Gospel for September 18, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 16:1-13
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus uses an odd parable to illustrate the principle of shrewd stewardship and faithfulness — the tale of the dishonest manager.  And the dishonest manager turns out to be the hero of the story!

The setting should be familiar to businessmen and women — a rich man’s CEO has been losing money, and the owner of the business demands a detailed account of profit and loss, and summarily fires the CEO/manager. 

Obviously, this pitches the manager into financial and personal crisis — his skill-set limits him from manual labor, and his self-respect prevents him from begging.  What he then does is actually rather fraudulent.  He approaches those who are in debt to his former boss and offers an intriguing deal — he encourages them to pay off a percentage of their debt immediately.  One is to pay back 50% of the oil he owes, the other 80% of the wheat.

And the owner of the business praises this manager!  He sees that by getting these partial payments, the dishonest manager at least collects something, as opposed to nothing.  Moreover, the manager has now ingratiated himself to the creditors, who may be willing to help him after he’s out of a job. The boss/owner admires the shrewdness of the manager.

Jesus suggests that the children of light can learn something from the children of this world:

….the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light. I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.

In other words, unrighteous mammon (riches), certainly not to be sought for its own sake, can be useful as a tool in the hands of the children of light. 

Jesus makes it very clear that he is not endorsing unfaithfulness or dishonesty by using this unusual example:

He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.  If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?  If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

He is arguing that how a person handles money (unrighteous mammon) may well be a gauge for how they will handle greater spiritual responsibilities and privileges.

But Jesus is very clear that though the children of light may find the use of money to be a test of their character, and even a useful tool, they are not to worship it or seek it for its own sake:

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.

We are reminded that God demands an exclusive claim on the allegiance of the children of light.  This exclusivism and demand for fidelity is rooted in the Biblical tradition.  God says to Israel in Exodus:

you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14).

And it should be noted that Mammon, translated as riches, also denotes a Syrian deity of wealth.

APPLY:  

The bottom line in this passage is that Jesus is advising his followers to be as shrewd and wise as the children of this world — without losing our integrity.

The world is a shorthand expression for all of the spiritual and social aspects of the present age — which is an age dominated by the flesh, sin, and the devil.

However, Jesus is a realist.  He knows that his followers, the children of light, must live in this evil age.  He is simply telling us to learn the rules and play by them when we can, without being corrupted by them:

He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

He tells us to be faithful in our use of unrighteous mammon entrusted to us in this world, while recognizing that money and wealth are not our goal.  We are to be wise stewards and use what we are given for God’s sake, not our own.

We can ultimately only serve one master — and money and wealth will be left behind.  Only God’s kingdom will endure.

RESPOND: 

Pastors who graduate from seminary in my denomination are asked a series of questions when they are ordained.  One of those questions may seem unusual — “are you in debt so as to embarrass you in your work?”

Thinking that somehow graduating from seminary and being given the charge of a church is going to make an individual suddenly responsible and prudent when they haven’t given any indication of integrity isn’t just magical thinking — it’s foolish.

The expectation of Jesus — and his church — is that there will be a fundamental consistency between a person’s financial management and personal integrity.  If we can’t be faithful with small things, why should we be entrusted with greater things?

But what about the use of unrighteous mammon?  I remember many years ago that the late televangelist, Oral Roberts, made an appeal for $8 million to fund scholarships so medical students of his university could serve as missionaries in underdeveloped countries.  He told his television audience that he would retreat to the 200-foot-high prayer tower on the campus of Oral Roberts University and commit himself to,  ”praying and fasting until victory comes or God calls me home.”

One donation of $1.3 million came from a Florida man whose fortune had been made through the dog track that he owned — which was supported by gambling.

Obviously Roberts was severely criticized for accepting the money.  One wonders what Jesus might have said?  Might he have said, “that money has been used for unrighteous purposes in the past.  Why not allow it to do good for a change?”

The real indictment is when we worship the wrong deity.  Another famous televangelist, accused of financial fraud, was put on trial.  The prosecuting attorney made a telling remark in his closing statement:

This was a man who began by using things and loving people, and ended by using people and loving things.

We must be prudent stewards of all of the resources that God entrusts to us — but we must be faithful to God in big and little things.  And we are also reminded that even small responsibilities are a reflection of how we might handle bigger responsibilities.  As someone has said of actors — there are no small parts, only small actors.

