Scripture Text: Philippians 3:17-4:1
Do you ever wonder about the future? Some folks even worry about tomorrow, but usually admit that they can’t do much about it anyway. You know of many people who are famous and believe this line, and even though you care about what tomorrow may bring, you decide to follow the example of others - just float along with the current of life, and don’t concern yourself with trying to change the destination.
Martin Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States. A number of years ago, a man by the name of Gary Holloway, an environmental planner working for San Francisco, discovered that Van Buren was the only president not to have a society dedicated to his memory. So Holloway founded the Martin Van Buren Fan Club.
Although Martin was the first president to be born a American, his presidency is generally seen as being unremarkable at best! It was marked by various internal conflicts, a national financial crisis and strained relations with Britain and Canada, and after 4 years, he was promptly voted out of office.
Holloway notes proudly “This man did practically nothing to further the course of our national destiny, yet hundreds of people now follow me in commemorating him.”
--As cited in David Weeks and Jamie James, Eccentrics(New York: Villard, 1995), 36.
How many of us are following the famous and near-famous who have done nothing to further the human race or make the world a better place? And how many of us are proud of our irrelevance?
Irrelevance is not a good thing! It lacks any sense of importance, has no inherent worth, and has no significance to life. Why in the world should anyone glorify it?
Read Philippians 3:17-19
Paul writes his letter of encouragement to the church in Philippi while he was in prison. If there was anyone who should have just thrown in the towel and surrendered his life to the fates, it was Paul. But here he is reaching out to his friends many miles away in Greece, letting them know how grateful he is for their support and love, and for the ministries that are coming from their congregation.
He wants them to continue to be focused on the cross, and not to fall for the destructive example that others may present to them. He refers to these others as “enemies of the cross of Christ.” So what characterizes those who are apparently living outside of Jesus’ example?
He refers to the people as idolizing their “stomachs” and glorifying their “shame”. It’s very possible that he is referring to Jewish converts who are still adhering to the necessity of their old laws.
Dietary laws were a daily routine that no self respecting Jew would every deviate from. There were things you could eat, and other things that you couldn’t eat. Leviticus 11 addresses the issue of what is to be considered clean and what is unclean. We read of Peter’s dilemma over this issue in Acts 10. He has a vision of a sheet being let down from heaven with a large assortment of unclean animals in it, and a voice instructs him to kill them and eat. Of course, being a good Jew, he replies “Never have and never will!” After this happens three times, each with the admonition that he should never call anything that God has created “unclean”, he finally understands and is then lead to the home of Cornelius, a gentile, and after telling his household all about Jesus, he is called to baptize them.
Idolizing the “stomach” – claiming that both food and people can be declared as unclean - has become a thing of the past.
The people were also being hypocritical in the administration of the general religious laws. There were some laws that were applied quite stringently to some people, and winked at for others. And some Christians were taking a similar approach – that since they were no longer under the law, they could do anything that they wanted to! There were no restrictions on their actions.
In his letter to the Romans (1:18-32), Paul writes “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator”. This wasn’t a condemnation only for the non Christian world – it also had a very real relevance for the Church. Every time that we try to convince ourselves, as well as others, that sin isn’t all that bad, and is actually a form of acceptable personal expression, we are “glorifying our shame.”.
And Paul, with tear-filled eyes, tells his friends that the destiny of these “enemies” of Christ’s example is nothing less than “destruction”. He wants the church to join him in continuing to imitate Christ. In Philippians 2, we are given a listing of what is involved in imitating Christ.
Read Philippians 2:5-8
If we truly wish to claim that we are living in the very nature of Christ, then we need to accept the fact that this nature must include humility and servanthood. It is no longer about us – it is about Christ. It is no longer about elevating our own position – it is about raising others up to a higher place. Humble yourself to the point that you can do nothing else but love the Lord your God and your neighbor.
Read Philippians 3:20-4:1
Society tells us that we must never loose sight of who we are, and they claim that we are defined by the national origin of our ancestors. Have you ever noticed that there are very few “Americans” any more? We have all become hyphenated citizens! We are Asian Americans, Italian Americans, Latin Americans, African Americans, European Americans, or even Native Americans – it is all about where our great-great-great-great grandparents were from, and not a word about who we have become today.
Jesus tells us that we can only serve one master (Matthew 6:24), and we can take that to mean that we can give our allegiance to only one, and by that, we can claim only one citizenship. Otherwise our service will be diluted to the point of being worthless.
It is the cross of Jesus Christ that is the transforming power of our citizenship – from our allegiance in this earthly realm to a life that is grounded in heaven. We can’t keep one foot in each place – it’s dangerous to try to straddle the fence. The hyphenated title of “Earthly Christian” is meaningless! Paul is telling us that a Christian’s citizenship must be solely in heaven.
This new citizenship is transforming. It changes the things we think and do and say. It erases our past and gives us a fresh start in a new life. It restores the image of God that we were created with, and it moves it from last place in our life to first place in our heart. It changes our destiny from one of destruction to one of glory! And not an ounce of this has anything to do with our abilities to affect change – it is all through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.
