Church jottings 2022-10-02

 

 Today's sermon from WSFC: living in step with the Gospel

Galatians 2:11–16 

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (ESV)

•  Cyndi opened service this morning, and I really appreciate how she spoken about the Lord's Table as the "best meal" in our lives. In other traditions it's called the Eucharist, which comes from the word "to celebrate", and that seems very fitting. Should there be some somber reflection on the death of our Lord? Yes, but moreover it is right that we rejoice in such love as we proclaim his sacrifice for us.
  

•  I'm thankful the heaven won't be overly repetitive, but that we have so many myriad ways now and forever to worship and enjoy our God. He created (and allows us to use as tools in worship) multi-part musical harmony, and physical symbols like the Lord's supper, and poetic use of words in lyrics and oratory to convey beauty and power, and bodily movement like dancing and upraised hands and weeping, and...
  

•  The sermon continues Galatians and the point that we are set free from the law to live in grace, yet that doesn't mean that our actions don't matter. We cannot be saved by our actions or morality (Trent did a great job of defining "works of the law"), but our lives should be in step with the Gospel. Not only should we not deny the Gospel in word or deed, but we should live in such a way that positively affirms it.
• As an aside, the division of the OT law into ceremonial/civil/moral is, in my opinion, forced onto the Bible from an outside thought and not something we see anywhere related in the Scriptures themselves. We don't have to obey any sort of law, even the "moral" ones, to be right with God. Rather, if God has made us new and given us hearts to love him, etc., we do these things because that's how we love our Father and walk with Him, not because of any legal obligation whatsoever. I think I have an older post about that, or I'll write one in the future; comment if interested.
  

• The opening of this text shows both the need for loving confrontation and the grounds for it. 
• We should work things out, even sometimes heatedly, with our brothers and sisters (cf. Matt 18), wherever possible. The prohibition on gossip is good, if sadly and infuriatingly abused by some who call gossip what is not. I have a whole essay on this I'll share another time; comment if interested.
  
• On the other side, Paul isn't eagerly seeking confrontation over trivialities. He addresses Peter's problem "because he stood condemned." And if I stand condemned, is it not loving (to me and to those affected by me) to point that out and call me back to the Way?
  
  
•   One of Trent's, and Paul's, main points is how ethnocentrism has no place in Gospel community. As I mentioned last week, this should really be gutted out of any American by the simple fact that as Paul is writing, we are the Gentiles, the outsiders, the ἔθνη (ethne), those far distant in culture and time and geography.
• I also appreciate how Trent mentioned the importance of sharing a meal. This wasn't some obscure or ancillary "who cares who you choose to eat with" thing. Think about it: what does it mean for you to take time to share a meal with someone? Who do you generally eat with? It's a source and sign of community, and fracturing the community by segregating our meal-mates is a huge problem if the Gospel bigger than these distinctions.
   
• The "road map" of tracing the Biblical themes of marriage and ethnicity and how they magnify the power and grace of God throughout redemptive history was glorious; go back to that part and listen to it, because a summary won't do it justice. A brief highlight or two:
• Marriage showing God's nature as unity in diversity is not something wholly new, but they way Trent articulated it hit me afresh.
• I wish time had permitted a bit more, especially because a (probably unintentional) gloss was made that seemed to imply that the "Christ as husband, Church as bride" was new to the NT. That imagery of marriage between God and His people (especially Israel as an unfaithful wife) is throughout the OT, too.
• The point about how at Pentecost, God didn't make everyone understand one language, but allowed everyone to hear in their own as an endorsement of diversity, was new to me and a point very well made.
  
  
• I mentioned last week about how "God shows no partiality" is both immensely important and really good news. Referencing 1 Tim. 5:21, Trent mentioned how prejudging and partiality are linked. The most clear-cut way of putting it for me is that partiality and prejudice have at their root a problem with assuming from a generality ("all X people are Y, and you're part of X, therefore you're Y") and of including irrelevancies (what difference does your nationality make about baking, or your gender about coding, or your ethnicity about the Gospel?).
• That last bit is I think where many of us can go astray. We make distinctions between people all the time, and their ought to be in many ways. I don't want a neurosurgeon who knows nothing of plumbing to install my sink, or a farmer to teach theoretical physics, or an atheist to help my marriage better reflect Christ and the church. But we should only include those things that are relevant, that directly impact the matter at hand, to be part of any decision-making and judgment.
  

• Trent mentioned the trap of "the fear of man" and well described it. 
• Because the Gospel is chiefly about the glory of God in the salvation of His people, we can't try to save people from sin by giving into ungodly opinions and beliefs.
• Trent's practical note seemed profound and wise: to get over people-pleasing, the best method may be disappointing someone for Jesus's sake (not for your own), surviving the damaged relationship, and realizing that you're still OK because Christ is with you.
  
