Two weeks ago we started a two part discussion of patience.
God desires us to be patient with ourselves and those around us – even the difficult people we don’t like. Today we look at various places in the Bible in order to grow in patience.
Let’s begin by looking at the patience of God.
Peter writes (3:9), “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.”
Impatient people are quick to judge, but God does not judge quickly. Instead he waits patiently for us to choose to turn from wrongdoing and receive his love and forgiveness.
Paul writes to judgmental impatient people when he says in Romans (2:4), “do you despise the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”
God shows patient love even to despicable people.
He can do this because of his character of love and his place in eternity. God is love, and love is patient. It doesn’t force its way on people, but constantly and consistently shows love and waits patiently for love to be returned. In the face of unrequited love, God waits…
God dwells in eternity. For him a day is ten thousand years. He lives in a world where time is not scarce – in eternity time doesn’t exist as we know it. This maximizes God’s potential for patience.
God is patient because he is love and he dwells in eternity. We rightly praise God for his patience and we can use his example to help us gain patience with ourselves and others.
I don’t know about you, but my problem with impatience begins with myself. I’m actually less patient with myself than I am with other people. Let me give you an example.
Karen is our secretary here at church and like every other human I know she gets the occasional illness. She faithfully reports in and tells me when she’s ill. Guess what I tell her. I express genuine concern and tell her to take good care of herself and not to worry about work. I tell her, “We have you covered.”
When I get sick, I tell myself things I’d never tell Karen. “Get to work! You don’t have time to be sick! People are relying on you; you can’t be sick! If you admit to being ill people will think you’re weak. Fight through it and drive in!”
Can we at least be as patient with ourselves as we are to others?
How patient are you with yourself?
Is there something you want to do, but won’t because of how much time it will take?
In talking with people about how they want to spend their lives of work I often hear impatient answers.
“I’d like to be a teacher, but I haven’t gone to college, and that would take me at least four years!”
“I’d like to get into business, but any good position requires an MBA and that would take me at least two years.”
“I’d like to become a counselor, but it would take me six years to get the education required.”
2 years, 4 years, 6 years are nothing in light of our entire lives. If God has given us a desire in our hearts, what amount of time is too much to spend pursuing the goals he’s given? Is 20 years too much? Is 50?
We see time as a scarce commodity – as a limited resource to be spent wisely. But isn’t this a carnal view of time? What would be a more spiritually accurate view of time?
We talk about receiving “eternal life” in Christ. Normally we view this eternal life beginning when we die, but it starts now. I mean, if death is only a transition into a different type of living, don’t we live eternally now?
Christ defeated death in the resurrection, so when we enter into his life we enter the realm of eternal living. We gain an eternal kind of life now.
If we live in Christ, time is not scarce, it’s abundant.
Being sick isn’t a waste of time – God can move in us even when we’re ill. We need not worry about how long pursuing God’s mission for us takes if we have an eternal view of this life.
One final note on being patient with ourselves; Christians have always been people on the way. We are works in progress. God’s patience and gentleness allows us to go through the process of character development, and it’s a bumpy road.
When we fail, instead of impatiently saying, “How could I have done that?!” and beating ourselves up, we can have God’s perspective of ourselves – his love and patience. We can simply say, “I’m not perfect yet. I still need God’s grace every day.”
In patient self-love, we can ask meaningful questions about our failures. What causes me to mess up? What do I need from God to avoid this error in the future? What change is required?
Just as we attempt to view ourselves in the light of God’s patience and eternity, we can view other people in the same light and be more patient with them.
Our patience with other people is tested in a variety of ways.
One truth of personality theory reveals that not everyone gets along naturally. Some people will rub you the wrong way. Certain people will annoy you. Because you are the way you are and they are the way they are, you will not like them.
Our local body of Christ will have people in it that you don’t like. For the sake of unity, we must be patient.
Paul writes (Ephesians 4:1-3) I…beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Each of us will have people we must simply “bear with.” Pride makes us attempt to change them to make them the way we want them to be, but patience causes us to bear with them.
When we find ourselves in the presence of someone we do not naturally like we can do several patient things to maintain peace and unity.
We can let them be who they are. We can listen to their message behind the things that irritate us.
When in the presence of a person who irritates us we should always pause before speaking and choose our words carefully in order to maintain peace.
We don’t need to be friends with everyone, but we must maintain our unity as one Body in Christ.
Another test of patience comes when people disappoints us.
After telling us to clothe ourselves with patience, Paul writes in Colossians (3:13) “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
We can’t expect perfect consistency from people. We know ourselves to be imperfect and continually receive God’s forgiveness. Because of this, when someone disappoints us, we can respond with patient forgiveness. We can acknowledge we are all people on the way and forgive even as God has forgiven us.
Not getting our way also tests patience.
The great “love chapter” in 1st Corinthians puts it this way: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful…”
Love does not use force – physical, psychological, intellectual, or even spiritual force to get its own way. If we force our way, we love impatiently and imperfectly.
I learned the hard way that love does not insist on its own way while serving as the Associate Pastor of Redeemer Covenant Church. One day I got a phone call from someone we’ll call George.
He wanted my support in banning women from the Sunday evening basketball game. He didn’t like that a woman from the community had been coming to play. It wasn’t that she didn’t play well…in fact she was better than most of the guys...It was that she was a she.
He argued for the importance of men getting together for fellowship without women present. He feared that she would be uncomfortable playing with a group of guys. He asked, “What if someone guarding her accidentally touched her inappropriately?”
I disagreed with him vehemently. I told him, “It’s great that several people from the community are coming to the church and it doesn’t bother me that one of them is a woman. If she is comfortable, she should not be excluded.”
I argued based on the mission of the church. I even argued based on the Kingdom of God.
Because George was in charge of the event, I told him he could do whatever he wanted, but that he would be making an un-Christian decision if he forbade her from coming to play.
I really put George in his place…and I lost a friend. I insisted on my own way and created disunity. I exploded a small issue and made it powerful enough to divide a community.
I knew I was right, but my response was so wrong.
Patience demands that we do not insist on our own way. I could have listened patiently, expressed my view quietly, and let him decide. Instead I attempted to control another person. Patience does not insist on its own way.
A patient person also knows that waiting can be an act of faithfulness. I’m a man of action. I want to do something to help, but sometimes being present and waiting is most needed.
The powerlessness we feel when someone is grieving a loss sometimes prompts us to impatiently propose a solution. We say ridiculous things. If someone grieves the loss of a boy or girl friend, what do we say? “There are other fish in the sea.” Do you know how stupid that sounds? They don’t want just any fish. They want the one they just lost.
What wisdom do we give to the person grieving the loss of a loved one? “Tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.” Craziness! Sure it’s true, but it doesn’t ease the pain of loss. Truth isn’t always a healing balm.
Grieving or depressed people need our presence, not our wisdom or advice.
Parker Palmer, the great educator and teacher of teachers recounts a story of a deep depression he found himself in and his friends’ responses.
“Various friends tried to rescue me with well-intentioned encouragement and advice: “Get outside and enjoy the sunshine,” or “You have such a good life – why be depressed?” or “I know a book that might really help you.” For all their good intentions, these friends made me even more depressed.
They did not understand what I was going through, did not understand that there was no easy “fix.” Their advice served only to distance them from me, leaving me even more isolated.
“In the midst of my depression I had a friend who took a different tack. Every afternoon at around four o’clock he came to me, sat me in a chair, removed my shoes, and massaged my feet. He hardly said a word, but he was there, he was with me. He was a lifeline for me, a link to the human community and thus to my own humanity. He had no need to “fix” me. He knew the meaning of compassion” (The Active Life, 85).
