The Least of “the Least of These”

This sermon was preached on the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, January 25, 2009.

The creation and nurturance of life in general is at the heart of the Christian faith. Yet, if we’re not careful, our lifestyles might lend us susceptible to theological heart attack. In this sermon we’ll look at a very strange story that became the basis for the “pro-life” heart of the Scriptures and the larger implications and applications for this all-important facet of Christianity.

Genesis 22:1-14

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here am I.”

He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.

And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!”

And he said, “Here am I, my son.”

He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there adn laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

And he said, “Here am I.”

He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided” (ESV).

This is certainly a strange story about a God of love. How could the God of life instruct Abraham in such a vile manner of death? Why did Abraham not put up a fuss at all? Why did this not seem out of place to Abraham?

During Abraham’s day, this practice of sacrificing one’s progeny to the gods was very common place. Thus, when God instructs Abraham to do this deed, Abraham merely follows instructions. This is not to say that Abraham was happy about it. Yet, it would not have seemed out of place for his culture. The departure comes not in God asking Abraham to do this vile thing, but in God staying Abraham’s hand. This act of God effectively broke with the religious culture of the Fertile Crescent. God is the God of life! Let us consider where Moses codifies this principle into Torah. 

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” but the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

See I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and lenght of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them (ESV).

The whole of Deuteronomy (or most of it) was taught to the Hebrews shortly before they entered the Promised Land … and shortly before Moses went to die. The “this commandment” refers to the whole of Deuteronomy. It was not burdensome. They could keep it.

Notice the juxtaposition of a couple of words in the underlined verse in the midst of the above passage: “life and good” & “death and evil.” Choosing life is the good. Choosing death is the evil. This verse is positioned in the midst of this final emphasis of Torah. Choosing the moral good over choosing the moral evil is choosing life, which is of supreme importance … second only to allegiance to God. Life is the basis of the law or Torah.

Perhaps you might be thinking that you personally have never murdered anyone, nor even know anyone who has committed an abortion. It is tempting to think your obligation and responsibility ends at your restrained hands. However, as Amos teaches us, this is not the case.

Amos 5:18-6:7

Woe to you who desire the day of the
          LORD!
     Why would you have the day of the
          LORD?
It is darkness, and not light,
     as if a man fled from a lion,
     and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his
          hand against the wall,
     and a serpent bit him.
Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and
          not light,
     and gloom with no brightness in it?

“I hate, I despise your feasts,
     and I take no delight in your solemn
          assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt
          offerings and grain offerings,
     I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened
          animals,
     I will not look upon them.
Take away from me the noise of your
          songs;
     to the melody of your harps I will not
          listen.
But let justice roll down like waters,
     and righteousness like an ever-flowing
          stream.

“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god–your images that you made for yourselves, and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,
and to those who feel secure
          on the mountain of Samaria,
the notable men of the first of the
          nations,
     to whom the house of Israel comes!
Pass over to Calneh, and see,
     and from there go t Hamath the
          great;
     then go down to Gath of the
          Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
     Or is their territory greater than your
          territory,
O you who put far away the day of
          disaster
     and bring near the seat of violence?

“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory
     and stretch themselves out on their
          couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
     and calves from the midst of the stall,
who sing idle songs to the sound of the
          harp
     and like David invent for themselves
          instruments of music,
who drink wine in bowls
     and anoint themselves with the finest
          oils,
     but are not grieved over the ruin of
          Joseph!
Therefore they shall now be the first of
          those who go into exile,
     and the revelry of those who stretch
          themselves out shall pass away” (ESV).

Now at first glance this passage seems to speak against wealth … period. However, that would be too easy. The problem is not the wealth. The problem is … at least according the whole of Amos … is that many of the wealthy are resting in their wealth and also turning a blind eye to vile injustices being committed against those who have no resources with which to defend themselves. In addition to this the wealthy have the resources to crush this injustice and oppression … yet do nothing but wallow in their own wealth and resources.

The take-away for us in this discussion of “life” is that ignoring the crisis of the culture of death may actually be akin to taking and active part in its perpetuation. Simply saying that one does not overtly participate in such vileness, while avoiding being a part of any solutions, may be akin to being with the “doctors” and handing them their instruments as they murder babies.

I hope we are able to pass some really touch anti-abortion laws in this country once again. Yet voting for their passages while doing nothing to help the single mom who chose to let her “mistake” live is akin to killing the baby. However, this form of murder is slower, longer, and more painful.

According to Matthew 25: 31-46, when Jesus returns in final victory, he is bringing judgment with him. He will judge the nations on how they have treated “the least of these.” I wonder what he will say about our treatment (both directly and indirectly) of the least of “the least of these?”

 

Under Construction Part VI: “Our Share of the Load or MY Share of MY Entitlement?”

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (I Timothy 6:10; ESV).

Many of us are quite familiar with the above verse. We bash our wealthy church members with it all the time … and then turn around and ask them for some of their supposed evil money.

But …

But what if “the love of” is not the deepest root to the “love of money?” What if something runs deeper than simply wanting more than anything else? And …

And what if we have money but are not enslaved to it, but instead use it for the Kingdom of Heaven with great skill and passion?

Allow me to suggest that there is something that runs a bit deeper than simply “the love of money.” Allow me to suggest that a sense of entitlement runs deeper … spurring the rapid and rabid growth of “the love of money” … or perhaps the love of … power? fame? sex? Anything I covet?

Entitlement is a fairly harsh-sounding word that seems like someone else’s problem, does it not? Yet, is it really? We are raising a generation of kids to believe the world … and even God … owes them something … anything.

While it is certainly natural, and in many cases good, to want to better our situations … what happens when a glance of attraction morphs into a beast raging within our hearts, demanding we fulfill our desires … no matter what? It is at this point I believe that innocent desire has metamorphosed into entitlement. Desire moves from “that’s nice” to “it would be nice to have it” to “I should have it” to “I will have it … or else.”

Entitlement. It’s the back door Satan can and often does use to ruin a good many faithful believers, turning them into monsters. Let’s consider, if we will, two stories.

Adam & Even (Genesis 3:1-7)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the trees in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

But the serpent said to the woman, “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.”

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, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And the sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths (ESV).

So, they obviously knew where these trees were. The text seems to suggest that the forbidden tree(s) were in plain sight. So … question:

Why did they all of sudden seem to have a problem with temptation?

Now we can say that the old devil in serpent form influenced their decision, and we would be partly accurate. However, as I pointed out, the trees had never been tempting before … at least that we can surmise. How was Satan successful in convincing them to partake of the forbidden fruit?

Notice in verses 4 - 6 the exchange that takes place between Satan and Eve, “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘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.’ 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 ….”

Now, I can’t be too terribly certain, for I certainly wasn’t there, but is it possible … even remotely possible … that Eve faltered when she believed that God was holding out on her … and her husband? Is it possible that the fruit went from being delightful in appearance to necessary for her life? Is it possible that she felt she was entitled to that which she believed God was withholding from her?

The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-25):

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.”

And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.”

But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (ESV)

It is readily visible that this man was seeking something deeper than his personal morality could provide. It is also readily visible that this man no doubt was truly interested in God. He sought out Jesus, when Jesus was not exactly popular with the religious establishment. What created desire in this man to deny Jesus’s offer, especially when he first desired eternal life?

Let us consider how he worded his question to Jesus. “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” How do you suppose he came into possession of such wealth at such a young age (Matthew has this guy being young)? Do you suppose he was a previous incarnation of Bill Gates?

It is most likely that he inherited his wealth. Now, is it possible that this guy believed that he could simply jump through certain hoops, as he possibly did to inherit his physical wealth, to “inherit” eternal life? Again, why did he deny Jesus’s offer, when Jesus laid some hoops out before him?

Is it possible that he “became very sad” because he believed he was entitled to his wealth? Certainly if his wealth was passed down to him, but therein lies the critical juncture, does it not? While his wealth might have been his by right, he passed up the true wealth of God, possibly, because his entitlement got in the way?

Questions:

1. Are we that different?
2. Are there times when certain possessions (material or metaphysical) keep us from grasping the great things of God?

Let now take a look at the following passages of Scripture and read them with the simple question in mind, “What is the believer’s entitlement?”

Romans 12:1-21

Ephesians 4:1-16

James 1

In short, the believer is entitled to die to self, while seeking to bring honor and glory to Jesus … and while seeking to serve his neighbor. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” may be found in 1st Opinions but it is not found in Scripture. Don’t get me wrong. If read in the wrong light, what I am advocating could be used to justify unspeakable atrocities. No, no. I believe with our Founding Fathers that God has birthed us with certain “unalienable rights.” However, it is not necessarily my job to lay claim to my rights. Rather it is my job to lay claim to my responsibilities and duties to my fellow man. It is my job to guard your rights. It is my job to guard my responsibilities.