• I prefer the old-school term vanity, and could (have?) written about the distinction between vanity and pride and true humility; comment if interested.
  
  
•  In dealing with hypocrisy (which iirc the Greek word is rooted/used for actors on a stage), the Gospel frees us from play-acting by separating our acceptance from our actions. If I don't have to act like I have it all together for God to accept me, then I can live in authenticity, neither hiding my struggles nor trapped by them.
•  God is glorified in our goodness and the transformation He brings in our lives toward righteous: this is absolutely true. But Christ is also glorified in our honest admission of our not-yet-fully-sanctified selves, our dependence on His grace for our remaining sins, and His abundant provision of mercy and help for us. We are out of step with the Gospel when we act like we have it all together, even if we attribute that to the Lord. We need not be afraid of showing our faults, because He is glorified in our weakness. We affirm the Gospel by living a life of constant returning to the cross and receiving the forgiveness and the new life that was bought costly and provided freely by our Savior, and doing so publicly.
  
  
•  During communion, I have a habit of taking the piece of bread I receive and breaking it, because its purpose is to remind me of the broken body of Christ. The bread breaks, never to be made whole, outside my power to fix, and only further to be broken as I eat of it. This is what Christ chose to do, to save even me. What struck me today was how, even though Jesus is fully capable of having a healed body, He chooses to maintain the ignoble scars of His crucifixion even unto eternity. When I consider the scars I have and those I've inflicted, I often shudder at the inescapable permanence of my sins, even beyond the power of forgiveness to completely wipe from the face of history and reality. But if the Son of God chooses to keep His scars for His greater glory and joy as my Savior, then perhaps He likewise plans the indelible mistakes of my story to bring a fuller weight of glory that surpasses the shame and reproach of them. Soli Deo gloria!
  

Church jottings 2022-09-25

 Today's sermon from WSFC: the Gospel must be preserved

Galatians 2:1–10
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. (ESV)

• At the beginning of service, Pastor Ian mentioned about missions. The best argument for missions is God's own character and missional activity; Jesus says "as God sent me, so I send you". The most empathic reason for someone in the U.S. to care about missions is that we are "the ends of the earth" when you stand near Jerusalem. We only know the gospel, hundreds of years and thousands of miles away, because faithful brothers and sisters brought the good news to our distant shores. Let's not let that end with us.
  
  
• God's Word is timeless, but we need to be careful not to separate texts from their historic background and purpose. The Holy Spirit certainly intended for us to find meaning in Galatians for ourselves, but Paul wasn't writing to us, he was writing to a particular people and context and problem. Much of that is relevant for us today (e.g. how do we know Paul preached the one true gospel), but it wasn't to our mindset and questions that he directly wrote. Let's not be egotistical.
  
  
• Pastor Trent emphasized that Paul had to wait and be prepared in Arabia for three years, and that we too often need prepared. This point, about waiting and not being overly anxious to get on with the work, hits home for me.
   
•  It's important not to conflate the good things we should do with what we must do to be with God (i.e. be saved). There are things we should do, not to earn love but because we are loved.
• Christians make lots of mistakes, and our standing before God, His love for us, does not rise and fall with those mistakes. Repentance is measured and known because of a baseline impulse to recognize sin as sin, confess, apologize, and try again. It is not measured by success at doing better and not needing to do the above all over again.
• I need to repent to my kids about not showing this well, and I need to find ways to communicate this to them. We want to strive for better, but messing up again doesn't ruin everything.
•  Doing good and loving things (e.g. caring for the poor in v.10) is not adding to the Gospel; it is the life that flows out of it. It's not "you have to do this, or you're not saved." It is "my heart is new and wants to love people and honor God... how do I do that?" (This has frequently come up in regards to evangelism. We don't need to be told yet again to do it, we need training on how.)
  
• Jesus + nothing = everything (not original to me). Jesus + something means you're a slave to whatever that something is (law/works/etc.). Jesus + nothing means I'm only a slave to Jesus, and He's a much better Master than anything else, including me.
  
  
• Something to wrestle with: Is targeting our ministries at times/places where it's easiest for people to change (e.g. college ministry) a mark of doubting the power of God to change people at less-than-opportune times? Not knocking college ministry (I've been amazingly helped by them), but where's my heart when I think through this?
  
  
• Justification is only part of / one analogy of salvation and what we are saved to. The resurrection is as important as the cross: epistemology, relationship, hope, all derive from a risen Savior and King.
  
