Gospel for August 27, 2023

Dave Ruark took this photo, which he titled, “Who do you say that I am.”
He says of the photo: We had bowls out in front labeled to match the titles on the display. People were handed glass beads and asked to vote as they walked by.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 16:13-20
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a pivotal moment in the life of Jesus with his disciples.  Jesus continues on his journeys outside Jewish Galilee and Judea.  He has been in the region of Phoenicia, near Tyre and Sidon on the coast (Matthew 15:21-28).  He has dropped back near the Sea of Galilee, where he has fed more than four thousand (Matthew 15:29-38).  From there he sailed by boat across the lake to Magdala, which is on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

But after some Pharisees and Sadducees begin to pressure him to give a miraculous sign in order to “prove” himself to them (Matthew 16:1-12), Jesus seems to again seek refuge in the non-Jewish region to the north of Galilee, in the region of Caesarea Philippi.

(Caesarea Philippi was established by Philip the Tetrach, son of Herod the Great.  Obviously he was pandering to his Roman overlords by including the name Caesarea for the city. The city of Caesarea Philippi was founded at an ancient site known as Paneas, which was devoted to the Greek god Pan. The shrine was built upon an abundant spring that was believed to be the primary source of the waters that fed the Sea of Galilee. It was about thirty miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee near the foot of Mount Hermon).

The setting where Jesus asks his famous question of his disciples — near Caesarea Philippi — may add poignancy to the answers he receives.  He is a Jew in a Gentile area asking about the Jewish Messiah:

Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

It is very clear that Jesus is identifying himself with the role and title of the Son of Man.  This title is used to describe Jesus eighty-eight times in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it may have originally merely meant “mortal” or “human beings.”  However, in Jesus’ time, it had an apocalyptic and Messianic connotation, created in part by some of the prophets (Daniel 7:13-14).

In a sense, both meanings are conveyed here.  Jesus is a human being — he is fully human. But he is also the Messiah — he is, as Christian creeds will later affirm, fully God.

So, this is no casual question that Jesus asks.  It is a theological question of utmost importance.  He is determining whether anyone is grasping his true identity.

The disciples seem a bit insecure in their responses.  They don’t answer for themselves, but they say what they have heard rumored about Jesus:

They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

In other words, they focus on his humanity. Granted, he is special — after all, each of the prophetic figures named is either recently dead or long dead.  The speculation about Jesus certainly seems to lend itself toward paranormal supernatural visitations!  By this time, John has been beheaded by Herod’s executioner (Matthew 14:1-12).  The rumor that Jesus was some kind of “zombie John the Baptist returned from the dead” seems to have actually originated from a very nervous King Herod (Matthew 14:2).

Elijah, of course, was the prophet who confronted King Ahab of Israel in the 9th century B.C., and became famous for his miracles.

Jeremiah was famous as the “weeping prophet” who warned the king of Judah of the imminent judgment of God to be visited on Jerusalem by the Babylonian empire — which did come to pass in 586 B.C.

But the disciples’ tepid response, quoting what others have to say about him, is not the end of the interrogation:

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

To be fair, in his first question Jesus did ask them a more general question — who do men say that I am?  But now Jesus is being very direct.  Who do you, the ones who have been with me since the beginning of my ministry, think that I am?  You have heard my teachings, you have seen my healings and wonders.  What have you concluded?

We can only wonder how many heartbeats passed, how many seconds elapsed, among these disciples after Jesus asks this question.  Do they shift their feet nervously?  Do they look at one another sheepishly?

Of course, it is the fisherman, the impulsive Simon Bar Jonah (which means Simon the son of Jonah) who speaks up.  And what he says is a confession of faith.  In fact, it might be said that this is the kernel of all confessions and creeds that are to come:

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

If the title the Son of Man might be a little ambiguous, there is no doubt about what Peter means here.  Christ means the anointed one, which in Hebrew is rendered Messiah in most translations.  The three offices in the Old Testament in which anointing with oil was done were prophets, priests, and kings.  Jesus fulfills all three of these roles.  And Simon can see that Jesus must be the long-awaited Messiah.  No, Simon is not a scholar, a scribe or a Pharisee — but he knows what he has seen and heard.

Although the title, Christ, has been used six times as a description of Jesus prior to this passage, Peter’s declaration is the first time that anyone has actually applied the term directly to Jesus.

And then there is the declaration that Jesus is the Son of the living God.  This is an unequivocal statement that Jesus is divine.  He is not merely a human carpenter and wandering rabbi.  He is God.  Again, this is not the first time Jesus has been designated the Son of God.  God the Father declares at his baptism that Jesus is his beloved Son (Matthew 3:17).  Satan taunts Jesus with this identity — If you are the Son of God (Matthew 4:3, 6) why don’t you prove it with a miracle?  The numerous demons who possessed the two men in the Gergesene cemetery recognize him as the Son of God (Matthew 8:28-34).  The disciples worship Jesus as the Son of God (Matthew 14:22-33) after they have witnessed him walking on the sea.

Simon is reinforcing what he personally has experienced — when he was briefly able to walk with Jesus on the water — and what he has now become convinced is true of Jesus.

To be sure, Jesus never refers to himself as the Son of God in the Gospel of Matthew.  His most common self-identification is that he is the Son of Man (thirty times in Matthew’s Gospel).  However, he has clearly defined his own relationship with the Father in Matthew 11:

 All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him (Matthew 11:27).

Jesus also clearly affirms Simon’s declaration.  Simon Bar Jonah got it right:

Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus is confirming that Simon’s realization is not something that has been logically figured out, but has been spiritually revealed by God.  Understanding the identity of Jesus isn’t a matter of theological insight or mere empirical observation — it is revealed knowledge.

And we also discover when Simon receives his nickname — Rocky.

 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Peter is the Greek version of Rock. In Aramaic Rock is Cephas (John 1:42; 1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:22; 9:5; 15:5; Galatians 2:9).  Although Matthew’s Gospel refers to Simon as Peter at least six times prior to our lectionary Scripture, it seems apparent that this account is the first moment that Simon is given the nickname Rocky. 