In closing, why do you suppose that the Ten Commandments begin and end with the two particular commandments in which they do? Do we remember the Commandments? The first is to have no other gods before or besides God, himself. The last is “Do Not Covet.” Is it possible that if I ingrained “No Other gods” & “Do Not Covet” into my lived philosophy, that I might be well empowered to keep the middle 8? Is living a life of self-denial, where I don’t lay claim to entitlements even possible?

For the health of the American Church, I certainly hope so.

 

Under Construction Part IV: The Christian and Citizenship

Though some do not think so, many in our churches and culture seriously confuse being a Christian and being an American. Many blur the lines between worship of God and patriotism. When this happens, we cheapen both being an American and being a Christian. For many people evidence of this blurring is all-to evident in their lives despite their erroneous blindness to it. For these well-meaning folk, living the Christian life is largely determined by their larger allegiance to their American culture.

These well-meaning folk enter into church expecting to simply receive from their pastor. They expect that if something needs to be done, well then, we pay him to do it. Any Christian “service” they might engage in is largely determined by how much freedom and privilege and safety I’m willing to give up for service to the least of these. The result is that we have churches, that compared to other churches in the “Third World,” come off looking like groups of spoiled brats.

We must take great care in giving serious thought to where the firm line lies between my American citizenship and my Heavenly citizenship. We absolutely must take great care to keep from confusing the two, or else we will seriously cheapen both. I am certainly not throwing mud on the concept of patriotism. Patriotism can be good.

Patriotism can be a glue, holding a people together. Patriotism can be a virtue propelling people to self-sacrifice for their neighbors and posterity. Patriotism for believers can be a way to worship God for his marvelous provisions for their peace and safety. Patriotism, for believers, may also simply be their prosperity thrown into Aaron’s fire … out of which pops a calf, wearing read, white, and blue.

But we need to ask the question, who is defining what it means to be an American today. We saw from the last sermon that increasingly it is less likely that people with Scriptural worldviews are doing so. It is increasingly likely that people with non-Christian or even anti-Christian worldviews are defining what it means to be an American … and by default … what freedom means.

Consider the song, “America the Beautiful,” written by Katharine Lee Bates. Each verse praises some facet of America … from the beautiful lands we possess to the beautiful concept of freedom. Then she calls our attention, “America! America!” to certain character traits she believes are necessary for our country:

• From Verse 1: God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.
• From Verse 2: God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.
• From Verse 3: May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine!
• From Verse 4: God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.

Question: Is that what we see in the character of pop culture today? Certainly, we have seen glimpses of this during and following the World Trade Center attacks. During other times of crisis the American people seem to come together and live out this national hymn.

However, pop culture increasingly has a different message. Consider some examples.

• Car dealerships crown their advertising during this season with fireworks and the flag, leaving the message that the truly American thing to do is to come on down and buy a car that you don’t need with money that you don’t have. Buy, buy, buy! is increasingly the national motto.
• I took my family to a fireworks festival last Friday (July 4th). One girl sported a tank top that read, “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of boys.” That is cute for all of about .326 seconds or until you realize that she probably means it. Hey, freedom is being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want, so leave me the _____ alone. What I do behind my door is my business, and if you come knocking, you had better be bringing a pizza.

We in the church seem curiously slow at picking up on the need to recognize that serious reconsideration of what it means to be a Christian and an American. Consider a particular bulletin that was distributed to some number of churches in celebration of July 4th by Cathedral Press (http://www.cathedralpress.com/every_08.html). What, pray tell, is the central message of this picture?

Before I tell you the two messages that I take away from this picture, allow me to draw your attention to certain aspects of this … to build my case for you. The word that draws your attention is “FREEDOM.” Below that is this family, complete with a dog, posing in front of the American flag. Fireworks are blazing in the background. Let’s stop here. What seems to be the message so far? It seems to be a typical message about the preciousness of our American freedom and its gloriousness.

Question? How many of our families today look like that? I would say less than half. Yet, still the concept of “freedom” captures the hearts of all people, despite whether they came from a stable family or not. And keep in mind, that freedom is the ability to do whatever I want, whenever I want, however, I want. Nonetheless, the picture is still about the freedom aspect of pursuing our American way of life.

Now let me draw your attention to the words that are barely noticeable under the picture, “… IS OURS IN CHRIST.” I mentioned above that there are two messages I take away from this picture … as a whole.

1. I, personally, can have the American dream (however that’s defined) … if I become a Christian.
2. In order to preserve my American dream, I need to get everybody to go to church on a regular basis.

Now, there is a third message that explodes on the scene, once these two messages are understood … my American dream is the most important facet of Christianity and achieving my American dream is what God cares most about.

These messages are inherently selfish and borderline … if not blatant … idolatry. This is the American culture and way of life dictating to me what Christianity is all about. This is not the message of Katharine Lee Bate in her 19th Century American hymn “America, the Beautiful.” Perhaps in her day it was more of the case that Christianity informed what it meant to live as an American. In our day American life and culture dictates what it means to live as a Christian.

Before moving on, allow me to consider the message of the bulletin picture at hand on a global scale. What are believers, living in oppressive regimes to make of this picture and its messages? If the American dream is the reward of choosing to be a Christian, then perhaps these believers living in oppressive regimes are not really loved by God? Perhaps they are not living as good of Christian lives as we in America are?

Whatever the messages those people living in oppressive regimes might take away from this picture, a statement by a Kenyan pastor to the largely American student body of Asbury Theological Seminary a couple of years ago is quite telling. He told them it seemed harder to be a Christian in America than in Kenya or other African states. His point was that prosperity dulls ones sense of duty and need for self-sacrifice for others and need for real, living, breathing faith in everyday life … which is the life blood of Christianity.

Is all of this what was perhaps intended by the bulletin picture creator? Let’s hope not. Let’s hope that the bulletin creator meant that true freedom (freedom from sin and for Christian ministry) is ours in Christ … but that message is lost in the flag and blown up by the fireworks.

Again, I’m not speaking against patriotism per se, rather I’m speaking against any form of patriotism that distorts authentic Christianity and takes away from the Lordship of Christ. People who are blatantly unpatriotic can be just as selfish as those who want to replace the cross with the flag. Consider the excellent article by Thomas Sowell on the necessity of patriotism.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell070208.php3

What then is the proper relationship between heavenly citizenship and that of the land of one’s birth or residence? As we work through the following Scriptural material, let’s keep two questions in mind:

1. What have we produced with the freedom and privilege afforded by our American citizenship?
2. What have we produced with the freedom and privilege afforded by our Salvation, our citizenship in Heaven?

Let’s begin by turning to II Corinthians 3:17:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ESV).

That verse is popular this time of year, and if we’re not careful, we’ll commit the same sins as discussed above. We’ll come to the conclusion that in order for me to obtain American freedom I must be a Christian … and in order for God to continue to give us American freedom we must get everybody to go to church. This is silly at best … sin at worst. We’ll come back to this verse in context in a bit. I want to communicate three points:

1. Christians Are Pilgrims before Citizens of Some Earthly Land
2. Pilgrimhood Enhances Citizenship, as Christians Are to Be Loyal Citizens
3. … but clinching citizenship with tight fists breeds worms in our manna.

Christians Are Pilgrims before Citizens of Some Earthly Land

Ephesians 2:8-22:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (ESV).

In 2:8 we read that we are saved by grace … and we normally stop there. However, we need to continue to read through verse 10. We are his “workmanship,” which is a term for salvation. We are his workmanship … created …. for … good works. We were not created to be fat and happy. We were created to produce good works with our Salvation.

Paul talks about “the circumcision” and “the uncircumcision.” Paul is speaking about certain Jewish Christians who were teaching that in order to truly be Christians you must first be circumcised and then follow all 613 of Moses’s laws. Paul is saying that our primary identification is faith in Christ. He is not saying the teachings of Moses are no longer important, but that we are primarily identified by our faith in Christ.

He then talks about how we who were once “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” He is speaking to people, some of whom have the privilege of Roman citizenship … in that day and time Roman citizenship carried with it greater relative privilege than our American citizenship does in today’s time. In our day non-citizens are afforded many of the same privileges that citizens are afforded. In Paul’s time, non-citizens were afforded precious few privileges at all.

At any rate the main point is that the primary identification for these newly baptized Roman citizens is there citizenship in Heaven … and no longer their citizenship in Rome. Did they retain their Roman citizenship … yes. But their primary identification was as citizens of Heaven … as the temple of the Spirit of God (verse 22).

Question: Who do we feel a closer kinship with?

• Our pagan or nominally Christian neighbors?
• Our Christian brethren over seas that don’t look like us?

If we are to be true to the lordship of Christ, we should feel a closer kinship to our Christian brethren overseas, despite the fact they don’t look like us.

Genesis 12:1-3:

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (ESV)

Our heritage as the people of God is as a pilgrim people. The father of our faith in the true and living God, Abraham, was first and foremost a pilgrim. His relationship with the living God began by God asking him to leave his precious country and family and take God at his Word. We have strong indication that Abraham thought of his home country as precious because he refused to take a wife for Isaac from among the people in which he currently lived. He sent for a wife for Isaac from the home country. When Abraham left, in essence God became his country and heritage (Hebrews 11).