  
• "God shows no partiality" is part of the good news, too. It doesn't matter where or to whom I was born, etc. God shows grace regardless of all those things that divide humanity.
• This is a good part of our country (at least it's ideals). Someone had a book about American history, "Boston Revolts!", and I wrestle a lot with how political revolution could fit in a Christian worldview. Our history (and everyone's) is full of the good, the bad, and the complicated. More on that some other time.
   
• Evangelism isn't my responsibility to save everyone I can by my own means/power. It is God using me to proclaim the Gospel to all, then He will save His own.
  
  
• I want to keep working on my side project essay collection/book on forgiveness. I've been thinking a lot about the part on when is forgiveness complete and what really defines it, and particularly the role of repentance in that and reconciliation. Need to remember Acts 11:18, that God gives "repentance that leads to life", so repentance is an important and necessary part of how God forgives and reconciles. 
  
  
• I need to check out a timeline of the NT and how various events fit together (e.g. Paul's time in Tarsus, Barnabas's initial visit to Antioch, their famine relief effort and collection, the Jerusalem council, etc.). Inspired by the timing of the events described in today's text.
  

 

Beginning with the End in Mind

The following is the manuscript from my sermon this morning at Camp Hill Church of God.
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Good morning, family, and happy new year!  It is the beginning of a new day, the start of a new year.  Some of you will remember, the first time I was up here to read Scripture, and Pastor Shover had to get a stool so you could see me over the lectern.  Now I’m going through seminary, and I stand before you where he so often stood.  His recent passing, and of other loved ones this past year, make us gaze toward eternity and our reunion with the brothers and sisters who have gone before.  We can grieve, yet we do so with hope, as the Apostle Paul encourages.  We are pained by the loss we feel, and we miss them.  And yet in Christ, we rejoice not only in the gift that they have been to us, but that there is a sure and true hope of life everlasting beyond the grave.  They have gone before to be with Christ, and we long to follow after.

               So I think it appropriate this Sunday, this first day of a new year, to begin with the end in mind.  It’s a principle I learned in my engineering classes, and you see it in books on leadership and parenting and do-it-yourself projects, that it’s important to know where you’re going, so that you don’t just barge ahead aimlessly.  It’s good to begin with the end in mind.

               And so today we have read together just a few of the many passages that speak to us of the end of all things, which is really just the beginning of eternity.  As Craig read, God declares that He will make all things new, new heavens and a new earth.  No more of the evils with which we are beset in this life.  No more pain, no more sorrow, because God has made all things new.  And there’s something even better than that: God Himself will dwell among His people.  As Tim read, there won’t be any more temples or church buildings, because Christ Himself will be our meeting place with God.  The glory of the Lord will shine so brightly that it says we won’t need a sun or moon anymore!

               I love in chapter 22, verse 4, it says we will see God’s face.  You might remember, back in Exodus, chapter 33, where Moses begs to see God’s glory.  And God says that Moses can only see God’s back as He passes by, because no sinful man could see God’s face and live.  But we will get something more than Moses did; we, as those who have been redeemed by Christ’s blood and made holy by faith, will see the face of God forever.  That is a marvelous thing to think about.

               God will walk with us as He did with Adam and Eve in the garden, with an intimacy we can’t begin to comprehend.  The Bible calls us (as God’s people) the Bride of Christ, and just before our reading it speaks of the wedding supper of the Lamb of God, where we are joined with Christ.  Now is like being engaged, and I remember oh so well how I longed for that engagement to end and for marriage to begin.  We will be with God and know Him more deeply than ever, the very purpose for which we exist, and the highest joy we could ever experience.

               John’s Revelation, the last book in our Bible, is but one place that we can catch a glimpse of what God has in store for His people, those who trust in Him.  We read another together, from 1 Corinthians 15, about the hope of our resurrection.  Just a quick side note, but you know we won’t be on clouds with harps for all eternity?  God creates a new physical earth, and we get new physical bodies, to live in a new creation as it was before sin ever entered the world, and even better.  Adam started in a garden, but we will dwell in the city of God.  Adam started alone, but we will forever live and worship with all God’s people, from every ethnicity, every language, every area of this present earth, together and united by our Lord.  Adam could rejoice in his creation, but we get to praise God for not only creating us but also for redeeming us, re-creating us, through Christ’s work on the cross.

               So this is indeed something to look forward to.  But is that all that God intended when He wrote these passages?  Surely we are to be awed by the glory before us, and it is certainly right to long for that day.  Indeed, the book ends with cries of “come, Lord Jesus!”  But is there more for us in these passages?  How should our day-to-day be affected by what we learn of the destiny of all things?

               Part of this is laid out directly in these texts.  Rev. 21:6 says that Jesus is one to give life, “from the spring of the water of life without payment.”  He alone gives true life, so if you are thirsty for meaning, for significance, for something more than the trinkets the world has to offer, come to Him.  If you are after more than chasing the corporate ladder, keeping up with the Joneses, and a comfortable retirement, come to Christ.  If you are weary, beaten-down, feeling the weight of a broken world, come to Jesus.  He is worth living for, and He gives us true life.