Jesus is honoring Simon Peter for his stalwart declaration — and says further that the Rock of Peter’s faith will become the foundation for the church.  The cornerstone of this faith is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And we note the nuance of Jesus’ metaphor — the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  The gates of Hades in this image is stationary, like a fortress.  It is the church that is aggressively besieging Hell!

Peter himself is given awesome authority:

I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

A Roman Catholic interpretation of this passage vests ecclesiastical authority with Peter, whom they believe to be the first bishop of the church. He has been given the keys, which denote authority.  However, Jesus later speaks of this same authority that is to be vested with the gathered church:

Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven. Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them (Matthew 18:18-20).

The verbs bind and release are plural — Jesus is speaking of the whole church, not one individual.  Authority is given to the church for the purpose of disciplining church members, and implementing the teaching of Jesus.

Finally, Jesus makes it clear that Peter’s epiphany, though true, is not to be revealed just yet:

 Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.

The reason for what some have called the Messianic Secret is unclear. Perhaps Jesus doesn’t want to gather people to himself for the wrong reason — to be a mere wonderworker, or an earthly king.  This would be consistent with his rejection of the devil’s temptations (Matthew 4:1-10).  Perhaps he doesn’t want to be manipulated.  Or perhaps he wants to be in control of what his identity as Messiah really means, especially given all of the interpretations and expectations that have been attached to that concept.   But Jesus’ true identity as the Christ will be fully revealed after his resurrection.

APPLY:  

There are many important questions that we may be asked in our lives. What do you want to be when you grow up? What will you major in when you are in college? Will you marry me?  These can be defining questions that set us on a life-changing path.

Of all of the questions we may be asked, there are none more important than the questions Jesus asks.  His first question provides the room for us to speculate about doctrine and theology and Biblical history:

Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

This allows the disciples to say what others are saying about Jesus.  This is a tendency that modern preachers and theologians understand well.  It is so easy to talk about what other people — theologians, Biblical scholars, and other preachers — might say about Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t let us off the hook. Witness his second question:

who do you say that I am? (emphasis mine)

There is no more important question that Jesus asks of us today.  Who do we say that he is?

Is he merely a Jewish carpenter? Or a rabbi? Or a wonderworker? Or a great moral teacher?

C.S. Lewis’ answer on this issue is classic:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse… You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (from “Mere Christianity”)

Jesus is either the Christ, the Son of the living God, and our Lord, or he is a phony.  And our entire faith is founded on the same confession made by Peter.  This is not something that we figure out on our own, or simply accept because we were told this in Sunday School.  This is a conclusion at which we arrive in the same way that Peter did:

for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

The affirmation that Jesus is Lord, Christ, and the incarnate God, is the rock upon which our faith is built.

RESPOND: 

The moment of Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God is pivotal in the Gospel of Matthew, and in Christian doctrine.  This is also, in one form or another, the definitive profession of faith required of those who call ourselves Christians.

Paul says it this way:

If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9-10).

We are not “grandfathered” into Christianity simply because our family have been members of a local church for several generations.  And we aren’t even de facto Christians simply because we have been baptized, however important this sacrament is.  We are Christians when our spirits respond to the Spirit’s witness in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, Christ, Son of God, and has been raised from the dead.

Over the years in my ministry, I have preached the necessity to profess our faith in Christ as our Lord.  I have no idea how many have responded in their own hearts to my pleas to confess Christ as Savior. As a pastor, I have received hundreds of people as new Christians and church members who have professed faith in Christ for the first time in their lives.  They have answered the question asked by my own denomination’s ritual of profession of faith:

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior,
put your whole trust in his grace,
and promise to serve him as your Lord,
in union with the church which Christ has opened
to people of all ages, nations, and races?

This kind of profession, modeled after Peter’s confession, is the beginning of a new life in Christ.  But it is not the end.  This profession leads to the great adventure of following Jesus for the rest of our lives.

Lord, your Spirit has borne witness with my Spirit that I am a child of God.  I confess that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  This profession has forever changed my life.  May this faith be the “rock” of my life and ministry, and of my church.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
"Who do you say that I am" by Dave Ruark is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for August 27, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 12:1-8
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In Romans 12, Paul’s focus shifts from theology to ethics — from what we must believe to how we must act.  He has established the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ, and the identification of the believer with the risen Christ.

So Paul continues to explore the implications of his theological insight for the Christian life.  Since the Spirit bears witness to our spirits that we are children of God, and therefore heirs with Christ, how are we to live?  His initial answer is among the most magnificent and challenging exhortations in Scripture:

Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.  

The old saying in seminary New Testament classes is that when you run into a therefore in the epistles, ask yourself “what is it there for?”  Paul is saying that because of what Jesus has done for us, and what the Holy Spirit is doing in us, we are to live a new life.

The language he uses is the language of the temple — we are to offer our very bodies as a living sacrifice. Of course, we are reminded that Jesus has previously offered himself for us.  Earlier in this letter Paul has made it very clear that we are:

justified freely by his (i.e., God’s) grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance (Romans 3:24-25).

Paul is in no way suggesting that sacrificing ourselves for Christ is a means of earning God’s favor or grace.  The therefore suggests that offering ourselves completely to God is a response to what Christ has done for us, not a means of attaining salvation.

This is what a previous generation might have called “consecration” — giving oneself wholly and completely to God.  No longer are the sacrifices of lambs or bulls in the temple adequate — the sacrifice required in order to be transformed is our living selves! Today we might say it differently — we are to be “sold out” for Christ.  Note that Paul is not calling for martyrdom.  He urges a living sacrifice.  Our whole lives are to belong to God.

The Biblical understanding of the body is not that you have a body (that it is some sort of shell) — you are a body.  The Christian’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  When Paul tells us to offer our bodies to God, he is including every dimension of our lives.

This complete offering of self to Christ, having been justified through his blood, is what makes our sacrifice holy and acceptable.  The phrase that is translated spiritual service is more properly translated reasonable (from the Greek logiken) service.  This suggests that because Jesus has offered himself completely for us, it is reasonable that we offer ourselves completely to him!  And the word service can mean work, but it can also mean worship. Our living sacrifice is a reasonable worship to God.

