Jim Elliot

Gospel for July 30, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In these five parables, Jesus focuses on different characteristics of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the first two parables in this section of our lectionary reading, he uses metaphors that convey the seeming insignificance of the Kingdom of Heaven at the very beginning, and the gradual growth of the Kingdom into a dominating presence:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”

The grain of mustard seed and the yeast are easily overlooked because they are so disproportionately tiny in comparison to their effect.

The parable of the mustard seed gives us an example of Jesus using ordinary items found commonly in Galilee. The mustard seed was of the herb family which, though small, could grow up to eight feet tall as a shrub, dwarfing the other herbs in the garden. Anyone who has seen pokeweed growing in the Southern United States knows that an herb can grow much taller than expected.

And of course anyone who has ever baked knows the history of yeast — that only a small pinch is necessary to leaven a great deal of dough. The measurement Jesus gives here is yeast in three measures of meal (this would be about thirty-nine liters, which would be more than nine gallons of dough for those who don’t think in metric terms). That is a lot of dough to be leavened by so small a pinch of yeast.

Another interesting aside — yeast is a living fungus, and can be kept alive for decades, even passed along from one generation to the next. Perhaps Jesus is implying that the Kingdom is a living thing that stretches back to the dawn of time?

Jesus is pointing out three things:

The Kingdom of Heaven may begin in small ways in our midst, escaping our notice at first.
The Kingdom of Heaven doesn’t only come in the dramatic, sudden ways so often depicted in apocalyptic literature. The Kingdom also grows up in our midst gradually until finally it is undeniable.
The Kingdom of Heaven has an overwhelming influence — like the commanding mustard plant looming over the other plants of the herb garden, or the yeast that has leavened all nine gallons of bread.

Our lectionary passage for this week skips verses 34-43. These verses were included in last week’s lectionary selection for the Gospel reading. Click here to read the Gospel lectionary SOAR for July 23, 2023.

In verses 44 to 50, Jesus returns to parables of the Kingdom of Heaven. These are three very different metaphors for the kingdom — a treasure, a pearl of great price, and a dragnet cast into the sea.

In the first two similes, Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven as a treasure buried in a field and a priceless pearl. One is worth selling everything in order to buy the field where the treasure is buried; the other worth selling everything simply to buy the one pearl.

The Kingdom of Heaven is so precious that the one who finds it will give up everything else that he may value in order to gain it — like the man who finds a buried treasure, and the merchant who discovers a unique pearl of great price. The Kingdom of Heaven is that precious — worthy of sacrificing everything a person has.

Jesus then alters the tone significantly. The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a dragnet — again using fishing imagery that would have been very familiar to fishermen (like many of his disciples), and others living near the Sea of Galilee. Here, the focus is upon the judgment that is introduced by the presence of the Kingdom of God.

The dragnet is non-discriminating in its catch — fish of every kind are snared in the nets. But not all of them are suitable. Fishermen and fishmongers would know that the fish must be sorted out before they can be sold or eaten.

At the end of the world, Jesus says, this is what will happen with the Kingdom of God. All people — wicked and righteous — will be gathered up, and the angels will sort them out. His description of the consequences for the wicked is not pleasant. The angels, he says:

will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

We mustn’t be naive about Jesus’ understanding of the judgment — it will be severe for those who are wicked.

Jesus closes this section of teachings from the parables with a kind of “pop quiz” for the disciples. He asks them:

Have you understood all these things?

After all, he has primed them earlier by telling them:

To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them (Matthew 13:11).

Jesus has responded to their requests to interpret his parables, and now he is testing them to be sure they “get it.”

They insist that they do understand — perhaps a little overconfidently, if we are to judge by how obtuse they seem to be later in the Gospel.

Jesus then describes how they are to function as disciples — like scribes (those who were charged with keeping a written record of religious traditions), they are to be:

like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.

This requirement may speak especially to Matthew, the writer of the Gospel, but it also speaks to the disciples who are to bear witness on Jesus’ behalf.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that his role as Messiah is not a break from the Hebrew Scriptures, but rather their fulfillment:

Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished (Matthew 5:17-18).