               Verses 7 and 8 contrast the two groups of people that matter in the end.  The latter group are those who are faithless, who do evil unrepentantly and constantly reject God, and their end is rightful judgment, getting exactly what they have earned.  And don’t be fooled, that is everyone who does not put their full trust in Christ.  The Spirit includes liars and cowards with the sexual immoral and murderers.  There is no big and small distinction in sin there.  There is repentant and unrepentant; those who trust themselves and those who trust Christ. 

And on the other hand are those who conquer, who persevere through the trials of this world. I’ve heard that several members of the persecuted church, who had been ostracized and threatened and beaten and imprisoned for their faith – they were asked what their favorite books of the Bible were.  To a man they said Daniel and Revelation, the books that most deal with end times.  Their reason?  Because they call for and give hope for enduring hardship.  They show that in this world Christians will have trouble, but Jesus wins in the end.  I was in Ecuador teaching New Testament to several pastors down there who can’t get away for seminary, and my fellow teacher explained that if you really want to get the point of Revelation, it’s two words: Jesus wins.  That enables us to press on no matter what circumstances befall us now.  No matter what the world has to offer to entice us, no matter what it throws against us, Jesus wins, so we stay faithful.  That’s why Paul could say things like, “this light and momentary affliction is not worth comparing for the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

We see this same call to perseverance again in 22:7, “Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”  Jesus wins, God will make all things new, so we obey now.  We see it in 1 John 3, where the Apostle says, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”  When we have the hope of eternity in Christ, we live differently in this present age.  We live with a citizenship in heaven, as what Peter calls “elect exiles.”  Hebrews chapter 11 says that all the people in the Old Testament who had faith in God turned to Him and away from worldly pursuits, away from building up their own little kingdoms. They “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Why? Because “they desired a better country, that is a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”  That city we just read about in Revelation 21-22, God prepared it for those who live as though earth is not our home.

Now I want you to notice a few things that are not in these passages about eternity.  There are lots of things that stop being terribly important when you have an eternal mindset.  A lot of our preferences fall by the wayside, because we realize that what we’ve valued so highly won’t last.  My wife and I just bought a new car, and we wanted to make sure we got one that would be reliable and safe to drive Abigail around in.  But our hearts aren’t set on that car, because sooner or later it’ll end up in a junkyard.  We spend our time and money and care on all sorts of things that will one day be in a yardsale or a garbage dump.  Now don’t get me wrong, we should see things as blessings for which we should be grateful and that God has given us to enjoy now.  But it is so easy to be like that third kind of ground in Jesus’s parable of the sower, where the cares of this world choke out the Word of God in our lives, so that we look just like the unbelievers around us and don’t live for Christ.

There are other things of the world that call out for our attention and divert us from Christ, things that you won’t see or care about on the other side of eternity.  There are no factions in these texts.  All rivalries, as big as they seem now, are petty in comparison to allegiance to our Lord and King. One day there won’t be denominational lines, because Jesus will rule over all His people.  We won’t be waving the banner of a particular church or nation or any such thing.  And in the end, so many things we fight about are more due to personal preferences than substantial difference, which end up hindering us from following our Lord Jesus and loving other people and telling them about Him.  Jesus called us to die to ourselves and our little causes and to live for Him and His Kingdom.

Another thing missing: there are no political parties.  There were those who delighted in the results of the election last year, who felt pride and vindication.  There were those who felt defeated and despaired at the prospect of years to come.  And there were, of course, many in between.  But we must let these truths put all of that in perspective: regardless of how you reacted to the news, we will not get truly good government until the day King Jesus comes back to take His throne.  Our hope will never be fulfilled or dashed with any earthly government.  And whomever we support now, let be careful that our hope is not too entangled with the things of this world.  In the end, there will be no Republicans or Democrats or anything else.  There will be those who pledge allegiance to the Lord, and those that don’t.  Let us take care that we walk now, in this time, in such a way as to beg the question, what is this other-worldly hope that you have?  Then we obey Peter’s command to be ready to answer for the hope that is within us.

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, that someone is so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.  I’m here to tell you this morning that there is nothing further from the truth.  The one who is heavenly minded, who is focused on God’s kingdom and not their own, will not be an escapist. Instead, when we set our minds on things above, as the Scriptures call us to do, we will work harder than any here and now while the harvest may still be gathered.  Because that’s one thing you can’t do in heaven: evangelize.  We will care more about people, because as C.S. Lewis said “Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”  We will “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” as the prophet Micah commends.