The second sentence of this passage is every bit as powerful:

Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

In a sense, Paul is defining what it means to be offered as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

To be conformed to this world also has a nuanced meaning.  The Greek word translated here as world is aiown — meaning this present age, this generation, this era.  In other words, Paul is talking about a culture and an era that is transient.  This age will pass away.  His description of this world in another epistle clarifies the sinister nature of this present time:

the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them (2 Corinthians 4:4).

The god of this world is undoubtedly Satan, as Jesus also tells us in the Gospel of John when he describes his own death and resurrection as a victory over the Evil One:

Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out (John 12:31).

We are not to be conformed to this world because it has been temporarily taken hostage and enthralled by Satan.  The prevailing values, treasures, and priorities of this present age are not consistent with the eternal values, treasures and priorities of God’s age to come.

And Paul takes the next step.  Instead of becoming conformed to this world, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  Again, this phrase is packed with meaning.  The word transformed in Greek is metamorphosthe.  For one thing, it is an imperative.  A command.  Be transformed.

For another thing, transformed is a loaded word.  It is used to describe the Transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospels (Matthew 17:2 and Mark 9:2), when he was transformed from his normal appearance into a brilliant, other-worldly light.  And this word is also used to describe the transformation that occurs in the believer who looks onto the glory of God by faith:

But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This suggests that the transformation that Paul speaks of is nothing less than transformation into the likeness of Christ!  As Paul writes elsewhere, to be made new in Christ is nothing less than to begin to see the renewal of God’s image in our lives:

seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator (Colossians 3:9-10)

This transformation begins within — by the renewing of your mind.  We are reminded that when the Spirit begins to work in our lives, he works from the inside out:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).

Faith, though a gift from God, is also a matter of internal focus — beginning in the realm of the mind.  So Paul exhorts the Philippians:

Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things (Philippians 4:8).

The result of this complete surrender to God, coupled with non-conformity to the schemes of this world and the transformation of one’s mind, is astonishing:

that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

The person who is surrendered to and transformed by God is in God’s will!

And Paul isn’t finished with the practical applications of the transformed life.  He calls upon these transformed people to maintain their sense of proportion — we are to be humble:

For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

The transformed person is to have a sense of self-awareness.  They have been lifted up with the promise of the restoration of the image of God, but they are not to become arrogant or filled with a sense of superiority.

He then reminds the Christian that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.  In an image that will become familiar in Paul’s writing (1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4:11-16) — the church is the body of Christ.  And this explains why no believer should think more highly of themselves than they ought to — because each member of the body is important to the functioning of the whole body:

For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

And finally, he focuses on some of the individual gifts that differ from one another, but are each essential to the effective functioning of the body of Christ:

Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;  or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with liberality; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

This list of varying gifts is not comprehensive or exhaustive.  There are other gifts that are listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4.  Paul’s point is that each person’s gifts are required for the well-being of the body.

APPLY:  

The question Paul addresses from Romans 12 to 15 is this — how then shall we live?  Knowing that we have been claimed, redeemed and adopted by God — what does that mean for our lifestyle?

Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12:1-2 is a stirring call to new life:

• When we surrender our lives completely to God, our entire life can become an act of worship — with our families, in our daily jobs, in our church work, even in our leisure pursuits and hobbies — provided they are offered up to God first.
• We are urged to be consciously non-conformist to this present age. This age (our present culture) is not consistent with the kingdom of God that we see envisioned in the Scriptures — a kingdom of love, righteousness, peace, and joy.  And if we have trouble believing the notion that this age seeks to shape us and our worldviews, we need only ask one simple question — why do advertisers in the United States spend approximately $10 billion a year?  If the advertisers don’t think they can influence our spending habits, our consuming, our lifestyle choices, why spend so much money?  And by the way, how many hungry children would that money feed? How many water wells would it drill in arid Africa? How much medical research would that money fund?
• We are urged to be transformed from the inside out — as our minds are transformed by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, we become what God originally intended us to be, with his image renewed in our lives.
• And when we have wholly surrendered to God, rejected the distorted values of this world, and allowed the Holy Spirit to transform our minds, we are beginning to know and live according to God’s will.

But all of this is not simply for our own personal self-actualization.  We are part of a larger community of faith — the body of Christ.  Therefore, we are to have a proper, realistic self-awareness — we are to know our own role within the body of Christ, and humbly exercise our gifts according to the grace that was given to us.

The truth is that God’s goal is not merely the personal transformation of individual Christians, but the transformation of the world.  And his instrument for that purpose is — of all things — the church, which is the body of Christ!  Only when every member within the church understands their own gifts and exercises them for the well-being of the whole body is the church able to accomplish this transformation.

RESPOND: 

When my sons were young, my wife discovered an interesting genre of literature for them to read.  These were books called Choose Your Own Adventure.  As an English major, I thought I knew what was needed to make a story work — and one of those elements was a plot.  But in these books, the reader can decide the outcome of the plot!  At the end of each chapter, the reader is given certain choices, and then directed to different pages based on those choices — and the outcome could be very different based on those choices!

It struck me that we are also presented with choices by God — we are invited to join God in the adventure that he has planned for our lives.  And in Romans 12:1-2, we have a plotline provided by God that leads to the ultimate adventure:

Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Life is our adventure story, and we are faced with so many different choices and decisions. Everyone has a story.  Some are dramas, some are comedies, some may have tragedy.  We see all of those elements as we read the accounts of the life of Paul and the other apostles.  But we also see the ultimate outcome of these stories when their lives are surrendered to God:

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

And for our part, in response to what God has done for us in Christ and through the Holy Spirit, there is one first step necessary — faithful surrender to God.

This one thing was illustrated to me several years ago when I was helping my oldest son to move in at the University.  I was trying to think of something wise and “fatherly” to say to him as he began his second year in college.  Nearby, there was a soccer stadium.  The stadium seemed vacant — no practice or game was going on — and yet a song was playing on the public address system. I suddenly figured out what it was — the hokey pokey.   As I listened to the music, I thought especially of the last verse:

You put your whole self in
You take your whole self out
You put your whole self in
And you shake it all about
You do the hokey pokey
And you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about.

