Psalm Reading for June 2, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm highlights the omniscience of God concerning the very conception, consciousness, and inner being of David, the Psalmist.

This is a first-person poem/prayer in which David marvels at the intimacy of God’s knowledge of an individual — every movement, thought, word is known even before they are enacted, thought, or spoken (verses 1-6).

The Psalmist is amazed and humbled by the capacity of God to search and know him, and deeply aware of just how transcendent God’s knowledge is of all things.

One can’t help but wonder if this Psalm doesn’t inform St. Paul’s understanding of the Spirit of God, which is described in The Epistle to the Romans as communicating directly with our own spirits:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16); 

and in Romans 8:27:

 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

While some Psalms marvel at the created order of the stars and the mountains, and the revelation of the Law (Psalm 8 and 19, and 119 and so many others), this Psalm revels in the deeply personal nature of the relationship between God and the human being.

God’s omniscience extends even to the mysterious realities of life and death. God is described as having woven the Psalmist together in his mother’s womb, and knowing him when he was yet unborn. The Psalmist is profoundly aware of just how fearfully and wonderfully made is the human body.  The mysteries of human anatomy and development in themselves are a testimony to the creative powers of God.

And the Psalmist suggests that God knows each of his days before they are lived, until even the day of death.

The Psalmist marvels that God’s thoughts are precious, vast and inscrutable.

APPLY:  

Consideration of the omnipotence and omniscience of God can often leave us feeling insignificant.  But this Psalm reminds us that the omniscience of God is really quite intimate.  God knows us from our conception to our death, our interior thoughts and even those aspects of ourselves unknown to us.

Although God is transcendent and “wholly other” as the theologians are wont to say, God is also deeply immanent (present and pervasive) and personal in his knowledge of us.  We puny, finite human beings are capable of knowing and being known by the Creator of all the universe!

St. Anselm of Canterbury once wrote:

God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

The Psalmist illustrates that this God, above whom there is nothing greater, knows us each intimately and personally.  Although our knowledge of him is limited by our own finite capacity, the great blessing is that because he knows us we can know him.

RESPOND: 

I am capable of having a personal and intimate relationship with God, not because of my capacity but because of God’s initiative.  God has searched me and known my thoughts before they entered my mind, has known me from before my conception, and knows my potential and even my destiny.  Like the Psalmist I find that all this boggles my mind!

And God’s unique relationship with us from conception, through gestation and birth, and from life to the moment of death, should make us aware of just how sacred life really is.

Our Lord, how can my words begin to match the prayer of the Psalmist? That you know me intimately and care for me exceeds my capacity to understand.  All my life is lived in your omniscient omnipresence.  Amen.   

PHOTOS:

“Psalm 139 verse 14” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

Old Testament for June 2, 2024

Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.”
[1 Samuel 3:10]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Samuel 3:1-10
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Like many great stories, this one begins, in media res, i.e., in the middle of things.

Who is this child? What is Eli’s priestly history? If we know the answers to these questions, we may begin to understand the impact that Samuel will have on Israel in the future.

Samuel is the son of Elkanah and Hannah, who were of the tribe of Ephraim in the central highlands of Israel.  Although Elkanah deeply loved his wife Hannah, she was grieved because she was unable to have children.  But she went annually with her husband to the shrine of the Lord in Shiloh. There the ark of the covenant was kept in the tent that had been made at Moses’ instruction some centuries earlier. There she prayed each year for a child.

It was at Shiloh that Hannah’s prayers were observed by the High Priest Eli.  When he saw her praying fervently, he thought she was drunk until she explained her desperate pleas for a child.  Eli prayed that she might have a child, and when she returned home with her husband Elkanah the prayer was answered — she conceived and bore a son, whom she named Samuel. Note that his name means God hears.

This is where the story becomes extremely fascinating. This woman, who has been childless for so long, does an amazing thing. After Samuel has been weaned — possibly sometime between ages three and four — Hannah took her child to Shiloh to dedicate him to the Lord!  This is not merely a ritual act of dedication. She actually leaves him with Eli to be completely dedicated full-time to the service of God!

So, Samuel seems to become a kind of acolyte, assisting the aging Eli in his functions in the tabernacle.  We know from the second chapter of Samuel that Eli’s sons Hophni and Phineas were profoundly corrupt and sexually immoral.  In fact, a man of God has come to Eli to warn him that because of their sins, the house of Eli would be removed from the priesthood and his sons would die on the same day.

It is in this context that the young Samuel hears the voice of the Lord one night as the lamp in the tabernacle is burning.  He has no idea what it means, so he goes three times to Eli, thinking his mentor is calling him.  But Eli still has enough spiritual sensitivity to realize that the Lord himself is speaking to Samuel.

Note the irony.  Samuel’s name means The Lord hears.  And now Eli instructs Samuel to return to his station and to say:

Speak, Yahweh; for your servant hears.

God has listened to the prayers of Hannah, and to Eli’s intercession on behalf of this woman; and now Samuel in turn is being trained to listen to God!

Thus begins a prophetic career that would carry Samuel into the pages of the two books that would bear his name — 1 & 2 Samuel. He would judge Israel, and would anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.  He had learned to listen, and to obey.