Palmer’s friend patiently abided with him. He didn’t try to force his agenda on him. He didn’t try to position himself above Palmer as the expert advice giver. He didn’t shower him with wisdom; he patiently showed love.
Conclusion
We worship a God of profound patience. He is love and he dwells in eternity. Because of this, he does not judge quickly. He reveals his love to us and waits patiently for us to respond appropriately.
God asks us to have his perspective on time as we live in Him. We live in Christ eternally so we can know the abundance of time and remain patient with ourselves and others.
God desires us to “bear with” people we don’t naturally like in order to maintain the unity of his community. We can offer patient forgiveness to people because God has patiently forgiven us.
Faithfulness sometimes demands patient waiting and a ministry of presence. Sometimes people just need our availability, not our advice or rescue.
The only way we can be patient for a lifetime is if we know the patience and love of God.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Mark 1:1-8 "Prepare" December 7, 2008
This text is rougher than most since I did not edit it (sick with sinus infection)...
Mark 1:1-8 “Prepare” December 7, 2008
What do we do to prepare for Christmas? What are you doing these days to get ready for Christmas?
Let me tell you what my family and I do. We buy a Christmas tree. This year we went to Home Depot and bought a tree and a stand since I couldn’t find the one I know we have in storage somewhere.
We brought the tree home, decorated it with lights and ornaments, and poured water in the stand. Then the kids had great fun playing with the pine needles decorating the floor.
We bring out special candles and light them. We display snowmen and bring out other red and green decorations to celebrate that Christmas is coming.
As an extended family we establish the complicated formula of family gift exchanges. We draw names and set price limits on gifts. We buy gifts and wrap them. We bake Christmas goodies.
We orchestrate the timing of our family celebrations and attend parties to re-connect with old friends.
I imagine we all do stuff like this. But are we preparing for Christmas? If the reason for Christmas is Jesus, are we truly preparing to celebrate Jesus as our Messiah on December 25th?
It seems to me we’re preparing for each other. We’re getting our houses clean and buying presents for each other. We’re maintaining and deepening our relationships with our friends and family. These are great things, but isn’t Christmas about Jesus?
An online author writes, “When we hold our efforts up to the Scriptures, we become aware how misdirected we are. We are like sailors on the Titanic, busily rearranging furniture when we need to be steering the doomed liner around the iceberg.
Could it be that we miss the coming of Christ and the gifts He brings to our lives, because we fail to prepare properly? If so, what is the biblical pattern for readiness to accept the Christ who comes to us?”
Let’s look at the Biblical pattern of readiness in accepting Christ by considering the preparation ministry of John the baptizer as found in Mark 1:1-8
Text
“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
In just eight verses, Mark, the author of this gospel identifies Jesus and tells us some things we need to do in order to prepare for Jesus’ arrival. The words are all about Jesus and our readiness to meet him.
Mark identifies Jesus as the “Christ” and the “Son of God.” What does he mean by these identifying words?
If you ask kids what Jesus’ last name is, what will they say? They’ll say Christ. Jesus’ last name is “Christ, Jesus Christ.” But we know Christ is not Jesus’ last name or his middle name. It is his identity and his ongoing role in history.
Christ means Messiah or Savior. Jesus is the Messiah. Mark identifies Jesus as the Messiah, but not the messiah of human origin or for a humanistic salvation – like salvation from economic crisis. Jesus is the Savior of souls.
Mark calls Jesus the Son of God. Jesus is the Messiah – the only begotten Son of God. Jesus was not made by God; he existed with God from the beginning and now enters human history by taking on flesh to be our Messiah.
This is the Jesus whose arrival we celebrate this Christmas.
John the baptizer further identifies Jesus’ stature when he says, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals."
For us, untying someone’s shoelace isn’t such a big deal. But in their time, loosening the strap of a man’s sandal was deeply humiliating.
Slaves took care of their master’s feet. They untied their dirty, dusty sandals and washed their master’s sweaty stinky feet. But not God’s slaves! Because this task is so demeaning, God’s law forbade Hebrew slaves from untying their master’s sandals.
John says “The one who comes after me; I’m not worthy to loosen the straps on his shoes.”
John’s telling us that if we were nurses in a hospital and Jesus was a patient there, we wouldn’t be worthy to clean out his excrement laden bed pan. Jesus is so glorious, so wonderful, so highly esteemed; we would not be worthy to serve him.
Do we realize just how remarkable Jesus is? Are we preparing to receive our Messiah – the Son of God – rightly this year?
It’s OK to deck the halls with boughs of holly. It’s OK to consider Christmas to be Jesus’ birthday. Some of our families even sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, because we view Jesus as our friend, but maybe we’ve gotten too buddy-buddy with our Messiah.
Jesus is the Messiah of God. He’s not a friend like you and I are friends; he’s a friend more powerful than any human. He is the God-man. He’s our creator of the world friend. He’s our Savior of the world friend.
This is the Jesus we prepare to receive anew on Christmas. How do we prepare?
John the baptizer prepared people to meet their Messiah. His ministry fulfills the prophecy Mark recounts, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
John wears the garments of a prophet – a camel's hair robe tied with a leather belt. He eats the food of a prophet – locusts and wild honey.
His prophesies that the Messiah of God is coming. Prepare for him! Prepare for the arrival of your Savior! Prepare through repentance and a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Repent and be baptized.
Repentance refers to a change of mind and to a wholehearted return to God. It implies abandoning our ways and adopting God’s ways – abandoning our wrong ways and adopting God’s right ways.
It means experiencing remorse for what we’ve done wrong and turning from those things toward God. Repentance implies a total life re-orientation!
John tells people to reorient their lives in order to prepare to meet their Messiah.
John also calls the people to be baptized.
We’re so familiar with Christian baptism that John’s baptism doesn’t seem novel to us. But John’s baptism is unique. There are no rules for this sort of baptism in the Hebrew law.
There was a community called the Qumran community that practiced ritual cleansing. The Qumran community left us the Dead Sea Scrolls and the people of that community immersed themselves in water for the cleansing of their lives of sin. They did so three times a day.
But John’s baptism is different. It is once and for all and it was performed by another person in anticipation of meeting the Messiah.
The people must have believed John because they came out in droves. They confessed their sins, turned from them, and were baptized by John. His baptizing ways became so well known that he was named John the Baptizer.
John deflects all of this fame and points to Jesus. “I have baptized you with water; but the one who is to come will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John compares himself and his ministry with the coming Messiah. In the same degree that John is not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal, Jesus baptism will be greater than John’s baptism.
John says, “I baptize with water, the Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” I cleanse you with water after you repent of your sins, but Jesus will baptize you with the cleansing agent of the Holy Spirit of God.
That’s why when we bring people here for the sacrament of baptism we pray, “Jesus, as we baptize with water, baptize with your Holy Spirit.”
How can we prepare in new ways for the arrival of Jesus the Messiah – the Son of God? How can we do Advent differently this year?
As John helped people prepare, he didn’t ask them to get their houses clean and well decorated. He didn’t tell them to host parties and exchange gifts. He said, “Turn from your wrong ways toward God. As you repent, be baptized and receive forgiveness for your sins.”
Instead of spending all our time this advent season preparing our homes, interacting with friends and family, and buying gifts to exchange, maybe we should spend time preparing our lives to meet Jesus.