Question: Are we willing to go for God … or does our American sense of freedom, peace, and security curb where we are willing to go for God?

Colossians 1:9-23:

And do, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. My you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth of in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross (ESV).

Paul prayed for these Colossian Christians to have knowledge of the will of God for their lives. Notice the purpose to Paul thought for having the will of God in verse 10: “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work ….” When was the last time we prayed for God to give us his wisdom to bear “fruit in every good work?” When was the last time that we came to church with the mindset of seeking to bless the people there? Yet, if my Christianity is determined by my American freedom, I might be more inclined to come to church to receive what I’m entitled to.

Paul speaks in verse 13 of our being delivered from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son? Again, who do we have closer kinship with? Our American pagan neighbors or our non-American Christian brethren oversees who don’t look like us?

Paul next speaks of stature of Jesus … the Lord. In everything he is to be preeminent! … including how I use my American freedom … and how I define my American freedom. Again, is what I’m willing to do for him in any way curtailed by some American sense of peace, security, and/or freedom? Am I willing to take his Gospel to the projects? to some repressive regime overseas?

We are pilgrims before we are citizens of some earthly land.

Pilgrimhood Enhances Citizenship, as Christians Are Supposed to Be Loyal Citizens

Again, let me not be misunderstood. I am not bashing patriotism. I am not bashing this country at all. I’m bashing idolatry. I’m bashing the creation of secular progressivism. Jesus said that we do owe allegiance to both kingdoms … heaven and the earthly land.

Matthew 22:15-22:

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.

And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”

They said, “Caesar’s.”

Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away (ESV).

Jesus does not consider paying allegiance to Caesar as taking away from the Lordship of Jesus … in and of itself. Jesus told his accusers they were to pay taxes to Caesar and to the Temple. They had responsibilities to country and God.

Here is the kicker that is easy to miss. The Jews of Jesus’s day lived under Rome and prayed for God to deliver them from Roman/foreign rule. They wanted and waited for God to set them on high as a people and as a country. God’s messiah was supposed to do this. Jesus was God’s messiah, but Jesus, the Messiah, told them they were to pay taxes to Caesar, their foreign lord.

Question: What if we were to lose our sovereignty? We we be able to serve a foreign power? This is a question … if we are to be true to the Lordship of Christ … that we must seriously ponder. Do I want a foreign power? No. Would I join in the fight to repel any foreign invaders? Yes. Even still, we must consider what whether we are Christians first or Americans first.

Romans 12:1-2:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (ESV).

Paul is speaking about our worship and says something here that is truly stark. He says that our bodies are to be living sacrifices. In other words the mark of my Christian life is not gluttonous revelling in freedom and getting fat. Rather worship is with my body and is sacrificial. My whole life is to be a living sacrifice with the extremities of my body. Worship is not sitting on pews in church. Worship is actively living as a living sacrifice for God in the world.

Paul gives us ways that we live as living sacrifices unto God. In 12:3-8 we physically touch the lives of fellow believers by the power of the Holy Spirit. In 12:9-21 we are to do such physical things as practice honest love and the abhorance of evil (verse 9), as practice abstaining from weak enthusiasm and practicing fervent enthusiasm (verse 11), and taking no revenge (verses 14-21).

Paul then continues his train of thought in chapters 13, 14, & 15. All of these chapters speak to how to physically live as living sacrifices to God in the world. Of particular importance is chapter 13.

Romans 13:1-3:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists teh authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment (ESV).

Again, these verses are the continuation of Paul’s teaching on how to physically live as living sacrifices in the world. Again, the question is could we submit to a conquering foreign power? If we have trouble with this … it is to be expected … as we often define our Christianity by our American context. But we are not permitted to anything that takes away from the Lordship of Christ. Paul says that to resist the government is resist God, himself.

We cannot simply read this verse and then pooh pooh our situation. We must wrestle with what the teaching means for us as freedom-loving Americans. Our American founding fathers had to wrestle with it, since they were in essence resisting the Crown of Great Britain. We must also wrestle with it. It is not something easy to do, but in wrestling with these hard questions of Christian faith we can become better American citizens, more faithful to the land we love. Yet if we refuse to do the hard work of putting good thought into daily practice, then how, pray tell, are we to reasonably be expected to choose between the candidates up for election?

… but clinching citizenship with tight fists breeds worms in our manna.

Pilgrimhood can enhance our American citizenship, but clinching citizenship with tight fists breeds worms in the manna of our American freedom. Here is the perpetuating question with which we must answer:

• Does the peace, security, and freedom afforded me by my American citizenship in any way override the duty that I have to do gospel ministry in the world … in any part of the world in which God might be calling me to serve?

Matthew 25:31-46:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty adn you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? adn when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these me brothers, you did it to me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’

Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (ESV).

This is a teaching of Jesus that we not overlook. How are these people in the hereafter judged and then assigned their eternal place of residence? In this parable there is no mention of belief only what these people did with their beliefs. These people are judged by their treatment of “the least of these.”

Let’s remember the two questions we were supposed to keep in mind as we ploughed through the matterial at hand:

1. What have we produced with the freedom and privilege affored by our American citizenship?
2. What have we produced with the freedom and privilege afforded by our Salvation, our citizenship in Heaven?

In light of the above teaching of Jesus, concerning “the least of these,” these two questions become even more pertinant. Since we will be judged on what we did with what we had … simply put … how are we using what we have been given? Are we even producing anything at all for God and country? Or are we merely consuming? Are we merely consuming our American culture? Are we merely consuming at Church?

Do we remember the story of the rich, young ruler from Matthew 19:16-29? This dude was a morally upright dude. Yet, he refused to relinquish his power and position and wealth to follow Jesus in order to inherit eternal life.

Does the peace, security, and freedom afforded me by my American citizenship in any way override the duty that I have to do gospel ministry in the world … in any part of the world in which God might be calling me to serve? In other words, do I refuse to reliquish my own comfort for service to God in the world?

Let’s now return to the opening verse of II Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ESV).

The context of this verse is that Paul and his missionary band are being accused of not being anointed of God and of not being apostalic because of his sufferings. Obviously God is mad and displeased with him. However, if we read through the rest of the chapter and through chapters 4 and 5, Paul staunchly proclaims that God’s marvelous light and freedom from His Spirit is found in “jars of clay.” His marvelous light and freedom is found in human vessels marked out for suffering for God in doing Gospel ministry in the world.

Consider 4:16-18:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting asway, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that arde seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (ESV).

Paul goes on to say in chapter 5 that he does not even regard outward appearances anymore, because … “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (5:17).

Rather Paul’s sole focus, instead of outward appearances, is on being a part of an ambassador minstry for God. What then was the focus of his ministry? We see this in verse 21. So let’s consider 5:20 & 21:

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so htat in him we might become the righteousness of God (ESV).

They were not simply out to get people to make decisions for Christ. Rather they were out to see people come into the kingdom of God and be transformed into the righteousness of God.

Again, Paul writes in II Corinthians 3:17:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ESV).

Paul’s concept of freedom is not our contemporary concept of American freedom. It is not the idea of freedom from trials and tribulations so I can be fat and happy, able to click my remote control in complete freedom and safety. Rather Paul’s idea of freedom is the empowerment to do Gospel ministry in the world, even from the confines of severe trials and tribulations.

Freedom for Paul is the ability to produce with the least internal encombrances. Freedom for the contemporary American is the ability to consume with the least external encombrances. Sadly, this contemporary concept of American freedom marches its way into our churches and dictates our Christianity. The result is a worm-filled Christianity and America.

 

Under Construction Part III: God Bless America or America, Bless God?

This particular sermon was delivered last Sunday, June 29th, in view of the upcoming July 4th celebration, and is actually a transition sermon, leading into a series on Christianity and Patriotism.

My baby girls are a vibrant joy in my life. My oldest, who is now 2 & 1/2, wakes up in the morning with deep emotion, emphatically exclaiming, “Daddy, I missed you!” How can your heart not simply melt. When I consider the many reasons why I am proud to be an American, this is certainly one of those many reasons. I want for a place where she can grow up in relatively safety and security. As many of you know, I served in the Marine Reserves, but was trained as a “normal” Marine. At the end of our training we were presented with our fist Marine symbol, the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. In the background Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to Be an American” was playing and our drill instructors were filing through our ranks presenting our EGAs to us. It just so happened my favorite drill instructor presented me with mine and said, “Daniel, Congratulations, Marine.” There wasn’t a dry eye in our midst. I carry with me a key chain that has the EGA and the motto, “Semper Fidelis” (always faithful) on one side and the flag raising over Iwa Jima with the pronouncement “Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue” on the other.

As I presented this sermon this past Sunday, I stood before those people, and write this for you, very proud of my country. Just like you cannot remove my Marine heritage from me; you cannot remove what it means to be an American from me. They are part and parcel to who I am, and am very appreciative of the culture I’ve inherited from both.