APPLY:  

It is my experience and opinion that we are always in the position of responding to God’s initiative.  We may think that we are seeking God, but in fact God is seeking us.  When we respond, usually we realize that he has been calling us for quite some time.

This is the case of Samuel, who is quite oblivious to the call of God.  He is simply doing the work required of him in the tabernacle, and sleeping on his appointed mat in the vicinity of the Ark of the Covenant.

In fact, his initial reaction to the call is to confuse God’s voice with the voice of the high priest Eli.  It is Eli who helps Samuel understand what’s happening in this encounter with God.

It is helpful to have a spiritual mentor who can interpret for us what God is doing in our lives, at least until we are able to discern the voice of God for ourselves.

One other thing. By placing himself in the tabernacle of the Lord, Samuel is at least available to hear God’s voice.  Contrast him to the sons of Eli, who are abusing their privilege as priests and using their position only to satisfy their own cravings.

Likewise, if we place ourselves in the presence of God through regular worship, prayer, Bible study, and fasting, we will find ourselves more likely to hear God’s voice than when we are merely serving ourselves and our own appetites.

RESPOND: 

While God’s voice doesn’t come to me audibly, I do believe that God speaks in spiritual whispers.  What is required is that I listen.  And I can listen more carefully when I am practicing the spiritual disciplines of worship, prayer, fasting, and Bible study.

Lord, may I say with Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  And may I heed and obey what I hear.  Amen.  

 PHOTOS:
“listening” by Isbg Six is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for January 14, 2024

 

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 1:43-51
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he begins to assemble his team — those who will be discipled personally by him over the subsequent years, and who will be witnesses of his cross and resurrection.

In this passage, he calls Philip, whose response is immediate and seemingly without reservation.  Presumably he, along with Andrew and Peter, have heard John the Baptist’s testimony that Jesus is:

 the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).

This might explain Philip’s eager willingness to follow Jesus, based on John the Baptist’s recommendation.

Nathaniel, on the other hand, is more skeptical.  Although Philip tries to produce evidence from Moses and the Prophets that Jesus is the Messiah, he undermines his argument as far as Nathaniel is concerned when he says that Jesus is from Nazareth.

Is it because Nazareth is a backwater, or because it is in Galilee where there have been impure influences from other cultures, or simply because Nazareth is not mentioned in the Scriptures?

In any event, Nathaniel sneers scornfully at the prospect of a Messiah arising from such a place.

But Jesus wins Nathaniel over.  He hails him as an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.  Nathaniel, still skeptical, asks “how do you know me?” And Jesus says mysteriously:

 Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

What does Jesus mean?  Did he actually see Nathaniel, as a seer might see in a vision, when Nathaniel was resting under a fig tree in the cool of the day? Was this a metaphor, as some commentators suggest?  We don’t know.

“Sitting under the fig tree” was an image in Micah 4:4 and Zechariah 3:10 suggesting a sense of shalom or peace and well-being.

What we do know is that something about Jesus’ response to Nathaniel penetrates deeply into his spirit.  He is transformed from scorn and skepticism to earnest faith:

Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!

Jesus’ answer can be summed up in this phrase — you think this is something? This is nothing!  Jesus promises Nathaniel that if he follows him, he will experience greater things than this:

Most certainly, I tell you, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Jesus’ description of the ascent and descent of angels reminds us of Jacob’s dream at Bethel two millennia earlier:

He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.  He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it (Genesis 28:11-12).

Jesus suggests that Nathaniel also will have a similar vision — Jesus is to be that stairway connecting heaven and earth!

Knowing what we know as believers, we can see what Nathaniel can’t yet see — that Jesus will be lifted up on the cross, and that his resurrection will open the gates of heaven.

APPLY:  

Jesus continues to call us to be disciples.  The methods may differ.  We may hear about Jesus from a dynamic preacher, much like John the Baptist was.  Jesus may come to us through the Holy Spirit in a direct fashion, the way Jesus approaches Philip directly. A friend may come and tell us about him, the way Philip comes to Nathaniel.

We need to remember that there is a kind of preparation that takes place in each of these instances.  God uses the proclamation of preachers, or the study of Scripture, or a friend’s testimony.  But the Holy Spirit is the one who prepares the heart.  Those in the Wesleyan tradition call this “prevenient grace” — the grace of God that prepares our hearts to turn toward Christ.

God always takes the initiative in our lives, and God invites us to respond and follow him.  We can be scornful or skeptical, or we can turn to Christ in faith and experience the adventure of our lives!

RESPOND: 

I experienced a call from God more than 40 years ago, and it has informed everything I’ve done since that time.  While I am no apostle, I have preached and taught and borne witness as a pastor and evangelist for more than 36 years.  I can think of no more fulfilling life to have lived, and I pray that all who read these words may experience the same sense of joy that I have experienced in knowing Christ and sharing his Gospel.

Our Lord, you call each of us in different ways, but there is a sense of adventure for every believer who truly turns to you.  Open our eyes that we may see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Can anything good come from Nazareth John 1 verse 46” uses the following image:
“holy-land-map” by Ashley H is in the public domain.