Let’s acknowledge the obstacles in our relationship with God. Let’s spend time allowing God to search us and know us and see if there is anything foul in us. Let’s repent of the things that hinder us from receiving Christ, and turn away from them.
Pray.
Mark 1:1-8 “Prepare” December 7, 2008
What do we do to prepare for Christmas? What are you doing these days to get ready for Christmas?
Let me tell you what my family and I do. We buy a Christmas tree. This year we went to Home Depot and bought a tree and a stand since I couldn’t find the one I know we have in storage somewhere.
We brought the tree home, decorated it with lights and ornaments, and poured water in the stand. Then the kids had great fun playing with the pine needles decorating the floor.
We bring out special candles and light them. We display snowmen and bring out other red and green decorations to celebrate that Christmas is coming.
As an extended family we establish the complicated formula of family gift exchanges. We draw names and set price limits on gifts. We buy gifts and wrap them. We bake Christmas goodies.
We orchestrate the timing of our family celebrations and attend parties to re-connect with old friends.
I imagine we all do stuff like this. But are we preparing for Christmas? If the reason for Christmas is Jesus, are we truly preparing to celebrate Jesus as our Messiah on December 25th?
It seems to me we’re preparing for each other. We’re getting our houses clean and buying presents for each other. We’re maintaining and deepening our relationships with our friends and family. These are great things, but isn’t Christmas about Jesus?
An online author writes, “When we hold our efforts up to the Scriptures, we become aware how misdirected we are. We are like sailors on the Titanic, busily rearranging furniture when we need to be steering the doomed liner around the iceberg.
Could it be that we miss the coming of Christ and the gifts He brings to our lives, because we fail to prepare properly? If so, what is the biblical pattern for readiness to accept the Christ who comes to us?”
Let’s look at the Biblical pattern of readiness in accepting Christ by considering the preparation ministry of John the baptizer as found in Mark 1:1-8
Text
“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
In just eight verses, Mark, the author of this gospel identifies Jesus and tells us some things we need to do in order to prepare for Jesus’ arrival. The words are all about Jesus and our readiness to meet him.
Mark identifies Jesus as the “Christ” and the “Son of God.” What does he mean by these identifying words?
If you ask kids what Jesus’ last name is, what will they say? They’ll say Christ. Jesus’ last name is “Christ, Jesus Christ.” But we know Christ is not Jesus’ last name or his middle name. It is his identity and his ongoing role in history.
Christ means Messiah or Savior. Jesus is the Messiah. Mark identifies Jesus as the Messiah, but not the messiah of human origin or for a humanistic salvation – like salvation from economic crisis. Jesus is the Savior of souls.
Mark calls Jesus the Son of God. Jesus is the Messiah – the only begotten Son of God. Jesus was not made by God; he existed with God from the beginning and now enters human history by taking on flesh to be our Messiah.
This is the Jesus whose arrival we celebrate this Christmas.
John the baptizer further identifies Jesus’ stature when he says, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals."
For us, untying someone’s shoelace isn’t such a big deal. But in their time, loosening the strap of a man’s sandal was deeply humiliating.
Slaves took care of their master’s feet. They untied their dirty, dusty sandals and washed their master’s sweaty stinky feet. But not God’s slaves! Because this task is so demeaning, God’s law forbade Hebrew slaves from untying their master’s sandals.
John says “The one who comes after me; I’m not worthy to loosen the straps on his shoes.”
John’s telling us that if we were nurses in a hospital and Jesus was a patient there, we wouldn’t be worthy to clean out his excrement laden bed pan. Jesus is so glorious, so wonderful, so highly esteemed; we would not be worthy to serve him.
Do we realize just how remarkable Jesus is? Are we preparing to receive our Messiah – the Son of God – rightly this year?
It’s OK to deck the halls with boughs of holly. It’s OK to consider Christmas to be Jesus’ birthday. Some of our families even sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, because we view Jesus as our friend, but maybe we’ve gotten too buddy-buddy with our Messiah.
Jesus is the Messiah of God. He’s not a friend like you and I are friends; he’s a friend more powerful than any human. He is the God-man. He’s our creator of the world friend. He’s our Savior of the world friend.
This is the Jesus we prepare to receive anew on Christmas. How do we prepare?
John the baptizer prepared people to meet their Messiah. His ministry fulfills the prophecy Mark recounts, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
John wears the garments of a prophet – a camel's hair robe tied with a leather belt. He eats the food of a prophet – locusts and wild honey.
His prophesies that the Messiah of God is coming. Prepare for him! Prepare for the arrival of your Savior! Prepare through repentance and a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Repent and be baptized.
Repentance refers to a change of mind and to a wholehearted return to God. It implies abandoning our ways and adopting God’s ways – abandoning our wrong ways and adopting God’s right ways.
It means experiencing remorse for what we’ve done wrong and turning from those things toward God. Repentance implies a total life re-orientation!
John tells people to reorient their lives in order to prepare to meet their Messiah.
John also calls the people to be baptized.
We’re so familiar with Christian baptism that John’s baptism doesn’t seem novel to us. But John’s baptism is unique. There are no rules for this sort of baptism in the Hebrew law.
There was a community called the Qumran community that practiced ritual cleansing. The Qumran community left us the Dead Sea Scrolls and the people of that community immersed themselves in water for the cleansing of their lives of sin. They did so three times a day.
But John’s baptism is different. It is once and for all and it was performed by another person in anticipation of meeting the Messiah.
The people must have believed John because they came out in droves. They confessed their sins, turned from them, and were baptized by John. His baptizing ways became so well known that he was named John the Baptizer.
John deflects all of this fame and points to Jesus. “I have baptized you with water; but the one who is to come will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John compares himself and his ministry with the coming Messiah. In the same degree that John is not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal, Jesus baptism will be greater than John’s baptism.
John says, “I baptize with water, the Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” I cleanse you with water after you repent of your sins, but Jesus will baptize you with the cleansing agent of the Holy Spirit of God.
That’s why when we bring people here for the sacrament of baptism we pray, “Jesus, as we baptize with water, baptize with your Holy Spirit.”
How can we prepare in new ways for the arrival of Jesus the Messiah – the Son of God? How can we do Advent differently this year?
As John helped people prepare, he didn’t ask them to get their houses clean and well decorated. He didn’t tell them to host parties and exchange gifts. He said, “Turn from your wrong ways toward God. As you repent, be baptized and receive forgiveness for your sins.”
Instead of spending all our time this advent season preparing our homes, interacting with friends and family, and buying gifts to exchange, maybe we should spend time preparing our lives to meet Jesus.
Let’s acknowledge the obstacles in our relationship with God. Let’s spend time allowing God to search us and know us and see if there is anything foul in us. Let’s repent of the things that hinder us from receiving Christ, and turn away from them.
Pray.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sermon text of Isaiah 63:7-64:12 November 30, 2008
Isaiah 63:7-64:12 “Rend the Heavens” 11-30-08
The sermon text this morning is Isaiah 63:7 to 64:12 on page 605 of your pew Bible.
Read Text
“I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD, the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, because of all that the LORD has done for us, and the great favor to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
For he said, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely"; and he became their savior in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled and grieved his holy spirit; therefore he became their enemy; he himself fought against them.
Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put within them his holy spirit, who caused his glorious arm to march at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like cattle that go down into the valley, the spirit of the LORD gave them rest. Thus you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.
Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and glorious habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The yearning of your heart and your compassion? They are withheld from me.
For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name.
Why, O LORD, do you make us stray from your ways and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you? Turn back for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.
Your holy people took possession for a little while; but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name.