Now having said all of that, since I am a devoted follower of Jesus Christ before anything else, I must ask myself the following question from time to time about my country and patriotism. I urge all of you to do the same.

Question: Where does our primary loyalty and allegiance belong?

1. God
2. God & Country
3. Country

Now while we might give knee jerk reactions to this question and might even get offended at our being asked, this question is not meant to be answered lightly. This question is one in which we must wrestle around with on a regular basis.

At one time we could take for granted that those who crafted what it meant to be an American for everyone else could be depended upon to do their crafting from a Judeo-Christian framework. Certainly, no one is perfect and mistakes have been made. But it certainly is beyond dispute, at least in my opinion, that in yesteryear the decision and policy makers subscribed to a basic Judeo-Christian frame work. Certainly this was true in the first days of the Republic, for over 99% of the American people were self-described Christian.

Taking a look at some Census data from a table known as “Self-Described Religious Identification of Adult Population: 1990 and 2001,” (http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/08s0074.pdf) we see that the religious picture of the Republic is quite different. In 1990 there were 175,440,000 adults in the US. In 2001 there were 207,980,000 adults in the US. However the total number of self-described Christians rose from 151,496,000 to a whopping 159,506,000. Needless to say that the adult Christian population did not rise at nearly the same rate as the general adult population. Keep in mind this Christian self-designation includes some questionable groups, such as the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Is it possible to say that the movers and shakers in Washington, DC, Atlanta, Raleigh, New York, Sacramento, etc are less likely to adhere to a Judeo-Christian framework than yesteryear? Let’s take a look at a couple of other surveys, both by The Barna Group of Ventura, CA.

In a surveys of Church attendance (http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=10) Barna Research found in 2005 47% of adults attended church on a given weekend that was not a special occasion. 50% of women were likely to attend a regular weekend service (2006). Whereas only 44% of men were likely to do so. 54% of Midwesterners, 51% of Southerners, 41% of those from the Northeast, and 39% of those from the West were likely to attend a regular worship service on the weekend.

Here are a couple of questions:

• Are all people in this country Christian? Given the above survey of Church attendance it is highly unlikely.
• Are all the above people who go to Church … even regularly … Christian? This is quite unlikely.

In surveys of the unchurched (http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=38) Barna Research found a 92% increase of unchurched people in this country in the last 13 years from 39 million in 1991 to 75 million in 2004. In 2006 men were a larger unchurched group than women at 55%. The unchurched live throughout the country, making up 43% of the Western population, 40% of the Northeastern population, and 28% of the populations in the South and the Midwest (2006). Interestingly enough 62% of unchurched adults consider themselves to be Christian (2006). 44% of unchurched adults claim to have made personal commitments to Jesus Christ and still find that commitment important today (2006).

Here are a couple of questions:

• Are all of the movers and shakers in the power centers of our country only going to come from the churched group? No, it is highly unlikely.
• Who are most of the decision makers in the power centers of our country today … right or wrong? It is men … a larger unchurched group than women.
• Besides this is it a guarantee that simply because someone goes to church and claims to be Christian that they will possess a Scriptural world view? No, of course not.
• Lastly, is it possible for some in our country to think they are Christian … simply because they are Americans? In other words do they define their “Christianity” by commonly held American values? I think this is very likely and very dangerous, because not only are many of these people likely be political influencers in our society, they are also just as likely to be theological influencers in our churches.

If you think the last question is a bit weird, consider the Marines’ Hymn … something along with the national anthem and Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to Be an American” resonate deep within my heart.

The Marines’ Hymn

Verse 1

From the Halls of Montezuma

To the shores of Tripoli;

We fight our country’s battles

On the land as on the sea;

First to fight for right and freedom

And to keep our honor clean;

We are proud to claim the title

Of United States Marine.

Verse 2

Our flag’s unfurled to every breeze

From dawn to setting sun;

We have fought in ev’ry clime and place

Where we could take a gun;

In the snow of far-off Northern lands

And in sunny tropic scenes;

You will find us always on the job

The United States Marines

Verse 3

Here’s health to you and to our Corps

Which we are proud to serve;

In many a strife we’ve fought for life

And never lost our nerve;

If the Army and the Navy

Ever look on Heaven’s scenes;

They will find the streets are guarded

By United States Marines.

(from http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/learning_tools/library_and_archives/resources_and_references/marines_hymn.htm)

Consider the third verse. While most of us will readily smile and laugh at the friendly jab towards the other branches of our armed forces, the third verse captures the point of the previous question: Is it possible that some in our country consider themselves to be Christian simply because they’re American? Does being a Marine automatically guarantee a duty spot in Heaven?

Here is the ultimate point. In yesteryear we could take for granted that our movers and shakers held to a basic Christian world view. In other words, those who crafted what it meant to be an American did so out of a Biblical world view. Today, that is no longer the case. If we’re not careful, we might well say that we’re proud to be something that is anti-Christian.

Am I patriotic? You better believe it, but my patriotism is held with eyes wide open, with constant vigilance. In other words I don’t take things for granted. Blind patriotism is one of the several factors that led the German population, which was mostly Christian, to shout, “Heil Hitler.” In our day and time we cannot afford blind patriotism.

Patriotism can be a glue, holding a people together. Patriotism can be a virtue, propelling people to self-sacrifice for their neighbors and posterity. Patriotism for believers can be a way to worship God for his marvelous provisions for their peace and safety. Patriotism, for believers, may also simply be their prosperity thrown into Aaron’s fire … out of which pops a calf wearing red, white, and blue.

Consider the words of the Apostle Paul:

Colossians 1:15-20

He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth of in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (ESV)

This is of course describing our Lord Jesus Christ. If we are serious about our Christianity, we must be serious about this passage, especially two points.

• He is before all things
• That in everything he might be preeminent

Those are absolutes and non-negotiables. However, my concern is not an overt trashing of these ideals. Rather, I’m concerned about what our actions and attitudes might be communicating, whether we know it or not. For example if we are serious about Jesus being Lord over all, then why do we say the Pledge of Allegiance in our worship services before the Pledge to the Christian flag and the Bible? (as is commonly done during “patriotic” services and Vacation Bible School) Why do we pledge our allegiance to a state in any service at all, where we are supposed to be pledging allegiance to our Lord through our worship … where he is supposed to be the focal point of our worship?

I’m all for being patriotic, but lets be very careful about what we’re pledging our love and devotion to. Let’s be very careful that the objects of our love and devotion do not steal the worship due only to Jesus as Lord.

 

Under Construction Part II: “Rebuilding Fatherhood”

This particular sermon was presented on Father’s Day.

“And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers ….” (Malachi 4:6; ESV)

It is safe to say from reading this verse out of context that the relationship between fathers … at least the fathers in this verse … and children … at least the children in this verse … are important. What I aim to present today is that not only are fathers important but fatherhood itself is important. Some children of all ages and times have lost their fathers through untimely means such as disease, war, etc. Some have even lost them through horrible choices on the part of fathers. However, in today’s society our children … for the most part … will grow up not only without their fathers around … but also without the concept of fatherhood. What we have seen in our society is that “being a man” no longer includes being a father and that fatherhood no longer includes being male. I contend that nearly all problems in our society result from the castration and euthanizing of fatherhood. We don’t simply need to repair what it means to be a father … we need to rebuild fatherhood itself in our society.

Let’s consider some of the problems in Malachi’s day and the two pronged solution he offers.

Malachi 1:6-8

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say ‘How have we polluted you?’ Buy saying that the LORD’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.” (ESV)

We see here that defiled worship was being allowed by the priest and offered by the people. What made this defiled worship is that the people and the priests were withholding the best of their animals from Temple sacrifice … which is totally contrary to Torah. If the people were withholding their best from the LORD, then they were keeping it and its benefits for themselves. Can we not say this is deceit and violations of sacred trust?

Malachi 2:7-9

“For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for the is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have cause many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.” (ESV)

We see here that charges of corruption and deceit are more overtly levelled at the worship leadership, which was the hub of Israeli life at this time. The priest are polluting the teaching going out to the people. If the teaching becomes polluted, which fills the minds of the people, then the minds of the people … concerning the things of God … will become polluted.

Malachi 2:10-14

Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!

And this is the second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. but you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring? (ESV)

Malachi has levelled a charge at the people in general of being unfaithful (deceitful) to God by going after foreign gods? … and this after being exiled and being allowed to return from exile! Malachi levels another charge at the men of the society … in against particular husbands and fathers. The men have violated the sacred covenant of marriage … leaving their wives and children. Another charge has been levelled at these “dead beat dads.” They have not brought up godly offspring … either because they chose not to have kids or because they and their godly influence were absent … or because they had no godly influence to give.

Notice also verse 15 “Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.” Because of these absent men, husbands, fathers, the marriage and family could not represent the character and nature of “the one God.” Is it possible to read between the lines here and speculate on good grounds that these men were off pursuing their own interests to the exclusion of their own families and their covenants … and thus true unity became impossible because these men pursued their own selfishness at the exclusion of their covenants?