Epistle for January 14, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul is writing this letter to a group of Christians he knows pretty well.  His second missionary journey brought him to Corinth for about 18 months, from about 50 to 52 A.D. And in his third missionary journey he stayed in Corinth for about three months, sometime between 56 and 57 A.D.

He is likely writing this letter to Corinth either from Philippi or, more likely, during his longer tenure at Ephesus where he stayed for three years.

We are reminded that this was an extremely volatile time in the early church.  The message of the Gospel was brand-new to these Corinthian Christians and they had many questions about doctrine, practice and morality.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 in particular seems to be one answer on a list of several very important questions they had for their spiritual mentor.  Some of the questions must have gone something like this — was wisdom the way to salvation, or faith? what about sexual relations, and marriage and divorce? how should they handle disputes? what about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols?

Paul patiently answers each of their questions. But here, Paul is addressing the issue of sexual promiscuity.

It seems that Corinth in particular had a reputation in the ancient world for sexual libertinism.  Prostitutes plied their trade in this port city that drew sailors, soldiers, and merchants from all over the Roman world.

And the message of Christian freedom that Paul brought may have been misconstrued by some of these early Christians who thought that they could be devoted to Christ and still live a sexually promiscuous life.

So Paul applies the message of the Gospel to the very practical aspects of human life.  He quotes those who are arguing that sexual promiscuity is perfectly natural and normal, and then demolishes their arguments.

The advocates of sexual permissiveness say:

“All things are lawful for me,”

and Paul answers:

 but not all things are expedient.

The advocates of permissiveness say:

 “All things are lawful for me,”

and Paul says:

but I will not be brought under the power of anything.

Once more:  

“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,”

And Paul answers:

But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

These libertine Christians are arguing that Christian freedom means the Christian can live how they choose — and after all, just as the body’s need for food is natural and normal, so is sex.

Paul’s response is that we are not to be brought under the power of anything.  He sees the intoxicating, addictive power that sex has in a person’s life.  Moreover, he argues that the body isn’t meant for sexual self-indulgence but belongs to the Lord.

So, there are three primary arguments he makes against sexual promiscuity:

One, that we are raised with Christ in his resurrection and have become a part of his spiritual body, as he will develop later in 1 Corinthians 12.  If so, then when a person unites with a prostitute he is de facto uniting Christ’s body with prostitution.

He refers to Genesis 2:24:

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

But he is clear that we are instead to be united with Christ in spirit.

Two, Paul points out that sexual behavior is intensely intimate and personal.  Other sins are external, but sexual behavior reaches deep into one’s inmost being.

His third and most powerful argument is this:

Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.

In other words, if all of the arguments he has presented are true — that our bodies are to be united spiritually with Christ, not sexually corrupted by promiscuity; and if sexual sin deeply impacts the psyche of a person — then it follows that we are not merely ‘believers,’ but that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  The logic here is that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in the believer. The body has become a sacred residence for the Holy Spirit.

And, conclusively, he asserts that the Christian doesn’t belong to him or herself, but to Christ who has purchased their freedom from sin through his death on the cross.

The bottom line is, they are to:

glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

To engage in promiscuous sexuality is to unite Christ with sexual immorality, to pollute the temple of the body, and to betray the one who has purchased believers through his death.

APPLY:  

This is a sensitive topic that deserves more than a few paragraphs.  But I’ll try to be brief.

We live in a sexually obsessed culture, especially those who live in the West.  A click of a button on your computer will conjure up images that can penetrate to the dark places of a person’s imagination.  The message of our culture, especially popularized by the Playboy Philosophy introduced in the 1950’s, is that “sex is normal and natural and should be enjoyed as often as possible with as many different people as possible.”

Coincidentally, this was pretty much the same kind of sexually permissive culture that Paul encountered in the Greco-Roman world.

So, we must find the balance.  Paul is not saying that sexuality is inherently bad, something that some of our Christian ancestors seemed to think.  He understands that sex is a good gift from God, but that it is also to be expressed only between a husband and wife.  This is rooted in his understanding of creation and the revelation of Scripture (see 1 Corinthians 7:2-5).

On the other hand, we as Christians must understand that our sexuality is a deeply intimate part of our identity. We must understand that, as our allegiance to Christ must be primary in our lives, so our sexual fidelity to our spouses must reflect that devotion. And we must understand that we don’t belong to ourselves, we belong to Christ.

We are also aware that because our pleasures can become deeply addictive, they can lure us away from a devotion to Christ.

Two principles in this passage have tremendous implications in so many areas of our bodily and practical lives.

First:

your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God.

If that is so, then not only must we guard our sexual nature, but we must be careful what we eat, drink, ingest, read, watch on t.v.  If we wouldn’t have sex in church why would we do so something so shocking with our own bodies? If gluttony does damage to our bodies, are we not damaging the temple of the Holy Spirit? If we smoke cigarettes… I think the implications are clear.

Again, the Apostle doesn’t argue that we shouldn’t enjoy healthy sexual relations with our spouse, or take pleasure in a good meal — but immorality pollutes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and excess in eating and drinking can cause damage to it.

Finally, Paul declares that:

 You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.