The disciple is to draw from the rich heritage and truths of the Hebrew Scripture in order to understand the ways of heaven. At the same time, the disciple of Jesus is to hear the new commandments that Jesus brings. Jesus makes clear that there is, in some sense, a progressive revelation that he has come to reveal, as when he says:

You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna (Matthew 5:21-22).

Jesus follows this same formula five more times in the Sermon on the Mount — You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones… But I tell you…

Disciples, then, are to be students of the ancient texts, and are also to listen to what Jesus is telling them anew.

APPLY:

In the Gospel of Matthew alone there are at least fifty references to the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God, or God’s coming Kingdom. This subject is obviously very important to Jesus, as he sees himself as the inauguration of this coming Kingdom when he begins to preach:

From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

To say that the Kingdom of God may be defined as the present and future reign of God is true, but it hardly exhausts the depth of the concept in Jesus’ teaching.

Just in our lectionary passage alone, there are a variety of perspectives on the Kingdom of God that can enrich our understanding of God’s now and coming reign.

First, the Kingdom is already in our midst, (although it may be seen only in small ways) and it is growing inevitably and gradually toward completion. Perhaps we can say that we see evidence of the Kingdom when we see a drug addict’s life transformed by God’s grace; or when we see hungry children fed at a Soup Kitchen; or an act of justice accomplished for those who are oppressed. These are not the fullness of the Kingdom, but they remind us that it is coming.

Second, we must accept the righteousness that is a hallmark of the Kingdom. The Judgment is a reality that is coming. This is a moral universe and there are consequences to our actions. The wicked and the righteous will be separated.

Third, the Kingdom is of inestimable value — it is more precious than anything that we value on earth, and is worth leaving everything behind in order to acquire. How willing are we to sell all that we have — literally or figuratively — to receive the Kingdom of God?

Clearly these parables of the Kingdom offer diverse views of the Kingdom of God — reminding us as disciples that we are also to be diligent students of the teachings of God:

Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.

RESPOND:

For anyone who follows this SOAR blog, you will recognize one of my favorite — and most challenging quotes — from Jim Elliot. He wrote in his personal journal on October 28, 1949:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

On January 8, 1956, while participating in a mission to the Huaorani people of Ecuador, Elliot was martyred, along with four other missionaries.

No doubt, Elliot had “sold out” on everything that he valued — including his wife, his home, his very life — for something that was of priceless value: the Kingdom of God.

I wonder sometimes if I have done the same for the Kingdom of God? I have been in full-time Christian ministry from 1980 until my retirement on July 1, 2017. But have I been — am I — sold out?

However, I don’t think Jesus tells this parable in order to increase our guilt. I think he tells these parables to remind us that this world, as good and pleasing as it can be, is of no comparison to the glory that is to come.

We Christians are, by definition, living in anticipation even as we look for signs of the Kingdom growing up amongst us like the mustard seed and the yeast.

Lord, your Kingdom is already here — I can see evidence of it all around me. But it’s also not yet fulfilled — I see plenty of evidence of that as well. Prepare me to live in your Kingdom, and help me to live now as a citizen of your Kingdom. Amen.

PHOTOS:
"Quote-1-Jim-Elliot" by North Valley Baptist Church is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for June 11, 2023

A NOTE FROM CELESTE LETCHWORTH:

As most of you know, Tom went to be with the Lord in June 2018.

Since the lectionary cycles every 3 years, I am able to copy Tom’s SOAR studies from the archives and post them each week with our current year’s dates.

However — this Sunday (June 11, 2023), the lectionary for Year A ‘s Scripture selections are for “Proper 5” which is specified as:

the Sunday between June 5-11 (if after Trinity Sunday)

Tom started this blog in October, 2014 and we have not had a “Proper 5” situation (Sunday between June 5-11 if after Trinity Sunday) for Year A until now (2023).

So, the bad news is that I can’t find anything in the archives that Tom wrote for Genesis 12:1-9.

But the good news is that I found his SOAR posting for Genesis 12:1-4a, (which is the lectionary selection for the 2nd Sunday in Lent for Year A).

So —here’s the SOAR for Genesis 12:1-4a.
You’re on your own for verses 4b-9. 😉

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 12:1-4a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

We are introduced to one of the most important figures in the entire Bible. Abram (whose name is changed to Abraham by Yahweh in Genesis 17:5) is mentioned in no less than 16 books of the Old Testament, and no fewer than 11 in the New Testament. He is regarded in the New Testament as the definitive example of faith and obedience.