And it hit me — that was it!  That was my advice to my son!  I said to him “That’s it, Son! The secret to life — put your whole self in.”

I think this is the first step necessary in this passage from Romans — submit your whole life:

present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

This is salvation — not merely saying the sinner’s prayer, not simply getting some water sprinkled on our heads, or even being completely submerged in a creek.  True salvation and discipleship begins and ends with complete surrender to God.

Our Lord, you have offered yourself completely for us.  Our response to you is to completely offer ourselves to you.  Take our lives, enable us to turn away from the clamoring demands of this world, and transform us into your likeness.  And empower us to use the spiritual gifts you give us for the good of your body and the world.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

"do not conform" by maisie lo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 27, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 124
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Song of Ascents attributed to David, which was sung when the congregation processed up Mount Zion to the place of sacrifice.  We remember that in the time of David the temple had not been built, but that the ark of the covenant had been moved to that location, and the tabernacle and the altar were there.

This is a song of thanksgiving for deliverance from one’s enemies.  If anyone understood the peril of facing one’s enemies, David certainly did — from Goliath and the Philistines, to his own King Saul who had once sought his life, to the various hostile nations that surrounded Israel; and even, in civil war, his own son Absalom!

However, unlike the Greek or Roman hero who might attribute their victory to their own god-like strength or military prowess, David is quick to acknowledge the Lord as the source of Israel’s victories over their enemies.

In fact, he confesses that if Israel had trusted in their own strength and strategy, they would have been lost and the result would have been disastrous:

If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side,
let Israel now say,
 if it had not been Yahweh who was on our side,
when men rose up against us;
 then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their wrath was kindled against us.

He also closes this Psalm with a very similar attribution to the intervention of the Lord:

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

The imagery that David uses is interesting.  In verses 3-5, the predominant image is the proud waters. Israel’s enemies were so overwhelming and overpowering that they were like floods that would have swallowed up Israel, swept them away, gone over them like torrents.

The people of Israel certainly had memories of waters as an existential threat — when crossing the Red Sea under Moses’ leadership as they escaped from Pharaoh’s armies; crossing the Jordan River on dry land with Joshua into the hostile land of Canaan that was also their land of promise; and when Deborah and Barak led the Israelites against commander Sisera and the Canaanites, as described in the book of Judges:

From the sky the stars fought.
From their courses, they fought against Sisera.
The river Kishon swept them away,
that ancient river, the river Kishon. (Judges 5:20-21)

In the instance of the Red Sea and the Jordan River, the overwhelming waters were subdued by God; in Judges the waters become a weapon in God’s hand against the enemy of Israel.

Here, God prevails against the overwhelming power of Israel’s enemies, who are not named here.

The other image (in verses 6-7), compares Israel’s plight to being hunted by their enemies.  The Lord has spared them from becoming as prey to their teeth. And they are like birds who escape the traps of the fowlers because the snares are defective.

This image also would have been something David well understood.   When King Saul sought to hunt David down, David played a cat and mouse game with the King — David was the mouse, hiding in the valleys, gorges and hills of Judah (1 Samuel 22-27). And he also resorts to the same kind of guerrilla tactics when his son Absalom approaches the city of Jerusalem with overwhelming force; David abandons the city and retreats across the river Jordan to find more suitable ground for a future battle.

Whatever the context of the Psalm, the bottom line is clear:

Our help is in Yahweh’s name,
who made heaven and earth.

APPLY:  

Only a very small percentage of us are likely to have been placed in a position of combat, or have been pursued by enemies who seek to “devour” us.  Those who have served in the armed forces might well pray this Psalm, or those who have been made refugees by hostile, armed terrorists such as we read of all too often today.  For those in either situation, this might be a very relevant Psalm.

But for those of us who live in security and peace, there is also an application.  We may sometimes forget in our routine days of dropping the kids off at school, or soccer practice, or a day at the office, that there is an invisible battle raging around us even now.

Paul reminds us of this reality in Ephesians 6:11-12:

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.   

This is a battle waged on moral and spiritual grounds, by our daily decisions that arise out of our Christian convictions.  If we take the unseen world as seriously as the Scriptures do, we must be aware that there are cosmic powers that are in rebellion against God, and who seek to harm us as God’s children.

Although it may seem an odd claim to make, in some ways this spiritual battle may be more difficult than facing weapons of war or overt hostility.  That is not to minimize the dangers faced by soldiers, or the persecution of the martyrs in any way.  But when they are faced with the obvious overt threat, the responses are very clear — to fight or die. If they confess Christ they may face persecution or even death.

Those conditions are stark, but more clearly defined.

But the spiritual warfare waged in the office, the school, online with Facebook or social media, can be far more hazy.  The Enemy’s weapons of deception are far more effective when he insinuates that our convictions may be reduced to mere opinions, and faith may be reduced to foolish superstition. If the Lord were not on our side, we too would be washed away by the torrents of ambiguity, and we would be devoured by the Enemy.

We must rely on the same faith that David had:

Our help is in Yahweh’s name,
who made heaven and earth.

RESPOND: 

C.S. Lewis calls his book That Hideous Strength a “modern day fairy tale for grownups.” The book depicts the constant battle between good and evil.

His description of the representatives of N.I.C.E. (the National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments) is chillingly familiar, as they seek to destroy the “conventional” morality of those whom they enlist.

It was a reminder to me that there are a multitude of philosophical and religious perspectives in our world today that would reduce our values to a kind of “subjective relativism” and turn the values of good and evil into mere “chemical reactions” in the brain.

Subjective relativism would “free” us from objective truth so that we get to decide what is true and correct, without reference to God or Scripture. So there is no absolute truth or good or evil.

As Dostoevsky might say, in such a world “all things are permissible.”

