who follows the Risen Son of God is to ensure that he or she is conversant with the truth.

This means that we must know the Word, we must know what the Lord has caused to be written, especially since it was given for our benefit.

We know the Word when we are familiar with the Word; and this means that we have actually read the Word.

We are not to be content with reading about the Word, we are to read the Word.

We allow the Spirit of God to guide us as we read so that we are instructed by Him.

Then, having more than a passing familiarity with the Word, we must invest time speaking with the Author of the Word.

This is nothing less than getting back to basics!

THE CONCLUSION OF MAN’S PUERILE EFFORTS

— Followers of the Christ are responsible to know the Word He has given.

We are susceptible to being put off stride primarily because we are ignorant of what the Master has said.

We fail to have a viable theology, and that is the most dangerous theology of all.

The theology we espouse too often consists or a few trite phrases divorced from daily life.

Our theology is most often stale and flaccid at best, or utterly detrimental and dangerous at the worst.

We want a theology that makes our life easy now, with Heaven thrown in as a bonus. We want to live as though our reward for our obedience was given now!

Much as was true for the Corinthians, so it is true for too many of the saints in this day.

Paul confronted these saints with their discordant attitude that dishonored the Spirit of Christ when he wrote,

“Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you” [1 CORINTHIANS 4:8]!

They seemingly held the attitude that being a Christian was all about fulfilling their desires. Perhaps they saw Jesus Christ as some sort of genie in a bottle. Certainly, that attitude is not unheard of among professed saints in this day.

Paul concludes the passage that serves as our devotional text today by observing of those who rely on narratives,

“Their condemnation is just” [Romans 3:8b].

That is significantly more than a dismissive remark, it is an acknowledgement that God holds us accountable for what we teach by His word and by our lives.

When we distort the Word of God, whatever the reason, we place ourselves in conflict with the Lord who is holy.

Should we turn others away from pursuing righteousness, we must answer God.

If we fail to receive the grace that He offers, we will have ensured that our soul is in eternal danger.

There is no recovery from the disaster of presumptuous sin.

David pleaded with God,

“Who can discern his errors?

Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

and innocent of great transgression.”

[Psalm 19:12-13]

The Psalmist realized how easy it is to drift into error, which is bad enough in its own right; however, he truly feared presuming against the LORD.

To act in such a manner is to exalt oneself against God; and there is scant chance that one can recover from such sin.

Do you recall the pronouncement against Saul that Samuel voiced when the king had spared the life of Agag, king of Amalek?

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

as in obeying the voice of the LORD?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

and to listen than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.”

[1 Samuel 15:22-23a]

That is a frightful thought.

A choice that fails to consider the will of the Lord, a choice which exalts our own self-interest above the will of the Savior, means we’ve all positioned ourselves as inviting divine judgement.

The Apostle Paul wrote of his fear that after preaching to others, he himself could be disqualified [see 1 CORINTHIANS 9:27].

I confess that I have the same fear.

I constantly check what I am writing, investing time in prayer as I seek God’s guidance.

I do not want to lapse into delivering narratives. Rather, my concern is that together we may know the truth and thus honor the Lord who redeems us.

I struggle for the redeemed to walk in holiness, to pursue a life that honors the Lord. I am convinced that God redeems us, giving us eternal life.

We cannot be cast away when we sin, but we can dishonor Him.

We can lose rewards and cease to be effective in our service to His cause.

Few thoughts distress me more than the thought that I may act in a manner that dishonors the Lord who redeems me.

Therefore, I seek what pleases Him.

I want to know what His will is and how I can glorify Him.

And that is what I want for His holy people.

I want you to walk in holiness, to learn to choose and speak wisely how to respond to the challenges of life.

Paul voiced his concern for the saints in Corinth, just as I have concerns for you, for your walk with the Master.

The Apostle revealed his heart when he wrote these saints,

“I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” [2 Corinthians 11:2-3].

I want you, for whom Christ gave me charge, to walk in purity before the Lord, to avoid adopting your own narratives, choosing rather to pursue truth through knowledge of the Word and through talking and walking with the Risen Savior.

My desire is to so live that I need not be ashamed and so that you will not be ashamed of me. Above all, I want to honors Christ the Lord by a holy life.

To the lost, this is the call of God: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” [Acts 16:31].

Here is life.

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [Romans 10:9-10].

Salvation is this simple:

“Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:13].

Here is life, if you are willing to receive it.

In Christ, you will find hope and the forgiveness of sin.

Do this now. Believe Him and be saved. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, my Guide and Guardian, illuminate my mind so I can understand how you want me to live. Your word tells me that people of integrity who follow your instructions are joyful. You have said that those who obey your laws and search for you with all their hearts are blessed and happy. I want that joy! Holy Spirit, please guard me against allowing evil to influence what I believe and do. Help me walk only in your paths. May my actions consistently reflect what you have said is right and good. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Our Rejection of God: How Dare We Call Ourselves Christians? Jeremiah 7:16-26.

It is so endearing at times to see little children in a big supermarket or shopping mall. They come in crying with mom or dad, but as soon as they see something interesting—toys, candies, pets, or anything else that moves—their moods are in change mode, they go their own way and forget everything else around them.

And then at some point, suddenly, they look up and look around and realize that their mom or dad are not there anymore. They look mystified, turn around, first carefully walking, then running and checking out places. and then when they cannot find their parents, they start shouting, crying, “Mommy!!! Daddy!!!”

And when even that doesn’t help, you see their faces change from hope to fear and then to a sense of rejection. They think that they will never see mommy or daddy again. The result is a heart-rending crying that won’t stop until their parents have found them, or someone from the store comes to comfort them.

Eventually, there will be a message over the store’s call system asking the mom and dad to return to the customer service area – “that someone very special is waiting for them there.”

Mom and Dad are also likewise in a high state of fear because they cannot find their child. Of course, we know they would not ever reject their child just like that – the child not rejecting mom and dad, “wanders off” after some candy!

Eventually, Mom and Dad and Child are re-united, and everything is all “hugs and kisses, smiles and “don’t worry (_____), Mommy and Daddy love You!”

All is as it should be! The store is happy! Family is back together again!

And life in the “big city” “small town” neighborhood can go on as before.

All is bliss and blessed ……

The Good News is Mommy and Daddy did not reject their child after all.

Perhaps the Better News is their child did not reject their Mommy and Daddy when they were reunited.

Parents will give the best years of their lives to their children.

They give whatever they can, sacrifice their time, their strength, their resources—everything—in order to give all of their children all the best possible in life.

But then, when they in turn start being in need of their children, they may just find a stunning lack of gratitude, a stunning lack of a “return” commitment.

They are just expected to understand that the children have a life of their own.

They need their privacy. They need time and energy to develop their careers. They now have children of their own that take up so many of their resources.

And the parents try to understand, I am sure.

They explain to others with an air of pride how their kids are so busy, because they have such a responsible job and are taking so good care of their own kids.

But deep down inside, there may just be the maturing, searing pain of rejection, too great and too deep to describe, too shameful to freely share with any others.

It is certainly not true in all families –

But it is true is many families and too often goes un-noticed – except by God.

but here also lies an injustice – the rejection of our God, who is our Father!

We can call ourselves Christians, go to church, give our tithes, etc. and yet have rejected God effectively.

The picture God’s Prophet Jeremiah gives of life in Judah comes close to our life in the Christian West, with several gods competing for our loyalty.

Jeremiah 7:16-26Amplified Bible

16 “Therefore, do not pray for this people [of Judah] or lift up a cry or entreaty for them or make intercession to Me, for I do not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the [a]queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods that they may offend and provoke Me to anger. 19 Do they offend and provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Is it not themselves [they offend], to their own shame?” 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and [the fire will] not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this thing I did command them: ‘Listen to and obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they did not obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but followed the counsels and the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart (mind), and [they turned and] went backward instead of forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have [persistently] sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, early [and late]. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me and obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me] but stiffened their neck; they did more evil and behaved worse than their fathers.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

God is like a rejected parent.

Jeremiah 7 reveals to our souls the “anger” which “burns inside” a God who has been repeatedly rejected by his people—their Father in heaven whose children have repeatedly let him down, repeatedly turned their backs on him.

There are some seriously dramatic words in Jeremiah 7—even shocking—when God speaks to Jeremiah:

“Don’t pray for this people! Don’t offer any plea or petition for them! Don’t plead with me, for I will not listen!”

Wow! That’s tough language, isn’t it? Jeremiah is told that he is no longer allowed to pray for the people of God. And if he does, God will simply put his fingers in his ears, so to say, and make sure he does not hear a single word.

Have you ever seen parents doing that to their children? I have.

My father did that to me several times – he just turned off his hearing aids. If I tried to carry on our conversation or our arguments – he reached up to his ears and he simply, one by one, removed both of his hearing aids from his ears.

Again, we need not go further than the supermarket to see it happening all the time. Kids find their way to the candy department and start begging for candies.

Mom and dad will answer with a firm “no”.

“Today is not candy day. Some other time.”

But kids are not good at taking “no” for an answer.

So, they keep on asking, they insist, they become stubborn and impossible to handle. Everyone is now at a place where they all need to have “their space!”

And that is where many parents lose their patience.

It doesn’t mean that they stop loving their kids.

It doesn’t mean that they stop caring for them.

It doesn’t mean that they don’t want to give their very best to their children.

It only means at that point they come to the conclusion that their kids now need a firm foundational teaching on the need to hear, listen, respect their parents.

They need to understand that sometimes “no” really, truly, fully means “no”. They need to “straighten up,” obey their parents and accept their authority.

Jeremiah lived in a time when the people of Israel had turned away from God.

They did not think of him any longer as “the” God of Israel. At best, he was “a” god—one among a lot of colleagues and competitors.

For Israel, God’s law and parental authority had become “highly negotiable.”

People felt they were no longer dependent on him.

After all, they could always turn to other gods who were more amendable, more apt to condescend, to compromise, simply adjust to their needs and demands.

Look, for example, at how Jeremiah 7 describes life in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem:

(Verse 18) “The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.”

What we see here is this: The people of Judah had broken faith with God.

They had committed spiritual adultery with other gods, which they had adopted from the cultures around them.

They still went to the temple to bring petty sacrifices.

They had a little time set apart for God. But it was not quality time. Their offerings did not come from the heart. They were just a routine ritual.

They thought by going through the motions of ritual, they could make God happy; They could make God believe they still loved and respected him.

But when the duties in the temple were done with, the families gathered together for quality time—a sort of barbeque party, you could say.

The kids went to pick twigs and branches for the fire. Dad lit the fire—after all, that was the man’s job. And mom was in the kitchen baking delicacies.

The cakes she made had the form of a woman.

It was the goddess Asherah, the “Queen of Heaven”.

You may have read that after the reign of king Solomon, the Jewish nation had been divided into a northern kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judah.

By the time that God called Jeremiah, the northern kingdom of Israel had already ceased to exist.

Almost a century earlier, the Assyrian army had come and conquered the nation.

Many of the people had been killed or taken into exile, and groups of Assyrians came and settled in Samaria.

That should have been a clear warning sign for Judah in the south.

But everything shows that Judah had not learned its lesson. How come?

Why was it so hard for the Jews to stay faithful to the God who—as they firmly believed—had led them out of slavery in Egypt, given them the Promised Land?

Why did they ever so eagerly embrace other gods—the Queen of Heaven, the Assyrian goddess of the family; or Mammon, the Aramaic god of wealth and trade; or Baal, the Canaanite god of agriculture?

Why did they reject their own God Yahweh, the Creator of heaven and earth?

When I look at the life of Israel, from the moment they left Egypt to the time of Jeremiah and even beyond, I can come up with two answers.

First, their God was “too limited.”

And second, he was “too demanding.”

Let me try to spell that out for you.

Throughout the history of Israel, God appears as a very patriarchal God.

He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not the God of Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel. He was the God of Moses and Aaron, not the God of Miriam.

The creation story depicts God as inherently both male and female.

But in the history and tradition of his people, he seemed to communicate primarily from man to man, and take sides with the men.

He assigned all worship duties to male Levites and priests.

God seemed to endorse a strongly patriarchal society, where women were owned by their father or husband.

In the law he gave to Moses, women were given lesser rights than the men, even though, we must admit, in Israel women were treated with far, far more respect and equality than anywhere else in the Middle East.

But of course, they did not know, nor would they ever come to acknowledge it.

At times, God threatened to abandon his people in the desert.

At other times he threatened to wipe them from the face of the earth altogether.

He was distant.

They couldn’t see him; He would not allow to have pictures or statues made of him.

They couldn’t hear him, because he would only “speak through his prophets.”

To make things worse, he put a lot of demands on the people.

I don’t mean the ritual worship and sacrifices.

I mean the demands for moral integrity, for love and respect for one another and even for the foreigners living among them or traveling through their land.

God demanded that they take care of the needy, especially the widows and orphans, since there were no institutional social services.

God demanded at regular intervals debts were cancelled and slaves set free.

In short: God demanded the highest form of personal integrity and social justice.

But for those in power—the kings and tribal chiefs, the landowners and those who had made a fortune in trade—these demands were appalling.

The idea one day out of seven they were not allowed to do business or make their slaves and hired hands work on the land felt like a terrible waste of time and resources.

No wonder, then, that the people grew tired of God.

No wonder, then, that they looked for alternatives.

There was an obvious demand for a woman god—a goddess—who was more empathetic, easier to approach, and closer to the life of the family—a goddess with whom particularly the women could identify.

There was an obvious demand for a god who blessed business and trade and allowed a great measure of moral freedom, as long as you made money.

I believe in that respect our time is not so different from the time of Jeremiah.

Our Christian Church is not so far removed from the Jewish nation in Jeremiah’s time.

In the west, New Age spirituality has mixed with the faith of many Christians.

People go shopping, as it were, to fill their religious shopping cart with a nice religious mix that they feel good about.

These are the obvious forms of idolatry—the obvious ways in which God is being rejected as the one and only true God.

But there are also less obvious parallels between Jeremiah’s time and ours.

Every Christian knows the Great Commandment:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

But how many of us are really serious about this?

Oh, I know, it is easy to come to worship on Sunday and sing or pray: “Oh, Lord God! How Great thou Art! How I love you! Oh Lord Jesus! or How I adore you!”

But when it comes down to all the choices and decisions we make Monday through Saturday, to the way we deal with our family and friends,

with the people at school or at work, in the bus or the metro; with the beggars in the streets or the customers on the phone

… can everybody see that our lives are maybe not so much actually, genuinely driven by steadfast, immovable commitments to the Great Commandment?

Look at the way you spend your time and your money.

Look at the friends you choose and the friendships you neglect.

Look at your priorities. Listen to your words when you are angry or excited.