This is a wake-up call to narcissistic Christians.  We have a tendency to think that our bodies belong to ourselves.  We hear that rhetoric in relation to sexual morality, reproductive rights, and even the consumption of food or drugs.

‘I can do what I like with my body’ is the one thing a Christian cannot say.  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  That price was the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.

RESPOND: 

Sometimes I treat my body, as a friend once said, as though it were an endlessly renewable resource. As though it will always bounce back no matter how I treat it.  I eat too much of the wrong foods at times.  At such times I need to remind myself that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I am very careful about eating nutritiously, getting enough exercise, and even occasionally fasting as a way of reminding myself of my dependence on God.  At such times I need to remind myself that I do these things because my body has been bought with a price.

Lord, we live in a sexually permissive culture, when sexual fantasies abound and are readily available online. And we in the West live in a culture where food and drink and drugs are readily available.  Remind us that you have purchased us through the precious body and blood of Jesus, and that we are to treat our bodies with great care as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“bought with a price” by Martin LaBar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for January 14, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm highlights the omniscience of God concerning the very conception, consciousness, and inner being of David, the Psalmist.

This is a first-person poem/prayer in which David marvels at the intimacy of God’s knowledge of an individual — every movement, thought, word is known even before they are enacted, thought, or spoken (verses 1-6).

The Psalmist is amazed and humbled by the capacity of God to search and know him, and deeply aware of just how transcendent God’s knowledge is of all things.

One can’t help but wonder if this Psalm doesn’t inform St. Paul’s understanding of the Spirit of God, which is described in The Epistle to the Romans as communicating directly with our own spirits:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16); 

and in Romans 8:27:

 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

While some Psalms marvel at the created order of the stars and the mountains, and the revelation of the Law (Psalm 8 and 19, and 119 and so many others), this Psalm revels in the deeply personal nature of the relationship between God and the human being.

God’s omniscience extends even to the mysterious realities of life and death. God is described as having woven the Psalmist together in his mother’s womb, and knowing him when he was yet unborn. The Psalmist is profoundly aware of just how fearfully and wonderfully made is the human body.  The mysteries of human anatomy and development in themselves are a testimony to the creative powers of God.

And the Psalmist suggests that God knows each of his days before they are lived, until even the day of death.

The Psalmist marvels that God’s thoughts are precious, vast and inscrutable.

APPLY:  

Consideration of the omnipotence and omniscience of God can often leave us feeling insignificant.  But this Psalm reminds us that the omniscience of God is really quite intimate.  God knows us from our conception to our death, our interior thoughts and even those aspects of ourselves unknown to us.

Although God is transcendent and “wholly other” as the theologians are wont to say, God is also deeply immanent (present and pervasive) and personal in his knowledge of us.  We puny, finite human beings are capable of knowing and being known by the Creator of all the universe!

St. Anselm of Canterbury once wrote:

God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

The Psalmist illustrates that this God, above whom there is nothing greater, knows us each intimately and personally.  Although our knowledge of him is limited by our own finite capacity, the great blessing is that because he knows us we can know him.

RESPOND: 

I am capable of having a personal and intimate relationship with God, not because of my capacity but because of God’s initiative.  God has searched me and known my thoughts before they entered my mind, has known me from before my conception, and knows my potential and even my destiny.  Like the Psalmist I find that all this boggles my mind!

And God’s unique relationship with us from conception, through gestation and birth, and from life to the moment of death, should make us aware of just how sacred life really is.

Our Lord, how can my words begin to match the prayer of the Psalmist? That you know me intimately and care for me exceeds my capacity to understand.  All my life is lived in your omniscient omnipresence.  Amen.   

PHOTOS:

“Psalm 139 verse 14” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

Old Testament for January 14, 2024

Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.”
[1 Samuel 3:10]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Samuel 3:1-10
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Like many great stories, this one begins, in media res, i.e., in the middle of things.

Who is this child? What is Eli’s priestly history? If we know the answers to these questions, we may begin to understand the impact that Samuel will have on Israel in the future.

Samuel is the son of Elkanah and Hannah, who were of the tribe of Ephraim in the central highlands of Israel.  Although Elkanah deeply loved his wife Hannah, she was grieved because she was unable to have children.  But she went annually with her husband to the shrine of the Lord in Shiloh. There the ark of the covenant was kept in the tent that had been made at Moses’ instruction some centuries earlier. There she prayed each year for a child.

It was at Shiloh that Hannah’s prayers were observed by the High Priest Eli.  When he saw her praying fervently, he thought she was drunk until she explained her desperate pleas for a child.  Eli prayed that she might have a child, and when she returned home with her husband Elkanah the prayer was answered — she conceived and bore a son, whom she named Samuel. Note that his name means God hears.

This is where the story becomes extremely fascinating. This woman, who has been childless for so long, does an amazing thing. After Samuel has been weaned — possibly sometime between ages three and four — Hannah took her child to Shiloh to dedicate him to the Lord!  This is not merely a ritual act of dedication. She actually leaves him with Eli to be completely dedicated full-time to the service of God!