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.
You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
After all this, will you restrain yourself, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?”
This text is a song of communal lament most likely sung at the site of the burned down temple in Jerusalem. The whole community of God gathered in the temple rubble and sang this song of grief, repentance and plea after the Babylonians destroyed their place of worship.
The people of God – the chosen ones of God – have been dealt with harshly and they reel. They beg God for answers.
Where are you God?
Where is your help?
Where is your presence in our time of need?
Even with this in mind, Isaiah begins this song by remembering what God has done by praising him. He recalls the steadfast love of the Lord.
He recalls the very presence of God saving Israel – how He lead the people through the wilderness, parted the Red Sea, and shook the world when Moses brought the 10 Commandments down from Mount Sinai.
Isaiah calls to mind the way God parted the Jordan River for his people to walk into the Promised Land. God gave the people rest and prepared to make the Name of the Lord glorious.
What happened to destroy the peace?
Like rebellious children, the people of God disobeyed their Heavenly Father. Isaiah laments, “We have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name.”
This grieves the Holy Spirit of God and makes God the enemy. So God fights against his own people and allows his holy temple to be destroyed.
Even still, Isaiah entreats God, “You’re still our Father. Even though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us, you are our Father.”
Your name is “Redeemer of old.” Unless you show up, we can’t turn from our wicked ways. Unless you soften our hearts, they will remain hardened. You are the potter, we are the clay.
O that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Isaiah sings for God not simply to see them, but to come down. “Break through the domed firmament and the clouds and intervene” (Blenkinsopp, 264). Draw near!
Come down like fire that causes twigs to burn and then makes the pot boil. Come down like an earthquake. Be the God of the unexpected!
For our part, we confess and repent. We have all become like a person unclean and even our good deeds are filthy rags.
Sin has become continual, defiling, destructive, and barrier producing. It has separated the people from God.
Now the people feel like a withered fall leaf blowing in the wind.
Can I reveal the depth of the people’s sin with the danger of grossing you out a little bit? In this section, Isaiah is talking about a woman having her period. He’s saying that the people of God have become unclean and their good deeds resemble a dirty tampon. Instead of white as snow, they are as unclean as a maxi-pad.
Even in this state, Isaiah calls the people to sing, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.” He leads them in singing, “Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember our sins forever…we are your people… will you restrain yourself, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?”
The people call on God to draw near to them. “Don’t stand back, God. Don’t be aloof, come near! Have mercy! Speak! Move! Act!”
How do we respond to this song of corporate lament?
It might seem like a strange text for the beginning of Advent, but this season before Christmas is a season of repentance. It’s a mini-Lent on the church calendar. It’s a time for us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord.
What is our standing with God these days? How near and dear is our God to us? What is the condition of our hearts before God?
Turning from personal sin toward God must be done this Advent, but today, we look at our corporate sins. To prepare our hearts and lives for the coming of Jesus, what do we need to turn from? As a people, what has made even our good deeds filthy rags?
I contemplated these verses while watching Mumbai burn. Over 170 people died at the hands of terrorists. It made me pray, “How long O Lord?! O that you would rend the heavens and come down!”
I turned on the 6 o’clock news to see some coverage and only saw local stories of lost cats, local theft, and a back alley murder.
I know 6 o’clock is the local news time, but are we so apathetic to suffering in the world that we can’t delay local news in the face of an international crisis? If this attack had happened on American soil it would still be leading the news and our trite local news would wait. The terrorists targeted Americans!
Maybe apathy is one of our corporate sins. Maybe we need to repent this advent season for our lack of concern – our lack of love in action for others.
A mere 10 billion dollars would solve the number one killer of people worldwide – unclean or insufficient water. It causes death by disease. It causes death by thirst.
10 billion may sound like a lot of money, but we spend 10 billion every month fighting in Iraq. Why isn’t there the political will in this nation to end the leading cause of death worldwide?
We are loveless and apathetic.
As the video showed, we spend 450 billion dollars celebrating Christmas. If we want God to rend the heavens and come down, maybe we need to get our hearts re-oriented. As we contemplate the humility of Christ, leaving the throne of heaven to come as a baby, maybe we need to humble our hearts and show the same love he did.
Instead of exchanging gifts this Christmas, maybe we should simply give them to those in greatest need. If the politicians won’t spend our tax dollars to help the least of these, maybe we need to spend our money mercifully.
In preparation for Christ’s birth, Jodi and I will be exchanging gifts with family and friends, but this year we will donate an equal amount of money to feeding the hungry and providing clean water for the thirsty.
Will you join me? Will you give an equal amount of money to those with nothing as you do to your friends and family who have everything they need and most of what they want? It might mean giving smaller gifts to your family. But it does mean giving life to the dying.
$10 buys a Christmas card and a paperback novel, but it can also provide clean water to a child for their entire lifetime.
We need to repent of our apathy in preparation for Christmas.
So I’m watching Mumbai burn. Imagine the bitter irony of seeing the next story on my screen. A temporary employee of Wal-Mart unlocked the doors at 4am on Black Friday and didn’t get out of the way fast enough. She was trampled to death.
This wasn’t local news. I read the story on CNN.com while watching the Mumbai coverage.
Even on Saturday morning the story of death by greed was still front page on the BBC news website. The BBC! This news goes global…our greed is famous!
Children living in poverty on the streets of Addis Ababa hear this story. Children living in refugee camps around the world hear this story. Do they joke amongst themselves, “I want to go to a country where the only reason they kill each other is because of a department store sale.”
Or maybe our greed so repels them that they resolve to live differently when they get here. I know immigrants who make minimum wage and can still send large chunks of money to their families living in poverty in their native lands.
More controversially, do foreigners see American greed as part of the reason why some people hate America…part of the reason terrorists target us on the streets of Mumbai.
As a nation we have worshiped the god of wealth and the security and power it brings for too long. The consequences of our greed is not the city lying in ruins and the temple in ashes as it was in Biblical times. So far we just have a mortgage and credit crisis.
We lived on the edge of our means. We mortgaged our houses and re-mortgaged our houses to maximize our capacity to consume never thinking our homes could lose value.
We maxed our credit, never thinking the economy would stall. We spent our resources on ourselves and look where we are.
If we repent and turn from our greed, will God rend the heavens and come down? If we start enjoying what we have and not wanting what we don’t have, will God come near?
Conclusion:
This song of corporate lament can be our song. We can confess our apathy and greed as a people. We can cry out to God for his return. We can pray, “O God as we turn, please draw near!”
O that you would rend the heavens and come down.
Pray
The sermon text this morning is Isaiah 63:7 to 64:12 on page 605 of your pew Bible.
Read Text
“I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD, the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, because of all that the LORD has done for us, and the great favor to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
For he said, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely"; and he became their savior in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled and grieved his holy spirit; therefore he became their enemy; he himself fought against them.
Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put within them his holy spirit, who caused his glorious arm to march at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like cattle that go down into the valley, the spirit of the LORD gave them rest. Thus you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.
Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and glorious habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The yearning of your heart and your compassion? They are withheld from me.
For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name.
Why, O LORD, do you make us stray from your ways and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you? Turn back for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.
Your holy people took possession for a little while; but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name.
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.
You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
After all this, will you restrain yourself, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?”
This text is a song of communal lament most likely sung at the site of the burned down temple in Jerusalem. The whole community of God gathered in the temple rubble and sang this song of grief, repentance and plea after the Babylonians destroyed their place of worship.
The people of God – the chosen ones of God – have been dealt with harshly and they reel. They beg God for answers.