“For his is a name that is above all names. At the very name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9b-11)
“So rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) Rejoice in the cross of Jesus, for in His blood, our destiny of eternal life and heavenly citizenship is assured. Hallelujah!
- Prayer -
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
“God’s Gift, and Our Reply”
Scripture Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11
About 10 years ago, I began to do our grocery shopping. I wasn’t too crazy about the idea, but if I wanted to eat, I decided that I had better shop. Diane was off to seminary during the week, and when she got home late Thursday or Friday, she then had her responsibilities as pastor at Nanticoke UMC to care for. Cooking, cleaning, laundry – they all had fallen onto my plate.
Do you have any idea how a guy feels, walking into that lair of femininity, better known as the grocery store, and begin looking for the right bottle of laundry detergent? I never knew that there were so many choices – almost as many as there are of microwave popcorn! Or searching high and low in a grocery aisle for an item, and, having failed to locate it, having to find someone who looks like they know something, to ask “her” “Do you know where the horseradish is?” And even after the lady told me where to look, I still walked past it twice before I finally noticed it.
Men are beginning to become more prevalent in grocery aisles, but it is still not our domain. Take it from me, walking into Price Chopper, without your wife, requires a hearty soul and a powerful commitment to risk-taking!
Living faithfully in the Church is a lot like that. Believing that Jesus is actually who He says He is, and did the things that He did, and will do all that He has promised, takes a lot of faith! And take tithing. We are called to give 10% of our “firstfruits” to the work of the Church – not our leftovers, not whatever we seem to be comfortable with, not a promissory note to be redeemed in better days – 10% off the top. That’s what “firstfruits” means – above every other expense – the first and best of your harvest. That level of commitment to giving requires a very high level of risk and unswerving trust that God will continue to provide.
A man decided that he needed to begin tithing at his church. He made $20,000 a year, and with some effort, he was able to give $2,000. As the years passed, he received several promotions, and soon was making $100,000, but he remained faithful in his giving, and managed to give $10,000 to the church.
He decided to strike out on his own, formed his own business, and very soon was more successful than he had ever imagined – he was taking in nearly $20,000,000 a year. But a $2,000,000 tithe seemed to be quite a stretch for him, so he went to his pastor and told him of his quandary. The pastor told the man that he would pray for the situation.
The man asked “Will you be praying that I make more money so I can meet my tithe?”
“No.” replied the pastor. “I’m going to pray that you make $10,000 a year again.”
Risk can take an ugly turn at tmes!
Read Deuteronomy 26:1-4
While Israel was still deep within the desert, still striving to reach the Promised Land but unable to because of their own lack of faith, God was continuously handing down the laws that He expected the people to live by. There are nearly 20 chapters of laws in this book, not to mention the 27 chapters of commandments in Leviticus! And it’s amazing how many of these are about finances and wealth, and how we are to use them in giving our praise to the Lord.
“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you … take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce … and put them in a basket. The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.” Sound familiar? We still do it that way today, so it’s also important that we approach this subject with the same attitude that Israel was to have in approaching their giving.
Earlier in Deuteronomy, as well as in Exodus and Numbers, the tithe is assumed to be the standard gift to God, not just the 21st century understanding of what “some” is – it isn’t the minimum that you think you can get away with! Every harvest day, every shearing day, every lambing day – the people were to give the first of the gathering to God. And if that wasn’t enough, when the grain harvest came in, they were called to leave a good amount of the ripened grain for the gleaners – the poor who would follow the harvesters to gather up the grain that was left in the field for their own meager subsistence. And they were even instructed that they were not to muzzle the animals who were used to thrash out the grain from the straw – everyone and everything was to benefit from the LORD’s bounty.
God gave the land and the livestock and the seed and the saplings and the rain and the sun, and was also the One who made the seed germinate, and the animals conceive, and the blossoms turn into fruit.
And in return, He only asked the people for a small percentage of what had come from God’s good gift to them.
And He asks the same of us. But do we have any idea as to why God deserves our offering? Just in case Israel began to forget, God also told them whand how to give the gift.
Read Deuteronomy 26:5-8
They were to make their offering as a remembrance of what God had done for them - for freedom from suffering and oppression, from the toil that gained them practically nothing, from the miserable existence that God had lead them out of. Their tithe wasn’t given as a burdensome requirement – it was given out of gratitude for what had been given to them in their days of abject poverty, and it was given for the great blessings that their Lord would continue to give.
Do we give grudgingly or gratefully? Is our offering a joy and blessing or is it only an obligation?
How do we respond to God’s Providence and Bounty in our lives? Remember that Israel was given this commandment while they were still in the desert with no crops, no land, and no harvest. All they had was manna and quail, which got old real fast, and over the next 40 years, never got any better! Give Thanks! Give in remembrance of all that God has already given us, and with expectation of all that will, one day, come as He has promised.