But this Psalm reminds me that there is One who fights for me, and for all of us; and, to quote Martin Luther’s great hymn:

Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.     (A Mighty Fortress is Our God)

Our Lord, if you were not on our side — on my side — I would be utterly and hopelessly lost! I cannot withstand the overwhelming and confusing flood of error and misinformation in our world, nor can I overcome the foes that seek to devour me — unless you are fighting for me.  May I trust only in you for deliverance.  Amen.   

PHOTOS:

"GodIsOnYourSide" by Yay God Ministries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for August 27, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Exodus 1:8-2:10
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Our passage from Exodus is a nativity story.  As we will see, it is the nativity story of Moses, who will rise to deliver his people from slavery.  And it is also the nativity story of the people of Israel as a nation.  This we will see when the book of Exodus concludes with the nation of Israel liberated and unified in the wilderness of Sinai.

The intervening years between Joseph’s power in Egypt and the era when today’s lectionary passage begins are conveyed very succinctly:

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.

Egyptians, who had once viewed the tribe of Jacob as allies, now see them as a grave threat.  There is some evidence that the introduction of the Hebrews into Egypt roughly coincided with the invasion of Egypt and its occupation by the people called the Hyskos.  The Hyskos are believed to have originated from Western Asia.  Their introduction into Egypt likely ended what some scholars call the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, and they remained as an alien, occupying presence until they were expelled by Ahmose I around 1560 B.C.  Between the introduction of the Hyskos and Ahmose I, there may have been an intervening period of roughly two hundred years or more.  This might explain why the new Pharaoh knew nothing of Joseph.  And the new Pharaoh might have identified Joseph’s tribe with the Hyskos who had occupied his land.

In any event, the Pharaoh sees the children of Israel as a menace.  Their population has grown and seemingly has outnumbered the native Egyptians.  The Pharaoh sees them as a potential security risk — they might join themselves to Egypt’s enemies in the future.

Pharaoh’s solution is extreme.  He orders the children of Israel to be made into slaves.  They are pressed into service as builders of the storage cities of Pithom and Raamses (which seems to have been named for the dynastic name of the Pharaohs who were to come).  The irony here is that many years earlier, the forgotten Joseph had been responsible for the building of grain storage buildings that fed Egypt and surrounding nations in a time of severe famine.

This strategy of oppression fails.  Instead of chastening the children of Israel, they grow even stronger! The Egyptians became even more harsh in their treatment of these new slaves:

The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

And then the Pharaoh’s directives become diabolical.  He instructs the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah to commit infanticide when they deliver male Hebrew babies.

These brave women engage in an act of civil disobedience because of their faith in God (we note that at this time, the God of Israel is Elohim, the ancient name of God.  The name Yahweh has not yet been revealed in Exodus — that will occur when Moses is an adult).  They lie to Pharaoh, in order to protect these Hebrew babies. The midwives and their own families flourish:

The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”  God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

However, the Pharaoh escalates his program of genocide:

Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

What had been a focused program of case-by-case murder now becomes a general bloodbath.  We note that not only would the babies be drowned in the Nile — the waters were likely filled with crocodiles.

And then, in this moment of great darkness for the children of Israel, there is an obscure but hopeful ray of light.  In the home of two descendants of one of the sons of Jacob (from the house of Levi) a mother gives birth to a son. We learn later that this couple are named Amram and his wife Jochebed.

The mother of this child manages to conceal this fine child for three months, but as he grows his presence will become more obvious, and he will be at risk.

In a curious twist, Jochebed obeys the outrageous command to cast the male children into the Nile — but in her own way.  She fashions a basket from the papyrus reeds so common on the banks of the Nile, and lines it with pitch.  She makes a tiny boat for her son!

It is unclear whether Jochebed instructed her daughter (whose name is later revealed to be Miriam) to keep an eye on her brother in the basket as he floats amongst the reeds. That seems a likely conclusion.

And did Jochebed know that this was a section of the Nile where the Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe in the river with her handmaidens?  This is only speculation, but it seems a logical possibility.  Perhaps Jochebed is counting on the maternal instincts of this Egyptian princess.   And that is exactly what happens:

His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it.  She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

Miriam sees her opening, and is emboldened to speak to the Pharaoh’s daughter.  She offers to find a nurse from among the Hebrew women to feed the child.  Again, we can only speculate, but surely the Egyptian princess is not naive. She can put two and two together.  Perhaps she winks at Miriam and says “Go,” assuming that Miriam may know exactly where to find just such a woman!

Given the bizarre circumstances of this situation, this is the best possible compromise.  Jochebed nurses her own child, and presumably when he is weaned, she presents him to his adopted mother — the Pharaoh’s daughter.

The Pharaoh’s daughter names him Moses.  According to Hebrew etymology, this suggests that he was drawn out of the water.  Some authorities argue that the princess wouldn’t know Hebrew, and that his name may have meant son in the Egyptian language.  However, it isn’t inconceivable that the Pharaoh’s daughter accepted the “nickname” given by his “wet nurse.”

APPLY:  

There are manifold areas of application from this account in Exodus.

First, there are parallels between this origin story and the stories related to the birth of Jesus.  The pharaoh seeks to snuff out the lives of hundreds of Hebrew children in order to reduce the future threat he fears from them.  In Matthew’s Gospel, King Herod fears one child, who appears to be the designated heir of King David, who was born in Bethlehem in fulfillment of prophecy (Matthew 2:1-6). Herod’s response is to send his soldiers into Bethlehem with the mission of killing every male child under the age of two years (Matthew 2:16).

Second, women feature prominently and positively in the nativity stories of both Moses and Jesus. In the account from Exodus, the midwives use their position to save the lives of male Hebrew babies.  Jochebed outwits the Pharaoh’s thugs by fashioning a wicker basket boat for her infant son; and her daughter Miriam keeps protective watch over him as he floats down the river near the reeds.  And the Egyptian princess exercises her own unique authority to adopt this Hebrew child as her own.  In the accounts of Jesus’ birth, Mary consents to become the virgin mother of the Son of God; Elizabeth becomes the mother of John, who will prepare the way for the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry many years later (Luke 1). The key role of women in the Biblical salvation history is undeniable.