Where are you God?
Where is your help?
Where is your presence in our time of need?
Even with this in mind, Isaiah begins this song by remembering what God has done by praising him. He recalls the steadfast love of the Lord.
He recalls the very presence of God saving Israel – how He lead the people through the wilderness, parted the Red Sea, and shook the world when Moses brought the 10 Commandments down from Mount Sinai.
Isaiah calls to mind the way God parted the Jordan River for his people to walk into the Promised Land. God gave the people rest and prepared to make the Name of the Lord glorious.
What happened to destroy the peace?
Like rebellious children, the people of God disobeyed their Heavenly Father. Isaiah laments, “We have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name.”
This grieves the Holy Spirit of God and makes God the enemy. So God fights against his own people and allows his holy temple to be destroyed.
Even still, Isaiah entreats God, “You’re still our Father. Even though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us, you are our Father.”
Your name is “Redeemer of old.” Unless you show up, we can’t turn from our wicked ways. Unless you soften our hearts, they will remain hardened. You are the potter, we are the clay.
O that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Isaiah sings for God not simply to see them, but to come down. “Break through the domed firmament and the clouds and intervene” (Blenkinsopp, 264). Draw near!
Come down like fire that causes twigs to burn and then makes the pot boil. Come down like an earthquake. Be the God of the unexpected!
For our part, we confess and repent. We have all become like a person unclean and even our good deeds are filthy rags.
Sin has become continual, defiling, destructive, and barrier producing. It has separated the people from God.
Now the people feel like a withered fall leaf blowing in the wind.
Can I reveal the depth of the people’s sin with the danger of grossing you out a little bit? In this section, Isaiah is talking about a woman having her period. He’s saying that the people of God have become unclean and their good deeds resemble a dirty tampon. Instead of white as snow, they are as unclean as a maxi-pad.
Even in this state, Isaiah calls the people to sing, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.” He leads them in singing, “Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember our sins forever…we are your people… will you restrain yourself, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?”
The people call on God to draw near to them. “Don’t stand back, God. Don’t be aloof, come near! Have mercy! Speak! Move! Act!”
How do we respond to this song of corporate lament?
It might seem like a strange text for the beginning of Advent, but this season before Christmas is a season of repentance. It’s a mini-Lent on the church calendar. It’s a time for us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord.
What is our standing with God these days? How near and dear is our God to us? What is the condition of our hearts before God?
Turning from personal sin toward God must be done this Advent, but today, we look at our corporate sins. To prepare our hearts and lives for the coming of Jesus, what do we need to turn from? As a people, what has made even our good deeds filthy rags?
I contemplated these verses while watching Mumbai burn. Over 170 people died at the hands of terrorists. It made me pray, “How long O Lord?! O that you would rend the heavens and come down!”
I turned on the 6 o’clock news to see some coverage and only saw local stories of lost cats, local theft, and a back alley murder.
I know 6 o’clock is the local news time, but are we so apathetic to suffering in the world that we can’t delay local news in the face of an international crisis? If this attack had happened on American soil it would still be leading the news and our trite local news would wait. The terrorists targeted Americans!
Maybe apathy is one of our corporate sins. Maybe we need to repent this advent season for our lack of concern – our lack of love in action for others.
A mere 10 billion dollars would solve the number one killer of people worldwide – unclean or insufficient water. It causes death by disease. It causes death by thirst.
10 billion may sound like a lot of money, but we spend 10 billion every month fighting in Iraq. Why isn’t there the political will in this nation to end the leading cause of death worldwide?
We are loveless and apathetic.
As the video showed, we spend 450 billion dollars celebrating Christmas. If we want God to rend the heavens and come down, maybe we need to get our hearts re-oriented. As we contemplate the humility of Christ, leaving the throne of heaven to come as a baby, maybe we need to humble our hearts and show the same love he did.
Instead of exchanging gifts this Christmas, maybe we should simply give them to those in greatest need. If the politicians won’t spend our tax dollars to help the least of these, maybe we need to spend our money mercifully.
In preparation for Christ’s birth, Jodi and I will be exchanging gifts with family and friends, but this year we will donate an equal amount of money to feeding the hungry and providing clean water for the thirsty.
Will you join me? Will you give an equal amount of money to those with nothing as you do to your friends and family who have everything they need and most of what they want? It might mean giving smaller gifts to your family. But it does mean giving life to the dying.
$10 buys a Christmas card and a paperback novel, but it can also provide clean water to a child for their entire lifetime.
We need to repent of our apathy in preparation for Christmas.
So I’m watching Mumbai burn. Imagine the bitter irony of seeing the next story on my screen. A temporary employee of Wal-Mart unlocked the doors at 4am on Black Friday and didn’t get out of the way fast enough. She was trampled to death.
This wasn’t local news. I read the story on CNN.com while watching the Mumbai coverage.
Even on Saturday morning the story of death by greed was still front page on the BBC news website. The BBC! This news goes global…our greed is famous!
Children living in poverty on the streets of Addis Ababa hear this story. Children living in refugee camps around the world hear this story. Do they joke amongst themselves, “I want to go to a country where the only reason they kill each other is because of a department store sale.”
Or maybe our greed so repels them that they resolve to live differently when they get here. I know immigrants who make minimum wage and can still send large chunks of money to their families living in poverty in their native lands.
More controversially, do foreigners see American greed as part of the reason why some people hate America…part of the reason terrorists target us on the streets of Mumbai.
As a nation we have worshiped the god of wealth and the security and power it brings for too long. The consequences of our greed is not the city lying in ruins and the temple in ashes as it was in Biblical times. So far we just have a mortgage and credit crisis.
We lived on the edge of our means. We mortgaged our houses and re-mortgaged our houses to maximize our capacity to consume never thinking our homes could lose value.
We maxed our credit, never thinking the economy would stall. We spent our resources on ourselves and look where we are.
If we repent and turn from our greed, will God rend the heavens and come down? If we start enjoying what we have and not wanting what we don’t have, will God come near?
Conclusion:
This song of corporate lament can be our song. We can confess our apathy and greed as a people. We can cry out to God for his return. We can pray, “O God as we turn, please draw near!”
O that you would rend the heavens and come down.
Pray
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sermon Test of Matthew 25:31-46 "Faith in Action" 11-23-08
Matthew 25:31-46 “Faith in Action” 11-23-08
Today’s text follows up on last week’s theme of being prepared for the end of time. In the fullness of time, the era of grace ends and the time of judgment begins. The time for making decisions is over and now Jesus judges us. In our text today Jesus gives a surprising image of what his judgment will look like.
Matthew 25:31-46:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'
And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'
Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'
Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
All nations, all people, and all the angels gather in front of the throne where Jesus sits as judge. You and I will be there there. There is no side room where we dwell in safety from Jesus’ all-knowing eyes. We gather with all the angels to receive reward or punishment. We gather to be judged.
Jesus doesn’t give us a fanciful image. He reveals the historical future for us. Judgment is coming. The present world will end as a dream and the new and everlasting world will begin with this scene.
Judgment will come as a fork in the road of human history. Some go to eternal life with God and others go to eternal punishment in hell.
Let’s begin with a theological question.
Have you ever been asked what will happen to people who’ve never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ in this life? Have you ever been asked, “What happens to people eternally if they’ve never been given the chance to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord?”
I have…I even got asked this question by a pastoral search committee. It’s an important question, and this text gives one of the best answers in the entire Bible.
Those who never hear the good news of Jesus Christ have hope because they met Jesus even though they didn’t realize it.