So, Samuel seems to become a kind of acolyte, assisting the aging Eli in his functions in the tabernacle.  We know from the second chapter of Samuel that Eli’s sons Hophni and Phineas were profoundly corrupt and sexually immoral.  In fact, a man of God has come to Eli to warn him that because of their sins, the house of Eli would be removed from the priesthood and his sons would die on the same day.

It is in this context that the young Samuel hears the voice of the Lord one night as the lamp in the tabernacle is burning.  He has no idea what it means, so he goes three times to Eli, thinking his mentor is calling him.  But Eli still has enough spiritual sensitivity to realize that the Lord himself is speaking to Samuel.

Note the irony.  Samuel’s name means The Lord hears.  And now Eli instructs Samuel to return to his station and to say:

Speak, Yahweh; for your servant hears.

God has listened to the prayers of Hannah, and to Eli’s intercession on behalf of this woman; and now Samuel in turn is being trained to listen to God!

Thus begins a prophetic career that would carry Samuel into the pages of the two books that would bear his name — 1 & 2 Samuel. He would judge Israel, and would anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.  He had learned to listen, and to obey.

APPLY:  

It is my experience and opinion that we are always in the position of responding to God’s initiative.  We may think that we are seeking God, but in fact God is seeking us.  When we respond, usually we realize that he has been calling us for quite some time.

This is the case of Samuel, who is quite oblivious to the call of God.  He is simply doing the work required of him in the tabernacle, and sleeping on his appointed mat in the vicinity of the Ark of the Covenant.

In fact, his initial reaction to the call is to confuse God’s voice with the voice of the high priest Eli.  It is Eli who helps Samuel understand what’s happening in this encounter with God.

It is helpful to have a spiritual mentor who can interpret for us what God is doing in our lives, at least until we are able to discern the voice of God for ourselves.

One other thing. By placing himself in the tabernacle of the Lord, Samuel is at least available to hear God’s voice.  Contrast him to the sons of Eli, who are abusing their privilege as priests and using their position only to satisfy their own cravings.

Likewise, if we place ourselves in the presence of God through regular worship, prayer, Bible study, and fasting, we will find ourselves more likely to hear God’s voice than when we are merely serving ourselves and our own appetites.

RESPOND: 

While God’s voice doesn’t come to me audibly, I do believe that God speaks in spiritual whispers.  What is required is that I listen.  And I can listen more carefully when I am practicing the spiritual disciplines of worship, prayer, fasting, and Bible study.

Lord, may I say with Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  And may I heed and obey what I hear.  Amen.  

 PHOTOS:
“listening” by Isbg Six is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for January 15, 2023

“Ecce Agnus Dei” is a photograph by Lawrence OP of a Detail of a window in Chartres Cathedral which depicts today’s Gospel reading.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 1:29-42
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

We receive a glimpse into the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  This is a time of transition.  John has been preaching repentance and he has been baptizing in the Jordan River, but he has been keenly aware that his own role was preparatory.  Now, the one for whom he was preparing has come!

The day before the events in our Scripture passage, John had answered several questions from priests and Levites, who already seemed hostile.  He made it clear that he was neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet that they were expecting (these were all titles from Messianic prophecies from their Scriptures) — he was simply a messenger who was preparing the way of the Lord:

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said (John 1:23).

In our lectionary Gospel passage, a day later, he sees Jesus and announces:

 “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.’  I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water: that he would be revealed to Israel.”

An entire theology of salvation is hinted at in John’s words.  Supernaturally, John understands that Jesus is the Lamb of God, i.e., he is to be the ultimate sacrifice for sin, superseding the temple sacrifices that were inadequate to remove sin.  John also sees what the writer of the Gospel sees — that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God, who existed before John did.

How does he know these things?

John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him.  I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water, he said to me, ‘On whomever you will see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Although John’s Gospel doesn’t describe the baptism of Jesus, this is essentially the same description given by the Synoptic Gospels when Jesus is baptized by John (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22).  What is clear is that the Holy Spirit confirms the divine nature of Jesus, and Jesus introduces a new baptism in the Holy Spirit.  This a baptism of power, not merely water.

John continues his ministry by directing even his own disciples toward Jesus.  When he sees Jesus again the next day, he declares to two of his disciples:

“Behold, the Lamb of God!”

They take the hint.  They are no longer to follow John; they are to follow Jesus.  Immediately, they begin walking after Jesus, who turns and says to them:

What are you looking for?

They themselves seem not to understand what they are seeking — they simply blurt out:

“Rabbi” (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), “where are you staying?”

These are the first two of Jesus’ followers; his first disciples.  They haven’t responded to any miracle, or even any great teaching, that Jesus has offered. They have responded to the testimony of John.  And Jesus doesn’t offer much yet.  He simply answers:

 Come, and see.

It is seemingly an inauspicious beginning.  The two men stay with Jesus that day, beginning at about four o’clock in the afternoon, we are told.  We aren’t told what they did, or what they talked about.  But we know that one of the disciples was moved to become the second witness after John the Baptist.  Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, went looking for his brother and blurts out:

“We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ).

Again, there is an economy of words and description.  We don’t have the calling of the Big Fisherman by the Sea of Galilee, or the boats or the nets, as we have in the other Gospels (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20).  Andrew, who will become known as a disciple who brings others to Jesus, brings his big brother to Jesus.