But when we are still in the desert, it’s difficult to remember that God is with us and loving us and is working a grand plan for our lives. Some days, not only can’t we give God any glory and praise, but we can barely scrape out a token subsistence for ourselves and those who depend on us.
Charles Shultz had a way of describing our most innermost fears and cares, but would always leave us nodding our heads with a smile. In one cartoon, Charlie Brown, exasperated once again by the lack of cooperation he receives from Lucy, asks of no one in particular, “Where do I go to give up.”
How many times has the same question crossed your mind? Where do I go to give up? I’ve done everything I can. I can think of nothing more to do. Nothing works. So where is God in all of this? When do I get to enter my Promised Land?
Read Deuteronomy 26:9-11
God didn’t give Israel a date as to when they would be arriving home – just that one day they would. And that when they got there, the land would already be rich and overflowing with all kinds of good things. They wouldn’t have to prepare the vineyards – they would already be flourishing. They wouldn’t have to clear the fields – they would already be clear and productive. They wouldn’t have to cultivate seed to plant – they would already be growing. And when they received these great gifts, they were to rejoice and celebrate, and give praise to the God who had provided. When you have little, God only asks for little. When we have much, God asks for more. And when we have far more than we can ever use ourselves, He wants us to share that blessing to as many of the needy as we possibly can.
In the last verse, Israel is told “And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.” The Levites were the priestly class, and as such had no land or holdings of their own – they were to be dependent on the other 11 tribes for all of their needs. The aliens had no land or rights - they were basically destitute and totally dependent on their masters. And everyone was to rejoice in the blessings that had come from God.
Now just in case someone thinks that this has been a “stewardship sermon”, I need to tell you that it isn’t! This is a very generous church, and I have never felt that I need to give the “money” sermon. It isn’t about how much you give – it’s about how and why you give that truly matters, and when you approach giving as a joyful opportunity, then finances will never be our limitation.
In your giving, will you remember the difficult hours and days when the Lord was walking with you – sustaining, encouraging, helping – and rejoice in His presence? Are you willing to take a “joyful risk” in order to discover the glory of God that surrounds you?
About 10 years ago, I began to do our grocery shopping. I wasn’t too crazy about the idea, but if I wanted to eat, I decided that I had better shop. Diane was off to seminary during the week, and when she got home late Thursday or Friday, she then had her responsibilities as pastor at Nanticoke UMC to care for. Cooking, cleaning, laundry – they all had fallen onto my plate.
Do you have any idea how a guy feels, walking into that lair of femininity, better known as the grocery store, and begin looking for the right bottle of laundry detergent? I never knew that there were so many choices – almost as many as there are of microwave popcorn! Or searching high and low in a grocery aisle for an item, and, having failed to locate it, having to find someone who looks like they know something, to ask “her” “Do you know where the horseradish is?” And even after the lady told me where to look, I still walked past it twice before I finally noticed it.
Men are beginning to become more prevalent in grocery aisles, but it is still not our domain. Take it from me, walking into Price Chopper, without your wife, requires a hearty soul and a powerful commitment to risk-taking!
Living faithfully in the Church is a lot like that. Believing that Jesus is actually who He says He is, and did the things that He did, and will do all that He has promised, takes a lot of faith! And take tithing. We are called to give 10% of our “firstfruits” to the work of the Church – not our leftovers, not whatever we seem to be comfortable with, not a promissory note to be redeemed in better days – 10% off the top. That’s what “firstfruits” means – above every other expense – the first and best of your harvest. That level of commitment to giving requires a very high level of risk and unswerving trust that God will continue to provide.
A man decided that he needed to begin tithing at his church. He made $20,000 a year, and with some effort, he was able to give $2,000. As the years passed, he received several promotions, and soon was making $100,000, but he remained faithful in his giving, and managed to give $10,000 to the church.
He decided to strike out on his own, formed his own business, and very soon was more successful than he had ever imagined – he was taking in nearly $20,000,000 a year. But a $2,000,000 tithe seemed to be quite a stretch for him, so he went to his pastor and told him of his quandary. The pastor told the man that he would pray for the situation.
The man asked “Will you be praying that I make more money so I can meet my tithe?”
“No.” replied the pastor. “I’m going to pray that you make $10,000 a year again.”
Risk can take an ugly turn at tmes!
Read Deuteronomy 26:1-4
While Israel was still deep within the desert, still striving to reach the Promised Land but unable to because of their own lack of faith, God was continuously handing down the laws that He expected the people to live by. There are nearly 20 chapters of laws in this book, not to mention the 27 chapters of commandments in Leviticus! And it’s amazing how many of these are about finances and wealth, and how we are to use them in giving our praise to the Lord.
“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you … take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce … and put them in a basket. The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.” Sound familiar? We still do it that way today, so it’s also important that we approach this subject with the same attitude that Israel was to have in approaching their giving.