Jesus so identifies with the suffering that when people who don’t know Jesus come into contact with the hurting, they meet Jesus. He’s everywhere! He’s in the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, the sick, and the imprisoned.
If people don’t hear about Jesus in this life, he will judge them based on how they responded to Him in the least of these. In saying this, Jesus fulfills the promise of his words, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
“Jesus opens up the gates of heaven to the simplest people in the world” (Bruner, 569) and they respond with dismay! “We didn’t know you in our lives and we didn’t see you in the people we served…we just responded with love.” Jesus welcomes them into his kingdom.
What about sin and forgiveness? When we talk about the gospel, we always and rightly talk about our sin and our need for forgiveness.
In the end, Jesus comes in glory as one who has dealt with the problem of sin once and for all and his words are built on His forgiveness…a forgiveness that even brings those who knew him not into his eternal kingdom if they served him by serving the needy (Bruner 752).
We don’t need to worry about who’s in and who’s out, that’s for Jesus to determine. He knows clearly who gets in. As plainly as a farmer knows the difference between a sheep and a goat, Jesus knows how to sort humanity.
This doesn’t release us from Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations, but it does reveal his amazing grace to those who’ve never been introduced to him.
So if you get asked how Jesus will judge people who didn’t hear about him in this life, this passage is a good place to turn for the answer.
Now to the main message of this text…In this scene of eternal judgment, Jesus reveals that faith in action is the only faith that leads to life. Or, more pointedly, there is no such thing as faith without service.
All the people who’ve ever lived gather together with all the angels and Jesus sits on the throne as judge. He separates people and sends them to one of the two places he’s prepared.
The sheep enter the bliss of heaven, while the goats go into the torment of hell.
Jesus welcomes the sheep into his kingdom because they fed him, gave him water, housed him when he was homeless, clothed him, visited him when he was sick, and came to see him in prison.
Jesus sends the goats to hell because he was hungry and thirsty and they turned a blind eye. He was homeless and naked and the goats ignored him. He was sick and in prison and the goats didn’t care.
What’s missing from this image? What category of questioning does not appear on Jesus’ lips?
The classic theological questions are missing. The questions from Jesus, “Do you believe I am Savior? Did you follow me as Lord? What do you think of me?”
Here Jesus does not ask, “Did you claim the forgiveness I offer as your own? If so, come into my kingdom, if not, go into eternal suffering.”
In this scene of judgment, why doesn’t Jesus ask us if we believe in Him as Savior and Lord? Why doesn’t he ask us if we’ve received salvation from him by faith? Why doesn’t Jesus ask any questions about belief or theology?!
Maybe faith requires simple and merciful action. Maybe faith only exists as faith in action. Maybe we’ve set up a false tension between faith and works in regard to salvation.
Will you allow me to speak in generalities for a minute or two? I think the Catholic Church has so emphasized good works with regard to salvation that some Catholic Christians have no assurance of their eternal home. They so stress the activity of faith that it becomes the essence of salvation. Do enough good and you’ll get into heaven.
Where is the relationship with God? Where is the blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine?! It’s lost because of an undue emphasis on performance.
On the other hand, in the protestant church, we have so emphasized forgiveness, belief, and proper theology that people don’t think their life of action matters. The point becomes praying to God once for forgiveness and receiving the free gift of eternal life.
Our salvation is so assured that we can live however we want. No wonder people ignore the church [or attack it with shouts of ‘hypocrites]! We are like those in Titus 1:16 who profess to know God, but by their works deny him – people who are “detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.”
We’ve been consumed by a desire to believe correctly and to know enough about God but such knowledge has no use unless it’s put into action. James says “Even the demons believe…and tremble.”
The zealous may go on crusades so that others will pray the sinners’ prayer. Others may put supreme focus on their personal relationship with God. But most typically the convert simply goes about living a normal selfish life.
Could it be that faith requires more than one simple confession at one point in our lives?
(Pause)
This text reveals that genuine faith in Christ is lived, not simply claimed once.
Ephesians 2:8 and 9 has been used for decades as an argument for salvation by faith and not works. It says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”
But do we know the verse that follows these two? It says, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”
In Christ we are a new creation – created for good works.
And it’s not like Jesus expects that much. This end of time judgment scene shows what is needed; mercy – practical kindness to the suffering.
Jesus doesn’t say to the sheep entering his kingdom, I was sick and you healed me, or I was imprisoned and you liberated me, no, he says you gave practical little services. When I was hungry you fed me. When I was thirsty you gave me a glass of water. When I was naked and homeless, you took me into your home and clothed me. When I was sick and in prison – as lonely as a human can be – you visited me. You simply spent time with me.
Do we identify Jesus with people in desperate need? Do we understand that when we serve those in need we serve our Savior?
Luther writes, “O dear Lord God! How are we so blind that we don’t take such love to heart! Who could have thought it up that God himself throws himself so deep down into our midst and accepts the works of all those who give themselves to the poor as though they were done for him. Thus the world is full, full of God – in every alley, before your door, you find Christ.”
Bengel asks, “Who would not run to prisons and hospitals on errands of mercy if assured that Christ is there?”
Bill Robinson tells the story of arriving to begin regular work with inmates at the state penitentiary in Stillwater, Minnesota. “The chaplain took me aside and said, “Don’t forget Bill. If Matthew 25…is right, you didn’t come to bring Jesus to these guys; you came to find him.”
Only faith in action exists. There is no such thing as faith without works.
Please understand that I am not contradicting the gospel I’ve preached for almost three years here. I’m not preaching a different gospel. Salvation is a free gift from God. It is not earned. However, we are recognized by others as Christians by our love and by Jesus at the end of time by the results of our faith.
Klyne Snodgrass puts it the best, “There is no tension between faith and works because, properly understood, faith encompasses works and necessitates productive living. Faith works, but it does not use its activity to prove to God or to people that the believer is righteous.
[An executive friend of mine] (My executive friend…) makes corporate decisions in keeping with his faith. That does not make him presentable to God or better than other people. That is just what faith does. It has a new agenda and seeks to work it out. A life of obedience is not something separated from faith; it grows out of the relationship with God that we have by faith. Works are made possible by faith.” 105
By faith, we are what Christ has made us – a new creation made for serving others.
Biblical faith demands that God run our lives, not us. If there’s no evidence in our lives that we’ve laid aside our interests and now respond based on God’s interests, maybe there is no faith in us.
Biblical faith demands all that we are – the intellect, the will, the emotions, and yes even our money and possessions. (Snodgrass, 98) Jesus asks us to use what we have for his kingdom of love and mercy.
He doesn’t say you have to give $1000 to feed the hungry to be saved. You have to do 100 visitations of the sick to be saved. But he does say we have to live the life he’s given us for the sake of others.
In this scene of eternal judgment, Jesus reveals that faith in action is the only faith that leads to life.
How are you responding internally to these words of Christ?
“Disciples who in good faith hear this “damnation of nothings” will fall on their knees in poverty of spirit to ask the Lord for another chance to be someone more helpful the rest of their lives.”
Pray.
This morning I emailed you a short story by Leo Tolstoy entitled, “Where Love Is, There God Is Also.” For those of you without an email address I’ve made copies for you. They’re on the tables in the fellowship hall. I want you to read it this week. It has everything to do with discovering Christ in those in need.
Today’s text follows up on last week’s theme of being prepared for the end of time. In the fullness of time, the era of grace ends and the time of judgment begins. The time for making decisions is over and now Jesus judges us. In our text today Jesus gives a surprising image of what his judgment will look like.