Abram appears at the end of the early history of Genesis in the first 11 chapters, which describe:

The creation, and the fall of Adam and Eve.
The downward spiral of their descendants into violence, and God’s subsequent election of Noah as the representative man who survives the great flood with his family in the ark.
The arrogant overreach of humanity in building the tower of Babel, and the consequent confusion of languages and the scattering of the peoples on the earth.

Abram comes from the line of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah. And his family follows the nomadic tendencies that have begun with the scattering of the nations. His father, Terah, has led his family from Ur up along the Fertile Crescent to Haran.

This is where the salvation history involving the story of Abram picks up. Yahweh speaks to Abram. His command to Abram is a kind of mission:

Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.

In a Middle Eastern culture, this is a daunting command. One’s family is their tribe, the place where they belong. Abram is being asked to leave the familiar for an unknown land.

But this call is accompanied by significant promises:

I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.

Yahweh promises Abram that a great nation will come from him; he is promised fame. Even more than fame, he will be a difference-maker — he will be a blessing to all the families of the earth. The man who gives up his own family ties in Haran will have a tremendous impact on all families everywhere!

Note that all of this is oriented toward the future. As we follow the trajectory of Abram’s adventures, we will see that these promises are not totally fulfilled in his own lifetime. Although he will have sons, we will see that even at his death many of Yahweh’s promises remain a matter of faith, to be fulfilled in generations to come.

And we also note that Abram is already old — even if we take into consideration the length of years attributed to many of the ancient figures in Genesis. At seventy-five, taking hold of these promises made by Yahweh must have been an act of faith.

But Abram obeys this strange command, taking with him a small entourage:

Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5).

APPLY:

Abraham becomes the ideal pattern of faith and obedience in the Scriptures. Despite setbacks and even missteps on his part, he finds a way to trust and obey God.

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, pointing to Abraham as the prime example for his doctrine of justification by faith:

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-3)

And James uses the same passage from Genesis to illustrate that Abraham is an example of faith and works:

You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God (James 2:22-23).

These principles of faith and works are not contradictory. Abram’s faith wasn’t merely theoretical. He put his faith into practice by his obedience. In its perfect sense, faith is demonstrated by works. This doesn’t contradict the doctrine of justification by faith. It gives the doctrine hands and feet.

RESPOND:

Jim Elliot was one of five missionaries killed on January 8, 1956 while on a mission to evangelize the Huaorani people of Ecuador. When he was in school in Portland, Oregon, he was regarded as a promising young man with a gift for oratory and drama. He was encouraged by faculty members to pursue a career in acting.

But he believed God had other plans for him — he had been raised to “live for Christ,” and to seek adventure. His intention was to work among the unreached tribes of South America.

He had much to live for — a loving Christian family, with four siblings; a young wife named Elisabeth, also a missionary; a young daughter, Valerie, who was born February 7, 1955.

On October 28, 1949, he wrote in his journal:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Although Jim Elliot enjoyed many of the blessings that life has to offer, he was willing to follow Christ even into the dangerous uncertainty of missionary work with a hostile tribe. Jim and his four missionary colleagues were betrayed by a Huaorani tribesman. Their bodies were found downstream in the Curaray River after they were killed by Huaorani warriors.

After these tragic events, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries continued the missionary work among the Huaorani, and she later published two books about the life of her husband.

When we encounter God, the demands may not be quite so dramatic. Abraham was told to leave his family and go to a land that he didn’t know. However, he was promised that he would be a great nation, with countless descendants, and that all families on earth would bless themselves by him. His adventures taught him the nature of faith — that faith is:

the assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

In his own lifetime, he certainly didn’t see all of the promises fulfilled that had been made to him. When he died, the only land he actually owned in Canaan was a cave that he had purchased in order to bury his wife Sarah. He didn’t see the descendants that he had been told would be as numerous as the stars — in fact, he had only fathered 8 sons by three different women, and only Isaac was to be the “son of the promise.” Yet Abram trusted that those promises would be fulfilled.