Earlier in Deuteronomy, as well as in Exodus and Numbers, the tithe is assumed to be the standard gift to God, not just the 21st century understanding of what “some” is – it isn’t the minimum that you think you can get away with! Every harvest day, every shearing day, every lambing day – the people were to give the first of the gathering to God. And if that wasn’t enough, when the grain harvest came in, they were called to leave a good amount of the ripened grain for the gleaners – the poor who would follow the harvesters to gather up the grain that was left in the field for their own meager subsistence. And they were even instructed that they were not to muzzle the animals who were used to thrash out the grain from the straw – everyone and everything was to benefit from the LORD’s bounty.
God gave the land and the livestock and the seed and the saplings and the rain and the sun, and was also the One who made the seed germinate, and the animals conceive, and the blossoms turn into fruit.
And in return, He only asked the people for a small percentage of what had come from God’s good gift to them.
And He asks the same of us. But do we have any idea as to why God deserves our offering? Just in case Israel began to forget, God also told them whand how to give the gift.
Read Deuteronomy 26:5-8
They were to make their offering as a remembrance of what God had done for them - for freedom from suffering and oppression, from the toil that gained them practically nothing, from the miserable existence that God had lead them out of. Their tithe wasn’t given as a burdensome requirement – it was given out of gratitude for what had been given to them in their days of abject poverty, and it was given for the great blessings that their Lord would continue to give.
Do we give grudgingly or gratefully? Is our offering a joy and blessing or is it only an obligation?
How do we respond to God’s Providence and Bounty in our lives? Remember that Israel was given this commandment while they were still in the desert with no crops, no land, and no harvest. All they had was manna and quail, which got old real fast, and over the next 40 years, never got any better! Give Thanks! Give in remembrance of all that God has already given us, and with expectation of all that will, one day, come as He has promised.
But when we are still in the desert, it’s difficult to remember that God is with us and loving us and is working a grand plan for our lives. Some days, not only can’t we give God any glory and praise, but we can barely scrape out a token subsistence for ourselves and those who depend on us.
Charles Shultz had a way of describing our most innermost fears and cares, but would always leave us nodding our heads with a smile. In one cartoon, Charlie Brown, exasperated once again by the lack of cooperation he receives from Lucy, asks of no one in particular, “Where do I go to give up.”
How many times has the same question crossed your mind? Where do I go to give up? I’ve done everything I can. I can think of nothing more to do. Nothing works. So where is God in all of this? When do I get to enter my Promised Land?
Read Deuteronomy 26:9-11
God didn’t give Israel a date as to when they would be arriving home – just that one day they would. And that when they got there, the land would already be rich and overflowing with all kinds of good things. They wouldn’t have to prepare the vineyards – they would already be flourishing. They wouldn’t have to clear the fields – they would already be clear and productive. They wouldn’t have to cultivate seed to plant – they would already be growing. And when they received these great gifts, they were to rejoice and celebrate, and give praise to the God who had provided. When you have little, God only asks for little. When we have much, God asks for more. And when we have far more than we can ever use ourselves, He wants us to share that blessing to as many of the needy as we possibly can.
In the last verse, Israel is told “And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.” The Levites were the priestly class, and as such had no land or holdings of their own – they were to be dependent on the other 11 tribes for all of their needs. The aliens had no land or rights - they were basically destitute and totally dependent on their masters. And everyone was to rejoice in the blessings that had come from God.
Now just in case someone thinks that this has been a “stewardship sermon”, I need to tell you that it isn’t! This is a very generous church, and I have never felt that I need to give the “money” sermon. It isn’t about how much you give – it’s about how and why you give that truly matters, and when you approach giving as a joyful opportunity, then finances will never be our limitation.
In your giving, will you remember the difficult hours and days when the Lord was walking with you – sustaining, encouraging, helping – and rejoice in His presence? Are you willing to take a “joyful risk” in order to discover the glory of God that surrounds you?
Sunday, February 14, 2010
“In the Word of the Lord”
Scripture Text: Nehemiah 7:73b-8:12
Today is St. Valentines Day. There are many traditions surrounding its origin, but they all point to one fact – love surmounts all. It’s been said that the Bible is God’s love letter to us all. And that’s the point – it’s about God’s love, given to us – not our love for Him. How many times do we read in scripture of the “failing” love of humans being overcome with God’s “unfailing and eternal” love?
Psalm 136 consists entirely of offerings being made to the Lord, with the response “His love endures forever.” Let’s try a few of these – after I read each offering, you respond “His love endures forever.”, and respond as though you really believe it!!
How do you feel in this praise? Isn’t it wonderful proclaiming that all things exist, and all things are, simply because of God’s eternal love?
Scripture tells us that love is greater than all other things. 1 Corinthians 13 ends with the words “Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Greater than hope? Greater than faith? YES! For without love, hope and faith fall flat – they have no meaning, they have no basis, no foundation. Both hope and faith must be grounded in love –God’s as well as ours.
Our reading today relates a time when the people of Israel, now back in their homeland but still not so far from the exile that they can’t remember the time when they felt separated from God’s love. As we begin today, remember that the rebuilding program is moving along and the people are beginning to settle back into the routine of everyday life.