Matthew 25:31-46:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'
And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'
Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'
Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
All nations, all people, and all the angels gather in front of the throne where Jesus sits as judge. You and I will be there there. There is no side room where we dwell in safety from Jesus’ all-knowing eyes. We gather with all the angels to receive reward or punishment. We gather to be judged.
Jesus doesn’t give us a fanciful image. He reveals the historical future for us. Judgment is coming. The present world will end as a dream and the new and everlasting world will begin with this scene.
Judgment will come as a fork in the road of human history. Some go to eternal life with God and others go to eternal punishment in hell.
Let’s begin with a theological question.
Have you ever been asked what will happen to people who’ve never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ in this life? Have you ever been asked, “What happens to people eternally if they’ve never been given the chance to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord?”
I have…I even got asked this question by a pastoral search committee. It’s an important question, and this text gives one of the best answers in the entire Bible.
Those who never hear the good news of Jesus Christ have hope because they met Jesus even though they didn’t realize it.
Jesus so identifies with the suffering that when people who don’t know Jesus come into contact with the hurting, they meet Jesus. He’s everywhere! He’s in the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, the sick, and the imprisoned.
If people don’t hear about Jesus in this life, he will judge them based on how they responded to Him in the least of these. In saying this, Jesus fulfills the promise of his words, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
“Jesus opens up the gates of heaven to the simplest people in the world” (Bruner, 569) and they respond with dismay! “We didn’t know you in our lives and we didn’t see you in the people we served…we just responded with love.” Jesus welcomes them into his kingdom.
What about sin and forgiveness? When we talk about the gospel, we always and rightly talk about our sin and our need for forgiveness.
In the end, Jesus comes in glory as one who has dealt with the problem of sin once and for all and his words are built on His forgiveness…a forgiveness that even brings those who knew him not into his eternal kingdom if they served him by serving the needy (Bruner 752).
We don’t need to worry about who’s in and who’s out, that’s for Jesus to determine. He knows clearly who gets in. As plainly as a farmer knows the difference between a sheep and a goat, Jesus knows how to sort humanity.
This doesn’t release us from Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations, but it does reveal his amazing grace to those who’ve never been introduced to him.
So if you get asked how Jesus will judge people who didn’t hear about him in this life, this passage is a good place to turn for the answer.
Now to the main message of this text…In this scene of eternal judgment, Jesus reveals that faith in action is the only faith that leads to life. Or, more pointedly, there is no such thing as faith without service.
All the people who’ve ever lived gather together with all the angels and Jesus sits on the throne as judge. He separates people and sends them to one of the two places he’s prepared.
The sheep enter the bliss of heaven, while the goats go into the torment of hell.
Jesus welcomes the sheep into his kingdom because they fed him, gave him water, housed him when he was homeless, clothed him, visited him when he was sick, and came to see him in prison.
Jesus sends the goats to hell because he was hungry and thirsty and they turned a blind eye. He was homeless and naked and the goats ignored him. He was sick and in prison and the goats didn’t care.
What’s missing from this image? What category of questioning does not appear on Jesus’ lips?
The classic theological questions are missing. The questions from Jesus, “Do you believe I am Savior? Did you follow me as Lord? What do you think of me?”
Here Jesus does not ask, “Did you claim the forgiveness I offer as your own? If so, come into my kingdom, if not, go into eternal suffering.”
In this scene of judgment, why doesn’t Jesus ask us if we believe in Him as Savior and Lord? Why doesn’t he ask us if we’ve received salvation from him by faith? Why doesn’t Jesus ask any questions about belief or theology?!
Maybe faith requires simple and merciful action. Maybe faith only exists as faith in action. Maybe we’ve set up a false tension between faith and works in regard to salvation.
Will you allow me to speak in generalities for a minute or two? I think the Catholic Church has so emphasized good works with regard to salvation that some Catholic Christians have no assurance of their eternal home. They so stress the activity of faith that it becomes the essence of salvation. Do enough good and you’ll get into heaven.
Where is the relationship with God? Where is the blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine?! It’s lost because of an undue emphasis on performance.
On the other hand, in the protestant church, we have so emphasized forgiveness, belief, and proper theology that people don’t think their life of action matters. The point becomes praying to God once for forgiveness and receiving the free gift of eternal life.
Our salvation is so assured that we can live however we want. No wonder people ignore the church [or attack it with shouts of ‘hypocrites]! We are like those in Titus 1:16 who profess to know God, but by their works deny him – people who are “detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.”
We’ve been consumed by a desire to believe correctly and to know enough about God but such knowledge has no use unless it’s put into action. James says “Even the demons believe…and tremble.”
The zealous may go on crusades so that others will pray the sinners’ prayer. Others may put supreme focus on their personal relationship with God. But most typically the convert simply goes about living a normal selfish life.
Could it be that faith requires more than one simple confession at one point in our lives?
(Pause)
This text reveals that genuine faith in Christ is lived, not simply claimed once.
Ephesians 2:8 and 9 has been used for decades as an argument for salvation by faith and not works. It says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”
But do we know the verse that follows these two? It says, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”
In Christ we are a new creation – created for good works.
And it’s not like Jesus expects that much. This end of time judgment scene shows what is needed; mercy – practical kindness to the suffering.
Jesus doesn’t say to the sheep entering his kingdom, I was sick and you healed me, or I was imprisoned and you liberated me, no, he says you gave practical little services. When I was hungry you fed me. When I was thirsty you gave me a glass of water. When I was naked and homeless, you took me into your home and clothed me. When I was sick and in prison – as lonely as a human can be – you visited me. You simply spent time with me.
Do we identify Jesus with people in desperate need? Do we understand that when we serve those in need we serve our Savior?
Luther writes, “O dear Lord God! How are we so blind that we don’t take such love to heart! Who could have thought it up that God himself throws himself so deep down into our midst and accepts the works of all those who give themselves to the poor as though they were done for him. Thus the world is full, full of God – in every alley, before your door, you find Christ.”
Bengel asks, “Who would not run to prisons and hospitals on errands of mercy if assured that Christ is there?”
Bill Robinson tells the story of arriving to begin regular work with inmates at the state penitentiary in Stillwater, Minnesota. “The chaplain took me aside and said, “Don’t forget Bill. If Matthew 25…is right, you didn’t come to bring Jesus to these guys; you came to find him.”
Only faith in action exists. There is no such thing as faith without works.
Please understand that I am not contradicting the gospel I’ve preached for almost three years here. I’m not preaching a different gospel. Salvation is a free gift from God. It is not earned. However, we are recognized by others as Christians by our love and by Jesus at the end of time by the results of our faith.
Klyne Snodgrass puts it the best, “There is no tension between faith and works because, properly understood, faith encompasses works and necessitates productive living. Faith works, but it does not use its activity to prove to God or to people that the believer is righteous.
[An executive friend of mine] (My executive friend…) makes corporate decisions in keeping with his faith. That does not make him presentable to God or better than other people. That is just what faith does. It has a new agenda and seeks to work it out. A life of obedience is not something separated from faith; it grows out of the relationship with God that we have by faith. Works are made possible by faith.” 105
By faith, we are what Christ has made us – a new creation made for serving others.
Biblical faith demands that God run our lives, not us. If there’s no evidence in our lives that we’ve laid aside our interests and now respond based on God’s interests, maybe there is no faith in us.
Biblical faith demands all that we are – the intellect, the will, the emotions, and yes even our money and possessions. (Snodgrass, 98) Jesus asks us to use what we have for his kingdom of love and mercy.