What do these tell you, others about your love for God and for your neighbor and for yourself? That is a question we should all ask ourselves—every day!

I see yet another parallel in the way we respect or disrespect the authority of God in our lives.

The simple truth is that God’s won’t necessarily always coincide with ours.

More often than not there seems to be a conflict of interests between God and us.

Just like the little kid in the supermarket, who is determined that she must have an ice cream right now.

To her great disappointment, she may find that her parents have a very different, and most disagreeable view on the matter.

God speaks with authority through the Bible, which we often call the Word of God. Luther called the Bible the supreme authority in matters of faith and living. That does not mean that everything we read in the Bible is normative.

Not everything that is normative is unambiguous and self-explanatory.

Not everything that is unambiguous and self-explanatory is independent of time, place or culture.

But it doesn’t really matter.

Isaiah 6:8-12Amplified Bible

Isaiah’s Commission

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on listening, but do not understand;
Keep on looking, but do not comprehend.’
10 
“Make the heart of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise, they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,

“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
And houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
12 
The Lord has removed [His] people far away,
And there are many deserted places in the midst of the land.

The question is: when we recognize God speaking to us through the Bible, do we try to “genuinely” hear Him, “actually” listen to Him, to respect his authority?

Is it our heart’s desire and our will’s determination to seek to obey him?

Or are we selective in applying only what we are comfortable with and what we feel good about?

Think of the events in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.

Adam and Eve heard God loud and clear: “Don’t eat from that tree.”

But they chose to ignore him and disobey what they knew was God’s command.

First, there was doubt creeping in: “Did God really say that?”

Then, there was distortion of God’s command: “He said we cannot touch the tree.”

It all stems from a hugely distorted image of God as a stern and bossy and unreasonable God who wants to make our lives miserable by denying us the good side of life, and who demands the impossible from us day and night.

As individual believers, and as the Body of Christ—the Church in God’s own neighborhood, and, if possible, as a society built upon the foundation of the Christian faith and tradition—we should take God’s authority seriously.

We should pay heed to his voice crying out in a broken world against social injustice, various forms of abuse and exploitation, discrimination and racism.

And it is not enough that we just refrain from going along with them.

As Christians, we should echo that voice and obey it.

We should encourage one another to live our lives the way God meant our lives to be (Philippians 2:1-4).

And perhaps, the best way to do so is to be imitators of Christ: to love like he loved, to care like he cared, to heal like he healed, and to sacrifice ourselves for others the way he sacrificed his life for us. (Ephesians 5:1-2, 1 John 4:7-21)

We can call ourselves Christians, go to church, give our tithes, etc. and yet have rejected God effectively. The picture Jeremiah gives of life in Judah comes close to life in the Christian West, with several “gods” competing for our loyalty.

Psalm 2:1-3Amplified Bible

The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed.

2 Why are the [a]nations in an [b]uproar [in turmoil against God],
And why do the people devise a vain and hopeless plot?
2 
The kings of the earth take their stand;
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and His Anointed (the Davidic King, the Messiah, the Christ), saying,
3 
“Let us break apart their [divine] bands [of restraint]
And cast away their cords [of control] from us.”

Three Consequences of Rejecting God’s Authority

If you’ve ever been on a road trip with a toddler, you’ve probably experienced the struggle of trying to keep them buckled in their car seat for hours on end.

They don’t have the necessary maturity to understand that the restraints are keeping them safe, and that ultimately, you love them and know what is best.

So it is with mankind and their Maker.

From the beginning of creation until now, people have tried to cast off every restraint placed on them by the loving hand of God.

Not willing to yield to the perfect will of the Father, nations have rejected God’s authority again and again.

Though the Lord remains faithful, He also maintains justice, and there are consequences to rejecting His authority. Here are 3 of them listed in the Bible:

1. They get what they ask for.

They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:13-15 NKJV

Nations that disregard God’s counsel in favor of their own lusts eventually get what they ask for. Sadly, though their flesh is satisfied, their soul is parched like a dry and thirsty land with no water.

Let us come to the Fountain of Living Water—to the well that never runs dry—and drink to the full of God’s goodness and mercy! (John 4:10)

2. They suffer unnecessarily.

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 5:24

The horrendous aftermath of a wildfire may be an accurate word picture of the consequences that a nation without God will suffer. Consumed by their own falsehoods, those who reject the Word of the Lord will suffer unnecessarily.

However! The Lord is faithful and just to forgive. (1 John 1:9)

He longs for us to return to Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

He longs to cover us with His mighty hand and be our Protector.

Let us repent and humble our hearts before Him that He might come and heal our land! (2 Chronicles 7:14)

3. They are left to their own devices.

Of the Rock of Ages who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you. (Psalm 139:13-18, 23 and 24)

And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.

And He said:

‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith. Deuteronomy 32:18-20 NKJV

Rejection of the Lord’s sovereignty and provision only leads to a desolate ending.

Without faith in the One who made us, we are empty, lacking, and ultimately left to our own devices.

Let us turn back to our Rock and remember our Maker.

Just like the father, who was waiting at the window for the return of his prodigal son, so the Lord is waiting for us to return to Him!

“In an acceptable time, I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV

Psalm 34:8-11Amplified Bible

8 
O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good;
How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who takes refuge in Him.
9 
O [reverently] fear the Lord, you His saints (believers, holy ones);
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
10 
The young lions lack [food] and grow hungry,
But they who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.
11 
Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you to fear the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worship Him with obedience].

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

The Hebrew word for “fear” in this expression refers to a loving reverence and awe of God, coupled with our own actual and genuine willingness to obey him, knowing that he always wants what is best for us.

Our relationship with the Lord is built not on terror but on appropriate respect and awe for our Father.

A healthy respect and understanding of God as loving Creator, faithful Lord, and righteous Judge is the foundation of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7.)

People who lack reverence for God are like children who do not honor their parents.

They throw a tantrum to try to manipulate God into giving them what they want.

When that fails, they storm off defiantly to do their own thing, ignoring the wisdom and authority of their Father God.

Of course, we are all inclined toward such childish rebellion.

On the cross Jesus paid for our sin of dishonoring God.

And when we accept the gift of his death for our sin, we enter into a new and intimate relationship with ABBA, the Father.

But God is not our pal. He cannot be outsmarted, used, or tricked.

God is the Creator of the universe, infinite, eternal, and all knowing.

The very essence of his being, though, is love (1 John 4:8).

Are you growing to know your loving Father?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

ABBA, Father, teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your Holy Spirit lead me on level ground. I see your faithfulness and goodness in what you have done for me throughout my life. I think about these things, and I thirst for you. Let me hear of your unfailing love every morning, for I am learning how to listen, learning the blessings of trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Keep me on firm footing for the glory of your name. Amen.

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My Personal Faith. Social Justice and our God’s Call for Justice. Isaiah 1:10-26.

Probably most of us have heard people speaking about their faith in humanity as a very intimate and private thing, something you feel in your heart, in your soul, with all of your might, all of your strength something you don’t talk about.

Sometimes you hear politicians say that they have a deep personal faith in God, but they assure us that they won’t let their religion, or lack of it, have any sway or influence on the decisions they make in office on behalf of the people served.

Corporate executives are expected to toe the line of maximizing profits above all else and not worrying about the impact that their decisions have on society.

And they might just face severe backlash and stockholder lawsuits if they stray.

Social commentator, Glen Beck has said if you are in a church and the pastor is about to teach or sermonize about social justice, quickly get out of that church.

He felt rather strongly that talk of social justice has no place in church.

I must confess right here and right now, that until rather recently, I would have readily agreed with the Social Commentator, avoided such teaching, sermons.

Right now, my attitude about “social justice” and the Body of Christ, the Church in God’s neighborhood, God in God’s own neighborhood, is being re-written by my intentional and my purposeful engagement with our God’s Holy Scriptures.

My own deeply held personal beliefs wrought through the fires and floods and furnaces and crucibles of my lifetime of experiences, I now find were informed by biases and prejudices I was not wholly aware of nor would ever acknowledge.

My information was faulty and based almost exclusively on my floods, my fires, my crucibles and my furnaces.

My purposeful, intentional engagement with the “deepest truths” of my God’s Word is now being weaved into and throughout my heart, my soul, by my God.

I am learning to ask questions – learning to challenge my biases, my prejudices, and where God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit inform my soul differently through His Scriptures, I repent of the former, to seek out the latter.

Isaiah 1:10-26Amplified Bible

God Has Had Enough

10 
Hear the word of the Lord [rulers of Jerusalem],
You rulers of [another] Sodom,
Listen to the law and instruction of our God,
You people of [another] Gomorrah.
11 
“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me [without your repentance]?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of [your] burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of well-fed cattle [without your obedience];
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats [offered without repentance].
12 
“When you come to appear before Me,
Who requires this of you, this trampling of My [temple] courts [by your sinful feet]?
13 
“Do not bring worthless offerings again,
[Your] incense is repulsive to Me;
[Your] New Moon and Sabbath [observances], the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] and [the squalor of] the festive assembly.
14 
“I hate [the hypocrisy of] your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to Me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 
“So when you spread out your hands [in prayer, pleading for My help],
I will hide My eyes from you;
Yes, even though you offer many prayers,
I will not be listening.
Your hands are full of blood!

16 
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Get your evil deeds out of My sight.
Stop doing evil,
17 
Learn to do good.
Seek justice,
Rebuke the ruthless,
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the [rights of the] widow [in court].

“Let Us Reason”

18 
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord.
“[a]Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.
19 
“If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the best of the land;
20 
But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Zion Corrupted, to Be Redeemed

21 
How the faithful city has become a prostitute [idolatrous, despicable],
She who was full of justice!
Right standing with God once lodged in her,
But now murderers.
22 
Your silver has turned to [b]lead,
Your wine is diluted with water.
23 
Your rulers are rebels
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves bribes
And chases after gifts.
They do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the widow’s cause come before them [instead they delay or turn a deaf ear].

24 
Therefore, the Lord God of hosts,
The Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will be freed of My adversaries
And avenge Myself on My enemies.
25 
“And I will turn My hand against you,
And will [thoroughly] purge away your dross as with lye
And remove all your tin (impurity).
26 
“Then I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
Afterward you will be called the city of righteousness,
The faithful city.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

For our scripture text this morning we are still in Isaiah chapter 1.

Will God ever let us get out of chapter 1?

It takes 66 chapters to save all of Isaiah’s writings; will we ever get out of chapter 1?

Yes, eventually, by God’s grace alone we will be released from chapter 1.

But first, there are still many important lessons we can take with us into 2022.

But please remember, chapter 1 introduces many of the themes developed in the following 65 chapters, so I’m happy to hang out in chapter 1 for a while longer.

Our scripture lesson is Isaiah 1:10-26. After I read it, and then re-read it, I now challenge you to read it and re-read. You tell me whether Isaiah saw religion as an inward thing, related to the realms of personal faith and feelings, or whether he saw religion as something impacting all of life, even including social justice.

Yesterday we talked about God’s complaint against the people of Judah, which was a very personal complaint. They were his beloved children and he wanted them to love him as He loved them, but we read they were rebelling and getting themselves into serious trouble and he really wanted them all to come back.

By reading and re-reading these verses, I hope and pray you heard that for God, being a Christian, even in 2022, can never stop with just a heart relationship with God. It also includes a right-relationship with our fellow human beings.

And this day, which the Lord hath made for you and me and all of His children, I want to try to look quickly at 5 commands in verse 17 that make that concrete.

God told His Children, the people of Israel to “always learn how to do good.”

In the New Testament the apostle Paul repeatedly told the early Christians to do good works, and when he specifies what he’s talking about, often the context is clearly the good work of sharing with others in need.

That’s a Christianity that goes many echelons beyond feeling good and secure inside. It’s a Christianity that purposely, intentionally, reaches out for others.

Then, also in verse 17, Isaiah tells the people of Judah to “always learn how to seek out justice and learn how to always walk humbly with your God.”

Now there are a lot of different ways of defining justice.

There’s a kind of justice which says,

“I’ve got mine, and nobody’s going to take it from me.”

And we believe in protecting personal and property rights.

We are against theft and criminal behavior.

That’s kind of, sort of, a start to defining, writing, an encyclopedia of justice.

But Isaiah tells the people of Judah, and he tells us, too, that we need to go beyond that encyclopedia.

“I’ve got mine” justice can be content to look at a kid whose lost his parents or is born into a one parent situation where one party felt incapable of meeting the demands of parenthood and maybe feel sorry for the kid but feels no obligation to go “the extra mile or two or three or more if necessary” to volunteer, “help.”

And that’s no justice at all. It’s not fair to that kid at all.

The kid has very little chance in life. The kid is really hurting inside. Justice shouts out to us, “When the parents aren’t there, we need to help that kid.”

“I’ve got mine” justice can build a really nice life for itself, but it takes upon itself limited accountability, personal. professional, responsibility for others.

The Word of God revealed through Isaiah in chapter 1 tells us that justice is about more than me. And our responsibilities in life never stop with just me.

These verses from the first chapter of Isaiah calls for God’s kind of justice that intentionally, purposely watches for the oppressed, those who are held down.

And what are we supposed to do when we see them?

Are we supposed to feel sorry for them?

Are we supposed to analyze whose fault it is that they are in that shape?

Are we supposed to argue about whose job it is to help them, the government, the church, business or private charity?

God’s Prophet Isaiah does not let those arguments distract him.

What do we do if we see someone oppressed? Strive to Rescue them?

And who is that talking about?

The idea is someone who is weighed down, held down, doesn’t have a fair chance. How does one, in 2022, define what “have a fair chance” means?

If we’re talking about people who are oppressed, how about the people whose homes and businesses and livelihoods were just wiped out by “Acts of God?”

UMCOR is there.

FEMA will carry the bulk of the assistance, but UMCOR is great about finding the people who fall between the cracks and for sending in teams long after the immediate emergency to help people clean up, rebuild, restore what can be.

UMCOR goes straight to the United Methodist Churches who have been on the spot, who know the needs, who know who is hurting, so it can intentionally do the most good, efficiently, purposely, conscientiously, serve the most people.

Isaiah gives another example of what biblical justice looks like by calling us to defend the orphan.

What theory of justice in this world could say “I’ve got mine, too bad about that orphan”?

For Example ….

Today, it is estimated that Africa has some 17 million children who have lost their parents to AIDS.

How big a number is 17 million orphans?

Take the entire population of metro Chicago, some 8.9 million, and then add to that population the entire population of San Antonio, Texas being 2.413 million plus the population of the Baltimore, Maryland metro area being 2.845 million plus the population of the Portland Oregon Metro area being 2.5 million plus the population of the Buffalo, New York metro area being 1.137 million people.