Read Nehemiah 7:73b-8:4
Ezra read from the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of our Bible – which includes the earliest history of Israel, and the laws of Moses - for 6 straight hours, and 13 lay people assisted him. And the people listened “attentively”! No one wandered off, thinking that his time would be better spent working in his fields, or sprucing up the house, or caring for the animals. No one decided to take a nap, or struck up a conversation with the person standing next to them, or wondered if it was time for lunch yet. What would happen if we tried that here - if we all gathered outside (on a summer day, of course!!), at 6:00 in the morning, and 12 or 13 of us began to read the Bible out loud, taking turns, for 6 hours until noon? How many would still be standing when we finished?
And notice that it wasn’t only Israel who was there to hear the word proclaimed – it was “men, women, and others who could understand.” (vs. 3) who were there. It may have been servants or slaves, it may have been foreign residents of the land – they all came to here God’s word for their lives!
Read Nehemiah 8:5-8
And 13 priests taught the people to, once again, know and understand what the law meant for their lives. Laity and priests working together, presenting God’s Word to their neighbors and friends, helping them to understand His call on their lives. Sounds like a pretty good model for the church, doesn't it! But what did they hear?
This classic conversation between a guru and a pupil puts this into a more personal context:
Guru: Aranda, do you know the sacred scriptures?
Pupil: Yes, teacher, I have been studying them.
Guru: And, do you know the phrase, 'Thus have I heard?'
Pupil: Oh, yes, that is throughout the scriptures.
Guru: Aranda, what have you heard?
(From Homeletics Online)
When you hear the Word read, what do you hear? Do you just hear words, or do you hear God speaking to you? Do you hear commandments that you decide that you can never live up to so why even try, or do you feel challenged to turn over a new leaf, and try the Lord’s way for a change? What do you hear and how do you respond? Will you take this Book seriously or will you decide that you could have written one that is much better and makes a lot more sense?
Ezekiel, in his call to become a prophet, was handed a written scroll and commanded to eat it. (See Ezekiel 2:9-3:7) This episode provides a vivid image of how the Scriptures are to be internalized, influencing every fiber of a person's being and identity.
--Darrell Jodock, The Church's Bible: Its Contemporary Authority (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989), 143.
We are to consume God’s word so that it can nourish us and revitalize us and enable us to share it honestly and completely with others!
And we are to allow the word to consume us, so we might be taken up by it, inundated by it, that we might become absorbed by it.
What do we allow the word to do within us?
In “See Yourself As God Sees You”, Josh McDowell writes “We study the Bible not primarily to learn what to do as Christians but how to be as Christians. As we understand from Scripture who we are and what we are becoming, the doing part of our faith will practically take care of itself.”
How is the doing part of your faith? Is it truly taking care of itself and yourself?
Read Nehemiah 8:9-12
Does the “doing” part of your faith cause you to weep over the failures in life, or are you rejoicing and celebrating and honoring and feasting on the word?
Are we living with those great words “His Love endures for ever”? Is it on our lips? Is it within our hearts? Are we doing our love for God? Are we doing His love for others?
J. Oswald Sanders writes in his book Enjoying Intimacy with God (1980, Moody Press, 13-14), “Both Scripture and experience teach that it is we, not God, who determine the degree of intimacy with him that we enjoy. We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be. True, there are times when we would like to know a deeper intimacy, but when it comes [right down to it, are we] prepared to pay the price involved?
Give the Lord a Valentine today – discover His word for your life, and give him your heart in His life. That will be the greatest gift you will ever give – either to the Lord or to yourself!
His love and His word endure forever. Amen and Amen.
Today is St. Valentines Day. There are many traditions surrounding its origin, but they all point to one fact – love surmounts all. It’s been said that the Bible is God’s love letter to us all. And that’s the point – it’s about God’s love, given to us – not our love for Him. How many times do we read in scripture of the “failing” love of humans being overcome with God’s “unfailing and eternal” love?
Psalm 136 consists entirely of offerings being made to the Lord, with the response “His love endures forever.” Let’s try a few of these – after I read each offering, you respond “His love endures forever.”, and respond as though you really believe it!!
How do you feel in this praise? Isn’t it wonderful proclaiming that all things exist, and all things are, simply because of God’s eternal love?
Scripture tells us that love is greater than all other things. 1 Corinthians 13 ends with the words “Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Greater than hope? Greater than faith? YES! For without love, hope and faith fall flat – they have no meaning, they have no basis, no foundation. Both hope and faith must be grounded in love –God’s as well as ours.
Our reading today relates a time when the people of Israel, now back in their homeland but still not so far from the exile that they can’t remember the time when they felt separated from God’s love. As we begin today, remember that the rebuilding program is moving along and the people are beginning to settle back into the routine of everyday life.