Malachi 3:5

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me,” says the LORD of hosts. (ESV)

Here we see that social injustice is being practice by the people. It is possible that many more injustices were being committed besides these. But these are the ones we have to work with in our understanding of this passage. We have adulterers, liars, oppressors of employees and widows and orphans. The common thread here is deceit and cheating for selfish personal gain at the expense of these victims’ helpless and defenseless welfare.

On either side of the list we see God is angry with the sorcerers and “those who thrust aside the sojourner (alien).” If cheating and deceit is the common thread in the middle categories then is is possible that thread is wound through these categories as well? Perhaps people were going to the sorcerers to have them curse their neighbors? Perhaps God feels cheated by people going to them instead of himself. Concerning treatment of sojourners or aliens, the term is thrust aside. This perhaps speaks to their justice under the law being “thrust aside” or the poor laws from Torah being ignored on their behalf.

(An aside here perhaps speaks to the illegal immigration debate of our own time. Torah does not wield or add to the sojourners or aliens the same privileges as citizens. But Torah certainly does prohibit the citizens from taking away from the sojourners or aliens some basic temporary beneficence. Deporting illegal immigrants in a humane manner is hardly denying them basic temporary beneficence. Rather is it not more unjust to allow people who chose to enter this country illegally the rights of citizenship before those who entered this country and stood in the lines and did it legally?)

At any rate what we have here is a citizenry who are now practicing deceit and cheating. It is possible that we have seen the citizenry delve down into this low state because the worship leaders and the fathers had become corrupt? Oddly enough in 3:6-12 we see the priests being cheated out of their living expenses because the worshippers are cheating God out of his tithes. What goes around comes around huh?

Malachi 3:17

You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” (ESV)

The worship establishment and the people are corrupt, but they each complain that others get ahead by evil while they themselves languish in their good ways. They in their unjust and corrupt states have the gall to ask, “Where is the God of justice?”

Malachi offers a two-pronged solution on behalf of God to the people.

Malachi 3:1-4

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. (ESV)

Here we see the two pronged approach God is offering the people through Malachi.

• His messenger is coming.
• God himself is going to show up.

Who is the one we are two think of as the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap? I think it’s best to think of God and his messenger as working together, though its always spoken of God as wondering “who can stand in his presence.” Either way God is going to show up in the Temple for the purpose of purifying and refining the Temple … or can we say the worship therein and the leaders thereof? We can also say that God was planning on bringing revival to that society because Scripturally worship is not simply that moment before the Lord, but indeed worship was seen as the whole lifestyle lived under the yoke of Torah.

Malachi 4:1-6

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (ESV)

We see here that a day is coming when God himself will act to destroy the wicked, leaving them neither root nor branch. Is it possible that part of the solution of destroying the wicked is to allow them to simply die out as a population by not repopulating themselves? At any rate God is supposed to show up and bring healing.

We also see that the prophet Elijah is supposed to return, who is most likely the messenger of the LORD spoken of earlier. Elijah is going to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. If the turning of hearts is part of the solution, then the hearts must be away and thus be part of the problem. Indeed we have seen earlier that a major part of the social problems of Malachi’s day was men abandoning their covenants as husbands and fathers.

What we see here then is that a major prong of this two-pronged solution is the restoration of responsible fatherhood … a fatherhood that is committed to covenant with family and committed to covenant with the LORD via Torah (see 4:4).

Since God does not change (3:6), if God thought restoring fatherhood to society was key in bringing lasting and sustaining social renewal in Malachi’s day … and again in the day of John the Baptist and Jesus (they were the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophesy) … then is it possible that God thinks restoring fatherhood to our society is key to our social renewal of any lasting and sustaining worth?

According to David Blankenhorn (1995), a father’s investment in the lives of his children bring

• physical protection
• his money and resources
• “paternal cultural transmission” (identity, character, and competence)
• day-to-day nurturing (Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem, p. 25)

Also according to Blankenhorn in order for fathers to have any real investment in the lives of their children, they must have to a) live with them constantly and b) have a good working alignment with the mother. Part-time fathers can’t contribute (or won’t contribute) the above four necessities to any measurable comparison of full-time dads.

According to Armin Brott (1999) in his essay, “Not Just Another Pair of Hands,” both boys and girls receive priceless cognitive development from consistent and faithful interaction with their father. For boys the social and emotional nurturing received contributes to greater academic skills in both high school and college, higher IQ score and higher scores on other standardized tests … than boys who do not receive this from their fathers. These emotionally nurtured boys tend to be more empathetic, nurturing, and better behaved (in The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action; eds Wade Horn, David Blankenhorn, & Mitchell Pearlstein; pp. 37-40).

Girls who receive the high physical play from their fathers tend to be more popular and assertive with their peers and thus less likely to passively accept their environment (Brott, 1999). These girls are more interested in pursuing higher levels of education and more involvement in sports. The more involved in sports girls tend to be, the less likely they are to wind up pregnant.

On the other hand, “When a girl cannot trust and love the first man in her life, her father, what she is missing cannot be replaced by money, friends, teachers, social workers, or well-designed public policies aimed at helping her. She simply loses. More over, as more and more girls grow up without fathers, society loses. From a societal perspective, this particular consequence of fatherlessness is very much like most others. It is not remediable. Paternal disinvestment cannot be offset by either maternal investment or public investment. As a society, we will not solve our crisis of fatherlessness with prison cells, mentoring programs, antiviolence curricula, boyfriends, antistalking laws, children’s advocates, income transfers, self-esteem initiatives, or even mothers. We will solve it only with fathers.” (Blankenhorn, Fatherless America, p. 48).

Two other quotes by Blankenhorn capture the importance of not merely men sharing the load with women, but of men assuming and embracing a fully-male fatherhood … with society’s celebration.

• Prisons cannot replace fathers. At best, new prisons constitute an expensive endgame strategy for quarantining some of the consequences of fatherlessness (Fatherless America, p. 32).
• Fatherhood is a social role that obligates men to their biological offspring. For two reasons, it is society’s most important role for men. First, fatherhood, more than any other male activity, helps men to become good me: more likely to obey the law, to be good citizens, and to think about the needs of others. Put more abstractly, fatherhood bends maleness–in particular, male aggression–towards prosocial purposes. Second, fatherhood privileges children, In this respect, fatherhood is a social invention designed to supplement maternal investment in children with paternal investment in children (Fatherless America, p. 25).

 

Under Construction Part I: Is God with You?

Where is my world from yesteryear? I feel left behind. As much as we don’t care to admit it, things are changing in our world … and have been for a long time. And where is God in the midst of all this? This is not the time for fear or anxiety. Jesus still has plans for us. Now is the time to take heart, follow Jesus, and move our church … “Under Construction.”

We’re beginning a new series … or at least several Sundays ago we did … entitled “Under Construction.” This sermonette seeks to explore the idea of God being with us. We typically think of God being for us, but how often do we meditate on God’s promise to be with us? Consider the following words of Jesus from John 14:12-18 …

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you (ESV).

 

We typically think of God sending someone out on a mission to do work for him. We are scared to go out into that frightening place … that godless place.

Question: What would happen to our sense of mission and purpose in life … our church’s sense of mission and purpose as well … if we understood God’s not so much as sending us out but calling us to his side … out in the midst of the world … where he is already at work?

Here are a couple of things I want us to capture from the above passage from John.

• The context of the passage is Jesus’s promising them they would do “greater things” than he did as far as ministry in the world.
• Let us fully capture the last words of our passage. The Holy Spirit would not only be with us … but also in us. The Holy Spirit would be so much with us … that he would be in us. You can’t get much more with us than being in us.

Let us now consider Moses’s example from Exodus 3:1-12:

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

The he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

The the LORD said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (ESV).

Here are three observations.

1. Notice that God didn’t simply show up and commission Moses for some mighty work on God’s behalf. Rather God shows up and essentially asks Moses to join him in the work God is already doing.
2. Instead of Moses simply obeying. Moses offers the “but.”
3. God’s assurance to Moses was that God would be with him.

I wonder how our church would change is we changed our view of God’s calling from simply “Hey, go gettem and make me proud.” to “I’m already here … why don’t you come on and join me.” From the John passage above we have seen that the Holy Spirit is already at work in the world and our commission from Jesus to go where the Spirit is and work the works of Jesus … and even greater works that he did.

Moses offers the typical response we give back to God … especially in our church. “But….”

• But, God, I’m too old.
• But, God, I’ can’t do such and such.
• But, God, that’s what we pay the preacher to do.

Do you reckon that God is growing a bit tired of wiping our “buts?”

Lastly, we see God assuring Moses that he would be with Moses. As we’ve seen above that is essentially our assurance as well. By the way, what is the name promised to Joseph of Jesus? Is it not “Immanuel … God with us?” Remember, we said that not only would the Holy Spirit be with us, but also in us. You cannot get much more “with us” than being “in us.”