Third, we see a clear example of justifiable civil disobedience.  Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives fear God rather than Pharaoh.  They know in their bones that the Pharaoh’s command to kill the newborn males is immoral — and they lie to the Pharaoh in order to cover up their efforts to spare these children.

We are taught by the Apostle Paul that we are to obey those in authority:

Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.  Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment (Romans 13:1-2).

This includes paying taxes as well as respecting and honoring those in authority.

As a rule, this is a good practice, for it ensures order and a tranquil and quiet life (1 Timothy 2:2).

However, there are clearly exceptions to this rule.  When the governing authorities issue immoral edicts that contradict God’s law, the believer has a duty to defy those edicts.

When King Darius (the king of Persia) enacts a decree forbidding prayer to any god other than himself, Daniel discreetly but definitely ignores the decree.  He continues to pray three times a day to the God of Israel in the privacy of his own home.  This leads to his famous survival in the lion’s den (Daniel 6).

And in the New Testament, when Peter and John are ordered not to preach in the name of Jesus by the religious authorities, Peter replies:

Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard (Acts 4:19-20).

When an unlawful order is issued, or an immoral law is passed, obedience to God always takes precedence.

RESPOND: 

For people of a certain generation, it is nearly impossible to read this account from Exodus without being reminded of Cecile B DeMille’s famous Biblical epic The Ten Commandments, produced in 1956 with Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner in key roles.  The film was made largely on location in Egypt, Mount Sinai and the Sinai Peninsula.

The film was lavish, grandiose and impressive.  But sometimes we need to kind of shake our brains, the way we might an Etch-a-Sketch, and erase those memories so we can see the story through new eyes.

When we do so, we can often make connections that we never have made before. I can’t help thinking of the Shoah, known as the Holocaust of the Jews in World War II.  Although the Nazis exterminated an estimated six million Jews during that period, it wasn’t the first time that the people of Israel were faced with severe oppression.

As with the modern Final Solution proposed by Hitler, the Pharaoh’s oppressions increased with gradual increments.  After Hitler was named chancellor of Germany in 1933, he began to implement his views of racial superiority.  Jews were forced out of civil service, university and legal professions.  In November 1938, there was a riot organized and systematically carried out by Nazi “brownshirts” who attacked synagogues, Jewish stores and homes, and led to the arrest of Jewish men.  This was called Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass.  By 1939, Jews were being removed from Nazi occupied territories and placed in concentration camps.  By 1941, the wholesale slaughter of Jews began to be implemented — by firing squads, and later in gas “showers.”

Pharaoh also began his oppression of Israel with gradual steps.  First, they were enslaved, with Egyptian taskmasters to afflict them.  And when that failed to stem the birthrate of Israel, the Egyptians became more ruthless:

they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

Then the Pharaoh began his campaign of genocide, trying to enlist the help of Hebrew midwives whom he instructed to kill the newborn boys, and let the girls live.  Finally, when this failed, he issued a general order:

Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

The correlation, and the point, should be clear.  Oppression begins with fear mongering and bigotry, and can escalate into wholesale genocide if unchecked.  Even today, we must remain vigilant against such horrors.  It happened in ancient Egypt.  It happened in Germany in the 20th century.  It could happen here and now unless we stand firm against such oppression and injustice.

Lord, there may come times in our lives when we are also faced with stark choices, like the two midwives.  Give us courage to take the right stand, and act in accordance with your laws, not unjust customs or laws of men.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“cs-moses-basket” by genebrooks is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for September 4, 2022

“Luke 14:28-30”
This hotel is near the airport in Saipan. It was begun, but the owner ran out of money, so it was never completed. Scaffolding still surrounds it.
[photo and description by Wayne]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 14:25-33
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

What we might call Jesus’ Kingdom of God Movement is picking up momentum.  Large crowds are following him — no doubt attracted in large part by the availability of bread and fish, healings and miracles.  But these are only the signs of the coming kingdom.

Jesus finds it necessary to detail the cost of following him.  Obviously this will be demonstrated plainly when he arrives in Jerusalem and faces the cross.  Now he warns the crowds that in order to be his disciples, they must reorient themselves toward new priorities that will estrange them from their families, put their own lives at risk, and follow Jesus in the ways of sacrifice:

 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Jesus uses parables to illustrate that whoever follows him must first count the cost.  Perhaps he draws on his own experience as a carpenter when he describes the business aspects of building a tower.  He understands that cost estimates for building materials and labor are a necessary prerequisite to building — otherwise the builder won’t be able to finish the project!

And then a more dangerous example — the cost of going to war without the resources for weapons and troops.  Outnumbered two to one, Jesus suggests, the weaker army doesn’t stand much of a chance.

Jesus is quite pragmatic about the cost of discipleship.  Those who don’t have the willingness to make serious sacrifices don’t really follow Jesus.

Just in case they missed his point, he drives it home directly:

So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

APPLY:  

What does it mean to be a Christian?  Does it simply mean that one has been baptized and become a church member?  And attends Sunday services once in a while? Maybe even serves on a committee?

There’s nothing wrong with any of those things.  In fact, I highly commend them.  But they don’t make a person a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Kyle Idleman, the author of Not a Fan (Zondervan) explored the difference between being a fan of Jesus vs. a follower in an interview with CBN’s Chris Carpenter.

Click here to read Chris Carpenter’s interview with Kyle Idleman.

Kyle had discovered, in his own spiritual journey as a pastor, that he was using a business marketing model to grow his church.  And he could see that while the church grew in numbers, it didn’t necessarily grow in discipleship.

I think it could be safely assumed that the crowds that were following Jesus that day when he spoke to them were fans.  They loved the free concessions of bread and fish.  They were thrilled to see his healings and miracles.  They cheered him on when he verbally sparred with the Pharisees.  And they nodded approvingly at his wise words.  But they weren’t followers.

A follower gives all of him or herself to Christ.  Everything that they do is potentially an act of worship or witness — at the job, in school, on the ball field, in a soup kitchen, at a food pantry, in a county jail.

The great old hymn “Take My Life and Let it Be,” captures the essence of total commitment:

Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in endless praise,
let them flow in endless praise.