Lord, thank you for the resources that you have entrusted to me.  Grant me wisdom to use these resources with integrity for your glory.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Epistle for September 18, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Timothy 2:1-7
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is continuing to mentor his protege, Timothy, about how he should conduct his ministry.  Earlier in this letter Paul has instructed Timothy that he is to provide proper guidance for true Christian doctrine.  Paul is aware that there are those in the church who are teaching heterodox doctrines, and he wants Timothy to correct them (1 Timothy 1).

Now, Paul turns his attention to the substance of Christian prayer as a community of faith.  He urges as a first priority that:

petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks, be made for all men.

Prayer is not merely to be made for those who are already believers.  The Christian, and the church, are to pray for all people everywhere.  This is a reminder that God is Lord of all.

Paul then narrows down the field of intercession:

 for kings and all who are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence.

There are two key parts of this exhortation.  First, we note the remarkable requirement that Christians are to pray for kings and high officials.  This is remarkable because historically we know who those kings and high officials were!  It is very likely that the Emperor Nero reigned over the entire Roman Empire at the time Paul was writing to Timothy.  Nero’s immorality, debauchery and tyranny were well known everywhere.  Moreover, Nero wasn’t the first or the last Roman to persecute the church.  Roman authorities, the Herods, and even the priests in Jerusalem, were typically unsympathetic to Christians, if not aggressively hostile.

Yet Paul urges Timothy to lead his congregation in prayers for these kings and rulers!  Paul might say that he hoped that their prayers might result in the conversion of these officials.  On one occasion, while he was being held prisoner, he was summoned by Festus, the Roman governor of Judea, to make his defense before King Agrippa and his sister Bernice. King Agrippa ruled as a vassal king for Rome over the other areas in and around Palestine.  Paul made an impassioned witness to the Gospel, and apparently began to “get to” Agrippa.  The two men had this remarkable exchange:

 Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?”   Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.” (Acts 26:28-29).

Second, we note that Paul also has a practical motivation for these prayers — those who govern provide political and judicial stability so that Christians may lead quiet, undisturbed lives.  We are reminded that Paul urges Christians to submit to civil authorities because their power is given them by God.  The role of civil authorities, as Paul sees it, is to maintain order:

 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same,  for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil (Romans 13:3-4).

But there is an even deeper and more significant motivation for prayer:

 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.

Prayer is a powerful prelude to mission and evangelism.  As one of Christianity’s premier missionaries, Paul has come to know and appreciate the prayers of the church as he seeks to spread the Gospel everywhere.  His assumption is that God’s desire is to save all people.

Furthermore, Paul elaborates on the full knowledge of the truth in his message with a brief exposition of the kerygma (the proclamation) of the Gospel:

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all….

This is the heart of the Christian testimony.  In a polytheistic culture such as the Greek and Roman in which the Gospel was preached, the Christian insistence on monotheism identified them with their Jewish roots.  However, Judaism had been offered a certain level of immunity by the Romans because their religion seemed to the Romans a regional, cultural and ethnic religion. Christianity was extremely committed to evangelism, as we’ve already seen in this passage.

Moreover, Christianity makes the claim that Jesus is the one and only mediator, or bridge, between God and human beings.  And the Gospel is even more exclusive than that — this same Jesus died on a Roman cross as a ransom for all.  The notion of ransom suggests that all people are imprisoned by some evil captor, and only Christ’s death can pay the price of their release.

The Apostle Peter also preached about Christ’s uniqueness when he and John were arrested by the high priest and the court of the elders:

There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved! (Acts 4:12).

Paul insists that this witness is to a historical man and event:

….the testimony in its own time…

And, if there is any doubt that this is the witness of Paul himself, as the Apostle to the Gentiles, he makes this claim:

to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth in Christ, not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

APPLY:  

There are two key applications that we can take away from this passage.

First is the importance of prayer for all people, but particularly for those who are in authority.  The Scriptures teach us that all authorities are established by God:

Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God (Romans 13:1).

We are to submit to those in authority, provided of course that their requirements don’t violate the moral laws of God or the Christian conscience.  We certainly note that Peter determined to obey God rather than man when he was told not to preach the Gospel.  But even when we may dissent from those political authorities, we are to pray for them.

Second, we have a brief summary of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that provides a template for us — Christ is the mediator who has ransomed us from sin, death and the devil through his own sacrificial death.  That is the heart of the Gospel, without which there is nothing.