And in a divine foreshadowing, Jesus recognizes who this Simon is (Simon the son of Jonah), and who he will become — Cephas (Cephas is Aramaic for Rock, as Peter is the Greek word for Rock).

APPLY:  

The most important thing we can do as Christians is exactly what John and Andrew do — point others toward Jesus.

Neither of them are particularly “showy” as they testify about Jesus.  John simply announces that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  John recognizes that the work of Jesus is everything, and that his task is to point others toward Jesus.  A little later, John’s disciples will grow jealous of the new Rabbi who is drawing people away from John, and will tattle to him about this new upstart.  But John knows his own role quite well. He tells his followers:

You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’  He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.  He must increase, but I must decrease (John 4:28-30).

Andrew is also not one to draw attention to himself.  He spends time with Jesus, becomes convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, and shares what he has experienced with his brother.

This is evangelism.  When we become aware that Jesus is the Lamb of God, and the Son of God, the most natural thing that we can do is to tell others what we have experienced.  If we tell no one this life-changing news, have we truly experienced it for ourselves?

RESPOND: 

Wouldn’t you have loved to be present at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry?  The only concern I would have is that I might have missed it.  I might have misunderstood, like so many others did.  I might have questioned the credentials of this carpenter from Nazareth, or his crazy cousin from the desert.

I thank God that in my own time and my own context, I haven’t missed out on meeting Jesus!  I too have come to recognize that he is the Lamb of God who has taken away my sins, and given my life purpose and meaning.  And I have made it my life’s work to tell others.

May we share this truth by whatever means we can — with those who are close to us, as John did; with our family members, as Andrew did.

You come into our midst, and when we recognize you we respond in faith. We ask that you equip and empower us to tell others about you.  We aren’t all apostles, or even preachers, but we can be like Andrew and bring others with us to meet you. Amen. 

PHOTO:
“Ecce Agnus Dei” by Lawrence OP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for January 15, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul is writing a letter to a church that he knows well — he had helped establish the church in Corinth, and had accomplished significant ministry there for a period of one and a half years (Acts 18:1-17).  The introduction itself uses many of the conventions used in formal letters of the time, and transforms this letter-writing style as a means of sharing the Gospel.

First, though, there is an intriguing detail in this introduction — Paul mentions his Christian brother Sosthenes who is apparently a co-author or at least a transcriber of the letter.  In Acts 18, we are reminded of Paul’s typical method of evangelization — whenever he visited a new city, he went to a synagogue and sought to persuade the Jews that their own Scriptures had been fulfilled by Jesus.  Paul himself was a practicing Jew.

The response to his message was received positively by some of the Jews — Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, was converted and baptized, along with his whole house (Acts 18:8).  Other Jews, and God-fearers (God-fearers were Gentiles who had come to believe in the God of the Jews, but had not undergone circumcision) had also come to faith in Christ.  However, there were leaders of the synagogue who were offended by Paul’s message and complained to Gallio, the Roman proconsul.  Gallio wanted nothing to do with their arguments about theology, and curtly dismissed them (Acts 18:12-16).

This is where events become fascinating.  Gallio drives the Jews, including the defendant, Paul, away from his judgment seat.  This is what happens next:

Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things (Acts 18:17).

Who is this Sosthenes, and why are the Greeks beating him?  Is it because he is a Jew, or because he is a Jew who has converted to Christianity?  Is he the same Sosthenes named by Paul in this letter?  We don’t know for sure.  But the possibilities are intriguing.

One thing is very clear — Paul is reminding the Corinthian Christians of his own credentials as an apostle, and establishing his authority to interpret the Gospel and its message:

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God…

His audience is the entire church at Corinth, which he defines as:

those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours…

Already, we begin to see an expression of his theology of grace.  The Corinthians are not sanctified (made holy) because of what they have done, but because of what Jesus has done.  They are called to be saints (to be holy) by Christ, and they are able to fulfill this calling because they have reciprocated by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus has called on them, and they in reply have called on Jesus!

His next phrase is a greeting that would have resonated with a reader of letters in that time:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secular letters might have said something like “Prosperity and peace be with you.”  Paul is including two key characteristics that are fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:  grace and peace.  And Paul is clear that they come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Note that he names God the Father and The Lord Jesus Christ as equal sources of this grace and peace. They are differentiated as persons, but they are nonetheless equal in status.  Jesus is Lord, which is usually interpreted as a description of God.  We have here evidence that will be used to explain the doctrine of the Trinity later in the church.  The Father and Jesus are equal and united in their purpose, and yet are differentiated as persons. Christians believe that God is one God in three persons.

In the next few verses, Paul outlines some of the themes that will appear in this letter to the Corinthians.

• Paul gives thanks for the grace of God given to them (v. 4), and grace is a consistent theme in all of his epistles.
• Paul alludes to an interest that the Corinthians have in eloquent speech and knowledge (v. 5), that Paul will elaborate on later in the letter (1 Corinthians 1:18 – 2:5). He knows that they are quite susceptible to eloquence and philosophy — as are many Greeks — but insists that the real enrichment of speech and knowledge come from the testimony of Christ.
• Paul also prays that they will lack no gift — which presages his rebuke of those who claim to have superior spiritual gifts, and his clear declaration that there are a variety of gifts that come from God and all are equally important to God (1 Corinthians 12).