Remember God has not given us much choice in the matter of whether or not we should go out for ministry, working the works of Jesus, in the world. We have not been given an option … rather we’ve been given a God who will be so much with us that he will be in us.

 

Are We an Easter Church Part III: Are We Remembering Jesus?

Are We Remembering Jesus?

This is the last in a series of Easter sermons targeting the connection between Easter and Pentecost. In this last sermon we will be considering the reality of the culture of depravity in which we will, but also coming to the conclusion that loving Jesus means loving the world … His world. We cannot separate our call to Salvation in Him from our call from Him to go into the both our church world and the wider world, becoming personally involved in the lives of all manner of people … with the hope we can pull them out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light. We cannot in our power get far. We need to continually be filled with “power from on high.” We need to continually seek Jesus to fill us up to overflowing with his Holy Spirit. All Scripture references are from the English Standard Version.

My kids are cute. One is 2. One is 6-weeks old. I love it when my oldest has this look of absolute joy at seeing me. I love it when my 6-week old … after an eternity of screaming … falls asleep on my chest, with her head snuggled in the crook of my neck.

What would my public image be if my wife and I left them for an evening … for say 5 or 6 hours … by themselves so that we could go to a dinner and movie? Hey we would leave them with pizza money. We would tell them we love them and hug them big and tight. We would even bring them toys as souvenirs from our playful frolic out in town.

Yeah, I could see this flying over like a concrete balloon. The family and children’s services would lock us away for life. We would never see our kids again. Yet, why is this so? We told them we loved them. We would have even brought them goodies when we came home. Hey, who could resist pizza? Well, reality seems to have the unfortunate habit of popping our day-dream-balloons. Just because we would have said and did things that we labeled as love, “don’t make it so.”

We can understand the utter stupidity of entertaining in serious thought the above scenario for even a milli-second. Yet, why do we live the above example when it comes to our relationship with Jesus?

Consider the following scenario that is fairly typical of some in Traditional Southern Christianity. We doll our nice suits and dresses, show up to the building we call a church. We smile at each other … despite the falling apart of our worlds … and sit in those cushy pews. We drop our tip in the offering plate. We listen to the choir and preacher entertain us. Then we go home. My haven’t we done God a wonderful service by simply showing up! Next Sunday we’ll do it all over again.

When Paul and the rest of the Apostles took the Gospel into the wider Greco-Roman world, they encountered magnificent temples and religious statues and other works of art. Many gentiles would simply enter those temples burn a pinch of incense to whatever god they wished to invoke and return home.

Ravi Zacharias in his book, Jesus among Other Gods, tells of growing up in Hindu India. He would watch often watch a man bow before the statue of one of their gods by the roadside. After paying homage he would move a bit from the statue and cheat his fellowman out of money.

Unfortunately, I would say that many of us in Traditional Southern Christianity are not practicing Christianity. Many of us are practicing pagan religion wrapped in a beautiful robe. Why do I say this? Let’s consider what Jesus has to say in John 14.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. (14:1)

Jesus spoke this to his disciples after telling them of his soon departure. According to Ray Vander Laan, disciples tending to stay with their Rabbis for about 15 years. They had been with Jesus about 3. They were obviously shaken, nervous about having to deal with the world without their rabbi/master.

Actually this is not so different from our common situation. We come to church, attempting to blockade the world from coming in. We turn off our TVs (even unplug them and throw them out). We don’t associate with anyone other than our “kind.” We are afraid. We’re not only afraid of the culture out there (which I admittedly am to an extent), but we’re also afraid of involving ourselves in the lives of others sitting across from us in our pagan temple … we call church.

Yet, Jesus instructs them to live in peace brought on by believing in Jesus and God. You may say that we do believe in Jesus, yet we are still afraid of the world. I say that you might not properly understand what Jesus means by “believe.” Let’s continue, though.

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (14:2 & 3)

I need to make a side comment for many of my readers who will be attempting to follow me from their “trusty” KJV bibles. The KJV translates a word in 14:2 as mansions. However, this is a very poor translation, if we take the original language … and 1st Century Jewish culture into account. When a Jewish couple would marry, they did not attempt to finance their first home at the local First Bank of Jerusalem. Rather they lived in the groom’s father’s home. The groom and his father would build a room onto the existing house for him and his bride. As many as could have 20 to 30 folks lived in one “house” at any given time. Having said this it makes more sense to hear Jesus tell them that his father’s house has many rooms. And he is going to prepare a place for them. Besides, it’s not much of a heaven to me to have everyone in huge homes by themselves. Living in isolation is the Scriptural concept of Hell.

Notice that Jesus moves from reassurances of peace based on belief in him to reassurance of the afterlife/heaven/the hereafter. Unfortunately, for most of us in Traditional Southern Christianity this is the totality of Christianity. We “get saved,” we’ve got our “fire insurance” and then we simply hold out until we make it to Heaven. Unfortunately, this is a serious misread of this passages and indeed of orthodox Christianity. We need to read Jesus’s statements in context. So, let’s proceed further.

And you know the way to where I am going. (14:4)

We need to highlight, underline, and memorize this verse. It is key. Jesus said they new the way to where was going. We need to understand that there is a way … no there is the way to being with him in the hereafter. Let’s read further.

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (14:5-7)

Jesus not only says that there is the way to him and his Father in the hereafter. Jesus says he is that way. He also says that seeing him is seeing the Father.

Now most of us in Traditional Southern Christianity abstract this verse/pull it out from its natural habitat/take it out of context. This is fine … so long as we put it back. Like a fish it cannot survive long out of its habitat. Yet, we tend to take it out, put it on T-shirts and bumper stickers. We use this to tell the Liberal church that they can rot in their pseudo Christian hell. Yet, if this is the extent of our understanding of this verse, we Conservatives are the ones rotting in the Hell of Ignorance.

14:6 is not simply a credal statement. It is an indictment on how weak Traditional Southern Christianity actually is … so long as it foster the idea that being a Christian is simply believing certain approved statements. Now, certainly, Christianity has truth statements. Jesus is truth, and we should measure our believes and actions against his Truth. Yet, his Truth is not simply credal. Let’s read further.

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (14:8-11)

Now Jesus has moved from a discussion of reassurances to a discussion of how to see the Father through seeing Jesus. We see the Father by seeing how Jesus lived his life. Yes, that includes personal morality. However, seeing how Jesus lived his life includes far more. Jesus mentions seeing the Father by seeing the works of Jesus.

This is important. Remember that Jesus promised to return and take us to himself and the Father in the hereafter. Jesus said that there is the way to the Father. He is that way. Now Jesus is telling us that by seeing his works, we are seeing the Father. Therefore, to see the works of Jesus is to see him, as well. Thus when Jesus tells us that he is the way to the father, his works must play some part in being the way to the father. Let’s read further.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (14:12)

Amazing. Jesus in essence said that his works pave the way to himself in the hereafter. Now Jesus is saying that those same works which he did … we would also do. And not only that, but doing those works was not an option. “Whoever believes in me will also….” Thus, doing the works of Jesus also paves the way to him in the hereafter. This is why I early wrote that 14:6 was not simply a statement about credal Christianity.

Now, this is not salvation by works. Far from it. Rather this is the substance of Scriptural faith. Scriptural faith is belief that spurs one to action for a purpose. Notice that Jesus said “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.” What happens if we don’t do the works that Jesus did? We don’t truly believe in him. James would say that our “faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26).

Now the appropriate question is “What did Jesus do?” Jesus himself tells us that Isaiah is fulfilled in him, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18). Jesus sends the 12 out to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse leper, and cast out demons (Matthew 10:8).

Jesus himself did those things and trained his disciples to do the very same things. In John 14:12 Jesus tells us that whoever believes in him “will also” do his works. There is no option here. All discussions of Spiritual gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit aside, the main point here is that to believe in Jesus is to do the works he did, which requires us to be personally involved in the lives of others both out in the world and inside the 4-walls of our pagan house of worship known as the church building.

We love to condemn Liberal Christianity to an eternity of roasting in the Hell they deny by claiming we have God’s Truth, because we believe the Bible. However, why is it that we pick and choose which verses we latch onto, as well as misinterpret others from that infallible Word of God? Let’s read further.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (14:13-14).

This is a favorite T-shirt and bumper sticker Bible phrase. We love to quote this phrase in Traditional Southern Christianity. We can pray and believe that God hears me. God will make sure I get that special car one day. God will ensure the restaurant has my beverage of choice on tap. God will ensure, that as one of his special people, I will be afforded special privileges that those sorry suckers on eternal death row don’t get.

Now here me right. I do believe God sees and knows us personally. I believe God loves to love on us, his people. However, I also believe our contemporary culture of absolute comfort has given us butt-sores of the heart from lavishing too long on that comfy couch of absolute comfort. Yes, I love to enjoy life and the pleasures thereof. However, Christianity is also about death and discomfort. Christianity is also about leaving our thrones of lavish comfort and entering into the world of pain and suffering of the depraved. Christianity is also about “weeping with those that weep” (Romans 12:15).