RESPOND: 

There is an interesting paradox in this message.  The message of Christ is both exclusive and inclusive. On the one hand we are told that there is one mediator who can save us — Christ alone.  That is a consistent claim throughout the New Testament.

On the other hand, this salvation is available to all who believe.  Paul makes it clear that God desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.  The knowledge of the truth is the revelation that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. 

Let me be clear — salvation is exclusive through Christ, but inclusive of all who believe.  This means universal atonement — not universalism.  Universal atonement means that Christ died for all who believe and who follow Christ. It does not  mean that all will be saved. The Scriptures simply cannot be twisted to support that claim.

This is also not consistent with any interpretation of predestination that assumes that God has elected some to salvation and some to damnation.  As Peter tells us, God is:

patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

One more thing that I feel compelled to add — Christians do not have the luxury of rejecting those who are in authority.  We are commanded to pray for them, even if we disagree with their policies.  Of course, in a Democracy, we are to vote for the candidate that we believe will most effectively provide leadership.  But once they are in office we are not to carp and criticize them — we are to pray for them!

When my sons were young, they went to a Christian camp one summer in the 1980’s.  President Clinton was in office in the U.S. at the time.  I was alarmed to learn when we picked up the boys at the end of the week that one of the “fun activities” of the week had been a blatant act of disrespect toward President Clinton and his wife Hilary.

Two counselors, a boy and a girl, put on Bill and Hillary Clinton masks and sat in the back of a pickup truck.  The truck was driven slowly through the camp, and the campers were encouraged to spray them with shaving cream or aerosol products!

I was appalled!  These young people were being taught to disrespect those who were in office, which seemed to me the exact opposite of the teaching of the Scriptures! It is instructive to be reminded that Paul encouraged Christians in his time to pray for officials like Nero, who was a moral monster!

Pray for those in authority, whether you agree with them and their policies or not!

Lord, we do pray for those who are in authority over us, especially in this presidential season in the U.S., which is so filled with controversy. We ask for guidance when we go to the polls.  As to whomever is elected —please remind us to pray for our leaders, whatever we think of them.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
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Psalm Reading for September 18, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 4
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a prayer of supplication.  The Psalmist, identified as David, is beseeching God to hear his prayer for relief from unidentified distress, and to be merciful to him.  These first verses are addressed directly toward the:

God of my righteousness

In the next verses, however, the Psalmist becomes more polemical.  His focus is no longer on God but on idolators who are pursuing delusions.  He is accusing them of turning glory into dishonor, loving vanity and seeking after falsehood.

The last verses, from 3 to 8, are an expression of confidence in God, and peace.  The Psalmist trusts that God hears his prayers.  He in turn admonishes his “audience” to turn away from sin, and to search their hearts in silence — presumably so that they may recognize the sins of which they must repent.

He ties the inner spiritual life with the outward expression of faith by exhorting his audience:

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness.
Put your trust in Yahweh.

Even if this Psalm precedes the Temple era, it is very consciously observant of the sacrificial system that undergirds the liturgical worship of Israel.

Finally, the Psalmist touts all the benefits of this confidence and faith in God:

• Prosperity
• The ‘glory’ of God that shines on the worshipper’s face — reminiscent of Moses’ shining face after each audience with the Lord
• Joy that exceeds those times when grain and wine are abundant
• The peaceful sleep of those who feel completely safe

APPLY:  

We desire all the benefits mentioned in this Psalm — prosperity; the “glow” of God’s grace; joy in abundance; peace and a sense of security.

Where do these benefits come from?  The answer is embedded in this Psalm. All of these benefits flow from:

• The soul-searching that leads to true repentance.
• The sacrifice of our own will to God’s will.
• Complete and utter trust in the Lord.

This is not a pretext for the so-called “prosperity Gospel.”  The Psalmist makes it crystal clear that his peace is derived not from prosperity:

You have put gladness in my heart,
more than when their grain and their new wine are increased.

Rather he says:

you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety.

This is akin to the message of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.  He tells us not to worry about what we shall eat or drink or wear.  Instead, he says:

 seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33).

RESPOND: 

I confess. I worry too much.  And my worry is a symptom of a lack of faith. Or at best anemic faith.

So, I am applying the lessons of this Psalm in my own life:

 Search your own heart on your bed, and be still.