That’s approximately how many children are AIDS orphans in Africa today.

What chance do they have as orphans in villages where there isn’t much hope of healthy food, clean water, quality healthcare for kids who have both parents?

https://www.unicef.org/eap/press-releases/child-was-infected-hiv-every-two-minutes-2020-unicef#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20sub%2DSaharan%20Africa,were%20in%20sub%2DSaharan%20Africa.

What justice would there be in a world that does “not nearly enough” to defend, place greater value on the sanctity of the lives and wellbeing of those children?

Well, Praise and thank God for volunteers, organizations like World Vision and UMCOR and many others who are there. And let us do all we can to help them.

But there are a lot of vulnerable children and adults in all areas, too.

What about underserved kids whose parents are failing them, in jail or even abusing them so badly that the court needs to take them out of their home?

We have dedicated social workers to help them, but as budgets have been cut their ability to give the kids the support they need is really, really stretched.

What about the Homeless populations? The Homeless Veteran populations?

Right now, our nation is in a major crisis as we have spent a whole lot more money out of the national treasury than we could afford, and we are desperately looking for places to more efficiently, more intentionally, purposely, love our God in His Neighborhood, serve our communities, our neighbors in some way.

Let’s remember that Isaiah calls us, that God calls us through these timeless and most ancient of words from Isaiah chapter 1, to defend the orphans.

And I think it’s exceedingly, abundantly fair to expand that to include children who have both parents, and those single parent households where economically parents can’t provide proper nutrition or proper medical care for their children.

And in all the talk of needing to cut our government deficits, too often it is programs to defend vulnerable children that people want to cut. I think that rigorous and vigorous advocacy is most definitely appropriate ‘social justice.’

And, finally, the words of Isaiah chapter 1 tell us to plead for the widow.

Isaiah lived long before social security, in a time when women may not have even had clear property rights.

And if their husband died, they could be in big trouble. Today our government has stepped in with social security and Medicare and they really, really help.

But any sense of God’s justice calls us to watch out for our widows, to comfort, advocate and support them as they grieve, to support them as they may struggle with maintaining their homes, providing meals, and to visit them when lonely.

While we are engaging God in His neighborhood, what more can be done here?

But still, the lingering questions always remain when we engage our Faith in Humanity with our Faith in an Engaging and Intimate and Loving and God.

1 John 4:7-21Amplified Bible

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us [unselfishly] [a]love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience]. 8 The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.] 9 By this the love of God was displayed in us, in that God has sent His [One and] only begotten Son [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind] into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath]. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us [in this incredible way], we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another [with unselfish concern], God abides in us, and His love [the love that is His essence abides in us and] is completed and perfected in us. 13 By this we know [with confident assurance] that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given to us His [Holy] Spirit. 14 We [who were with Him in person] have seen and testify [as eyewitnesses] that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses and acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know [by personal observation and experience], and have believed [with deep, consistent faith] the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides continually in him. 17 In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love]. 19 We love, because [b]He first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him.

Before we begin to or continue engaging with God in God’s Neighborhood,

Before making a personal decision about where we engage our neighbors,

Many, Many Examples of Essential Questions to ponder with God about:

Decisions, Actions, and Consequences

  1. What is the relationship between decisions and consequences?
  2. How do we know how to make good decisions?
  3. How can a person’s decisions and actions change his/her life?
  4. How do the decisions and actions of characters reveal their personalities?
  5. How do decisions, actions, and consequences vary depending on the different perspectives of the people involved?

Social Justice

  1. What is social justice?
  2. To what extent does power or the lack of power affect individuals?
  3. What is oppression and what are the root causes?
  4. How are prejudice and bias created? How do we overcome them?
  5. What are the responsibilities of the individual in regard to issues of social justice?
  6. How can literature serve as a vehicle for social change?
  7. When should an individual take a stand against what he/she believes to be an injustice? What are the most effective ways to do this?
  8. What are the factors that create an imbalance of power within a culture?
  9. What does power have to do with fairness and justice?
  10. When is it necessary to question the status quo? Who decides?
  11. What are the benefits and consequences of questioning / challenging social order?
  12. How do stereotypes influence how we look at and understand the world?
  13. What does it mean to be invisible? (context: minorities)
  14. In what ways can a minority keep their issues on the larger culture’s “radar screen?”
  15. What creates prejudice, and what can an individual overcome it?
  16. What are the causes and consequences of prejudice and injustice, and how does an individual’s response to them reveal his/her true character?
  17. What allows some individuals to take a stand against prejudice/oppression while others choose to participate in it?
  18. What are the causes and consequences of prejudice and how does an individual’s response to it reveal his/her morals, ethics, and values?

Culture: Values and Beliefs, Traditions and Rituals

  1. How do individuals develop values and beliefs?
  2. What factors shape our values and beliefs?
  3. How do values and beliefs change over time?
  4. How does family play a role in shaping our values and beliefs?
  5. Why do we need beliefs and values?
  6. What happens when belief systems of societies and individuals come into conflict?
  7. When should an individual take a stand in opposition to an individual or larger group?
  8. When is it appropriate to challenge the beliefs or values of society?
  9. To what extent do belief systems shape and/or reflect culture and society?
  10. How are belief systems represented and reproduced through history, literature, art, and music?
  11. How do beliefs, ethics, or values influence different people’s behavior?
  12. How do individuals reconcile competing belief systems within a given society (e.g., moral beliefs conflicting with legal codes)?
  13. When a person’s individual choices are in direct conflict with his/her society, what are the consequences?
  14. What is morality and what are the factors that have an impact on the development of our morality?
  15. What role or purpose does religion / spirituality serve in a culture?
  16. What purpose or function do ethics / philosophy have in governing technological advances?
  17. How do our values and beliefs shape who we are as individuals and influence our behavior?

There are undoubtedly many more questions to ponder as anyone individually seeks to engage God side by side with His Words of hard truth and harder love.

In such weighty matters, be patient with God and be patient with yourself ….

Matthew 6:25-33Amplified Bible

The Cure for Anxiety

25 “Therefore I tell you, stop being worried or anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted) about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by worrying can add one [a]hour to [the length of] his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothes? See how the lilies and wildflowers of the field grow; they do not labor, nor do they spin [wool to make clothing], 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory and splendor dressed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive and green today and tomorrow is [cut and] thrown [as fuel] into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Therefore do not worry or be anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted), saying, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ 32 For the [pagan] Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; [but do not worry,] for your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

This morning I want to affirm, with Isaiah, that our faith in God is not just an awkward, inward, personal thing. Our God is very concerned we “do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” AMEN?

1 Corinthians 15:58Amplified Bible

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit ……

“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

https://translate.google.com/

Social Justice, Civil Disobedience, Unity. The Bible and the Body of Christ: “I am the Church. You are the Church. We are the Church together.” Isaiah 1:10-17.

There is no shortage of issues dividing our country and our church today.

Here is a list.

Feel free to add to it: gun control, abortion – pro-life and pro-choice, vaccines – my body – my choice, climate change, drug legalization, gay marriage, equality, immigration, transgender rights, universal healthcare, policing, death penalty, racial inequality, income inequality, required masks, tax cuts, poverty, justice of every sort and every description, mass incarceration, women’s ordination.

Should we, as Christians get involved in these issues?

And to what extent should we get involved?

What does the Bible teach?

Let’s see.

Isaiah 1:10-17Amplified Bible

God Has Had Enough

10 
Hear the word of the Lord [rulers of Jerusalem],
You rulers of [another] Sodom,
Listen to the law and instruction of our God,
You people of [another] Gomorrah.
11 
“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me [without your repentance]?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of [your] burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of well-fed cattle [without your obedience];
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats [offered without repentance].
12 
“When you come to appear before Me,
Who requires this of you, this trampling of My [temple] courts [by your sinful feet]?
13 
“Do not bring worthless offerings again,
[Your] incense is repulsive to Me;
[Your] New Moon and Sabbath [observances], the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] and [the squalor of] the festive assembly.
14 
“I hate [the hypocrisy of] your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to Me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 
“So when you spread out your hands [in prayer, pleading for My help],
I will hide My eyes from you;
Yes, even though you offer many prayers,
I will not be listening.
Your hands are full of blood!

16 
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Get your evil deeds out of My sight.
Stop doing evil,
17 
Learn to do good.
Seek justice,
Rebuke the ruthless,
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the [rights of the] widow [in court].

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

In Jesus’ long list of rebukes and woes against the Pharisees and teachers of the law (Matthew 23:13-36), he rebukes them for neglecting “the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness” (v.23).

There it is first in a list of the top 3.

Jesus was essentially quoting Micah 6:8 in which the prophet says what the Lord requires of us is to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”

In the Hebrew (Old) Testament alone, “justice” is mentioned hundreds of times in reference to the systemic oppression of vulnerable populations (widows and orphans and the poor and impoverished) at the hands of the rich and powerful.

Here is a very small sampling:

“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free…” (Isaiah 58:6)

“This is what the Lord says: Do what is right and just. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.” (Jeremiah 22:3)

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.” (Jeremiah 22:13)

“There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts…But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:12, 24)

From these verses it seems clear to me that the Christian should protect the vulnerable and oppressed.

But to what extent?

Are these commands given for me to carry out as an individual? Are they given for the church to carry out corporately? Are they given to the government to carry out? If so, should Christians work politically to compel the government.

There is strong Biblical evidence that each of us is to individually care for the vulnerable and oppressed.

Jesus story in Matthew 25:31-46 about the sheep and the goats and caring for “the least of these” it is pretty clear.

There is strong Biblical evidence that our church should care for the vulnerable and oppressed.

In Acts 4 the early church members donated, the church cared for those in need.

In Acts 6 the early church was caring for so many widows the apostles did not have time to preach. Our church should care for the vulnerable and oppressed.

Do these commands apply to governments?

On that question the evidence is less clear.

In Biblical times the idea that governments would help the vulnerable and oppressed was non-existent.

There is no Bible text that says,

“And Peter and John formed a political action committee to raise money to run ads in the Jerusalem Times and to lobby the Sanhedrin to care for the poor.”

So, we need to look at the principle behind these texts and see if we can apply it to our time.

Is it enough for me to help orphans and widows I personally, see?

My wife is a widow – so perhaps there is something biblical to consider here.

What we should see in these passages is not just a clear concern for vulnerable populations, but also that they are identifying large scale, systemic issues that are not solved by way of mission trips, church service projects, or benevolence.

These verses and many others mention relevant things like wages, taxes, greed among the rich, corruption of all levels and measures and degrees and bribery.

Many Christians say individuals and churches are supposed to help the poor and needy, but never make an effort to do so through political processes (separation of church and state) of nor impose, coerce, demand, that the government do so.

This ignores the critical context of these Bible passages and the problems they mention. Injustices caused (and propagated and maintained and sustained) by political forces cannot be easily, quickly remedied by individuals and churches.

Following the logic of these verses, it rather seems clear to me that the Bible commands Christians to personally protect the vulnerable in their sphere of influence and allows the Christian to convince others and the government to protect the vulnerable and oppressed…

So, take another look back at your list of divisive issues.

Circle all the ones that deal with protecting the vulnerable and oppressed.

Those are the issues the Bible commands Christians to be personally involved in and allows Christians to “work” to convince others, including the government.

What if the Christian works to convince and not enough people listen?

Should the Christian go even farther and engage in “acts” of protests or civil disobedience for this or any just cause?

How clear is the Word of God for the Children of God on this critical question?

Romans 13:1-7Amplified Bible

Be Subject to Government

13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God [granted by His permission and sanction], and those which exist have been put in place by God. 2 Therefore whoever [a]resists [governmental] authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who have resisted it will bring judgment (civil penalty) on themselves. 3 For [civil] authorities are not a source of fear for [people of] good behavior, but for [those who do] evil. Do you want to be unafraid of authority? Do what is good and you will receive approval and commendation. 4 For he is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, [you should] be afraid; for he does not carry the [executioner’s] sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an avenger who brings punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject [to civil authorities], not only to escape the punishment [that comes with wrongdoing], but also as a matter of principle [knowing what is right before God]. 6 For this same reason you pay taxes, for civil authorities are God’s servants, devoting themselves to governance. 7 Pay to all what is due: tax to whom tax is due, customs to whom customs, respect to whom respect, honor to whom honor.

To give proper historical context, when Paul wrote this the emperor of Rome was Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known simply as Nero.

The emperor was not known for being a moral and ethical person, to say the very least.

In AD 64 the great Roman fire occurred, with Nero himself suspected of arson.

In his writings, the Roman senator and historian Tacitus recorded,

“To get rid of the report [that he had started the fire], Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace” (Annals, XV).

“To prevent Rome and the Emperor from breaking down your door – keep a civil tongue in your head – live in peace by giving to Nero what is Nero’s.”

Even under the reign of a ruthless and godless emperor, Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells his Roman readers to be in subjection to the government. Moreover, he additionally states no authority exists other than that established by God, and that rulers are serving God in their political office.

Mark well this exchange between Pilate and Jesus and “Government Authority.”

John 19:9-11Amplified Bible

9 He went into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus did not answer him. 10 So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me at all if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason, the sin and guilt of the [a]one who handed Me over to you is greater [than your own].”

Peter writes nearly the same thing in one of his two New Testament letters:

“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king” (1 Peter 2:13–17).

Both Paul’s and Peter’s teachings have led to quite a few questions from Christians where civil disobedience is concerned.

Do Paul and Peter mean that Christians are always to submit to whatever the government commands, no matter what is asked of them?

Yes, IF that was all the Bible said on the matter.

But the Bible says more.

What do these people in the Bible have in common:

Hebrew midwives defying Pharoah, Rahab, Saul’s soldiers, Obediah, Jehosheba, Vashti, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abendigo, Peter, James and John and all of the original Apostles have in common?

They broke the law of the land.

Let’s look at some examples of civil disobedience in the Bible and see if we might both discover the principle of when civil disobedience is appropriate.

In Exodus 1, the Egyptian Pharaoh gave the clear command to two Hebrew midwives that they were to kill all male Jewish babies.

An extreme patriot would have carried out the government’s order, yet the Bible says the midwives disobeyed Pharaoh and “feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live” (Exodus 1:17).

The Bible goes on to say

the midwives lied to Pharaoh about why they were letting the children live; yet even though they lied and disobeyed their government, “God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them” (Exodus 1:20–21).

Its Biblically OK to nonviolently break laws that require you to kill someone.

In Joshua 2, Rahab disobeyed a command from the king of Jericho to produce the Israelite spies who had entered the city to gain intelligence for battle.

Instead, she let them down via a rope so they could escape.