We saw these same things at the end of our responsive reading this morning, from 1 Corinthians.  Why is the hope of the resurrection so important?  What does it matter now that death shall one day lose its sting?  And just a side note, the sting of death is here now.  We’ve felt when we’ve lost someone close to us, because we are left behind and miss them dearly.  But one day that sting will be no more.  So as Billy Graham’s friend Francis Sheaffer used to ask, how then shall we live?  Paul answers in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”  In other words, be faithful to Christ and His Kingdom, working until the end, so when the Master returns or calls you home, He will find you working faithfully.

The first song we sang this morning, "Another year is dawning," I had never heard before.  It has some great lyrics, of both working for and resting in Christ.  Perhaps swap out "another year" for “another day” and sing a verse every morning as a reminder of our commitment to Christ and our hope in God.  Because they go together.  We are not just called to work and press on and obey without reason.  God Himself is our reason.  We press on to know Him more, to see more of His glory, to have more people with us to praise Him for eternity, to watch Him at work in and through and all around us.  Jesus is the true author of joy, and even as He went to the cross, Hebrews says He was motivated “by the joy set before Him.”

Let me summarize in closing.  Scripture's pictures show glorious final new day in paradise, a renewed creation where all is made right.  We long for this, and we should.  These passages also call us to persevere, to work, to keep in the faith, to "seek first the Kingdom", as we just sang.  That work is motivated by our hope, by the worthiness of our Lord and the joy that can only be found in Him.

So for anyone who does not know Christ, I urge you to come to Him today.  He has more for you than the world can possibly offer, and though the Christian life is not always easy, Jesus is worth it.  For those of us who feel our consciences pricked by this message, as mine has been in preparing it, let us seek Jesus for His mercy, repenting of our old ways and trusting in His grace, so that our priorities change, letting go of this world that is passing away and seeking after Christ and His Kingdom more and more.  For all of us, let us think on these wonderful truths of what is coming for all who trust in Christ and His Gospel, and may they move us to greater trust and greater desire for Him, and let us work that out in our lives this day, this year, and until He makes all things new.  Amen.

celebrating Jesus in Nehemiah 8

this is my sermon from 10/23/11 at harrisburg first church of God, from Nehemiah 8.

good morning. for those of you who don’t know me, my name is walt raudenbush, and i’m one of the teachers here at first church. today we’re continuing in our sermon series “for the city” from the book of Nehemiah. for those of you who like structure, i have four points today: the Word of God, our response, God in history, and Jesus. i’ll give a quick recap of the book, and then we’ll dive in to today’s text.
the book starts with nehemiah, a godly man living with his people who have been exiled from jerusalem for decades. God breaks nehemiah’s heart because the city of jerusalem was in ruins, and he tasks nehemiah to return there and rebuild the city with his fellow jews. nehemiah returns to the city, lays out a plan before the people there, and with God’s help the work goes forward. along the way, opposition arises form various corners, both inside and outside, but nehemiah and his people do not give in. instead, they trust in God and continue the work of rebuilding the city. nehemiah also had to correct some of his own people for their mistreatment of their brothers, who repented or turned from their oppressive ways and followed God’s ways, honoring their fellow men as image-bearers of God. despite these problems, the wall around the city was finished in the incredible time of 52 days. and that’s where we pick up the story in Nehemiah chapter 8.