And in the view of the New Testament writers, these promises have been fulfilled:

Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (Galatians 3:6-8).

And Hebrews tells us that Abraham was looking for a land more eternal than what he found in Canaan:

By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).

I take great inspiration from Abraham. Mine is sometimes a faltering, unsure faith. However, what matters is not how much faith we have, but the One in whom we have faith.

Lord, faith is a challenge in a world where we all want a “sure thing.” Even more than that, we want it all now! Abram teaches us that the sure thing is found in God’s eternal promises, and faith teaches us to trust in what we have not yet seen. As a father of a demon-possessed boy once said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Abraham Leaves Harran“ by Francesco Bassano the Younger is in the public domain.

Old Testament for March 5, 2023

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment of the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

Scripture passage (World English Bible)
Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around. Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

Order Go and Find a Donkey today to prepare your family for this year’s Easter season!
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Kindle book of Go and Find a Donkey.
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Paperback of Go and Find a Donkey.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 12:1-4a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Abram appears at the end of the early history of Genesis in the first 11 chapters, which describe:

The creation, and the fall of Adam and Eve.
The downward spiral of their descendants into violence, and God’s subsequent election of Noah as the representative man who survives the great flood with his family in the ark.
The arrogant overreach of humanity in building the tower of Babel, and the consequent confusion of languages and the scattering of the peoples on the earth.

This is where the salvation history involving the story of Abram picks up. Yahweh speaks to Abram. His command to Abram is a kind of mission:

Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.

In a Middle Eastern culture, this is a daunting command. One’s family is their tribe, the place where they belong. Abram is being asked to leave the familiar for an unknown land.

But this call is accompanied by significant promises:

I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.

But Abram obeys this strange command, taking with him a small entourage:

Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5).

APPLY:

Abraham becomes the ideal pattern of faith and obedience in the Scriptures. Despite setbacks and even missteps on his part, he finds a way to trust and obey God.

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, pointing to Abraham as the prime example for his doctrine of justification by faith:

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” [Romans 4:1-3, which is included in this week’s Epistle Lectionary Reading.]

And James uses the same passage from Genesis to illustrate that Abraham is an example of faith and works:

You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God (James 2:22-23).

RESPOND:

But he believed God had other plans for him — he had been raised to “live for Christ,” and to seek adventure. His intention was to work among the unreached tribes of South America.

He had much to live for — a loving Christian family, with four siblings; a young wife named Elisabeth, also a missionary; a young daughter, Valerie, who was born February 7, 1955.

On October 28, 1949, he wrote in his journal:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

After these tragic events, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries continued the missionary work among the Huaorani, and she later published two books about the life of her husband.

the assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

And in the view of the New Testament writers, these promises have been fulfilled:

Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (Galatians 3:6-8).

And Hebrews tells us that Abraham was looking for a land more eternal than what he found in Canaan:

By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).

I take great inspiration from Abraham. Mine is sometimes a faltering, unsure faith. However, what matters is not how much faith we have, but the One in whom we have faith.

PHOTOS:
The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1 by Jim, the Photographer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for July 26, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In these five parables, Jesus focuses on different characteristics of the Kingdom of Heaven.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”

The grain of mustard seed and the yeast are easily overlooked because they are so disproportionately tiny in comparison to their effect.

The parable of the mustard seed gives us an example of Jesus using ordinary items found commonly in Galilee. The mustard seed was of the herb family which, though small, could grow up to eight feet tall as a shrub, dwarfing the other herbs in the garden. Anyone who has seen pokeweed growing in the Southern United states knows that an herb can grow much taller than expected.

And of course anyone who has ever baked knows the history of yeast — that only a small pinch is necessary to leaven a great deal of dough. The measurement Jesus gives here is yeast in three measures of meal (this would be about thirty-nine liters,which would be more than nine gallons of dough for those who don’t think in metric terms). That is a lot of dough to be leavened by so small a pinch of yeast.

Jesus is pointing out three things:

The Kingdom of Heaven may begin in small ways in our midst, escaping our notice at first.
The Kingdom of Heaven doesn’t only come in the dramatic, sudden ways so often depicted in apocalyptic literature. The Kingdom also grows up in our midst gradually until finally it is undeniable.
The Kingdom of Heaven has an overwhelming influence — like the commanding mustard plant looming over the other plants of the herb garden, or the yeast that has leavened all nine gallons of bread.

will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

We mustn’t be naive about Jesus’ understanding of the judgment — it will be severe for those who are wicked.