And Paul doesn’t lose sight of the ultimate goal — that this practical letter, dealing with issues of divorce, diet and other matters, still focuses on the: 

revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This faith and this promise is grounded in the nature of God the Father and empowered through the work of his Son:

 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

APPLY:  

We do well to remember that this letter, like all the epistles in the New Testament, wasn’t written to us.  Paul’s readers were a part of his times and his culture; they would have understood the conventions and forms of  his letters; and they would have understood his references.  For one thing, the letters to the Corinthians appear to have been written in response to specific questions raised by these new Christians, and by the circumstances of their church and community.

However, the reason that this letter, as well as the other letters, are regarded as Scripture by the community of faith is because they do speak to us today.  Our needs and hungers are the same; our yearning for God is the same; our hopes are the same.

That’s why when we read Scripture, we should read it as God speaking to us.  The eternal principles are the same because human beings are essentially the same.  And our need for a Savior is still the same.

We find that we are seeking God’s wisdom, the gifts of the Spirit, and the coming day of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Corinthians were.  So we might even experiment, and substitute our own church or our own names for those ancient Corinthians, and find this letter every bit as relevant today as they did!

RESPOND: 

At first, I am a bit intimidated by Paul’s greeting to these Corinthian Christians.  He refers to them as sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.  Although I aspire to those qualities, I know my own limitations all too well.

But reading more deeply into the letter is also reassuring.  The same personalities, the same spiritual pride, the same sexual temptations, divorce, insensitivity to the dietary preferences of others, the same envy of the gifts of others, the same tendency to factionalism, were all just as present in that church as in our churches today.

Paul’s word to them, as to us, is aspirational — he is telling the Corinthians, as he tells us, that we are called to holiness and to be saints.  But we are also reminded that this holiness is the result of grace, not the prerequisite for receiving grace.

We are called to be saints, and therefore we:

call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place.

And it is he who will confirm us to the end. 

Lord, thank you for calling us to be your people.  Thank you for calling us to be holy.  What you call us to be and to do only you can accomplish in us.  Finish what you have started in us, we pray. Amen.

PHOTO:
“Epistles of the Apostles” by Matthew Kirkland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

 

Psalm Reading for January 15, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 40:1-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm of Thanksgiving for Deliverance is attributed to David himself.  Although we have no biographical context for the setting of this Psalm, a quick overview of David’s life from the moment Samuel anointed him with oil as the future king (1 Samuel 16:13) to the moment of his death (1 Kings 2:10) reveals a life of challenge, conflict and ultimate triumph.

David reveals the source of his triumph and deliverance:

I waited patiently for Yahweh.
He turned to me, and heard my cry.

David describes his plight in metaphorical terms — he was in a horrible pit that was filled with miry clay.  In contrast, Yahweh lifted him up out of the pit and set his feet on a firm and solid rock.  There are so many events of David’s life that could be described as a horrible pit:

• Goliath threatens to give his flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field; but David defiantly replies I come to you in the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied (cf. 1 Samuel 17).
• Not long after David found favor with King Saul and all Israel for his military victories, Saul grew violently jealous and began to seek David’s life (cf. 1 Samuel 18). David was forced to flee for his safety, until Saul was killed in battle against the Philistines (cf. 1 Samuel 19-30). Along the way, he desperately tried to maintain his loyalty to the mentally ill king Saul, while avoiding being allied to the arch enemies of Israel, the Philistines.
• Then, of course, there was the sad interlude of David’s adultery with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband Uriah — which led to his heartfelt repentance (cf. 2 Samuel 11-12).

Needless to say, these and other events in David’s life reveal that he had experienced his share of pits but also that he knew what it was to experience the exhilarating grace of God:

He set my feet on a rock,
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God.
Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh.

David’s Psalm turns from his own personal experience, and declares that this same blessing is available to others as well: 

Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust,
and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

He then reflects on the character and works of Yahweh himself.  His works, he says are wonderful, as are even God’s thoughts toward us.  David acknowledges that he can’t describe all that God has done:

They can’t be declared back to you.
If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

As the Psalms tell us elsewhere, Yahweh isn’t as impressed by the sacrifices that are offered in the temple as he is by a changed heart that truly seeks him: 

Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire.
You have opened my ears.
You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come.
It is written about me in the book in the scroll.
I delight to do your will, my God.
Yes, your law is within my heart.”

David declares that he has openly proclaimed God’s righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, loving kindness and truth in the great assembly of the temple, and has not concealed it from others.  Again, there may be a nod to his own autobiography here.  We are reminded that when the ark of the covenant was brought into Jerusalem, there was a great festal procession, and:

David danced before Yahweh with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod.  So David and all the house of Israel brought up Yahweh’s ark with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet (2 Samuel 6:14-15).

And finally, David returns to an entreaty, a prayer of petition:

Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, Yahweh.
Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.