Even though Rahab had received a clear order from the top government official, she resisted the command and was redeemed from the city’s destruction when Joshua and the Israeli army destroyed it.

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws to bring down evil governments

1 Samuel records a command given by King Saul during a military campaign that no one could eat until Saul had won his battle with the Philistines.

However, Saul’s son Jonathan, who had not heard the order, ate honey to refresh himself from the hard battle the army had waged.

When Saul found out about it, he ordered his son to die.

However, the people resisted Saul and his command and saved Jonathan from being put to death (1 Samuel 14:45).

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws capricious laws that kill people

Another example of civil disobedience in keeping with biblical submission is found in 1 Kings 18.

That chapter briefly introduces a man named Obadiah who “feared the Lord greatly.” When the queen Jezebel was killing God’s prophets, Obadiah took a hundred of them and hid them from her so they could live.

Such an act was in clear defiance of the ruling authority’s wishes. Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws to prevent the innocent from being killed.

In 2 Kings 12. Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, began to destroy the royal offspring of the house of Judah.

However, Joash, son of Ahaziah was taken by the king’s daughter, Jehosheba, and hidden from Athaliah so that the Davidic bloodline would be preserved.

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws to prevent the innocent from being killed.

Esther 1:10-12, “On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore, was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.”

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws to protect your modesty.

Daniel records a number of civil disobedience examples.

In chapter 3 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the golden idol in disobedience to King Nebuchadnezzar’s command.

Chapter 6 where Daniel defies King Darius’ decree to not pray to anyone other than the king.

In both cases, God rescued His people from the death penalty that was imposed, signaling His approval of their actions.

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws that force you to worship false gods.

In the New Testament, the book of Acts records the civil disobedience of Peter and John towards the authorities that were in power at the time.

After Peter healed a man born lame, Peter and John were arrested for preaching about Jesus and put in jail.

The religious authorities were determined to stop them from teaching about Jesus; however, Peter said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19–20).

Later, the rulers confronted the apostles again and reminded them of their command to not teach about Jesus, but Peter responded, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws that prevent you from spreading the gospel

One last example of civil disobedience is found in the book of Revelation where the Antichrist speaks, commands all those who are alive during the end times to worship an image of himself.

But the apostle John, who wrote Revelation, states that those who become Christians at the time will disobey the Antichrist and his government and refuse to worship the image (Revelation 13:15) just as Daniel’s companions violated Nebuchadnezzar’s decree to worship his idol.

Its Biblically OK to non-violently break laws that require you to worship false gods.

What conclusions can be drawn from the above biblical examples?

The guidelines for a Christian’s civil disobedience can be summed as follows:

1, Christians should resist a government that commands or compels evil and should work nonviolently within the laws of the land to change a government that permits evil.

2, Civil disobedience is permitted when the government’s laws or commands are in direct violation of God’s laws and commands.

3, If a Christian disobeys an evil government, unless he can flee from the government, he should accept that government’s punishment for his actions.

4. Christians are certainly permitted to non-violently work to install new government leaders within the election laws which have been established.

Back to my original question.

Should Christians engage in civil disobedience to convince the government to care for the vulnerable and oppressed?

I personally struggle with this one because there are so many significant issues of injustice, mankind’s inhumanity to man, which I am quite passionate about.

Government laws and policies may not protect the vulnerable and oppressed, but the laws and policies do not require the Christian to break God’s laws and mankind’s laws and commands, so the Christian should “subtly” obey them.

(S)He should keep ministering to the people whom God has placed before them in their neighborhoods, to work to change laws, yet to obey them, nonetheless.

Should the Christian engage in political protests?

The Bible does not prohibit it, peaceful protests are not against the law of the land or God’s law.

Christians should not, however, ever engage in violent or destructive behavior.

Such protests damaging property are in violation of the eighth commandment.

Protests that injure police officers or other individuals violate God’s commands to, “Love the Lord your God as you Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

While working for justice for the vulnerable and oppressed is important to the Christian, I believe there are factors that lessen the Christian’s involvement.

One limiting factor may be priorities.

In Matthew Jesus says the second command is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

What is the first command? It is to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul.”

Loving God is more important than loving your neighbor.

We must take care of our relationship with Jesus first. If our involvement in justice for the vulnerable interferes with our own relationship with Jesus, we reconsider our #1 priorities relevant to the fight for justice in God’s Kingdom.

First things first, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…”

Matthew 6:33Amplified Bible

33 But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

Another limiting factor may be gospel effectiveness.

In I Corinthians 8 Paul talks about not being a stumbling block to the weak.

Even though there is nothing wrong with eating meat, Paul says, “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.”

And in the next chapter, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”

It is our right to work for any just cause.

But if exercising those rights cause some to be physically or economically or socially harmed (lose their businesses, their jobs, cancelled out by culture) and we ourselves do not heed to the Gospel Truth, then we have made a mistake.

John 13:34-35Amplified Bible

34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”

We must ask ourselves, “Will my involvement in this cause harm to so many people that I cannot, with the mind of Savior Christ, witness for the Gospel?”

Justice now is not the primary goal, saving people eternally is.

Definitely, absolutely, there were many enormous injustices in Jesus’ time: slavery, income inequality, racial inequality, torture, corrupt government.

Jesus did not spend a lot of time fixing those ills.

John 3:16-17Amplified Bible

16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.

He did, though, spend 100% of his maximum effort drawing people to Himself.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, you have given all peoples one common origin.
It is your sovereign will that they be gathered together
as one Body of Christ, one family shaped into your image.
Fill the hearts of mankind with the Holy fires of your love
and with the desire to work and labor, ensure justice for all.
By sharing the abundance of good things, you give us,
may we work and labor to peacefully secure an equality for all
our brothers and sisters in our neighborhoods, throughout the world.
May there be an end to socio-economic political division, strife and war.
May there be a genuine Christ Minded dawning of a truly human society
built only upon thy grace and mercy, love and forgiveness and thy peace.
We ask this in the name of Immanuel, Jesus, our Risen Lord and Savior.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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God’s Message for God’s Church. God is at His Wheel: It’s always a Time of New Beginnings inside the Potter’s House.

Many of the Bible’s images are challenging for us to understand because we live in a culture which is so radically different from that of the ancient Middle East.

But here’s an image that doesn’t need much translation.

Even young children who make finger bowls from clay at home or in an art class or in Camp can identify with and feel the force of this image in their fingertips.

Both young sculptors with their Play-Doh and master sculptors in their studios are intimately involved in their creations’ beginning. This is hands-on work.

And that tells us something about God our Creator. The biblical image of the potter challenges us not to picture God as an aloof or isolated figure, but busy.

No, when God deals with an individual, a nation, a people group, a community, a neighborhood or a church, he engages in some intimate, hands-on creativity.

Picture God as the ‘busy’ One who molds and shapes your community of faith.

Picture God as the One who sometimes chooses to remold and remake that community into something that no one would have ever guessed possible.

Considering the state of our churches right now, how can we live as good clay?

For starters, we can be pliable, flexible, moldable. Brittle clay is almost useless.

Miraculously, we can also somehow figure out how to actually begin living in hope and expectation, full of wonder about what God is forming us to become.

Jeremiah 18:1-6Amplified Bible

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house and saw that he was working at the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so, he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The prophet Jeremiah lived at a very difficult time in Judah’s history.

The revivals led by King Josiah were a distant memory.

Idolatry and immorality plagued the nation.

They were following in the footsteps of the Northern Kingdom and soon the judgment of God would meet them – walk right into their faces and slap them.

In Jeremiah chapter 18, God issues a very solemn, yet fruitless plea beckoning His people to return to Him.

History tells us they refused to repent and would not return to the Lord.

As a consequence, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people were taken captive by the Babylonian Empire.

From that tragedy, however, the beauty of this passage (chapter 18, verses 1-6) worthy to be noted: that God while God’s own judgement is upon them, is also God who is yet busy reaching out unto His people –even well into the 11th hour!

The message God had for Jeremiah was a poignantly visual sermon at the potter’s house.

From the visually nondescript impact of outside the potter’s house, to in the potter’s house, God is busy offering His people a fresh start – a new beginning.

We all want a new beginning. We have all said something or acted in a particular way and afterward wished we could take it back or do it differently. We have all had times, happy times and wonderful memories that we would like to re-live.

We are the Body of Christ – the Church – God’s Church in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – 2022. Could we be anymore broken and or fractured?

Our brokenness and our division and chards of controversy are perpetually at our feet – piled chard by chard miles and miles high – like the Tower of Babel.

We raise them ever higher as “altars of our own self-righteousness” unto our grieving God in the undeniably vain hope our altars will be ‘more’ acceptable than those altars being raised by those we have great and growing contentions.

Contention? Whose ‘altar,’ whose “Tower of Babel” is more “self-righteous?”

The arguments go on and on – and their “self-reported” unobstructed views to the Potter’s House becomes more and more distant, more and more obstructed.

Both declare their steadfast belief their “view” and “vision” of the outside of the Potter’s House – is the most accurate and correct, ‘viable’ representation.

Meanwhile, somewhere, who really knows from where anymore, is God’s Word of Judgement upon His church from HIS Weeping Prophet Jeremiah Chapter 18. 

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house and saw that he was working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so, he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

But, amidst all of the rancor and contention, the ‘altar’ and ‘tower’ building, who is actually paying attention to the Word of God, wondering about whether or not the Potter is still at His house, working clay into His image of the church?

When was their last visit to the Potter’s House to see the Potter at work at the Potter’s Wheel? When did they last try to knock on the Door to His House to see HIM at work? Do they see all the “empty” wheels waiting for HIS new students?

Do they see The Master Potter at work? Do they see that they are the ones being shaped and reshaped, molded and then molded, moistened and remoistened?

Do they see it is their “so called,” “self-reported” “self-righteousness” altars, towers sitting on top, in the center of all things on the Master Potter’s Wheel?

Do they hear the whirring of the Master Potter’s Wheel calling them to account?

Hearing the “Not so Silent” invitation of the Master Potter – “Please sit down?” (Isaiah 58 Amplified)

58 “Cry aloud, do not hold back;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 
“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight [superficially] to know My ways,
As [if they were in reality] a nation that has done righteousness
And has not abandoned (turned away from) the ordinance of their God.
They ask of Me righteous judgments,
They delight in the nearness of God.
3 
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You do not see it?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’
Hear this [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins] you find something you desire [to do],
And you force your hired servants to work [instead of stopping all work, as the law teaches].
4 
“The facts are that you fast only for strife and brawling and to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.
5 
“Is a fast such as this what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself [with sorrow in his soul]?
Is it only to bow down his head like a reed
And to make sackcloth and ashes as a bed [pretending to have a repentant heart]?
Do you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord?
6 
“[Rather] is this not the fast which I choose,
To undo the bonds of wickedness,
To tear to pieces the ropes of the yoke,
To let the oppressed, go free
And break apart every [enslaving] yoke?
7 
“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not to hide yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood?
8 
“Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your healing (restoration, new life) will quickly spring forth;
Your righteousness will go before you [leading you to peace and prosperity],
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 
“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away from your midst the yoke [of oppression],
The finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and [every form of] wicked (sinful, unjust) speech,
10 
And if you offer yourself to [assist] the hungry
And satisfy the [a]need of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
11 
“And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your soul in scorched and dry places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
12 
“And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up and restore the age-old foundations [of buildings that have been laid waste];
You will be called Repairer of the Breach,
Restorer of Streets [b]with Dwellings.

As much as we, the Body of Christ, the Church, in God’s neighborhood, all would like to turn back time to re-live a happy moment or take back hurtful words, forget the debts and sins of the people against us –we do not, cannot.

You and I, the Body of Christ, the Church, in God’s neighborhood, are at this very exact moment the complete sum of every decision we have ever made.

No matter how much to sit down in Pottery School with the Master Potter – (Isaiah 2:2-4 Amplified)

2 
Now it will come to pass that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be [firmly] established as the [a]highest of the mountains,
And will be exalted above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.
3 
And many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house (temple) of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go out from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 
And He will judge between the nations,
And will mediate [disputes] for many peoples;
And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up the sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.

Verse 4 (for “our” “contemporary” Church)

And He will judge between the CHRISTIANS,

And will mediate [disputes] for many CHRISTIANS,

And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

CHRISTIANS will not lift up their swords against FELLOW CHRISTIANS

And never again will they learn war ….

As much as we may profess that want to make a brand-new beginning for ourselves – rewrite Isaiah 2:1-4 for our “modern contemporary church,” it is probably next to, if not, virtually impossible in the mindset of too many.

Too many “self-righteous,” “humbled” “Christians” from all the theological spectrums are standing too far distant, too far apart from the Potter’s House.

Too few dares to look for or dares to explore, discover, see a need to get closer.

The good news is: “with man it is 100% impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). God is able to keep His wheel moving, give you and I, a fresh start! That is the message our God is preaching unto His Church today.

This visual message has but three main contributors. Consider them briefly.

The Master Potter

Perhaps Jeremiah had seen this particular potter before.

No doubt Jeremiah was familiar with the work of pottery as it was very common in that day.

In fact, the Hebrew Testament uses no less than 30 references to this skill in conveying spiritual truth.

But on this day, it was radically different for Jeremiah.

This day, God was preaching to him.

At the potter’s wheel we see the potter’s ability.

Not everyone can make a piece of clay into something desirable. And even smaller number of people are able to create a piece of artwork that is highly sought after by museums and collectors. The potter is a man of ability.

At the potter’s wheel we also see his sovereignty.

That wheel is the potter’s universe in a sense, and he is in complete control of whatever is taking place within. The speed of the wheel; the shape into which the clay is molded and shaped and worked –all are completely subject to him.

These are valuable lessons for Jeremiah to learn.

Because the potter he was learning about was no ordinary potter.

The master potter in this poignant sermon was not the man in the shop.

The Master Potter has a different identity. Consider Isaiah 64:8

“But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

The Master Potter is GOD the LORD.

He has infinite ability and sovereign in all things.

The Marred Clay

It takes 9-12 months to prepare the clay.

As it is found, it is completely unsuitable for the potter’s wheel. The clay is dug out and goes through a detailed process of filtration and refining to remove all the unwanted debris. The clay is trodden under foot to increase its plasticity and then it is left to weather for months. So much care is given to preparing the clay.

Even though such attention is given to its preparation, sometimes small rocks and other debris remain in the mix.

These go completely unnoticed until placed upon the potter’s wheel. As the potter begins his work of shaping and molding, suddenly the rubbish is brought to the surface and in a moment the new creation is marred. A deep groove is cut into the vessel and the smooth surface is suddenly out of shape.

I heard of a man who was stuck in the mud at the bottom of a steep hill and needed to be towed to the top. At the top of the hill, the driver of the tow truck said, “I didn’t think we were ever going to make it to the top that hill.”