Read Nehemiah 7:73b-8:4
Ezra read from the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of our Bible – which includes the earliest history of Israel, and the laws of Moses - for 6 straight hours, and 13 lay people assisted him. And the people listened “attentively”! No one wandered off, thinking that his time would be better spent working in his fields, or sprucing up the house, or caring for the animals. No one decided to take a nap, or struck up a conversation with the person standing next to them, or wondered if it was time for lunch yet. What would happen if we tried that here - if we all gathered outside (on a summer day, of course!!), at 6:00 in the morning, and 12 or 13 of us began to read the Bible out loud, taking turns, for 6 hours until noon? How many would still be standing when we finished?
And notice that it wasn’t only Israel who was there to hear the word proclaimed – it was “men, women, and others who could understand.” (vs. 3) who were there. It may have been servants or slaves, it may have been foreign residents of the land – they all came to here God’s word for their lives!
Read Nehemiah 8:5-8
And 13 priests taught the people to, once again, know and understand what the law meant for their lives. Laity and priests working together, presenting God’s Word to their neighbors and friends, helping them to understand His call on their lives. Sounds like a pretty good model for the church, doesn't it! But what did they hear?
This classic conversation between a guru and a pupil puts this into a more personal context:
Guru: Aranda, do you know the sacred scriptures?
Pupil: Yes, teacher, I have been studying them.
Guru: And, do you know the phrase, 'Thus have I heard?'
Pupil: Oh, yes, that is throughout the scriptures.
Guru: Aranda, what have you heard?
(From Homeletics Online)
When you hear the Word read, what do you hear? Do you just hear words, or do you hear God speaking to you? Do you hear commandments that you decide that you can never live up to so why even try, or do you feel challenged to turn over a new leaf, and try the Lord’s way for a change? What do you hear and how do you respond? Will you take this Book seriously or will you decide that you could have written one that is much better and makes a lot more sense?
Ezekiel, in his call to become a prophet, was handed a written scroll and commanded to eat it. (See Ezekiel 2:9-3:7) This episode provides a vivid image of how the Scriptures are to be internalized, influencing every fiber of a person's being and identity.
--Darrell Jodock, The Church's Bible: Its Contemporary Authority (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989), 143.
We are to consume God’s word so that it can nourish us and revitalize us and enable us to share it honestly and completely with others!
And we are to allow the word to consume us, so we might be taken up by it, inundated by it, that we might become absorbed by it.
What do we allow the word to do within us?
In “See Yourself As God Sees You”, Josh McDowell writes “We study the Bible not primarily to learn what to do as Christians but how to be as Christians. As we understand from Scripture who we are and what we are becoming, the doing part of our faith will practically take care of itself.”
How is the doing part of your faith? Is it truly taking care of itself and yourself?
Read Nehemiah 8:9-12
Does the “doing” part of your faith cause you to weep over the failures in life, or are you rejoicing and celebrating and honoring and feasting on the word?
Are we living with those great words “His Love endures for ever”? Is it on our lips? Is it within our hearts? Are we doing our love for God? Are we doing His love for others?
J. Oswald Sanders writes in his book Enjoying Intimacy with God (1980, Moody Press, 13-14), “Both Scripture and experience teach that it is we, not God, who determine the degree of intimacy with him that we enjoy. We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be. True, there are times when we would like to know a deeper intimacy, but when it comes [right down to it, are we] prepared to pay the price involved?
Give the Lord a Valentine today – discover His word for your life, and give him your heart in His life. That will be the greatest gift you will ever give – either to the Lord or to yourself!
His love and His word endure forever. Amen and Amen.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
“In the Face of Trial”
Scripture Text: Nehemiah 4:10-15
Last week, we saw how the people of Judah had started to return to their homeland after 70 years of exile, and had begun to rebuild the temple. But as usually happens, there were many around them who didn’t want it to happen, and worked covertly and intently to frustrate them in their attempt. And we saw how the people were undaunted and continued to rebuild their place of holy worship.
This week, we see that the opposition never actually quit in their efforts to disrupt the construction – but now it is the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem that they are trying to interrupt. First, opposition to the completion of the people’s worship center, and now toward their means of protection. What next?
Read Nehemiah 4:10-12
A farmer purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse was falling apart, and the fences were collapsing all around the place.
During his first day of work, the town preacher stops by to bless the man’s work, saying, “May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!”
A few months later, the preacher stops by again to call on the farmer. Lo and behold, it’s like a completely different place — the farmhouse is completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there are plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields are filled with crops planted in neat rows. “Amazing!” the preacher says. “Look what God and you have accomplished together!”
“Yes, Pastor,” says the farmer, “but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone!”
- from Homeletics Online
The farmer was seeking recognition for his sweat and toil, so we might offer for his benefit “Consider what it would have been like if you had tried to work it alone!”
The people of Judah had set out on an overwhelming task – to rebuild a large city that had been totally destroyed - and they had come up against a couple of seemingly insurmountable obstacles - the amount of rubble that still remained from the original walls made the rebuilding nearly impossible, and the threat of attack from their foes made them fear for their lives. The workers were frustrated and tired, they weren’t sure of what their next step should be, and what if they did came under attack? How would they ever be able to defend themselves?