I make the decision to turn from the sin of worry and lack of faith.

And I place my complete trust in Yahweh.

Lord, only in you will I find joy, true prosperity that is not dependent on what the stock market or the job market gives or takes away, true pardon, and true peace and security.  Grant me that peace.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Old Testament for September 18, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The sense of foreboding and disaster that loomed over Jerusalem and Judah during Jeremiah’s time came from two sources,  the two opposing superpowers that hemmed in Judah from North and South — Babylon and Egypt.  But in Jeremiah’s mind, these forces were merely the weapons in God’s hands to carry out his judgment against unfaithful Judah.

Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet because no matter how earnestly he warns Judah and its kings and priests about the need to repent, they do not heed him.  He declares:

Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!

Jeremiah knows that Judah is placing their trust in Yahweh.  After all, the people declare:

“Isn’t Yahweh in Zion?
Isn’t her King in her?”

Ever since the time of Isaiah, many years before, Jerusalem in particular has been assured that they are invincible because it is the city where the temple of Yahweh is established, and where the eternal dynasty of David reigns.

But Jeremiah recognizes that they have a false sense of assurance.  While God did establish Jerusalem and the Davidic line, Judah and Jerusalem have broken covenant with God.  They have not been faithful to worship him alone and adhere to his law:

“Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images,
and with foreign vanities?”

Now, Jeremiah discerns, there is a growing sense of apprehension among the people of Judah in particular.  An invading force from Babylon is drawing closer from the North, as their armies enter the northernmost cities of what was once Israel:

The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan:
at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles;
for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it;
the city and those who dwell therein (Jeremiah 8:16).

Now Jerusalem is beginning to realize that it may be too late to be delivered from the Babylonians:

“The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”

Jeremiah finds no satisfaction at all in this impending disaster.  He grieves for his city and his people:

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt:
I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

Jeremiah asks plaintively if there is no source of help and healing for his sick nation:

Is there no balm in Gilead?
is there no physician there?
Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Gilead was a region East of the Jordan River named for the grandson of the Patriarch Joseph, and settled by some of the tribes of Israel.  In Joseph’s time it had long since been overrun by Assyria and had become a vassal state.

But Jeremiah’s reference is to a highly valued balsamic ointment that was used as a medicine. The trade and use of this balm in ancient times could be traced back for centuries.  Jeremiah seems to be asking why people who were so sick from their idolatry could not find the antidote in seeking their God.

Jeremiah’s lamentation continues as he reflects on the suffering that Judah has already experienced, and no doubt anticipates what is to happen in the future:

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

APPLY:  

Throughout history there have been times that a sense of impending doom hung heavy over nations:

• In 1775 in the American Colonies, there was the growing sense of resentment toward the British homeland for perceived injustices.
• In 1860 in the United States, it was the regional division between North and South over slavery.
• In 1936 in both Germany and Japan, there was the menace of growing territorial ambitions.

We may wonder sometimes if our times are any different.  What is the apprehension and tension that makes the air of our times feel as though it is thick and heavy with growing storm clouds?

Jeremiah is aware of the storm clouds gathering over Jerusalem, but he senses his own helplessness to avert disaster.  He knows that his people are placing their trust in past platitudes and phony gods.  And yet they can’t seem to understand why they are not delivered from impending catastrophe.

Jeremiah knows that there is a balm in Gilead, and that healing is only to be found in repentance and return to the God of Israel.

This spiritual principle was true in Jeremiah’s time, and it is still true today.

RESPOND: 

There is a deep sadness to be the one who can see that disaster is coming, and yet be unable to avert it.  I am reminded of Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess in Greek mythology who could foresee the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, and the eventual murder of the Greek Agammenon who became her captor.  To be a Cassandra is to be one who is always right, but never heeded.

That was Jeremiah’s sad lot also.  And sometimes it is ours when we can see the eventual consequences of immoral or unwise behavior in our family, friends, or countrymen and women.

Yet we still have a responsibility to warn and to weep for them, even when they don’t listen.

The good news is that there is a remedy to the moral sickness that so many suffer today.  It is found only in the one whom T.S. Eliot describes in East Coker IV, from Four Quartets:

The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer’s art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

Then there is the famous African-American Spiritual, that reminds us that Christ is the source of healing:

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin sick soul.

Our Lord, sometimes we do sense storm clouds rising in our times. Thank you for the reminder that there is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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