Frances Ridley Havergal’s hymn continues, with the total consecration of her hands, feet, voice, her lips filled with messages about Christ, her silver and gold, her intellect, all to the service of Christ.  Finally, she offers all to Christ:

Take my will and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne,
it shall be thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee,
ever, only, all for thee.

The bad news is, Christ wants everything we have and everything we are.  The good news is that he gives us everything he has and everything he is.  That’s what the cross tells us.

RESPOND: 

Everything has a cost.  The discipline of following Jesus costs our whole lives.  But not following Jesus also has a cost.  The fan may cheer in the stadium, and then go home.  The follower stays out on the field and continues to strive and press on with Jesus.  The fan drives home in the traffic congestion — the follower wears the gold medal.

For example, there is a cost to learning the piano — practice, practice, practice.  Sitting on the piano bench when other kids are playing Xbox.  But what is the cost of not taking piano lessons?  Years of regret later in life, wishing you could play that Chopin etude, or Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”

The disciplines of following Jesus — prayer, Bible study, worship, fasting, generosity, service to others — shape one’s life and character.  In a sense, we become spiritual athletes who run the race that is set before us.

The old spiritual, Do Lord, captures the essence of the cost and reward of discipleship in one of the refrains:

If you don’t bear the cross, then you can’t wear the crown
If you don’t bear the cross, then you can’t wear the crown
If you don’t bear the cross, then you can’t wear the crown
Way beyond the blue.

Lord, I am grateful for your grace — but I’m also aware that you don’t offer “cheap” grace.  Your grace is costly.  It cost you the cross. And following you costs me my own cross as well. I trust that as I follow you, you will be at work in me both to will and work your good pleasure.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Luke 14:28-30" by Wayne is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for September 4, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Philemon 1:1-21
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul’s letter to Philemon is among the most unusual of his epistles.  He is not writing to a church or a group of churches; nor is he writing to another pastor-missionary such as Timothy or Titus.  In this instance he is writing a letter of reference, literally interceding on behalf of a runaway slave with his slave owner.  What a minefield for the modern interpreter!

Actually, the only evidence that we have that Onesimus was the fugitive slave of Philemon is found in verse 16.  Overall, the tone of Paul is that of an intermediary seeking to reconcile two Christians who are in conflict.

Interestingly, Paul writes this letter from prison — he knows what it is like to have his freedoms severely restricted.

Paul’s references are very personal.  Philemon is his dear friend and co-worker.  Paul sends greetings also to those who may well be members of Philemon’s household.  He calls Apphia his sister, and Archippus a fellow soldier.

And we catch a glimpse of life in the early church.  They met not in church buildings, temples or cathedrals, but in homes — in this case, in the house of Philemon.

Paul’s greeting is fairly standard according to his other epistles, offering grace and peace.  He includes his prayers and thanksgiving for Philemon’s Christian virtues of love and faith, and his ministry to the saints.  No doubt Paul’s praise is sincere — but given the entreating purpose of his letter, we may wonder if he is “buttering up” Philemon just a little.

Paul comes to the main point of the letter — he is asking Philemon to receive Onesimus back in good graces.  His letter requires us to read between the lines.

Onesimus apparently has departed from Philemon, perhaps wronging his master in doing so (verse 18).  Onesimus may have even been useless to his master when he was in Philemon’s service, but Paul can vouch for Onesimus’ usefulness to Paul himself in prison.  In fact, Paul stresses how helpful Onesimus was and how reluctant he is to see him leave.  But for whatever reason, Onesimus is now to return to Philemon.

Paul is appealing to Philemon’s good nature, based on their mutual love — however, he does invoke his apostolic authority as a little leverage:

 For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—

Paul seems to be using a “carrot,” but he hints at the possibility of using the “stick” if necessary.

Paul provides a multi-layered rationale for his request:

• Onesimus has become like a son to Paul during his own imprisonment (v. 10).
• Onesimus has become like Paul’s own heart (v. 12).
• Onesimus has proved his usefulness to Paul (vs. 11,13).
• Most significantly, Paul says that Onesimus is more than a slave — he is a beloved brother… both in the flesh and in the Lord. 

What Paul seems to be saying is that by virtue of their mutual faith in Christ, Onesimus and Philemon are members of the same Christian family.  They are brothers in Christ, and therefore equal.  So Onesimus is to be welcomed back not as a subordinate piece of chattel property, but as a fellow Christian.

Paul urges Philemon to welcome Onesimus as though he were welcoming Paul himself.  But Paul does not support any injustice that Philemon might have experienced because of all of this.  Paul offers to compensate Philemon for any loss:

If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it.

However, though Paul doesn’t endorse “cheap grace,” he does imply that Philemon “owes” him:

 I say nothing about your owing me even your own self.

Presumably, Paul is referencing the ministry that he may have offered to Philemon and his family in the past, perhaps even leading them to faith in Christ.

Paul ends on a very upbeat note:

Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ.  Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Paul is so confident of Philemon’s good nature and compliance that he announces his plans to request Philemon’s hospitality when his own incarceration may be completed:

One thing more—prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you (Philemon 1:22).

As an interesting footnote to this passage — not a part of the lectionary reading for today — Paul ends his letter as he does so many by including greetings to Philemon and his family from various fellow Christians who are with Paul:

 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

This list of fellow prisoner and fellow workers reads like a who’s who in the early church.  An Epaphras is mentioned by Paul as a faithful minister to the church at Colossae (Colossians 1:7; 4:12) who is now imprisoned with Paul in Rome.

Mark and Luke are likely the writers of the Gospels who have accompanied Paul at various times in his missionary journeys.  If Mark (sometimes called John Mark) is the same companion of Paul and Barnabas who also was called John in Acts 12 and 15, his inclusion may suggest that there has been reconciliation between Paul and Mark.  In Acts 15:36-41, we read of a sharp disagreement that caused Paul to part ways with Barnabas and Mark. Philemon may reassure us that these early Christians practiced what they preached about forgiveness.  Mark is also mentioned as the cousin of Barnabas in Colossians 4:10.