The driver in the other car replied, “Neither did I, so I kept both of my feet on the brakes to keep us from rolling backwards!”

That may sound silly, but you and I behave that way more times than we would like to admit. God desires to mold us and shape us and make us after HIS will, but as God looks forward, we are “stomping on the brakes” looking backward.

The apostle Paul, said,

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” in Philippians 3:14.

But before he could press forward, in verse 13 he declares: “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

Let go of the past, relinquish your plans and yield yourself to the hands of the Master Potter! Sometimes the clay is marred –not because of a mistake of the Potter, but because of a bit of debris left-over from the former life still in it.

The Miracle on the Wheel

What happens when God finds a little rubbish in the clay?

It’s obvious. He annihilates it. Utterly destroys it and casts it away. Right?

No. He does the exact opposite.

Note again Jeremiah 18 verse 4.

“And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”

The Master Potter did not throw the clay away.

He started over with the same lump of clay!

We have all made a mess of things at times. Attitudes and actions of the old man, the sin nature, comes to the surface and we lack wisdom to do anything.

But God in HIS grace and HIS mercy, with tender hands removes the rubbish.

As we confess our sins to Him and miraculously yield to His plan,

–He enters the breeches in the walls, He rebuilds and restores OUR ruins.

John 3:16-18Amplified Bible

16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because [b]he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].

God has a definite plan in mind for HIS Church.

2 Timothy 2: 20, 21

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

We are embarking on a brand-New time and season in the church. In many ways it is a clean slate –a fresh start. We cannot tell what 2022 will hold for us.

We do not know what challenges we will face, what mountains we will climb (other than God’s) or what hard lessons from deepest valleys we will endure.

But I do know this: God is still God, and His ways are perfect.

I know that He is still at work at HIS wheel and His hands do not rest.

The wheel of time continues to turn and as I will yield to the Master Potter, He can make something beautiful within me and in you and within HIS CHURCH.

I know that I am prone to failure,

I know you are prone to failure,

I know the Church is prone to failure.

But the Good News is this: God will not throw the clay away.

God will continue His work; day by day, making and remaking me into a vessel that is fit for the Master’s use.

God will continue His work in and within the Church, day by day, making and remaking, shaping and reshaping, molding and remolding, it into a vessel that is 100% fit for His Son, Jesus, to return to one day and reclaim as His very own.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in us the fire of Your love.  Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created.  And You shall renew the face of the earth. 

O, God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy Your consolations. 

​Through Christ our Lord. 

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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In the Potter’s House, at the Potter’s Wheel: God, our Creator, is not even close to being finished with You and I and His Neighborhood. Jeremiah 18:1-11

God is like a potter, and we are like clay. In his work of spiritual formation, God constantly molds and shapes us. This can be a slow process of gradual growth.

Or, at times, an encounter with the living Christ through his Word will infuse us with grace that moves us quickly to a new level of devotion and commitment.

At other times, the potter must stop spinning the wheel. look carefully at their work, decide if the shape of the pot is as they had originally envisioned it fits the original purpose for which the potter originally intended. Sometimes, break the pot down and then start over again because the clay has become misshapen.

Through each effort at reshaping the vessel, our spirit, each of these types of spiritual formation shows a different way God deals with us. If I can no longer be molded, I need to repent and experience the shattering grace of God’s love.

If I somehow believe I have somehow reached a spiritual plateau, achieved a measure of spiritual maturity where I do not feel or know where my spirit can mature in God anymore, I need to begin a process of discover by God’s Spirit into the unknown and undeveloped and woefully underdeveloped areas of my personality or giftedness that God knows need his powerful touch. And if I’m then gradually growing, I need simply to rejoice and increase my thanksgiving.

A process of discovery! What concrete ways do we see the Potter at work in our lives? A new biblical perspective might have to be developed, new directions set, moral values instilled, old habits broken, positive attitudes fostered, deeper commitments chosen and cherished, a family reunited, emotional hurts healed, a serious crisis resolved, spiritual gifts utilized, and new ministries started.

As God, our Creator, continually and continuously shapes you and me, (is God ever finished?) and His neighborhood, life all around us is being transformed.

God’s neighborhood is not transformed into the vision we desire or believe is best for what greater “more politically correct” purposes we set aside for it.

It is, after all, when all is said and done, God’s neighborhood and not ours.

Jeremiah 18:1-11Amplified Bible

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house and saw that he was working at the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so, he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I might [suddenly] speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will uproot and break down and destroy; 8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will [a]relent and reverse My decision concerning the devastation that I intended to do. 9 Or at another time I might [suddenly] speak about a nation or kingdom that I will build up or establish; 10 and if they do evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will reverse My decision concerning the good with which I had promised to bless them. 11 Now then, say to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am shaping a disaster and working out a plan against you. Turn back, each of you from his evil way; correct your habits and change your actions for the better.”’

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with Me Yet!

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with You Yet!

God is Not Even Close to Being Finished with Anyone in HIS Neighborhood!

I’m going a bit off-script this day.

Lately, I have been spending a great deal of time reading and studying and pondering and writing these devotions from the Gospel and New Testament.

However, today, and probably for a few more days hence, my spirit felt lead to the Hebrew Testament Prophet Jeremiah.

The night before, God woke my mind up in the middle of the night again. It was with the clear message this biblical reading is meant to be timely for us today.

Pondering and praying about it throughout yesterday, I realized sometimes we need spiritual encouragement. God knew that. Jeremiah knew that, and he told the story of a potter’s wheel. I hope this devotion today can be inspiring for this coming group of readers – and that together, with God, we can all know it too.

Hear what the prophet Jeremiah said some twenty-six hundred years ago again:

The word of the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he worked on the wheel. As he worked on a piece of pottery, it crumbled in his hand. Then he made it into another piece that pleased him more.”

The prophets used analogies and images to teach essential spiritual lessons.

This text is an example of storytelling to show Israel God’s mercy.

The imagery of as a pottery maker in his house illustrates God’s patience.

I know I have read this passage dozens of times, I’ve listened pastors preach it, and I’ve preached it through the lectionary cycle before. But there’s something I have somehow missed until yesterday as I pondered, prayed, this devotional.

One scholar said that the “potter’s house” was not a single person. Rather, all of Jerusalem’s pottery came from one area considered “the house of pottery.”

That neighborhood was outside the city walls. Jerusalem rested on a hill.

To reach the potter’s house a person had to go out the gate, thorough the valley of Hinnom, and up the hillside.

The valley is where Israel burned their garbage, and they called it Gehenna.

The kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire in the valley, so the ancients believed it a cursed place.

Our notion of hell comes from this valley of burning: the abode of the dead.

The prophet walked through the people’s sin’s, their garbage, and even what they believed dead before he saw the potter.

I’m the same way: I’ve had to confront my fears, my doubts, and walk-through memories of loves and hates I thought dead before I reached the potter’s house.

After Jeremiah waded through the trash heap, he then made it to God’s pottery wheel. He saw God with dirty hands that were dried and blistered and cracked from the weight of the clay, the pottery wheel and the intensity of the fire.

The vision of the potter taught Jeremiah a lesson about Israel: God is always at work. God would continuously collect their misshapenness, continually remold and reshape it, and make them into people with hearts of flesh instead of stone.

So, my devotional writing today is along those lines: God’s not finished with us.

God didn’t give up on Israel. God will not give up on us.

Years ago, before my wife and I were married, we were looking for gifts for wedding parties. We were looking for wine goblets for our reception table.

We found a pottery shop where we introduced to the owner and the “master potter.” He took us on a tour of his classroom where he gave both children and adults of all ages both beginner, intermediate and advanced pottery lessons to.

He sat down at a pottery wheel and showed us how to mount the clay on the wheel and how to use our hands to begin forming and shaping the pottery.

At first, the force he used with the clay surprised me. Then, as he taught us that clay is not ready for the wheel until it goes through the pressure of shaping, I realized the necessity of preparation.

He carefully, but ever more forcefully, worked the wheel with his foot, worked the clay with his hands, kneaded it, squeezed it, and saturated continually with the water it to prepare it for whatever the potters’ vision was of its final shape.

It didn’t have form immediately. It needed time and water before it looked like a water pitcher. I noticed the clay would crumble if it didn’t have adequate water.

Life is a process of kneading, water – our baptismal identity, and shaping by the potter’s hands before we become “whole.”

Genesis says that God formed us in his image and molded us into his likeness.

Some of the earliest images of God in Genesis is a potter, with muddy hands, creating human beings.

God’s still working on us, shaping us toward wholeness.

God is not even close to being finished with anyone of us yet.

There were times I wanted to give up on dreams, relationships, and desires.

As I frequently take the time to reflect on my relationship with my wife, what it has been before we were married, after we were married, and what it is right now, and what I fervently pray it will be for all of our remaining tomorrows,

I see in my married life where God has been continually, continuously at work. He has been at work both with and within both of us to shape and reshape our marriage into His image and not ours. Somehow, miraculously God is at work, shaping me and my wife, pushing the mud into position to create a new vessel.

Our lives are messy at times, yet we both desire the perception that everything is okay. We know people who portray the ideal life and a perfect family on social media. But deep down inside we know something is missing. We both feel like a warped piece of bit pottery instead of the perfect piece on display in a museum.

After frequent searches through Scripture and in both individual and corporate prayer sessions, we finally accepted there’s nothing wrong with imperfection.

These days we are striving for vulnerability instead of perfection. God didn’t give up on Israel because of imperfection, and God will not give up on us either.

That leads me to another point I notice in this text:

It’s never too late to work together with God to begin being reshaped again.

In any relationship, in any covenant of marriage, there are always areas where more shared and mutual growth and maturity into God’s image are necessary.

Again, we can both envision God, in His Potter’s House, at His Potter’s Wheel.

The final thing I learned at the pottery studio was a spiritual lesson still informs my theology of my marriage to both God and to my wife who are my whole life.

“Living Life in God’s neighborhood happens because there is no perfect clay.”

Then the potter taught us what happens when ‘life happens,’ clay falls apart.

The clay pitcher he had carefully made, spun in perfect balance on the wheel until he moved his fingers ever so differently and gently into the clay. The clay gradually caved in on itself and became misshapen, spun lopsided on the wheel.

Sometimes when the pressure of life pushes us, we cave in on ourselves and spiral out of control. But then he said, as I can envision God is saying to us now; “When the piece you’re carefully making falls apart, you can always start over.”

The prophet Jeremiah saw a broken piece of pottery on God’s table.

He said God selected the moment, selected the brokenness, reformed it, and put the clay back on the potters’ wheel, created something new from broken pieces.

That should give us confidence. Even when our hearts shatter into a million pieces, God can take our pain, our fears, our guilt, and our grief, and transform the broken pieces of the self into a new creation. The prophet said the broken pottery became better than it was before the fall on the ground and shattered.

There’s never any perfect clay (relationship, family, ideal, dream, job, vocation, ministry or mission…). But it’s never too late to appreciate the beauty of flaws.

Conclusion

There’s an art in Japan, kintsugi, that is a unique way to fix pottery.

In Japan, people often inherit pottery from family members.

When a meaningful piece breaks, they do not discard it. Some cultures are like God; they do not throw things away just because of blemishes or brokenness.

They collect the pieces and repair the pottery.

But they do not use invisible glue that makes the pottery appear flawless.

They leave it with visible vulnerabilities.

They understand that scars can be signs of refinement.

The gift of imperfection is credibility.

The artist collects a special tree sap and mixes it with gold.

Then they carefully join the separated fragments together with gold.

The gold and the sap make the piece stronger at the cracks than it is elsewhere.

When they finish, the pottery is a one-of-a-kind heirloom with bright gold lines giving it a unique beauty and character it did not have before the fall.

Hear the words of the prophet again, “The first piece crumbled in the potter’s hand, but he made it into another piece that pleased him more.”

With God, our Creator, scars, imperfections, and brokenness, become inspired stories of triumph and grace.

They are stories where God turns lead to gold and things become greater than we ever dreamed possible. Remember, when we put hopes and dreams in tombs when we mourn them, and when we assume they are dead, God raises the dead.

The Tomb is STILL empty!

Jesus is STILL ALIVE ….

— God is not even close to being finished with anyone of us yet.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Pick up a lump of clay and mold it in your hands

Think about the creation of the world—

the touch of God’s hands on the very substance of the universe

As you change the appearance of the clay with the touch of your hands,

think how the world you live in has touched and changed you…

Think of how your hands have touched other people –

in love, in anger, in sorrow and in joy…

Think of the things and people who have touched your life

and molded you into the person you are today…

“Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.

We are the clay; you are the potter.

we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

Prayer

Look, Lord, on an empty vessel that needs to be filled.

In faith I am weak—strengthen me.

In love I am cold—warm me and make me fervent

so that my love may go out to my neighbour.

I doubt and am unable to trust you completely.

Lord, strengthen my faith and trust in you.

You are all the treasure I possess.

I am poor, you are rich,

and you came to have mercy on the poor.

I am a sinner, you are goodness.

From you I can receive goodness,

but I can give you nothing.

Therefore I shall stay with you.

(Martin Luther)

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Jesus’ Sense of Mission. Jesus Came not for the righteous but for Sinners.

One of the things we must always keep in mind when we are studying or even just reading the Scriptures is that context is king. We must understand the context if we are to understand what the passage means.

Today we are going to look at a passage of Scripture that has been the basis for many preachers for sermons which were isolated their setting.

The story of the call of our Lord to Matthew to follow him and the resulting change in Matthew’s heart as seen by the feast he gives so that Jesus can speak to all of his friends has been the basis of some very motivating sermons.

Jesus’ statement that He “did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” is a rich statement that could be preached on for days, if not weeks, on end.

There have also been many inspirational sermons presented on the nature of the new life we have in Jesus Christ based on what Jesus says in Matthew 9:17 about new wine being put into new wineskins.

In fact, there have been church renewal and evangelism movements started based on these two passages. However, no matter how motivational and inspirational a sermon or a renewal or movement may be, if it misses the point of the Biblical text, it is a very poor effort and could even descend into chaos.

A passage of Scripture cannot be properly understood without its context.

Turn with me to Luke 5:27-39. The parallel passages are Matthew 9:9-17 and Mark 2:13-22. As you are turning there, let me set the context for you.

Luke 5:27-39 Amplified Bible

Call of Levi (Matthew)

27 After this Jesus went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi (Matthew) sitting at the tax booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].” 28 And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow Jesus [as His disciple].