the chapter starts with all the people of jerusalem gathered together to hear God’s Word. they had spent the better part of two months working ‘round the clock standing guard or working construction. they’re tired, they’re sore, and they’re glad to finally be safe in their city. so what do they do with their first day off? they call ezra the priest, for whom the previous book of the Bible is named, and they have him read God’s Law to them. they want to hear from the God for whom they’ve labored so hard, so in this pre-literate culture, they have the scholarly priest open God’s Word for them. we know from earlier in the Bible that ezra had spent a great deal of time seeking to understand the Scriptures.
so ezra, as he reads to them, he “gives the sense of it” to the people, helping to explain what exactly the text means. in essence, he preaches a sermon to them, taking the Word of God as his basis and working through It, helping people understand and unpacking the text for them. and since that was written into the Bible, i get to preach on preaching, because we follow the same pattern, as various teachers who are a part of the church help us to understand what the Bible means, not just the straight-forward meaning of the text, but its implications about who God is and its application to us in our thoughts and actions. this happens not only on sunday mornings, but in home groups and Bible studies, as well as the plethora of media available to us in our technological age. something to consider: if you have a long commute like i do, perhaps spending that time listening to an audio Bible or recordings of sermons, which are widely available online or on tape or cd.
now notice something here: the people were gathered together for worship, all 50,000 of them. everyone was there, both men and women, young and old, rich and poor, across every societal division, anyone who could listen and think was there. imagine if God moved here in such a way that the entire city of harrisburg was shut down on sunday to meet as His people and worship through the preaching of His Word and the singing of His praises. that would be something, and it could happen, so let’s keep praying for it and seeking the advance of the gospel in this city, to see such a day in our time.
one thing to note: theirs was an age where most people couldn’t read very well, and there were very few books available to read. nowadays, we have giant bookstores and public libraries, and most of us have multiple copies of the Good Book. consider the privilege that is, and do not take it for granted.
also, notice the time indicators here. it’s so easy to read right over the details, but it says ezra preached from early morning until midday, roughly 6 hours. i’m not going to go that long today, which most of you are probably thankful for, but i want to impress upon you their example of earnest desire to hear from God, and prod us awake, that if we truly believe that the Bible is God-breathed, then we ought not to take it lightly, but rather treasure it and take advantage of the availability of Scripture and solid Bible-teaching.
ezra preaches from a wooden platform, above the people. this is not because ezra was in some sense better or more holy than the rest of israel. he was, in himself, just a man. but on that day, for that purpose, he is raised above them. why? because he was the messenger of God preaching the Word of God, and the Word deserves that place. you see, we can hold the Bible in one of two places. we can have it under us, reading it as a nice book with some good things to say, pulling it out when it suits our fancy, following it when it confirms what we already want or believe. or we can hold it above us, letting it have its place of authority over us, so that we submit to it, whether it agrees with us or not, we change to it. in this, its rightful position as inspired of God, we cannot avoid the parts that make us uncomfortable or that challenge our ways of thinking or acting. while we can ask questions and seek to gain understanding, we cannot dismiss what we do not like or cut out what we do not agree with. the question is, do we read the Bible, or do we let the Bible read us?

now we see in this next section the people’s response. their response is fourfold. they start with awestruck worship. in the Law, they see not only a list of commands, but a picture of the character of God. they see that He is holy and awesome, righteous and perfect. they lift their hands and bow down, and they cry aloud the blessedness of God.
their response is also to weep. but why do they weep? what has caused this great sorrow? for what reason are their hearts broken and their souls troubled? you see, they’ve just read through the Law of the Lord, which most of them have not heard much if any of while in their exile in babylon, and they realize that they have not lived up to it. now in our day and age, no one is expected to be perfect. our culture is full of “do your best” and “nobody’s perfect”, and while our anti-perfectionist mottos can be helpful and encouraging, i fear that we often forget that we are called to be perfect, for we are told “be perfect, as I am perfect, I am the Lord.” in our accepting of our limitations, we lull ourselves into complacency and comfort ourselves with a false sense of security when we come across the absolute demands of God and His standard. it goes so far that we barely take the Scriptures seriously. but the people in the text, when they heard from God, took Him seriously, and in so doing they were compelled to respond. they see how far they have fallen short, and they are deeply grieved by it.
thankfully, the text does not stop there, or else they and we should be left helpless and hopeless. ezra and his fellow leaders command them not to weep but to celebrate, to share in feasting and rejoicing with good food and drink. but why, if they were guilty, would the Bible teachers tell them to react in the exact opposite way? what is their reasoning for such an emotional about-face? the joyful news is that not only is God a holy and just judge, but He is merciful and forgiving. over and over in the Scriptures God described Himself as “a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” nehemiah quotes a merciful promise of God from the Law in chapter one, that “if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make My name dwell there,” and in this returning to jerusalem God fulfills His promise. and so the people are made to understand that, though they are sinful, God is providing a way back into relationship with Him, that they need not live in fear but can rejoice at the closeness of their Creator and King. and so their sorrow and repentance brings forth joy and celebration at the Word of God.
the last part of their response is obedience. they celebrate the festival of booths, also called the feast of tabernacles. the purpose of this feast was to remember the ancient israelites deliverance from slavery in egypt, how they traveled for many years in tents and huts, without permanent dwellings. so the people made temporary huts and lived in them for the week, as a remembrance of that part of their history.
this brings me to my next point: their reason for celebrating this is that God not only reveals Himself in Word and meets with His people in covenantal relationship, but He acts in history. over and over the psalms tell us to declare His mighty acts, and the Law commands us to tell of His deeds from one generation to the next. these things remind us that our God is not passive; He does not sit back and merely watch as the history of our world unfolds. rather, He is active in it, and works to display His glory, the radiance of His perfections. God shows in His works that He is not good and faithful and gracious and just in word only but in deed and in truth, and remembering these proofs of His goodness remind us that He is so, even when we question and doubt and struggle to trust. He works not only on the grandiose scale of nations but also in personal history. let me encourage you in this: when you pray, write down what you ask of God, and keep track of how He answers. it can greatly increase your confidence in His faithfulness.