Even their own friends and neighbors kept the rumors flying – “No matter what you do, no matter how you prepare, they are going to get you.” You can almost sense the fear in these words of warning. So what do you do about it? You do whatever it takes.
Read Nehemiah 4:13-14
Nehemiah realized that as long as the people were worried to a point of distraction over the impending attacks, they could never regain the strength to resume the building of the city’s walls, and that without the walls, they would be subjected to more and more threats from their neighbors – it would be a vicious cycle of “going from bad to worse.
So he did 2 things. First, he set up defensive positions to protect the workers and families in the city, and second, he reminded them of the source of their power and strength – the Lord God Almigthy Himself.
Remember the farmer – he knew that it nearly always requires a team of God and people to accomplish anything worthwhile. The Lord seldom does anything alone, and we can’t do it alone. And while both Nehemiah and the farmer may never have understood why the repairs needed to take place, they both knew that it must. The farmer may have thought that it made good business sense, and Nehemiah may have just wanted to restore the capital city to its former glory, but God always seems to have a different idea in mind.
Many years ago a little church on the coast of England was ruined in a hurricane. The congregation wanted to rebuild, but thought themselves incapable of the task.
Then one day a representative of the British Admiralty came to the pastor to ask if they intended to reconstruct the church. The clergyman explained why they were unable to do it. “Well,” said the navy’s representative, “if you don’t rebuild the church, we will. That spire is on all our charts and maps. It is the landmark by which the ships of the seven seas steer their course.”
- from Homeletics Online
The pastor and his congregation thought that rebuilding the church was all about them and only for them, and they couldn’t imagine how they would ever do it. But there was a greater purpose, and that purpose was not only to be a place of worship for the people, but also to serve as a guide to many ships and their crews, to show them the way into a safe harbor.
Since the farmer’s story was just that – a story – there doesn’t appear to be a higher calling for his effort to rebuild, but Jerusalem is a totally different situation. The city had to be restored because in just 450 years, Jesus’ ministry would revolve around the city, and it was to have a critically important role in God’s plan of salvation.
Read Nehemiah 4:15
The verse doesn’t say that the enemy ended their efforts to stop the rebuilding, and they didn’t! It simply says that when the preparations for defense were revealed to them and their efforts were shown to be useless, the people returned to the project of restoring the walls that were so vital to their safe existence.
All too often, the people of Christ’s Church become so focused on the efforts of the enemy, and so caught up in fear of what the foe may do to them, that they forget that they have a totally different purpose in life. Our job isn’t to guarantee the defeat Satan – God has already done that!! The church’s job is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ – nothing more and nothing less. And the truth is that Satan loves to see us become so engrossed with him that we completely loose our focus on the Lord! Satan doesn’t care if we love him, or even that we hate him – he simply wants us to look away from God.
Have you ever gotten caught up in the battle to the point that you forget that the outcome has already been decided? It’s draining, it’s exhausting, it’s crippling!
And our real work is forgotten, just like the people of Judah lost their vision and energy in their work to rebuild Jerusalem. God would use the people in a minor way for defense of the city, but it was His frustration of the enemy that allowed them to regain their energy and to get back to their primary task.
It’s time for the church to get back to its primary task – to make disciples for Jesus Christ. The Lord has provided us with all the armor we will ever need, all the offensive weapons that we will need, all the tactics and strategies that we will ever use, and he has already assured the outcome of the war – He wins! Hallelujah!! And there’s almost nothing left for us to do in the battle!!
Oh, we may have a minor role in the conflict, but our main job is to share His Good News with the people of our world. We do that every time that we set aside our fear to speak His name in public, every time we place our trust in Him, and stop looking to the world for the answers to our questions and problems, every time we begin to gain that renewed confidence to tell others what God has done for us, and every time we offer an invitation to a friend to join us in worship on the very next Sunday morning.
Satan sends trials our way, not to destroy us, not to maim us, but to confuse and disorient us. That is exactly what was happening to the people of Judah, and if Nehemiah had failed to remind them that it is their “Lord who is great and awesome”, they might have continued to think that it was the enemy who was great and awesome, and they would never have finished their work.
Set aside the fear that rises up every time that a conflict presents its ugly face and just stay focused on the glorious and beautiful face of Jesus Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Last week, we saw how the people of Judah had started to return to their homeland after 70 years of exile, and had begun to rebuild the temple. But as usually happens, there were many around them who didn’t want it to happen, and worked covertly and intently to frustrate them in their attempt. And we saw how the people were undaunted and continued to rebuild their place of holy worship.
This week, we see that the opposition never actually quit in their efforts to disrupt the construction – but now it is the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem that they are trying to interrupt. First, opposition to the completion of the people’s worship center, and now toward their means of protection. What next?
Read Nehemiah 4:10-12
A farmer purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse was falling apart, and the fences were collapsing all around the place.
During his first day of work, the town preacher stops by to bless the man’s work, saying, “May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!”