29 Levi (Matthew) gave a great banquet for Him at his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes [seeing those with whom He was associating] began murmuring in discontent to His disciples, asking, “Why are you eating and drinking with the tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews]?” 31 And Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but [only] those who are sick. 32 I did not come to call the [self-proclaimed] righteous [who see no need to repent], but sinners to repentance [to change their old way of thinking, to turn from sin and to seek God and His righteousness].”

33 Then they said to Him, “The disciples of John [the Baptist] often practice fasting and offer prayers [of special petition], and so do the disciples of the Pharisees; but Yours eat and drink.” 34 Jesus said to them, “Can you make the wedding guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But days [for mourning] will come when the bridegroom is [forcefully] taken away from them. They will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old one; otherwise, he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old [a]wineskins; otherwise, the new [fermenting] wine will [expand and] burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one, after drinking old wine, wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The theme of Matthew’s gospel is that Jesus is the promised Messiah and throughout his account Matthew continually stresses that point.

Mark and Luke make similar emphasis in their accounts.

Mark’s focus is that Jesus is the Son of Man who came to serve and give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Luke’s emphasis is that Jesus is the Son of Man who came to seek and save sinners (Luke 19:10).

In all three accounts, whether they are chronological such as Luke or thematic such as Matthew, there is a progression in presenting Jesus’ authority as the promised Messiah.

Luke’s narrative simply presents Jesus’ miracles in the order they happened while Matthew’s narrative groups them thematically to demonstrate that Jesus has authority over disease and sickness, nature and the supernatural.

We have seen Jesus’ authority over nature in His turning the water into wine at the wedding in Capernaum (John 2) (See: The Wedding at Cana).

Jesus will continue to demonstrate that authority by instantly calming the waters of the sea (Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:36-41) and walking on water (Matthew 14:24-33; Mark 6:47-51).

Jesus has authority over sickness and disease as demonstrated in His healing Peter’s mother-in-law of the fever that had put her in bed and many others of their various diseases that same day (Luke 4:38-41)

Jesus put his hands on the leper and healed him and made him clean (Matthew 8:1-4), healed a boy who was near death and 16 miles or more away by speaking a word (John 4:46-54).

Jesus has authority over the supernatural demonstrated by casting demons out of hosts of people. One of the first was immediately after he had finished teaching in Capernaum and a demonized man cried out.

Jesus rebuked the demon and commanded it to come out, which it did, and the people were amazed (Luke 4:31-37).

Later that same evening Jesus cast out many demons while He was healing people at Simon Peter’s home (Luke 4:40-41).

All of these miracles were signs which had demonstrated Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, God in human flesh. His abilities to do these things were the proof He also had the authority to forgive sin.

He told the paralytic man “Your sins are forgiven.” When the scribes and Pharisees who were present questioned His authority to forgive sins since only God can do that, Jesus healed the man in their presence to prove that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Luke 5:17-26).

The power to forgive sins is of the greatest significance because sin is the root of all man’s problems and so is his greatest need.

This is the context for what occurs next in all three accounts.

Jesus forgave and healed a sinner who was paralyzed.

Jesus had already shown great compassion toward all those who were sick.

Many would understand His forgiving the man as just an extension of that compassion to someone stricken with a severe ailment.

But what about people who were so despised the Jews considered them to be the equivalent of Gentiles? People they thought were excluded from being forgiven.

Jesus Calls a Publican – Matthew 9:9; Mark 2:13-14; Luke 5:27

The context of these passages is the demonstration of Jesus forgiving sinners and the change in life that brings. 

Luke 5:27 summarizes what occurs, After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” 

Mark 2:13-14 adds more detail, 13 And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. 

Matthew 9:9 adds the detail that this man was also known as Matthew.

No text states how much time passed from when Jesus forgave and healed the paralytic until this event occurs, but it would not have been a long time.

Jesus has gone out from Capernaum and is walking along the road that runs by the shore of the Sea of Galilee when He comes to the booth of the tax collector.

We are not told exactly what the booth looked like.

It could have been a small building or just a table with some sort of covering for shade.

Sitting in the tax booth is a Jewish man named Levi the son of Alphaeus. He is also known at Matthew.

All three gospel accounts state that Jesus simply commanded him saying, “Follow Me!” While it seems so simple, this is an incredible command.

The common thought among the Jews at that time was that a person who was handicapped was crippled in direct relationship to their sin or the sins of their parents or grandparents.

That is why the paralytic man was such a good opportunity for Jesus to teach the religious leaders listening to Him that He had the power to forgive sins.

When Jesus said to that man, 

“Take courage, my son, your sins are forgiven.” 

It was already assumed that the man was a sinner in great need of forgiveness.

But now we have the example of Jesus calling one of the most despised classes of people in all Israel to follow Him.

Tax collectors as a whole were despised. They were called “publicani” and seen as traitors to the nation.

A publican was a national who bought a franchise from Rome that gave them the right to collect the taxes, the tribute, which Rome placed on the countries they had conquered.

The advantage to the one who held the franchise to collect the taxes was that Rome asked for a fixed amount, but anything collected above that could be kept by the publican.

This led to all sorts of abuses of the system.

Now, no one enjoys taxes (except certain politicians that like to levy them).

Even in our own country where we do have some say in our taxation through our elected representatives, few are happy have get a call from an IRS agent.

Now imagine IRS agents were not collecting taxes for the benefit of your own community, state and nation, but instead for another nation, an enemy nation such as North Korea or Iran

Add to that sense of indignation the fact he was getting mega rich in the deal by “collecting” more taxes from you than you actually legally owed.

That gives you some idea about the feelings against these publicans.

It was to Levi, or Matthew (gift of Yahweh) that Jesus says, “Follow Me!”

Matthew must have certainly known about Jesus either from personal experience in hearing Him in person or hearing about Him from the reports of the people.

I frequently tend to picture Matthew as a man who has heard the gracious words of our Lord but looking at himself and saying to himself something like, 

“What Jesus says is wonderful, but they could never apply to someone like me who is a publican.” 

But the day comes when Jesus is walking along the road by the seashore and comes upon Matthew sitting in his tax office and He says to him, 

“Follow Me!” 

It was clear to those who saw this take place, and it was clear to the early Jewish readers of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus, by acknowledging extended His forgiveness to even the most despised outcasts of society.

The Publican’s Response: Matthew 9:9-17; Mark 2:14-22; Luke 5:28-39

Matthew 9:9 simply states that Jesus commanded him, “Follow me!” And he rose and followed Him. 

There is no apparent hesitation. He gets up immediately and follows Jesus.

Matthew is modest about the personal cost of following Jesus in his own account. 

Luke 4:28 states that “he left everything behind and rose and followed Him.” 

Of all the disciples, Matthew paid the highest financial cost in following the Lord. There would be no returning to this job. Someone else would take his post.

Matthew alone knew the exacting cost and willingly paid it without hesitation.

He said not one single word, for his heart and his soul was locked deep inside the throes of a speechless surprise of unanticipated, and unexpected grace.

Matthew’s further response bears this out.

There was no mourning at all about what he had left behind.

Instead, he has extreme joy over the grace extended to him demonstrated by what he does next. 

Luke 5:29, And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there were a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

What do you do when you are very happy and have great news that you want to celebrate and someone you want your friends to meet?

You throw a party, and that is what Matthew does.

But if you are in a class of people that is despised by most of the community, who do you invite?

Luke states that he invites “tax gatherers and others.”

The tax collectors are his co-workers and among the few with whom he could be friends, but who are the others?

The particular word used here (allos) means others of the same kind.

Matthew and Mark state that they were “sinners.”

These would be other Jews who were also outcasts of society for various reasons Perhaps – prostitutes, criminals, untouchables, and the non-religious.

It may well have likewise included Gentiles who were his friends as well.

There is no doubt that Matthew wanted them to know what Jesus had done for him and could do for them too.

Matthew invited Jesus and His disciples to his home for a reception and then invited his friends who were sinners to come meet Jesus, hear his good news.

The result was that these tax-gatherers and sinners were “reclining at table” with Jesus and His disciples (Matthew 9:10). Jesus, God in human flesh, the Holy one of Israel, is dining with the penultimate outcasts of Jewish society.

What an incredible scandal was taking shape here!

The Response of the Self-Righteous– Matthew 9:11, Mark 2:16, Luke 5:30

Luke 5:29 is specific that this banquet Matthew was holding in Jesus’ honor and so that his friends could meet Him was at his house, but apparently it was also a location in which those who were attending could easily be seen by those who were not attending.

Both Matthew 9:11 and Mark 2:16 state that the scribes and Pharisees saw Jesus’ dinning with those invited to Matthew’s banquet. 

Luke 5:27 tells us what resulted from that, 

The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 

Matthew and Mark point out that it was not so much that the disciples were eating with sinners, but that Jesus, their Teacher, was eating with them.

These were not questions of inquiry.

They were grumbling.

These are rhetorical questions of rebuke to the disciples of Jesus aimed at Jesus.

The point of their statement to the disciples was a challenge to them along the lines of, 

“How can you dare to attach yourselves as followers of such a man who associates with such sinful people.” 

They reasoned that if Jesus was really a man of God, then He should not be in the company of such wicked people.

If Jesus was really a man of God, He should be dinning with good and upright people like themselves.

Of course, none of them had invited Jesus to a dine with them, but that was beside their point that Jesus should not be in the company of those people.

Let me stop to quickly give you a couple of questions that need to be considered concerning these Pharisees.

First, why are they following Jesus around and so interested to see with whom He is dining?

In current contemporary times, I suppose we expect it from the paparazzi who follow celebrities all around trying to get the latest gossip to publish in their tabloids, but these are the “highly respected” religious leaders in ancient times.

Are they also interested in gossip or are they already trying to find a way to discredit Jesus? Remember, Jesus had already challenged their evil manner of thinking when He forgave the sins of the paralyzed man and healed him.

Second, why do they put the challenge to the disciples of Jesus instead of to Jesus Himself?

If they were interested in the truth about Jesus, what He taught and why He did things, wouldn’t it be better to ask those questions directly of Him?

Perhaps they have felt the sting of conviction for their own sinfulness when they have heard Him teach or talked with Him in the past.

They avoid Jesus while striving to intimidate the disciples. You would think they would have something better to do.

The Pharisees judged everyone else by their own standards and traditions.

As far as they were concerned, righteous people associate with righteous people and sinners with sinners. Jesus claims to be from God, but He associates with sinners, therefore He could not be who He claimed.

This is their case against Jesus, all the proof they wanted to conclude Jesus was not from God regardless of His teaching and the many miracles He performed.

Jesus’ Response – Matthew 9:14-15; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:31-32

When Jesus heard about what the scribes and Pharisees were saying, He then went out and talked with them directly.

All three-gospel account record nearly the same thing, but Matthew 9:12 & 13 gives a fuller account of Jesus’ response. 

“But when He heard this, He said, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

Jesus makes three arguments against their premise that He should not associate with sinners and in favor of His ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation as demonstrated by His willingness to associate with sinners.

Argument from Medicine:

The first argument is based in the realities of medicine.

It is a very simple and logical argument.

“Healthy people do not need a physician.”

“It is the sick that need to see the doctor.”

This same principle applies to the spiritual world as it does for the physical one.

Those who are spiritually healthy do not need a spiritual physician, only those who are spiritually sick.

A doctor is expected to go out to those who are sick.

What sort of doctor would spend all of his time with healthy people and would refuse to associate with those that were sick?

The implied rebuke was blunt and crystal clear.

The Pharisees claimed to be those closest to God, but they avoided sinners instead of helping them.

The scribes and Pharisees were quick to diagnose the disease of sin in others, but they offered no cure, no comfort, and no compassion.

All they did was “stand on their marble pedestals” and pronounce “judgment.”

One other point should also be made here.

People who are sick but refuse to acknowledge it do not go to doctors.

I am sure all of us know people like that.

It is obvious to everyone else that there is a problem, but they say it is nothing,

they’re okay, they will be fine, and they do not go to the doctor even though it is plain to everyone else they need a doctor.

Only people who recognize that they are sick go to the doctor.

The Pharisees were spiritually sick as they could be because their hearts were twisted by self-righteousness yet saw themselves in perfect spiritual health.

For that reason, they just refused to seek the spiritual physician and instead criticized Him.

The publicans and sinners knew they were sick.

They desperately wanted a spiritual physician.

Argument from Scripture:

Jesus’ second argument is from Scripture.

He quotes from Hosea 6:6, “I desire compassion, and not sacrifice.” 

This was a very stinging rebuke to them for several reasons.

First,

Jesus preceded the Scriptural quote with the phrase, “go and learn,” 

which was the phrase used by the Rabbis to rebuke those who did not know something they should have already known.

It was a stinging rebuke against their supposed superior knowledge.

Second,

the scripture quote itself was directly against their thinking and actions.

They were more concerned with carrying out every minute regulation they had set up in their vain attempt to be righteous than in carrying out what the Mosaic Law actually said.

They missed the whole message of God’s patience, mercy, and forgiveness running throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.

Third, the fact the quote was from Hosea made the point even more forceful because the story of Hosea’s continuing love and forgiveness to his wife Gomer,

though she was unfaithful in the extreme, was God’s living illustration of His love and forgiveness to Israel, though they had been unfaithful in the extreme.

The story was a picture of God’s desire for compassion and mercy rather than sacrifice.

Without the heart, all the rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the Pharisees were unacceptable to God.

Without mercy, they were shown to be more ungodly than the sinners who made no pretense of godliness.

Argument from Purpose:

The third argument was based on the very purpose for which Jesus came which was to save His people from their sins (Matthew. 1:21).

Jesus says here, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 

This is a common theme throughout Jesus’ teaching and actions toward people.

He is compassionate and forgiving as He was to the paralytic man.

There are only two groups for whom Jesus had harsh words and actions.

The first are the moneychangers and marketers who had made the temple a place for thieves.

The second are the self-righteous religious leaders who claimed to know and show the way to God but were instead leading people to hell.

To sinners, you never find this harshness.

Instead, there is compassion and mercy. Jesus healed their diseases and cast out their demons.

He wept over Jerusalem’s hardness of heart.

His consistent call was like He gave to the woman caught in adultery, 

“Where are your accusers? Neither do I accuse you. Go and sin no more.” 

He never excused sin

but was always extending grace to the sinner who admitted his condition.

Conclusions

Jesus did not come to call the righteous.

If a person could have been truly righteous, there would be no need for Him to call them.

If such a person existed, there would be nothing to forgive, and they would qualify for heaven on their own merits.

Jesus’ call to repent and be forgiven goes out to the self-righteous, but such people would not heed it because they see no need for it.

Jesus came to call sinners to Himself. It is the poor in spirit that enter the kingdom of God. Repentant sinners receive mercy, grace, and salvation.

Unrepentant sinners and the self-righteous remain condemned in their sins.