lastly, let us take a step back and look at the bigger picture, because this passage is not alone, nor is the book that contains it isolated. it is part of one big book about one thing, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ. and as we take this bigger picture and look back at this morning’s text, we see that Jesus is all over this chapter. the chapter starts with the Word of God, and Jesus is ultimate revelation of God, the exact image of deity, the incarnate Word. and like the Law, the Gospel starts out with the fact that we are created by God and that we have fallen short. and like our text, the Gospel does not stop with sorrowful repentance, the turning from sin to God, but it continues with rejoicing in renewed relationship with God, which is ours because we were purchased by Him on the cross of Christ. therefore, instead of mourning over what we should have done or what we shouldn’t have said, we can rejoice in our God who is making us new. and lastly, we can look back at history, both on the grand scale of the progress of the gospel in the world at large, or the work of God in our own lives, and see how He is near and active in and around us, and that He’s not done with us yet. and that is very good news.
so now, we’ll sing a final song in response to God’s gracious love toward us, and then i’m off to celebrate His goodness with my family. how will you celebrate Jesus today?

gird your loins

so i was listening to the mars hill men's "advance" 2007, and the idea of the armor of God was brought up. a lot of good was said about it, and the message overall was a helpful call to thoughtful action.

i grew up reading the king james' version of the Bible. it wasn't until high school that we started using the niv. so when we started reading shakespeare in school, and all of my friends were struggling with the "old english", i just thought it was like church. anyway, the point is that many passages of the Bible that are the "classic" memory verses, i have memorized in the kjv.

you might wonder what these have to do with each other. well, many modern day translations (niv, esv, nlt) call the first part of the armor of God the "belt of truth" (Eph. 6). growing up on the kjv, i learned it as "girding your loins about with truth."

the reason i bring this up is that, in my experience, belts are often in modern times just decorative, not necessarily serving much of a purpose. but in ancient times, men would wear long robes, and when they would prepare for battle or something that required ease of movement, they would tie up their robes about their loins so that it would not impede them. this is what the apostle paul had in mind when he was talking about truth in the armor of God, namely, that it prepares us for action.

1 Peter 1:13 also uses this same imagery. many translations get the gist of it right, "preparing your minds for action", and the esv does make a note that in the greek, it says "girding up the loins of your mind." this is what the truth is to do for us: in learning truth, we are to be preparing for acting on it. we are to tie up what may get in our way, and be ready to act on truth, particularly the truth of the Word of God, the Truth that is in Christ.

i guess sometimes it pays to be old school.

separation

-in creation, God separates the light from the dark, the waters with an expanse, and the seas from the dry land.

-the most holy place, where God's glory dwelt of old, was separated from everything by a veil.

-over and over, God calls israel to be separated from the nations, and to separate themselves from all uncleanliness.

-Jesus says that in the end He will separate people like sheep from goats.



i think we've forgotten what it means that God's people are to be separate from the rest.

encouragement in the face of opposition

Exodus 1:12 - "But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel."

even in the days of israel's slavery in egypt, opposition caused growth. we see this throughout history, in that both israel and the church multiplied and spread under presecution. this is why i sometimes pray for the removal of our great freedoms in the u.s. in the same breath that i praise God for them, in order that His church might grow and be purified here; that like the martyrs of old and those around the globe, we would need to seriously consider our faith and what it means to us.

peeling the layers of reality

asking why and always trying to go a layer back can lead to some really deep thinking, and some unusual answers. i can’t pinpoint when this started for me, but this past year several friends of mine have encouraged this process of thinking in me like steroids. the idea is that almost any statement you make, especially when dealing with the deeper things of the universe (i.e. not small talk), can be taken a level or a layer backward in meaning, generally by simply asking “why?”. eventually there is a stopping point, because at some point there is a foundation of axioms or universal truths by which everything else is defined. here are a few building blocks, or some of the deepest answers, that i have found, specifically from a Christian worldview.

ultimately, when taken back to its absolute deepest, the basis of all things is God. the Bible is clear that God is the only uncreated thing, that there was never a time that He was not, and nothing ever defined Him, but He defines everything. in my understanding, He did not choose to be who He is, nor did something else choose for Him: He simply is who He is, as He has always been and ever will be. therefore, being the ultimate reality, all else is defined by God: who He is; what He’s like; His characteristics and attributes.

taking one of these attributes, namely, that God is good, leads to some interesting thoughts. all that we would call good are reflections of God’s character. whatever we enjoy that is good is enjoyable because we see God in it and we were made to worship God by enjoying Him.