Jesus closes this section of teachings from the parables with a kind of “pop quiz” for the disciples. He asks them:

Have you understood all these things?

After all, he has primed them earlier by telling them:

To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them (Matthew 13:11).

Jesus has responded to their requests to interpret his parables, and now he is testing them to be sure they “get it.”

They insist that they do understand — perhaps a little overconfidently, if we are to judge by how obtuse they seem to be later in the Gospel.

Jesus then describes how they are to function as disciples — like scribes (those who were charged with keeping a written record of religious traditions), they are to be:

like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.

This requirement may speak especially to Matthew, the writer of the Gospel, but it also speaks to the disciples who are to bear witness on Jesus’ behalf.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that his role as Messiah is not a break from the Hebrew Scriptures, but rather their fulfillment:

Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished (Matthew 5:17-18).

You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna (Matthew 5:21-22).

Jesus follows this same formula five more times in the Sermon on the Mount — You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones…. But I tell you….

Disciples, then, are to be students of the ancient texts, and are also to listen to what Jesus is telling them anew.

APPLY:

From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

To say that the Kingdom of God may be defined as the present and future reign of God is true, but it hardly exhausts the depth of the concept in Jesus’ teaching.

Just in our lectionary passage alone, there are a variety of perspectives on the Kingdom of God that can enrich our understanding of God’s now and coming reign.

Clearly these parables of the Kingdom offer diverse views of the Kingdom of God — reminding us as disciples that we are also to be diligent students of the teachings of God:

Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.

RESPOND:

For anyone who follows this SOAR blog, you will recognize one of my favorite — and most challenging quotes — from Jim Elliot. He wrote in his personal journal on October 28, 1949:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

On January 8, 1956, while participating in a mission to the Huaorani people of Ecuador, Elliot was martyred, along with four other missionaries.

No doubt, Elliot had “sold out” on everything that he valued — including his wife, his home, his very life — for something that was of priceless value: the Kingdom of God.

I wonder sometimes if I have done the same for the Kingdom of God? I have been in full-time Christian ministry from 1980 until my retirement on July 1, 2017. But have I been — am I — sold out?

We Christians are, by definition, living in anticipation even as we look for signs of the Kingdom growing up amongst us like the mustard seed and the yeast.

PHOTOS:
"Quote-1-Jim-Elliot" by North Valley Baptist Church is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for March 8, 2020

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment of the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

Scripture passage (World English Bible)
Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around. Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 12:1-4a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Abram appears at the end of the early history of Genesis in the first 11 chapters, which describe:

The creation, and the fall of Adam and Eve.
The downward spiral of their descendants into violence, and God’s subsequent election of Noah as the representative man who survives the great flood with his family in the ark.
The arrogant overreach of humanity in building the tower of Babel, and the consequent confusion of languages and the scattering of the peoples on the earth.

This is where the salvation history involving the story of Abram picks up. Yahweh speaks to Abram. His command to Abram is a kind of mission:

Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.

In a Middle Eastern culture, this is a daunting command. One’s family is their tribe, the place where they belong. Abram is being asked to leave the familiar for an unknown land.

But this call is accompanied by significant promises:

I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.

But Abram obeys this strange command, taking with him a small entourage:

Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5).

APPLY:

Abraham becomes the ideal pattern of faith and obedience in the Scriptures. Despite setbacks and even missteps on his part, he finds a way to trust and obey God.

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, pointing to Abraham as the prime example for his doctrine of justification by faith:

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
[Romans 4:1-3, which is included in this week’s Epistle Lectionary Reading.]

And James uses the same passage from Genesis to illustrate that Abraham is an example of faith and works:

You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God (James 2:22-23).

RESPOND:

Jim Elliot was one of five missionaries killed on January 8, 1956 while on a mission to evangelize the Huaroni people of Ecuador. When he was in school in Portland, Oregon, he was regarded as a promising young man with a gift for oratory and drama. He was encouraged by faculty members to pursue a career in acting.