What a wonderful truth this is to me because it means that Jesus’ came to call me, the Chief of ALL Sinners unto Himself.

And if you will admit your own sinfulness,

it means He came to call every single “Chief of ALL Sinners” unto Himself too.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

We thank you, O God, that you have given us an enduring hope—one which cannot disappoint us or mislead us.  We thank you, that through our faith in you and in your Son Jesus Christ, you enter into every believing heart and make new lives that have been torn asunder by the darkness of this world…

Lord, hear our prayer…..

We pray today O God that those believers who are asleep may awake and know that salvation is nearer now than when they first believed.  Help them, and us, to lay aside the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light that you bestow upon those who actively seek you day by day.  Grant that their faith and ours may be fully alive….  

Lord, hear our prayer…..

We ask today, O God, for those who have lost hope and for those who have never had it.  Grant to us, to those we lift before you in our hearts a new and abiding vision of what have you have done, and what you are doing, and what you will do, to save and redeem your people and indeed the creation itself.  Grant, O God, that all might see and believe and discover their purpose and the purpose of all that is and all that is yet to be….

Lord, hear our prayer….

We ask all this of you, O God, knowing that you are our hope and our salvation, a very present help in times of trouble, and the One whose purpose is to grant and new and abundant life to us and our world.  Praise be to your name.  Amen.

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Summer Vacation and Sharing the Gospel: Having fun and Overcoming Spiritual Shyness. 2 Timothy 1:3-12.

Shyness and Invitation

There is a song whose lyrics go something like this,

“Shyness is nice, and Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life You’d like to… Coyness is nice, and Coyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you’d like to. So, if there’s something you’d like to try. If there’s something you’d like to try. Ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?”

Rather cute lyrics, to a lovely and funny and very interesting song.

…I love the people who are courageous enough to ask me…

But where are the people who are courageous enough to ask me?

Summer Vacation? It is that long awaited time and season of the year.

Spread all over the globe.

Spread all over God’s creation having their own special and unique kind of fun.

We are never shy about our having our fun. We want and need our family time.

Yep! We are never shy about having our fun. We earn our fun – are entitled to it!

“Shyness is nice, and Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life You’d like to… Coyness is nice, and Coyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you’d like to. So, if there’s something you’d like to try. If there’s something you’d like to try. Ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?”

Rather cute lyrics, to a lovely and funny and interesting and intriguing song.

…I love the people who are courageous enough to ask me…

But where are the people who are courageous enough ……

To ask me about MY SOUL and the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

2 Timothy 1:3-12Amplified Bible

3 I thank God, whom I worship and serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayer’s night and day, 4 and as I recall your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I remember your sincere and unqualified faith [the surrendering of your entire self to God in Christ with confident trust in His power, wisdom and goodness, a faith] which first lived in [the heart of] your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am confident that it is in you as well. 6 That is why I remind you to [a]fan into flame the gracious gift of God, [that inner fire—the special endowment] which is in you through the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination]. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].

8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or about me His prisoner, but with me take your share of suffering for the gospel [continue to preach regardless of the circumstances], in accordance with the power of God [for His power is invincible], 9 for He delivered us and saved us and called us with a holy calling [a calling that leads to a consecrated life—a life set apart—a life of purpose], not because of our works [or because of any personal merit—we could do nothing to earn this], but because of His own purpose and grace [His amazing, undeserved favor] which was granted to us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago], 10 but now [that extraordinary purpose and grace] has been fully disclosed and realized by us through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who [through His incarnation and earthly ministry] abolished death [making it null and void] and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher [of this good news regarding salvation]. 12 This is why I suffer as I do. Still, I am not ashamed; for I know Him [and I am personally acquainted with Him] whom I have believed [with absolute trust and confidence in Him and in the truth of His deity], and I am persuaded [beyond any doubt] that He is able to guard that which I have entrusted to Him until [b]that day [when I stand before Him].

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Personal Shyness can be excruciating debilitating at times.

It has definitely affected and impacted my life negatively over the years. How many times has shyness stopped me accepting the invitation of life, too many?

Some folks might find this hard to believe, but I can be embarrassingly shy. It takes me time to feel comfortable enough to be myself in new environments.

There is a very definite and palpable shyness about me.

I’m better than I used to be.

Or at least I like to believe I am ….

Or maybe I am still playing myself for the king’s fool ….

Doing better or doing worse?

Some days it is almost impossible for me to tell myself there is a difference.

I’m sure folks who see me in my day-to-day stuff find this hard to believe, but it is true all the same. It takes me time to feel comfortable in my own being, in new company, with my neighbors and new situations. Thank God though that, by His Grace alone, these days it rarely leads me to turn down the invitation.

There have been times when I have hidden myself from view, literally hidden my face, afraid to pop my head above the parapet for fear of being shot down.

My mother and my kindergarten teacher knew this and saw how different and silent I was towards my fellow students on my first days at elementary school.

She took us all to school on our first days, but I reacted differently from my siblings who just so easily ran and freely joined the other children. I did not,

I walked through the doors of my new classroom, swallowed hard and sat down in the corner utterly overwhelmed and bewildered by it all. I did in time adjust and found a level of comfort in the crowd, but it took time. It has been the same throughout my life. I do eventually become a part of the whole, but it takes time.

I do not seriously believe I am alone in these feelings; in fact, I know I am not.

We all experience shyness in some form or another, especially when invited and take the first steps into something new, particularly if is something that might be wonderful, but will definitely make them feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.

By the way we are always uncomfortable, vulnerable, that is the nature of life.

Think about the first time and that last time you walked into a new community, a new neighborhood or a new school or new classroom you became a part of. It takes time to feel you belong and can be wholly yourself. I know it does for me.

For those about to go to college, away from home, for the first time, far away in another state or in another state – you are moving into the university’s dorms, about to move in with another human being who will be your roommate for the four years or even more – yes! shyness can be good – In the beginning of it all.

Shyness is a beautiful thing, so long as it does not stop or short circuit us from doing those things our hearts and our souls’ desire. It’s ok to feel the trembling excitement of shyness, but it can become unhealthy if it burdens, enslaves us.

The Irish Poet David Whyte writes that “Shyness is the sense of a great unknown, suddenly about to be known. It is the exquisite and vulnerable frontier between what we think is possible and what we think we deserve”.

This is an exciting feeling actually. Yes, there is fear there, but perhaps also an excited kind of anticipated joy too. It is not in and of itself a negative feeling.

To me these feelings are the essence of the spiritual journey, which is not a safety-first way of living and breathing by the way.

No, it compels us to deal with powerful feelings and discover new ways of being in the world. This can feel quite daunting at times but should not cause shame.

It is natural, healthy and necessary actually. To just brashly step into anything without any shyness can lead to problems not only for ourselves but others too.

These uncomfortable feelings are needed as we explore the great new mysteries life is offering us. This is the invitational nature of life and the Gospel of Jesus.

That said we are not alone in these feelings, no matter how alone we might feel, this is why it is so vital, so critical, to be a part of a community that journeys on through these adventures, inviting us onto the great unknown that is our lives.

2 Timothy 1:7-8 Amplified Bible

7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].

8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or about me His prisoner, but with me take your share of suffering for the gospel [continue to preach regardless of the circumstances], in accordance with the power of God [for His power is invincible],

Timidity: https://www.blueletterbible.org/rsv/2ti/1/7/t_conc_1126007

Timidity: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1167/rsv/mgnt/0-1/

Spiritual shyness is that uncomfortable feeling or sense of anxiety that grips you and me when we have an opportunity to talk with someone about the Lord.

We have all been there, haven’t we?

The opportunity presents itself, even on vacation, but we choke under pressure.

We are on vacation to have fun, relax, decompress from all the stress of work.

We need to be with our family and our friends to quite simply: max out our fun!

Most everyone we encounter – campers etcetera, are there to do the very same!

We are the last ones who want or desire to interrupt our fun and someone else’s.

We do not want, nor do we desire to be a “killjoy” of someone else’s fun times.

We kind of tell God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit “its ok to take a break, find Shalom, take several Sabbath Days or weeks of rest from having to deal all of the time with all of our moaning, groaning, perpetual bent towards sinning.”

It is okay, God! Take Your Rest! Because that is exactly what we are going to do.

We take our rest! We seek or Shalom! and gave God permission to seek His Rest!

So, we then unexpectedly encounter that “stirring deep within our souls.”

Our hearts subtly, suddenly, become “strangely warmed” by a close encounter.

It is God who refused our “invitation” to go on His much-deserved vacation.

God is whispering into our pursuit of Shalom:

“HOW IS IT WITH YOUR SOUL?”

“HOW IS IT WITH “YOUR NEIGHBORS” SOUL?” sitting alone with their drink at the bar, with their feet propped up on the ottoman by the nice warm fire?

And we effectively – DO NOTHING to respond to the stirring within our souls.

Spiritual shyness afflicts all of us at times.

In these situations, we never quite get around to asking someone “the big question” about their soul or offering “the invitation” to come, seek Jesus.

Matthew 10:40-42Amplified Bible

The Reward of Service

40 “He who receives and welcomes you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives and welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous (honorable) man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives to one of these little ones [these who are humble in rank or influence] even a cup of cold water to drink because he is my disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”

Back in the early 1900s, Henry Ford purchased a large insurance policy for all his employees. A newspaper got wind of the story and publicized the details.

One of Ford’s close friends, who was an insurance salesman, read about it and became quite upset. He called Ford and asked why he hadn’t purchased a policy from his company. Henry Ford simply replied, “Because you never asked me.”

How many of our family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances could say to us, “I never believed in Jesus because you nor anyone else never dared asked me to?

“I never joined God’s family because you never invited me to.”

What is our vacationing God trying to communicate to us about our neighbor nursing their drink all alone at the bar or with both their feet up, by the fire?

Paul reminds us “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power.”

God is the One who can be on vacation and at the same time “tame” our fears about whatever it is we are fearful of or whatever it is we believe we are being shy about. With prayer and discipline, we can vacation as an effective witness.

“Shyness is nice, and Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life You’d like to… Coyness is nice, and Coyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you’d like to. So, if there’s something you’d like to try. If there’s something you’d like to try. Ask me, I won’t say no, how could I?”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Here we are again, Lord, 

At thy Invitation, we are here again ……

With much timidity and with much trembling ……

on our knees, trying, pleading, seeking thy Face,
Crying mercy.
Mercy for our souls,
Mercy for one another,
Mercy for our churches,
Mercy for our nation,
mercy for our world.

Here we are again, at thy invitation,
Standing in your presence
in awe of you your holiness,
your otherness,
your mystery,
and your incarnation

With much Timidity and with much Trembling,

seeking Your Holiness,

seeking to be more like You

and less and less like our true and embarrassingly timid selves,

Acts 1:8 Amplified Bible

8 But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

From my wholehearted timidity into and unto thy resurrection courage ……

Give “thy teeth” today unto, into my prayer and my affirmation of faith ……

A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside by thee.
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Why should I be a Servant anyways? Because our Loving our God Means Submitting to God. Matthew 20:20-28

In a sermon I once asked an older congregation,

“What is the best way to teach children?”

And the congregation answered enthusiastically, “By example!”

In that sermon, I had quoted Albert Schweitzer, saying, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”

Rabbi Jesus taught by example what he expects from us. Facing the cross, he illustrated submission and leadership at the last supper with his disciples when he washed their feet and said they should now serve one another (John 13:3-17).

The concept of submission is often misunderstood.

It isn’t a matter of allowing others to walk all over us.

As Paul applies it to marriage in Ephesians 5, submitting means that both the husband and wife seek their partner’s well-being. It’s 100% not a hierarchy!

It’s not about authority but about being subject to one another, serving one another—doing so “out of reverence for Christ,” who gave his very life for us.

When Salome the mother of James and John asked for places of authority for her sons in Jesus’ kingdom, Jesus explained that lording it over others is not the way of the kingdom. He urged them to follow his example: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Whom can you serve and build up, for Jesus’ sake, today?

Matthew 20:20-28 Amplified Bible

Preferred Treatment Asked

20 Then [Salome] the [a]mother of Zebedee’s children [James and John] came up to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down [in respect], asked a favor of Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit [in positions of honor and authority] one on Your right and one on Your left.” 22 But Jesus replied, “You do not realize what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup [of suffering] that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink My cup [of suffering]; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

24 And when the [other] ten heard this, they were resentful and angry with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles have absolute power and lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them [tyrannizing them]. 26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your [willing and humble] slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [paying the price to set them free from the penalty of sin].”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Let’s just go ahead and ask the question no one asks: Why Be a Servant at all?

I wonder how many of us are just as interested in Service.

My guess is that few are genuinely enthusiastic to learn more about Service, and a typical response would be,

“Why should I be a servant?

“What is so good about serving?”

“I don’t have time for it, and it’s not really my cup of tea.”

“Let those who enjoy serving and who have the time for it get involved in it.”

Well, do these responses come from someone more devoted to following Christ their Savior or do they come from one more devoted to following the world?

Perhaps it is not a “fair question” to ask in these divided times and seasons when churches are struggling as much as they are just to stay open and viable.

“Why be the church, anyway?” is a question I have seen asked so many times and in so many different ways – each way expressing more and more angrily.

I ask because we also live in a secular world where more people strive diligently for high positions of power and leadership, and for more fame and recognition.

We live in a world where few people want to be servants – after all where is the glory and the honor and the nice paycheck for the server in serving someone.

And if there are people who do serve, they serve only because of the prospect of personal gain – in terms of money, honor, power, prestige or recognition.

That is the way things are done in the world.

It is considered demeaning to serve others, and it is considered foolish to serve for nothing. But in our Gospel narrative, Christ requires us to take a very radical and vastly different view of service, and this can be seen in Matthew 20:20-28.

The passage begins with a personal request made by the mother of James and John, who were two of the twelve disciples of Jesus.

She came to ask Jesus to let her sons have the best positions in His kingdom – second only to Jesus Himself: One son to be His ‘right hand man,’ and the other son to be His ‘left hand man.’

I think we can all understand why she had made such a bold request from Jesus:

Does not every loving mother want only the absolute best for her precious sons?

However, the parallel passage in Mark 10:35-37 reveals that it was her sons who had engineered this request!

James and John were the ones vying to get the top positions for themselves. 

Perhaps what Jesus said to the disciples a little earlier had stirred up their ambitions – “Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28)

Their minds were so captivated with this coming glory that they hardly paid any attention to what Jesus said in the two verses just before our passage: 

“Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him ….” 

All this talk about humiliation somehow did not register at all in their minds, as they were so preoccupied with the glory they wished for.

So, perhaps what James and John did was to get their mother to help them so that it might look more like her request than theirs.