A few months later, the preacher stops by again to call on the farmer. Lo and behold, it’s like a completely different place — the farmhouse is completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there are plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields are filled with crops planted in neat rows. “Amazing!” the preacher says. “Look what God and you have accomplished together!”
“Yes, Pastor,” says the farmer, “but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone!”
- from Homeletics Online
The farmer was seeking recognition for his sweat and toil, so we might offer for his benefit “Consider what it would have been like if you had tried to work it alone!”
The people of Judah had set out on an overwhelming task – to rebuild a large city that had been totally destroyed - and they had come up against a couple of seemingly insurmountable obstacles - the amount of rubble that still remained from the original walls made the rebuilding nearly impossible, and the threat of attack from their foes made them fear for their lives. The workers were frustrated and tired, they weren’t sure of what their next step should be, and what if they did came under attack? How would they ever be able to defend themselves?
Even their own friends and neighbors kept the rumors flying – “No matter what you do, no matter how you prepare, they are going to get you.” You can almost sense the fear in these words of warning. So what do you do about it? You do whatever it takes.
Read Nehemiah 4:13-14
Nehemiah realized that as long as the people were worried to a point of distraction over the impending attacks, they could never regain the strength to resume the building of the city’s walls, and that without the walls, they would be subjected to more and more threats from their neighbors – it would be a vicious cycle of “going from bad to worse.
So he did 2 things. First, he set up defensive positions to protect the workers and families in the city, and second, he reminded them of the source of their power and strength – the Lord God Almigthy Himself.
Remember the farmer – he knew that it nearly always requires a team of God and people to accomplish anything worthwhile. The Lord seldom does anything alone, and we can’t do it alone. And while both Nehemiah and the farmer may never have understood why the repairs needed to take place, they both knew that it must. The farmer may have thought that it made good business sense, and Nehemiah may have just wanted to restore the capital city to its former glory, but God always seems to have a different idea in mind.
Many years ago a little church on the coast of England was ruined in a hurricane. The congregation wanted to rebuild, but thought themselves incapable of the task.
Then one day a representative of the British Admiralty came to the pastor to ask if they intended to reconstruct the church. The clergyman explained why they were unable to do it. “Well,” said the navy’s representative, “if you don’t rebuild the church, we will. That spire is on all our charts and maps. It is the landmark by which the ships of the seven seas steer their course.”
- from Homeletics Online
The pastor and his congregation thought that rebuilding the church was all about them and only for them, and they couldn’t imagine how they would ever do it. But there was a greater purpose, and that purpose was not only to be a place of worship for the people, but also to serve as a guide to many ships and their crews, to show them the way into a safe harbor.
Since the farmer’s story was just that – a story – there doesn’t appear to be a higher calling for his effort to rebuild, but Jerusalem is a totally different situation. The city had to be restored because in just 450 years, Jesus’ ministry would revolve around the city, and it was to have a critically important role in God’s plan of salvation.
Read Nehemiah 4:15
The verse doesn’t say that the enemy ended their efforts to stop the rebuilding, and they didn’t! It simply says that when the preparations for defense were revealed to them and their efforts were shown to be useless, the people returned to the project of restoring the walls that were so vital to their safe existence.
All too often, the people of Christ’s Church become so focused on the efforts of the enemy, and so caught up in fear of what the foe may do to them, that they forget that they have a totally different purpose in life. Our job isn’t to guarantee the defeat Satan – God has already done that!! The church’s job is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ – nothing more and nothing less. And the truth is that Satan loves to see us become so engrossed with him that we completely loose our focus on the Lord! Satan doesn’t care if we love him, or even that we hate him – he simply wants us to look away from God.
Have you ever gotten caught up in the battle to the point that you forget that the outcome has already been decided? It’s draining, it’s exhausting, it’s crippling!
And our real work is forgotten, just like the people of Judah lost their vision and energy in their work to rebuild Jerusalem. God would use the people in a minor way for defense of the city, but it was His frustration of the enemy that allowed them to regain their energy and to get back to their primary task.
It’s time for the church to get back to its primary task – to make disciples for Jesus Christ. The Lord has provided us with all the armor we will ever need, all the offensive weapons that we will need, all the tactics and strategies that we will ever use, and he has already assured the outcome of the war – He wins! Hallelujah!! And there’s almost nothing left for us to do in the battle!!
Oh, we may have a minor role in the conflict, but our main job is to share His Good News with the people of our world. We do that every time that we set aside our fear to speak His name in public, every time we place our trust in Him, and stop looking to the world for the answers to our questions and problems, every time we begin to gain that renewed confidence to tell others what God has done for us, and every time we offer an invitation to a friend to join us in worship on the very next Sunday morning.
Satan sends trials our way, not to destroy us, not to maim us, but to confuse and disorient us. That is exactly what was happening to the people of Judah, and if Nehemiah had failed to remind them that it is their “Lord who is great and awesome”, they might have continued to think that it was the enemy who was great and awesome, and they would never have finished their work.
Set aside the fear that rises up every time that a conflict presents its ugly face and just stay focused on the glorious and beautiful face of Jesus Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less.
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