But he believed God had other plans for him — he had been raised to “live for Christ,” and to seek adventure. His intention was to work among the unreached tribes of South America.

He had much to live for — a loving Christian family, with four siblings; a young wife named Elisabeth, also a missionary; a young daughter, Valerie, who was born February 7, 1955.

On October 28, 1949, he wrote in his journal:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Although Jim Elliot enjoyed many of the blessings that life has to offer, he was willing to follow Christ even into the dangerous uncertainty of missionary work with a hostile tribe. Jim and his four missionary colleagues were betrayed by a Huaroni tribesman. Their bodies were found downstream in the Curary River after they were killed by Huaroni warriors.

After these tragic events, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries continued the missionary work among the Huaroni, and she later published two books about the life of her husband.

the assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

And in the view of the New Testament writers, these promises have been fulfilled:

Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (Galatians 3:6-8).

And Hebrews tells us that Abraham was looking for a land more eternal than what he found in Canaan:

By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).

I take great inspiration from Abraham. Mine is sometimes a faltering, unsure faith. However, what matters is not how much faith we have, but the One in whom we have faith.

PHOTOS:
The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1 by Jim, the Photographer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for July 30, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In these five parables, Jesus focuses on different characteristics of the Kingdom of Heaven.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”

The grain of mustard seed and the yeast are easily overlooked because they are so disproportionately tiny in comparison to their effect.

The parable of the mustard seed gives us an example of Jesus using ordinary items found commonly in Galilee. The mustard seed was of the herb family which, though small, could grow up to eight feet tall as a shrub, dwarfing the other herbs in the garden. Anyone who has seen pokeweed growing in the Southern United states knows that an herb can grow much taller than expected.

And of course anyone who has ever baked knows the history of yeast — that only a small pinch is necessary to leaven a great deal of dough. The measurement Jesus gives here is yeast in three measures of meal (this would be about thirty-nine liters,which would be more than nine gallons of dough for those who don’t think in metric terms). That is a lot of dough to be leavened by so small a pinch of yeast.

Jesus is pointing out three things:

The Kingdom of Heaven may begin in small ways in our midst, escaping our notice at first.
The Kingdom of Heaven doesn’t only come in the dramatic, sudden ways so often depicted in apocalyptic literature. The Kingdom also grows up in our midst gradually until finally it is undeniable.
The Kingdom of Heaven has an overwhelming influence — like the commanding mustard plant looming over the other plants of the herb garden, or the yeast that has leavened all nine gallons of bread.

Our lectionary passage for this week skips the section already addressed previously in the lectionary, verses 34-43. Click here to read the Gospel lectionary SOAR for July 23, 2017.

The Kingdom of Heaven is so precious that one who finds it will give up everything else that he may value in order to gain it — like the man who finds a buried treasure, and the merchant who discovers a unique pearl of great price. The Kingdom of Heaven is that precious — worthy of sacrificing everything a person has.

will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

We mustn’t be naive about Jesus’ understanding of the judgment — it will be severe for those who are wicked.

Jesus closes this section of teachings from the parables with a kind of “pop quiz” for the disciples. He asks them:

Have you understood all these things?

After all, he has primed them earlier by telling them:

To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them (Matthew 13:11).

Jesus has responded to their requests to interpret his parables, and now he is testing them to be sure they “get it.”

They insist that they do understand — perhaps a little overconfidently, if we are to judge by how obtuse they seem to be later in the Gospel.

Jesus then describes how they are to function as disciples — like scribes (those who were charged with keeping a written record of religious traditions), they are to be:

like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.

This requirement may speak especially to Matthew, the writer of the Gospel, but it also speaks to the disciples who are to bear witness on Jesus’ behalf.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that his role as Messiah is not a break from the Hebrew Scriptures, but rather their fulfillment:

Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished (Matthew 5:17-18).

You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna (Matthew 5:21-22).

Jesus follows this same formula five more times in the Sermon on the Mount — You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones…. But I tell you….

Disciples, then, are to be students of the ancient texts, and are also to listen to what Jesus is telling them anew.

APPLY:

From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

To say that the Kingdom of God may be defined as the present and future reign of God is true, but it hardly exhausts the depth of the concept in Jesus’ teaching.