She gladly followed their script closely, bowing down to Jesus and saying,

“Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.” (v.21)

I want you to note the important phrase, ‘in Thy kingdom’ at the end of this verse. Whose kingdom is this? Christ’s kingdom.

These disciples mistakenly thought that the mark of greatness in Christ’s kingdom was to be in the highest positions of honor.

If that were true, then Christ’s kingdom would be no different from the world’s kingdoms where authority and prestige and power matter most. 

This provides the background for what Christ said in vv.25-27,  

“Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” 

Jesus shows the disciples how radically different it is to be great in His kingdom.

It is to be a servant.

This gives us the first reason why we ought to be servants: 

1. Being a Servant Is the Distinguishing Mark of Greatness in Christ’s Kingdom (vv.25-27) 

Since we who are saved are now in Christ’s kingdom, our thinking about greatness has to change radically.

We are not to be conformed to the world in our thinking anymore but be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2).

What the world esteems most like riches, fame and power are of no value to us.

They do not make us great at all.

What would make us great in Christ’s kingdom are the things that the world despises most, like humility, weakness, giving, submission and selfless service:

These are the things that matter most of all in Christ’s kingdom.

The world rewards those who put themselves at the top.

But the kingdom of Christ rewards those who put themselves at the bottom. 

In the ancient world, kings and princes were at the top-most rung of society while slaves were at the very bottom-most rung of society.

Christ tells us where we should be in v.27, “…whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” 

The word ‘servant’ that Christ used here is translated from the Greek word “doulos” which literally means ‘slave.’ 

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/mat/20/27/t_conc_949027

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1401/kjv/tr/0-1/

Now, I don’t think anyone here would like to be called a slave, because of its negative connotations of forced servitude and loss of personal rights.

But that is how Christ wants us to see ourselves – we are no better than others, because we are nothing more than lowly slaves!

We have to get used to thinking of ourselves this way and make it a point to begin each day reminding ourselves that we are not kings but slaves! 

Having this mind-set will change the way we relate to others.

It will make us more approachable and accommodating.

We will be more willing to see things from their point of view and not insist that everything must be done our way.

We will want to serve rather than to be served.

We will even go the extra mile to serve others.

When we see ourselves as nothing more than servants or slaves it becomes a lot easier for us to submit to others willingly. 

Whenever we write formal letters, we use certain conventional endings before signing off, e.g. ‘yours sincerely,’ and ‘yours truly.’

But do you know that these endings actually originated from much longer ones?

In letters that were written way back in the 1800s, the standard ending that was used was: “I beg to remain your most humble and truly obedient servant.” 

Over time this has become shortened to: “yours truly.” 

And so, the next time you write ‘yours truly,’ please remember how Christ wants you to regard yourself. 

One reason why nobody wants to be a slave is that slaves do not own anything.

They and everything they have belong to their master.

In the same way, the servant mind-set requires us to regard ourselves and everything we have as God’s property, which are to be used in His service.

In Luke 12:48 God’s Word says, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” 

God has every right to expect much from us, because He has invested ever so much into our lives.

What has God invested in us?

He has invested Time, Talents, Treasures, and Opportunities in our lives.

God has entrusted these to us to be used for His glory. 

In the parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 the Lord spoke about three servants who were entrusted with their master’s assets.

The first two servants doubled their talents by working hard, and so they were commended when the master returned.

But the third servant received a stern condemnation because he merely buried his talent and returned it intact to the master. 

This parable teaches us to be good stewards of all Christ has entrusted to us.

One day we will have to give an account to Him of how we used them.

Will you be like the servant who buried his talent in the ground?

Do you spend a lot of your time and money in your own leisure and activities, and things that are unnecessary?

How should you spend your time, talents and treasures now, if you know that you will have to give an account for them?

How would you spend your time, talents and treasures now, if you know that you will have to give an accounting of them?

How could you spend your time, talents, and treasures now, if you know that you will have to give an account of them?

Will you put them to good use so that Jesus will say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”? 

One passage that reveals what will happen at the Judgment Seat of Christ is 

1 Corinthians 3:12-14 – “Now if any man builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” 

Brothers and Sisters, do you genuinely, sincerely, absolutely look forward to receiving a blessed reward from our Savior Lord Jesus Christ?

You must. 

All your efforts in serving Him now will be amply compensated when you receive your reward from Christ.

With this reward in view, let us be faithful in serving Him well.

We have just seen that being a servant is the distinguishing mark of greatness in Christ’s kingdom.

Let us return now to our passage to see another reason why we ought to be servants.

This is found in verses 27,28 which says, 

“And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister…” 

Please take note of the words ‘even as.’

They tell us why we must be servants.

And it is plainly this – Our Lord Jesus Himself was a servant.

Thus, the second reason why we ought to be servants is: 

2. It Is the Disciples’ Means to Follow Christ’s Example (v.27-28a) 

Christ became a servant in His ministry on earth. 

Philippians 2:6-7 tells us that Jesus, 

“…being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” 

One passage that displays Christ as a servant is John 13:1-13.

This happened when the disciples had the Last Supper with Christ the day before His crucifixion.

In those days it was customary for the host to assign his lowest slave to wash the feet of his guests when they came into his house for a meal.

After walking in sandals on the streets their feet would be caked with mud and manure and would need a good washing.

But no one had done this.

The basin, water and towel were all there, but none of the disciples was willing to get up and use them. 

Then something quite unexpected happened. Jesus rose up, laid aside His garments; took a towel, girded Himself, then proceeded to wash their feet. 

This must have taken them all by surprise.

Perhaps they thought that Jesus would appoint one of them to do the work.

But now they were stunned as they saw Him doing it!

How can their Master be washing their filthy feet?

They should be the ones washing His feet!

But now with His outer garments laid aside, His body stooping down and His hands washing and wiping their feet, Jesus practically became their servant. 

Then He said to them in vv.14,15

– “Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well: for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” 

Since Christ has given us such an example, how can we follow Him without being a servant?

Brothers and Sisters, being a servant is our means to follow Christ’s example.

It makes us more like Him. 

Here is a story about two wash basins.

One was a plain copper basin that Jesus used to wash His disciples’ feet, while the other was a beautiful gold basin Pontius Pilate used to wash his own hands.

Christ used one basin to carry out a responsibility that not His.

Pilate used the other basin to deny a responsibility that was his.

One basin shows us that Christ sought to serve, while the other basin revealed that Pilate ought to serve but refused.

Whose washbasin will you choose?

Christs or Pilate’s? 

If you want to follow Christ, then choose His wash basin and be a servant.

This is a very compelling reason why we ought to be servants.

But there is an even more compelling reason.

It is found at the end of v.28 – “…and to give His life a ransom for many.” 

This teaches us that being a servant… 

3. It Is the Divine Mode for Edifying Christ’s People (v.28b) 

Christ gave His life on the cross as a ransom for many, and the many here refers to us, the people He has saved from sin and eternal death.

But His ministry to us did not stop there.

Christ is still giving Himself for us through His unceasing intercession in Heaven, and through the work of the Holy Spirit on earth.

And the Holy Spirit bestows spiritual gifts on us so that we can build up the body of Christ by using them well.

Our service to God’s people is the mode by which He accomplishes this work.

Brothers and Sisters, every one of us has a role to play in this work of building the Body of Christ. But exactly how well have we all been fulfilling our role? 

During the time of the prophets Zechariah and Haggai the Israelites were spending too much time and effort building their own houses while the house of God was laid waste.

Some problems had come up during the Temple building project and the work was stopped for 15 years.

But people conveniently used this as an excuse to leave God’s work undone.

So, God sent His prophets to rebuke them, and also withheld many blessings from them. 

In our present time, the situation is still the same.

Many Christians spend much time and effort pursuing their own ambitions, while God’s work is left undone, or is left in the hands and hearts of a few who are struggling to do it all alone.

I have heard it said that 20% of the people do 90% of the work. 

Why is it that the rest of us are not serving in Life Church?

Maybe it’s because we always think that somebody else will do it.

Here is a clever poem that I found about this: 

“There’s a clever young fellow named Somebody Else. There is nothing this fellow can’t do. He’s busy from morning till very late, just substituting for you. You’re asked to do this or asked to do that. And what is your ready reply? “Get Somebody Else. He’ll do it much better than I.” So much to do in this weary old world; so much and the workers are few. And Somebody Else is weary and worn just substituting for you. Next time you’re asked to do something worthwhile, just give this ready reply; If Somebody Else can give time and support, well then, so can I.” 

Perhaps too many of us have been content to let Somebody Else do the work.

The problem with this is that there aren’t that many Somebody Elses out there.

And those there are, have grown weary and tired, and may even suffer from burnout soon.

Putting more money into the offering bags will not help.

The way to resolve this is that for every Lifer who wants what James and John wanted from Jesus, to remember their roles in Christ’s Kingdom, assume his or her role of service, however small it is, and be used by Christ to edify His people.

Is there in your church’s newspaper a subject heading “Where Can You Serve?”

Read it and I bet you will see there are many great and wonderful needs that can only be met if we are willing to give priority to serving the Lord and His people.

I predict that the article provides a list of ministries in the life of the Church, their needs and the person to contact to find out more about them.

Please ask the Lord to lead you to an area of service. 

If you feel any reluctance, please remember the 3 reasons why you should be a servant according to our passage of Scripture:

Being a Servant

(1) Is the distinguishing mark of greatness in Christ’s kingdom;

(2) It is the disciples’ means to follow Christ’s example, and

(3) It is the divine mode for edifying Christ’s people. 

And after you decide to start serving, there are some guidelines you need on how to serve: 

Firstly, check your motives for serving.

Our passage shows how easy it is to have the wrong motives.

James and John were interested in glory, position and rank.

They wanted to be higher than anyone else.

And though their mother came to Jesus in worship, her real motive was to seek out the best places for her two sons. 

Our Love for Christ should always be our sole motivation for everything we do for Him.

Some serve the Lord to win the praises of men.

They like to be at the forefront where others can see how busy they are for the Lord.

When asked to pray, they will pray the longest and most impressive prayers.

Like Jehu in the Old Testament, they would say, 

“Come with me and see my zeal for God.” (2 Kings 10:16)

And they love to talk about what they have done for the Lord.

But once they no longer feel appreciated, they may just as likely go elsewhere to have their deflated egos uplifted again.

Brothers and Sisters, let us be careful not to be like that.

Every time we serve the Lord, we should ask ourselves, “Who am I doing this for? For the praises of the Lord or for the praises of me, myself and I?” 

There are many in churches who work quietly behind-the-scenes.

They are unsung heroes – serving the Lord faithfully and diligently in their own areas of service.

Those who prepare the elements for Lord’s Supper.

Those church secretaries who keep the pastor informed and the clerical work and the church organizational work in order and incoming and outgoing.

There are the Boards of Trustees responsible for the upkeep of the church.

I think of our church pianists and organists and choir directors, the sound folks who avail themselves not only for their church’s worship services but even for prayer meeting, baptism’s, consecrations, weddings, vigil and funeral services. 

You know, for the amount of time, effort, expertise and service that they put in, they would probably be paid quite well if they were doing it in the secular world.

But here they do it for nothing, or next to nothing. In fact, oftentimes, they would put in their own funds for any expenses incurred in their service and would not make any extra claims from the church.

I thank God for all the sacrifices they have made, and trust that they will be encouraged to continue to serve the Lord well. So let us serve because we want to please no one else but God. Let us serve because we love Him. 

The second guideline you need to observe about serving is to put others before self. Serving the Lord is always done together with others. 

The biblical pattern for service is teamwork.

In 1 Corinthians 12 the apostle Paul describes believers as being parts of a body, and each of us has a different role to play.

God has graciously bestowed specific gifts on each of us.

But none of us can function without the rest, and we need one another’s gifts to serve the Lord together. 

But there are potential problems in working closely together with others, especially when self gets in the way.

Some feel offended when their ideas are not used or when things are not done in their preferred way.

In our passage we notice that when the other ten disciples of Jesus saw what James and John were trying to do, they reacted, as v.24 says, “…they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.” 

The spiritual attitude of these ten disciples was not any better than that of James and John.

In order to preserve good working relationships, we must always be humble, considerate, forbearing and forgiving towards our co-labourers with Christ.

We will find much greater joy in our service to God if we learn a little bit more about spiritual growth and maturity, to put others before self in our service. 

Another guideline that you need to observe is to be ready to serve whenever and wherever you can.

If it is something that you have never done before, be willing to learn how to do it. If you are approached to serve in some areas do not be so quick to say, ‘No thanks, but I can’t commit myself to it.’ 

If you count it a great honor to serve Christ, rearrange your other commitments to make way for it.

Servants must be both accountable, available whenever the master calls for them. 

Please make sure that you are available. Remember this: Availability is the greatest ability! 

A good servant is also alert to the needs of others.

In Psalm 123:2, the psalmist said, 

“Behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so, our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy upon us.” 

When the master moves his finger in command, the servant simply obeys.

A good servant is one who has learned to subdue the defiant autonomy of self, to subject his ego and his will to the wishes of another. Whatever God says goes.

When God says, “Jump,” we and our wills should say, “How high, Lord?” 

However, there is a vast difference between doing what God wants you to do and doing all that you or others want you to do.

Don’t try to do everything, or else you will end up being too busy, doing things that God never intended you to do.

Sometimes you have to say ‘No,’ and encourage others who are doing nothing to help share the load. 

And now we come to the last guideline for service: 

Be willing to do whatever it takes to do whatever is needed.

Serving the Lord will not always be easy.

There will be times when you may have to endure hardship and suffering.

Some of the tasks that need to be done are tasks that nobody wants to do at all because they are unpleasant, tedious or boring.

You may have to beautify the church grounds outside under the hot sun, or clean and sweep and mop the floors and the toilets after VBS or camp or spend hours organizing and putting together bulletins and music slides for worship. 

Our Lord Jesus has set the example.

He had to give His own life to be a ransom for many.

Are you and I ready, willing, able, to submit our lives fully unto the Lord?

Perhaps our Lord would ask you the exact same question that He asked both James and John in v.22 – “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 

Well, both of them did suffer for their service as Christ’s apostles.

Recall, James became the first apostle to be martyred, and John had to endure the longest recorded time of persecution because he lived until deep into the first century time of the cruel Emperor Domitian.

Only God knows what you and I will have to endure in your service to Him.

When we ask ourselves for the same things James, John and their Mom did,

When we try to bargain with our God and our Savior Jesus for all the best,

Ask, “Why should I want to be a servant in these divided times and seasons?”

Please, Pray! let us always make it a point therefore to seek out God’s grace to endure any difficulties, so we may be able to glorify Him through your service. 

May the Lord speak to all of us and help us to be ever faithful servants.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

The Wesley Covenant Prayer

“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

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