From his own experience in the past, David knows that God is loving and can deliver him in the future.

APPLY:  

Not many of us have lives quite as “interesting” as the life of David.  But all of us have experienced, or will experience, something akin to the horrible pit that he experienced.  It may be a tragedy, an illness, a bankruptcy, a divorce.

What we can learn from David’s Psalm is that no matter how deeply we may sink into the pit, God can pull us out and set us on a firm place to stand.  This is not because of our merit, but because of God’s gracious character.

The result of God’s favor and blessing is a changed life, and a desire to tell others what God has done and will do.

RESPOND: 

I can remember my own response so many years ago to the experience of being pulled out of the horrible pit that I had dug for myself.  First, there was the supreme gratitude, the exhilaration that God had mercy on me.  And second, there was the irrepressible desire that was kindled in me to tell everyone I possibly could about God’s loving kindness and mercy.

That encounter with God’s grace has driven my ministry for the past 42 years.

Lord, no matter how deep the pit in which we find ourselves, you can find us there; and you are able to pull us out.  Thank you for your deliverance, and for all the blessings that are to come.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Without God Life Is the Pits” uses this background photo:
“Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset” by Adi Carlo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for January 15, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 49:1-7
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is the second of four Servant Songs in Isaiah (the others may be found in Isaiah 42, 50, and 53).  The Servant is speaking of his call from God, which originated even before he was born, while he was still in the womb.  Although the Servant is named Israel, his audience extends beyond the people of Jacob and Israel.  This Servant is speaking to islands, and to:

  peoples, from afar.

He was given a powerful mandate from Yahweh.  The metaphors used to describe the Servant’s mission are heavily militaristic — his mouth is like a sharp sword; he is like a polished shaft (i.e., an arrow), who is kept close in a quiver.  Presumably, Yahweh is waiting for the opportune time to unleash his “weapon.”

But Yahweh is very clear in his affirmation of the Servant’s usefulness to him:

He said to me, “You are my servant;
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

Nevertheless, the Servant expresses a sense of ambivalence about his effectiveness and ministry: 

But I said, “I have labored in vain.
I have spent my strength in vain for nothing;
yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh,
and my reward with my God.”

This brings us to the question of the Servant’s identity.  One interpretation is that the Servant represents the entire nation of Israel/Judah.  Historically, we know that they experienced defeat and exile — the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.; the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians.

This might explain their sense of futility and failure.  And yet despite this disappointment, the Servant proclaims that Yahweh will bring justice and will reward him.

However, the Servant seems to be more particular and individual than corporate.  We are told that from the beginning, his purpose was to restore the fortunes of his people:

Now Yahweh says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him,
and to gather Israel to him….

But again, his mission extends beyond Israel, to include all people: 

 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel.
I will also give you as a light to the nations,
that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”

This Servant’s salvation is not exclusively for Israel; his mission is inclusive of all people everywhere.  He is to be the light to the nations.

Yahweh is the Redeemer of Israel, but he is also God of all nations.

This is the paradox of the Servant — Yahweh has chosen to accomplish his salvation through this Servant, who is despised and abhorred by the nations.  So complete is his success that one day even royalty shall worship the God of Israel:

“Kings shall see and rise up;
princes, and they shall worship;
because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

APPLY:  

Once again, when we read Isaiah, we find ourselves torn between two perspectives.  On the one hand, there are references here that can be set in the historical context of an oppressed nation that rises from the ashes and becomes a beacon of hope and worship for all nations.  There is the hope that a restored Israel will become a light to the nations.  

On the other hand, the Christian expositor can’t help but note the Messianic tone in this passage.  In fact, it is hard not to see hints of the ministry of Jesus as the Servant in the Servant Songs.  Here specifically, we see the parallels:

• The Servant is called from the womb; the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that the Son of God is to be conceived in her womb. John’s Gospel goes even farther, and speaks of Jesus’ preexistence from before the beginning of creation.
• Jesus says of himself:  For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
• Jesus also says of himself that he is the Light of the world (John 8:12).

This is a reminder that the nation of Israel has a unique role in the salvation history that includes all nations. Israel’s calling as the Servant of God was filled with great achievement as well as apostasy and failure.  From the ashes of their defeat, they were invariably restored.  And from this nation, the Messiah of all nations was born.

Our Messiah suffered as the Servant, and through his death and resurrection brought salvation for all.

RESPOND: 

This prophecy from an ancient Hebrew prophet comes alive for me — that these promises are for me, and for all of us!

But I’m also profoundly aware that even the Servant in this passage experienced discouragement in his ministry.  In a strange way, I find that very comforting.  The times in which I live are uncertain internationally, nationally, and in my own denomination.  I wonder sometimes if my own ministry has made a difference, though I’ve had “successes” from a human point of view, as well as failures.

I’m grateful that success ultimately doesn’t depend upon me, but upon God.

Lord, throughout the annals of history, one message becomes clear to me — no matter what our disappointments and failures, your plan for history is redemption and salvation.  When I get discouraged, please remind me that you are Lord of history, and will cause all things to work together for good.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Song of the Servant” uses this photo:
“crown of thorns” by .brioso. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.