In fact if you read the verses at hand from our passage in John in their context, we get a more graphic account that offends our absolute thirst for the lap of luxury. 14:13-14 follows the discussion of the way to Jesus in the hereafter being paved with our dynamic believing in Jesus that results in doing the works of Jesus. Notice the verse which follows.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (14:15)

Again, doing the works of Jesus is not optional. It is the essence of believing in him … and our loving him. Yet, something in us rises up and paralyzes our hearts. It is fear. We are afraid of the wider world beyond our pagan house of worship, known as the church building. We are afraid. Let’s read further.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (14:16-18)

Yes, I am deathly afraid of the wider world at times … just like the disciples were after the crucifixion of Jesus … just like the disciples were that night Jesus was telling them this. I would be deathly afraid all the time … had Jesus truly left me/us alone. Jesus is not only going to return for us at the end of the age. Jesus is also going to come to us, keeping us from being spiritual orphans. He would not leave his 12, and he is not going to leave us. Yet, how is he going to be with us (even unto the end of the age–Matthew 28:20), if he is away at the Father’s abode preparing a place for us?

He is sending and has sent his Holy Spirit. We can be involved with those in this culture of depravity and those sitting across from us through being empowered by the Holy Spirit. He is our Helper. Notice he is also the Spirit of truth. Jesus said that he is the “way, truth, and life.” His works pave this “way, truth, and life.” The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Thus, if anyone could empower us to work the works of Jesus which pave the “way, truth, and life,” the Holy Spirit … that Spirit of truth … can.

And see, Jesus promises that the Spirit would not only be with us but “in” us. How intimate! Christianity is ultimately not about works but faith. Yet, faith without works is dead. Yet belief and intimacy with God is the pinnacle of Christianity. Fellowship with God is the bed and butter of Christianity. This is why the Jews of old talked of religion as walking with God (Marvin Wilson, Our Father Abraham). We walk with God through intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit along the way, the truth, the life to Jesus in the hereafter, which is paved with the works of Jesus.

Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandment and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loved me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (14:19-21)

Again this is the promise of intimacy with God … all of him … Father, Son, Spirit. Actually this intimacy spoken of here is deep and sexual in nature. Now don’t read me wrong here. I’m not suggesting that we’re going to have sex with God. No No NO. Rather I’m suggesting that the intimacy we are promised with the Holy Community (Father, Son, & Spirit) has the depths of passionate sexual intimacy. After all this whole discussion is couched in the cultural metaphor of getting married. Jesus even uses the imagery of helper for the Holy Spirit. Do remember from Genesis 2 that the female would be Adam’s helper? Yet, this intimacy is not absent of ties to the commandments of Jesus, one of which is to do his works.

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” (14:22-24)

This dude Judas asks Jesus how the world would not see this intimate manifestation of Jesus, but we would. Jesus responds by returning to his previous thought … keeping the commandments of Jesus was the pathway to intimacy with the Holy Community (Father, Son, & Spirit). Thus Jesus is the Way to deep intimate fellowship with the Holy Community (Father, Son, & Spirit) both in the hereafter and now. That Way is paved with doing the works of Jesus.

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (14:25 & 26)

So how can we become the Easter Christians we need to be, leaving the blockaded room we call a Church and go out into the world to proclaim Jesus? We must constantly seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is through empowering intimacy with the Holy Spirit that will enable us to take the nail-scarred hands and feet of Jesus to a broken and depraved world.

———————————-
Just a side note here. I refered to the church building as a pagan house of worship. Don’t take me literally here. Most churches are filled with good people who sincerely seek to love God. Yet these same people either don’t know how or they simply don’t care to know how, either way they leave a major part of Christianity out of their lives, which is loving their neighbors as themselves. They go to church Sunday after Sunday forgetting about their neighbor. Pagan worship is this exactly … except many pagans are politically active in some cause in their vision of social justice. Thus, when we neglect involvement in the wider world for Jesus, we become worse than pagans. This is why I refered to a church building as a pagan house of worship. I love church and go every chance I get.

 

Are We an Easter Church? Part II: Are We Clothed by Jesus?

We are in the middle of a series that seeks to investigate whether we are a people who live Easter and worship in an Easter fashion … or do we simply show up at church dressed in nice, new Easter clothes and hunt Easter eggs?

Part II: Are We Clothed by Jesus?

There is an article that appeared in Slate Online entitled “Happy Crossmas!” written by James Martin (http://www.slate.com/id/2186633/). He seeks to find out “why Easter stubbornly resists the commercialism that swallowed Christmas.” Certainly, has found the prize egg on his insights. Listen to his words:

“So what enables Easter to maintain its religious purity and not devolve into the consumerist nightmare that is Christmas? Well, for one thing, it’s hard to make a palatable consumerist holiday out of Easter when its back story is, at least in part, so gruesome. Christmas is cuddly. Easter, despite the bunnies, is not …. How pleasant it is in mid-December to open a Christmas card with a pretty picture of Mary and Joseph gazing beatifically at their son, with the shepherds and the angels beaming in delight. The Christmas story, with its friendly resonances of marriage, family, babies, animals, angels, and–thanks to the wise men–gifts, is eminently marketable to popular culture. It’s a Thomas Kinkade painting come to life. On the other hand, a card bearing the image of a near-naked man being stripped, beaten, tortured, and nailed through his hands and feet onto a wooden crucifix is a markedly less pleasant pieced of mail.”

In other words its a bit easier to miss the heart of Christmas than it is for Easter. Yet, he adds a corollary to this. In essence Martin says that missing the heart of Christmas is easy because its message can be secularized to mean love and warmth … without having to profess faith in Jesus. Easter is different. The Jesus of Easter cannot be secularized, for the Jesus of Easter was crucified to pay our Sin, so that we might be reconciled to the Father. Martin deftly points out, “Easter is an event that demands a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ There is no ‘whatever.’”

Yet, my contention is that so many of our precious people attending the gazillions of churches across our fruited plain have said “Whatever” to Easter and her Jesus. Let’s take a look at Luke 24:36-53.

Luke 24:36-53:

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

And when he had said this he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything to eat?”

They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God (ESV).

The first thing we can notice is that the emotional status of the disciples is markedly different in verses 36 & 37 than in verses 50–53.

36 & 37.

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit (ESV).

50–53.

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God (ESV).

We surely love Easter, with all of the pretty clothes, pretty flowers, pretty eggs, and the cute & cuddly kids hunting those pretty eggs with pretty flowers in their hair, and wearing pretty dresses. We love our Easter services. After all many of us feel that if we come to church on Easter Sunday, that service is powerful enough to carry us through out the rest of the year … at least until Christmas Sunday! Some of us even love to sing the Easter carols and hear Easter sermons.

However, many of us are still holed up in verse 36 … too afraid to move to verses 50–53. The disciples have reason to fear, for in their culture an individual does not carry a separate identity from his group. As it is with the individual, especially the leader, so it is with the group. As it is with the group, so it is with the individual, especially the leader.

Jesus was crucified by both the Romans and the Jews. The Romans crucified him perhaps as a messianic pretender vying to usurp Roman power. (Granted Pontious Pilate attempted to free him.) The Jews crucified him because they were jealous of him. They also crucified him because his flavor of Judaism (Christianity) was radically different from that which would restore their nationalistic hopes and dreams. At any rate the disciples might well have feared that the Jews and Romans were coming after them next.

In a similar but twisted fashion, many of us know that Jesus has been raised from the dead … and as such has conquered Sin, Death, and the Devil. The disciples knew that Jesus had been raised (see 24:1-12). However, we like to stay holed up in verses 36 & 37, afraid of our culture. We much prefer to stay away from people of different races, different socio-economic stati, different walks of life. We certainly want to avoid Sinners. After all people who look, taste, smell, and sound different than us are obviously in Sin. So we stay holed up in our holy chambers hoping the world will go away. We don’t wish to be tainted by their sin. We unplug our TVs, hoping the MTV generation will go away. We sing of our conquering King, but we are conquered by our own fears of the unknown.

Jesus asks us today, as he asked them so long ago, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Because you see, we sing of our risen Lord, but we live as if he were still dead. What we need is for Jesus to come to us and reach out his nail-scarred hands and feet. We need to touch them. We need to feel them. Jesus bids us come to him, as he bid Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 21:27, ESV).

What would happen if we believed as you are saying that we should? What would our lives resemble if we lived Easter as you say we should? I’m glad you asked!

You see we tend to live in another part of this passage. Jesus reassures them beginning in verse 44, ” ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead …. “(ESV)

We tend to stay camped out there in our cozy little fundamentalist forts. We sign our names to statements of faith and sing and celebrate that we have certain truths and you don’t. We’re going to heaven and you ain’t!!! While we’re hunting our Easter eggs in our pretty dresses with pretty flowers we chant and sing, “Nanna nanna boo boo, go stick your head in Hell-fire doo doo!” We tend to camp out in the above verse.