There was an Aristarchus from Macedonia who was dragged into the theater by the rioting Ephesians in Acts 19:29, and who accompanied Paul back to Macedonia (Acts 20:1-6) and to Thessalonica.  He is also mentioned by Paul in Colossians 4:10 as a fellow prisoner.  Demas is mentioned in Colossians 4:14, along with Luke the beloved physician.  However, there is a sour note when Demas is mentioned negatively in 2 Timothy 4:10:

Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Even these greetings from Paul’s companions tell us something about the early church:

• Christianity is a “team sport.” As John Wesley said, “Christianity knows nothing of solitary religion.”
• Even Christians in the early church experienced lapses in judgment, and even suffered temptations from the culture — as we see with Mark and Demas.  But we also see evidence of grace that leads to reconciliation.

APPLY:  

There is the possibility that Paul’s language about slavery isn’t literal.  He refers to Onesimus being:

more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

An alternate interpretation to the conventional view is that Onesimus and Philemon really are brothers, and that Onesimus left home under less than friendly circumstances.

However, this seems unlikely in the light of interpretation by the early church fathers.  More than likely, Onesimus was a slave.  Even if he didn’t steal anything, he has technically stolen Philemon’s property by running away — he is Philemon’s property!  How do we apply this Scripture appropriately in our own culture?

First, we have to acknowledge that we live in a different culture and a different time.

There have been two conflicting approaches to the interpretation of this little book in the past.  Christian slave owners in the pre-Civil War South used Philemon as a prooftext to defend the institution of slavery.  They argued that Christian slave owners were able to benefit their slaves, and even introduce them to Christianity.

Abolitionists, however, argued that Paul’s language did not sanction slavery at all.

Thankfully, those issues are behind us. But we are left with the troubling question — why is the Bible seemingly silent on such issues, and how does that affect social issues that trouble us today that are just as controversial?

The seeds of social revolution were being sown in the New Testament — there was no class distinction in the church.  Gentiles were included in the covenant because of their faith in Christ. Women were prominent members and even co-workers with men.  Slaves and the poor were welcome in the church.  Some slaves even rose to serve important roles in the church.   Galatians 3:28 says:

 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

While the Scriptures acknowledge slavery as part of the culture, that doesn’t imply that slavery was an acceptable cultural norm.  Ultimately, the liberty that comes from faith in Christ destroyed slavery.  All Christians, whatever their social status, are brothers and sisters in Christ.

And a more general application of this passage reminds us that no matter how serious a breach there has been between Christians, we are under compulsion to seek reconciliation.

RESPOND: 

Abraham Lincoln once said:

If slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.

When we follow the moral trajectory of Scripture, we come to the same conclusions.  And of course, in the 21st century we can assume a certain moral superiority.  Slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment in the United States in 1865.

However, the consequences of slavery in the United States have left an open wound in the American conscience.  This continues to be manifested in racial tensions and inequalities in opportunity and income.

The church’s responsibility is to challenge the culture to look more like the coming kingdom of God.  Unfortunately, the church has too often been guilty of enabling and cooperating with racism.

In order to be consistent with the Gospel, the church must begin to look more like the picture of heaven that we find in Revelation 7:9:

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

Our Lord, break down the walls of separation that exist because of race, or socio-economic class, or gender.  Reconcile us where we have run away from one another, and remind us that we are brothers and sisters in you.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"What is Philemon about" by Kevin Shorter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for September 4, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
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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.   

Old Testament for September 4, 2022

Throwing Clay

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 18:1-11
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OBSERVE:

The Old Testament prophets were inclined to use concrete and sometimes very dramatic illustrations in their preaching.  In this case, Jeremiah is instructed to watch a potter at work on his wheel.  The pot that was being made collapsed in the potter’s hand and he remade the clay into a different form.

Jeremiah gets the point.  The clay represents the house of Israel in the hands of their potter, the Lord.  Israel is the passive object being shaped and worked by God for his own purposes.

As we see in the verses following today’s Lectionary Scripture passage, Israel is hankering after self-determination.  They will hear Jeremiah’s words and declare:

“It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will.” (Jeremiah 18:12).

In contrast, in the Scripture the Lord’s freedom to act as he chooses is axiomatic:

Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

The Lord points out that he can destroy a nation or a kingdom if he chooses — however, he grants nations and people the freedom to repent and turn from evil if they choose:

but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.  And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.

God’s freedom is absolute — although it is based on his righteousness — whereas human freedom is completely contingent on God’s permission of freedom.

Ultimately, this is a call to repentance for Judah and Jerusalem before it is too late.  The chain of cause and effect has already begun, but there is still time for them to turn.  Jeremiah completes his metaphor:

Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

APPLY:  

The imagery of the potter molding clay while spinning his wheel seems charming — except that Jeremiah doesn’t intend it to be a cozy sermon illustration.

The imagery of the potter and the clay is intended to convey the message of God’s absolute power in our lives.  We belong to him, and he can shape us in whatever form he wishes, and use us for whatever purpose he designs.

However, Jeremiah also makes it clear that God’s compassion for us is such that he does offer the freedom to turn to him in repentance.

This is one of the key arguments against double-predestination (the notion that God destines some to salvation and some to condemnation).  Jeremiah’s description of the clay and the potter supports the idea that all are given the opportunity to turn to God, even up until the last moment:

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

RESPOND: 

Those of us who have been to the beach, or even to a sandbox, may have had the experience of building a sandcastle, or some other structure of sand.  I’ve watched children diligently working on their architecture, brows furrowed and tongues slightly stuck out between their lips in their intense concentration.

I didn’t have the heart to tell them that their work would soon be dissolved — either by wind or water, or even a bully’s footprint!

This is a reminder that nothing that I build will last.  The clay pottery of my life will collapse, no matter how much effort I put into it — unless my life and work are totally in the hands of the Potter.

His work will endure.  Mine will not.  Therefore I repent of my own efforts to establish my own kingdoms and achievements, and turn them over to God.

Lord, my life is like so much clay in your hands.  Shape me and mold me into your likeness, for your purposes I pray.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Throwing Clay” by Johnson Earls is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.