Just in our lectionary passage alone, there are a variety of perspectives on the Kingdom of God that can enrich our understanding of God’s now and coming reign.

Clearly these parables of the Kingdom offer diverse views of the Kingdom of God — reminding us as disciples that we are also to be diligent students of the teachings of God:

Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.

RESPOND:

For anyone who follows this SOAR blog, you will recognize one of my favorite — and most challenging quotes — from Jim Elliot. He wrote in his personal journal on October 28, 1949:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

On January 8, 1956, while participating in a mission to the Huaorani people of Ecuador, Elliot was martyred, along with four other missionaries.

No doubt, Elliot had “sold out” on everything that he valued — including his wife, his home, his very life — for something that was of priceless value: the Kingdom of God.

I wonder sometimes if I have done the same for the Kingdom of God? I have been in fulltime Christian ministry from 1980 until my retirement on July 1, 2017. But have I been — am I — sold out?

We Christians are, by definition, living in anticipation even as we look for signs of the Kingdom growing up amongst us like the mustard seed and the yeast.

PHOTOS:
"Quote-1-Jim-Elliot" by North Valley Baptist Church is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for March 12, 2017

Start with Scripture:

Genesis 12:1-4a

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Abram appears at the end of the early history of Genesis in the first 11 chapters, which describe:

The creation, and the fall of Adam and Eve.
The downward spiral of their descendants into violence, and God’s subsequent election of Noah as the representative man who survives the great flood with his family in the ark.
The arrogant overreach of humanity in building the tower of Babel, and the consequent confusion of languages and the scattering of the peoples on the earth.

This is where the salvation history involving the story of Abram picks up. Yahweh speaks to Abram. His command to Abram is a kind of mission:

Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.

In a Middle Eastern culture, this is a daunting command. One’s family is their tribe, the place where they belong. Abram is being asked to leave the familiar for an unknown land.

But this call is accompanied by significant promises:

I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.

But Abram obeys this strange command, taking with him a small entourage:

Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5).

APPLY:

Abraham becomes the ideal pattern of faith and obedience in the Scriptures. Despite setbacks and even missteps on his part, he finds a way to trust and obey God.

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, pointing to Abraham as the prime example for his doctrine of justification by faith:

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-3, which is included in this week’s Epistle Lectionary Reading).

And James uses the same passage from Genesis to illustrate that Abraham is an example of faith and works:

You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God (James 2:22-23).

RESPOND:

But he believed God had other plans for him — he had been raised to “live for Christ,” and to seek adventure. His intention was to work among the unreached tribes of South America.

He had much to live for — a loving Christian family, with four siblings; a young wife named Elisabeth, also a missionary; a young daughter, Valerie, who was born February 7, 1955.

On October 28, 1949, he wrote in his journal:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Although Jim Elliot enjoyed many of the blessings that life has to offer, he was willing to follow Christ even into the dangerous uncertainty of missionary work with a hostile tribe. Jim and his four missionary colleagues were betrayed by a Huaroni tribesman. Their bodies were found downstream in the Curary River after they were killed by Huaroni warriors.

After these tragic events, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries continued the missionary work among the Huaroni, and she later published two books about the life of her husband.

When we encounter God, the demands may not be quite so dramatic. Abraham was told to leave his family and go to a land that he didn’t know. However, he was promised that he would be a great nation, with countless descendents, and that all families on earth would bless themselves by him. His adventures taught him the nature of faith — that faith is:

the assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

In his own lifetime, he certainly didn’t see all of the promises fulfilled that had been made to him. When he died, the only land he actually owned in Canaan was a cave that he had purchased in order to bury his wife Sarah. He didn’t see the descendents that he had been told would be as numerous as the stars — in fact, he had only fathered 8 sons by three different women, and only Isaac was to be the “son of the promise.” Yet Abram trusted that those promises would be fulfilled.

And in the view of the New Testament writers, these promises have been fulfilled:

Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (Galatians 3:6-8).

And Hebrews tells us that Abraham was looking for a land more eternal than what he found in Canaan:

By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).

I take great inspiration from Abraham. Mine is sometimes a faltering, unsure faith. However, what matters is not how much faith we have, but the One in whom we have faith.

PHOTOS:
The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1 by Jim, the Photographer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.