Let’s finish what Jesus was saying that the Scriptures said about him beginning in verse 46 and carrying through verse 47, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (italics mine, ESV). We love to emphasize our fundamentalist beliefs, but we neglect the command of Jesus to go to all nations. To be an Easter people, to truly celebrate the risen Lord, we are to joyfully go into all nations (regardless of race or creed or Sin status), taking the nail-scarred hands and feet of Jesus.

You might say that I’m not comfortable going to drunkards or druggies. You might say that I’m not comfortable going to black people or Mexican people. Let me ask you, how comfortable was it for Jesus to hang on that cross, so that you can chant and sing: “Nanna nanna boo boo, go stick your head in Hell-fire doo doo!” No, Jesus didn’t pay our Sin debt just so that we can be comfortable. Jesus paid our sin debt to reconcile us to the Father … and so that we can be his nail-scarred body going into risky places full of depravity and pulling people out of that depravity into reconciliation with the Father.

I’m afraid, you might say. Yes, I am too. However, that’s why Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem. Listen to his encouragement in verse 49, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (ESV). Thus the title of this sermon. Jesus has them to wait in Jerusalem to be baptized in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

What is Pentecost? and what does that have to do with the Holy Spirit and what does that have to do with my fear? I’m glad you asked!!!

Pentecost was a traditional Jewish festival that was celebrated 50 days after Passover. As you may or may not know, Passover was the celebration of God’s miraculous deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery. At the first Passover each family took a lamb, killed it, spread its blood on the door frame, cooked it, and ate it. The Angel of Death went throughout the land of Egypt to take every first born person and animal. Those with the blood on the door frame the Angel of Death passed over. Those without the blood, the Angel of Death took, including Pharaoh’s son. This was the 10th plague, and the Egyptians asked the Hebrews to leave. God miraculously delivered them.

Fifty days later, they came to Mt. Sinai where the people of Israel entered into a covenant marriage with God. They received his Law/Teachings. Pentecost celebrates this event at Mt. Sinai. Yet the people could not keep the Law. The prophets promised that one day God would write his Law on the hearts of his people, thus transforming them into a people who could keep his Law.

At that first Pentecost following the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church. This was the promise from on high to which Jesus was referring. The Church would be clothed with Holy Spirit power, not only to be transformed into people who could keep the Law of God, but also into people who could go in power unto all nations … unto all people regardless of their desirability. We can read of this in Acts 1 & 2.

So what is another way in which to know if we are truly an Easter people? Are we seeking the Holy Spirit? Are we seeking for Jesus to clothe us with the Holy Spirit’s power from on high? Are we seeking not only to believe with our minds in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also to take his nail-scarred hands of redemption and healing to all peoples on the face of the earth (regardless of their race or Sin-factor)?

If so, then we might well be an Easter-Jesus people. If not, then we are merely an Easter-bunny people.

 

Are We an Easter Church? Part One: Are We Able to See Jesus?

In this series of Easter sermons, we will be asking the simple question: Are we an Easter Church? As we’ll see, going to sunrise services, singing “Up from the grave he arose”, and decorating with Easter lilies doesn’t make a group of people an Easter church. As important as signing one’s name to a statement of faith that believes in a literal bodily resurrection of Jesus, believing such a thing only with the mind does not make a group of people an Easter people. We’ll probe into what does make a group of people an Easter people.

Dr. Mark Rutland tells the story of a young teenager who refused to be impressed by anyone or anything. His parents, who cared deeply for their bundle of joy, were at the limits of their creative parenting. As a last resort they decided to take him on a vacation with them and chose the Grand Canyon. If this won’t do the trick, then nothing will. They spoke to their tour guide/park ranger ahead of time about their ultimate desire of impressing their boy. So, the guide takes the family to the highest point in the canyon. Calling the boy to his side, he explained that the drop they were viewing was a whole mile.

The boy replied with obvious excitement, “That’s a mile?!”

“Yes,” the guide replied, winking at the parents, who were thrilled.

Upon the boy’s going to sleep, they looked for his journal. Finding it, they turned to that day’s entry, which read, “Today … I spit a mile.”

Several people have told me that seeing the Grand Canyon in person revolutionized their appreciation of our Creator-God. Now, the little boy and these people to whom I just refered all saw the same canyon. Yet, their mental filters made all the difference in the world. Many people living today and in Jesus’s time all have seen Jesus. Yet, many of us are simply blind to him as he really is. Many of us simply wave Jesus around as our mascot, rather than worshipping him as our master. So in this sermon, I’ll be asking the question: Are we able to see Jesus?

We’ll be using Matthew 20:17-21:17 as our text. We’ll see various vignettes of people who all saw Jesus, but came to radically different places concerning his lordship.

Matthew 20:17-21:17:

and as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, adn on the way he said to them, “See we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death adn deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged adn crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him wiht her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, “What do you want?”

She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your kingdom.”

Jesus anwered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?”

They said to him, “We are able.”

He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentile lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Let’s skip to chapter 21:1:

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Behphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anthing to you, you shall say, ‘the Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey adn the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna in the highest!”

And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

21:12:

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?”

And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

And leaving them he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

21:18:

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!”

And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”

And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

21:23:

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. the baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?”

And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things” (ESV)

In each of these vignettes runs a common thread. They all saw Jesus, but they missed him. In 20:17-28 Jesus tells the twelve that he’s going to be executed. Two of them respond by sending their mama to plead with Jesus on their behalf for high ranking positions in his kingdom.

In 21:1-11 Jesus enters Jerusalem to much cheer and applause. The crowd is huge, waving palm branches (we learn in other places of the exact nature of the trees). The palm branch was the symbol of the successful Maccabean revolt against Israel’s powerful Gentile rulers. For the first time in about 500 years Israel is free of Gentile rule. Jesus rides in to their profound and deadly misunderstanding of his messiahship.

In 21:12-17 Jesus encounters marketers in the temple, and he throws them out. Buying and selling of sacrifice material was actually permitted by Torah. However, something ugly and horrid had taken place. Herod the Great began to build onto the temple in Jerusalem. In so doing, he added a special court for women and a special court for gentiles. Jesus tells them in another place that the temple should be a house of prayer for all the nations. The marketers had overtaken the gentile court, leaving the gentiles with no place to worship.

When the temple officials see this cleansing for the purpose of authentic worship take place, their only response was to tell Jesus to make the children shut up (ie not worship). They were blind to the nature of his cleansing of the temple.

In 21:18-22 Jesus curses the fig tree. Many interpret the fig tree to symbolize the temple, which he had just cleansed and its official who categorically misunderstood Jesus. In asking how the fig tree withered so fast, Jesus merely responds by saying with the proper faith they could cast that mountain into the sea. It is very possible that the mountain in question actually referred to the palace built by Herod the Great, known as the Herodium. King Herod symbolized nominal Jewish leadership who were in cahoots with Rome and Hellenistic culture. Jesus also said with proper faith they could cast it into the sea. For the Jews of his day, the sea represented the grave, the abyss, the place of death and destruction. In the days of Jesus many Jewish factions looked for ways to remedy their nationalistic plight. Yet in Luke 19:41-44 we see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, prophesying death and destruction to her … because she did not recognize their visitation from God. Ray Vander Laan says they missed their king for their own kingdom.

Lastly, we have in 21:23-27 the temple authorities questioning the authority of Jesus. Scrutiny is not all bad. However, Jesus lived the Old Testament and fulfilled it. Yet they missed his messianic fulfilling of the Old Testament completely. Interestingly enough this missing the authority of Jesus being rooted in the Old Testament came on the heels of cleansing the temple. In the mid Second Century BC the Gentile King who ruled over Israel hated the Jews. Antiochus Epiphanes IV was king of the Seleucid Empire. Out of cruelty he went into the Temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar. During the Maccabean Revolt the Temple was cleansed … sort of. The altar was smashed. The Jews believed when the messiah would come he would cleanse the Temple and put the altar back together again. Out of disbelief, the Temple authorities demanded to know the signs which demonstrated Jesus’s authority to cleanse the Temple. They had been deliberately blind to the signs which he had earlier given them.

Interestingly enough we have sandwiched in the middle of these vignettes a rather pitiful story.

Matthew 20:29-34:

And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, son of David!”

The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”

They said to him, “Lord let our eyes be opened.”

And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him (ESV).

Sandwiched in between several vignettes is this heart-wrenching story of two blind men. They are calling to Jesus, calling him “the Son of David.” They understand, unlike all the others we have read, that he is the long awaited messiah. In the midst of stories about people being blind to Jesus in his reality, we have here two blind people who see. Yet they want to have their physical eyes opened. “And Jesus in pity touched their eyes….” The physically blind had 20/20 spiritual vision, whereas those who should have known better were blind as bats and preferred to stay that way.

If we are to be an Easter church, we need to strive to see Jesus … as he really is. We need to have our eyes open … those eyes who quite often have cultural cataracts blinding us to the true Jesus of the Scriptures. “Open our eyes, Jesus!!!!”