also, taking a step back, we see that because God is the only uncreated thing, all that is is defined by Him, either positively or negatively. goodness, faithfulness, love, joy, truth, fellowship, power, beauty, peace, justice, righteousness, unity, authority, every good thing is defined by the part of God’s character that we define by these words. sin, perversion, deception, treachery, discord, weakness, every evil thing is defined by looking at God in negative: what He is not, how He did not make the world to be, etc. thus, when we speak of love, we should start by defining it in relation to God, rather than defining it by ourselves and holding God accountable to that definition. often our definitions are thus flawed, because we do not by nature treasure God. however, this does not mean that our definitions are meaningless, because it is also true that God has written His law and the story of eternity both generally, throughout His creation, and specifically, on our hearts.

if this is so, then it seems our understanding of God is best served by first knowing who He has revealed Himself to be (most specifically through the Bible), and then both adjusting our intuitive definitions of goodness, justice, etc., by how we find Him revealed there, and also trying to reconcile the various attributes and ways of God we find with our working knowledge of these ideals.

another clear Biblical idea is that God does all things for His glory.* in my understanding, glory is synonymous with weightiness, awesomeness, or renown. thus, God does all things to display His greatness for the fame of His name. now, if my earlier bit about God defining all things is true, then His glory or greatness is Him being Himself, as odd as that sounds. in that case, God does all things to display His character, so that He would be praised in all the earth.

it is often argued that God did not sacrifice His Son because something in us was worthy of His great love, but that He did so for the sake of His glory, that He would have a people to worship Him for all eternity, and so sent Christ to die in our place for our sins that we might praise Him forever. and this is true, but i think it’s stopping a bit short. if God’s glory is displaying who He is, then His death on the cross is not for some abstract thing called “glory”, but that we might see what true love is, because God is love – He defines it. and yes, He doesn’t love us because of us, He loves us because of His own eternal character. but that doesn’t diminish the fact that it was for love that He endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, that He might enjoy us reveling in His great love forever.

that is what makes God’s desire that we worship Him not tyrannical. it’s not begrudging praise or obligated obedience that He wants, but rather that we would find our truest and most satisfying joy in Him, which is the essence of what it is to glorify Him. we enjoy Him because He is good, and we were made to enjoy that. now some would say that a skilled dictator may convince his people to enjoy him and what he does, despite the fact that it is not truly what is good for them or what is most enjoyable. the problem with this – and one of the main reasons i started thinking more along these lines in the first place – is that this cannot apply to God, because there is no higher truth to appeal to for what is good and true and enjoyable. those who would claim that God is that sort of tyrant must believe in some higher power, some more ultimate reality, by which they could judge Him. and if there was such a power or reality, then God would cease to be God, and this higher being would be God.

hopefully that gives you some insight, either into who God is, or what truth is and how it is defined, or how i think, or simply something more to mull over. in any case, i hope you are well, that God is blessing you richly, and that you are finding more and more joy in Him, to the praise of His glorious grace.












*i know some of you at this point are probably thinking that that makes God the biggest narcissist ever. allow me to pose you a question to mull over: if God commands us to worship Him alone, which means centering ours lives around Him alone, and yet He is not God-centered, then would not God be an idolater?

and Scripture cannot be a broken

this little insert in Jesus' argument in john 10:35 seriously made my day. God's Word does not fail, it cannot be broken. that means all it says about His faithfulness, His love, His holiness, His greatness, His grace; all of it is true and will not change.

yup, i love the Bible, because in it i see my True Love, the Lover of my soul.

grace and peace from our glorious King.

jumbled thoughts

"why is [love your neighbor as yourself] a summary of all that God calls me to? oh, get this truth: because it's only when i love God above all else that i'll ever love my neighbor as myself. it's only when God is in the rightful place in my life that i will treat you with the love that i have received from Him. brothers and sisters, hear this: you don't fix language problems, you don't fix communication problems, you don't fix word problems horizontally; you fix them vertically!" ~paul tripp, war of words: getting to the heart for God's sake, at desiring God national conference '08

"love your neigbor as yourself" doesn't just mean love them as you love yourself. here's another way of looking at it: love your neighbor as if he is part of you. treat him as a part of yourself. this is especially poignant if they are a Christian, because then you are truly a part of the same Body, namely, of Christ.

acts 4:34 & acts 6:7, people giving up houses and lands for people, and priests becoming believers. first, becoming homeless so the homeless aren't anymore makes no sense, because then they do the same and it's cyclic. so i would assume this means they lived more communally, or at least more simply, in smaller houses, because they realized they didn't need their luxury stuff as much as those in need needed what they could give from the sale of their stuff, because people are worth more than stuff.
secondly, if the priests became believers, and a large portion of what the priests did was offer sacrifices, and Christ is the great and final Sacrifice as the Lamb of God, then wouldn't a lot of them be out of work? what does this say about how we should see our jobs compared to being true to Christ?