He doesn’t say you have to give $1000 to feed the hungry to be saved. You have to do 100 visitations of the sick to be saved. But he does say we have to live the life he’s given us for the sake of others.
In this scene of eternal judgment, Jesus reveals that faith in action is the only faith that leads to life.
How are you responding internally to these words of Christ?
“Disciples who in good faith hear this “damnation of nothings” will fall on their knees in poverty of spirit to ask the Lord for another chance to be someone more helpful the rest of their lives.”
Pray.
This morning I emailed you a short story by Leo Tolstoy entitled, “Where Love Is, There God Is Also.” For those of you without an email address I’ve made copies for you. They’re on the tables in the fellowship hall. I want you to read it this week. It has everything to do with discovering Christ in those in need.
Monday, November 17, 2008
November 16 Sermon Text
Here is a text of yesterday's sermon. If you attended service, you don't need to read it again, but I would like to hear your comments and questions about it.
11-16-08 “Be Prepared” Matthew 25:1-13
Are you prepared for Jesus to return? Are you ready for the angel to blow the trumpet and for Jesus to come down from heaven? Are we ready for the time of grace we live in now to give way to the season of judgment? Are we prepared?
The promise of Jesus’ return is certain. After Jesus’ death and resurrection he ascended into heaven right in front of his disciples.
In Acts 1 we read, “As they were watching, [Jesus] (he) was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
Are we ready for Jesus to come down from heaven on the clouds?
In his teaching ministry, Jesus concerned himself with our preparedness for this event. Our text this morning is one example of this teaching -- Matthew 25:1-13.
Matthew 25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
“Be prepared” – it’s the Boy Scout’s motto – it’s also the message of this parable. Jesus will come again – be prepared.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, his followers expected his return within their lifetimes. They lived with acute anticipation for the return of Christ. They expected him any minute!
Their anticipation changed everything in their lives. They thought about Jesus, talked about Jesus and they lived their lives oriented toward Him by remaining faithful to his teaching. They prepared their lives to meet with Jesus. They wanted to be ready for Christ’s return!
They modeled their lives after Christ’s life and came to be known as Christians – little Christs. But Jesus never came back…not in their lifetimes.
Since the first Century dozens of predictions have been made for the moment of Christ’s return. All the timelines have come and gone. Jesus has not returned.
What do we do with this greatly delayed prophecy?
This parable gives us the answer. Be prepared. Remain ready even in the delay.
Ten bridesmaids go out to meet the bridegroom – five foolish women and five thoughtful women. The bridesmaids represent confessing Christians. All ten go out to meet with the groom, who in this case represents Christ.
The wise bring their lamps and take extra oil with them. The fools bring their lamps, but no extra oil.
The wise women make preparations to meet with the groom. They don’t know how long it will be before he arrives, so they take extra oil with them. The fools simply grab their lamps and do not prepare for potential delays.
The groom’s arrival takes longer than expected and all ten women fall asleep. When the groom finally shows up at midnight they quickly prepare their lamps, but the foolish women find that their lamps don’t have sufficient oil.
They try to borrow from the wise women, but they refuse since it would leave them all with insufficient oil. Instead, the fools dash to the market for more oil.
While the fools go shopping, the wise women go into the banquet hall and the door closes and locks behind them.
When the foolish bridesmaids return with their oil to join the party, they find the door locked. They knock on the door and plead, “Lord, lord, let us in,” but the groom replies, “I don’t know you. Get out of here.”
The frightening reality of this parable is that all ten women represent converted Christians. They are the same except for one aspect – their preparedness for Christ’s return. They each expect to join the end of time banquet. They all have lamps, but only half of them get in.
Their preparedness determines whether or not they get to attend.
We must prepare for Christ’s return. This parable reveals that once Jesus returns the era of grace ends and the era of judgment begins.
Jesus’ words, “Ask and it shall be given to you, knock and the door will be opened to you,” have a statute of limitation. They’re only valid until the time of judgment occurs.
Once Jesus returns, it’s too late to ask for what we should already have. We must already have enough oil. We must already possess what we need for judgment day.
After Jesus returns, it’s too late to knock at the closed door of the end of time banquet. If we wait until Jesus returns to prepare ourselves and enter the party, we’ll hear the words, “Too late. I don’t know you.” Our preparations for the return of Christ must happen before he arrives.
Does this make sense? I mean, at its simplest level, Christ declares that we must prepare ourselves in advance for his return. We can’t wait till we see him riding the clouds down to earth and then get ready for judgment day. Make sense?
OK, what does preparing for Christ’s return look like? What do all ten bridesmaids have that we need? And what can we learn from the differences between the two sets of bridesmaids in order to ensure we are like the wise women?
All ten women have the first necessity of preparation for the wedding feast. They believe the groom will arrive and they go out to meet him.
For us, this means we must believe Jesus will return. We must at minimum trust Jesus’ promise that he will return and there will be an end of time banquet feast.
This simple faith in Christ’s return requires a change in life orientation. The bridesmaids dropped what they were doing and went out to meet the groom. Their lives changed because they believed the groom would arrive. They oriented their lives around the groom’s arrival. They were no longer self-centered. They became groom-centered.
Do we believe Christ will come again? If so, we must become Christ centered. In talking with people about Jesus’ second coming I heard someone say, “I’m not ready for Christ to return, not because of a lack of faith; it’s just that I want to have kids first. I’d like to do some things with my life first. I’ve got things I’d like to accomplish.”
Words like these betray not only a shallow understanding of the cosmic significance of Christ’s return, but also a self centered life orientation. Jesus expects us to put the promise of his return above our own personal concerns.
At minimum we must figuratively go out of our homes like all the bridesmaids do and wait for the groom.
I think this implies deep conversion. We take Jesus at his word when he says, “I am the way and the truth and the life and no one gets to the Father except through me.” It means receiving the unmerited favor of Jesus by having our sins forgiven and our lives renewed.
Only upon belief can we begin waiting for Christ’s return. But Jesus tells us this isn’t sufficient preparation. We must make further preparations in order to be ready when Christ returns.
The foolish and the wise bridesmaids differ in their level of preparedness. They all believe, but only half of them prepare. The wise have extra oil and the foolish don’t. The wise have positioned themselves to be constantly ready, while the foolish will only be ready for a short period of time – until their lamps burn out.
The foolish bridesmaids represent excited but lazy Christians. They believe Jesus is coming again. They receive the promise with joy and run out to wait for him, but they are too lazy to prepare for the wait.
The wise bridesmaids represent the excited and diligent Christians. They also believe Jesus is coming again. They receive the truth with joy and prepare to wait for his arrival. They take the possibility of meeting Jesus as the most significant meeting of their lives, so they prepare well for it. They’re ready to wait as long as it takes.
The foolish bridesmaids represent half-committed Christians. They want to be Christians, but not too much. They want to be Christian, but not so much as to change their behavior, their thoughts, or their words. They want to be Christians, but not so serious a Christian as to make Christ the director of their lives.
The wise bridesmaids represent the totally committed Christians. They desire to follow Christ with everything they have. Their relationship with Jesus and their expectation of his return change everything about them.
They think differently, speak differently, and act differently. They prepare for Christ’s return in such a way that they can wait for his return. They bring extra oil.
What do we need in order to be prepared for Christ’s return? Conversion is not the end of our obligations as Christ’s disciples. What is the oil of this Christian life? How do we adequately prepare for Christ’s return?
I suppose this is the time in the sermon – toward the end – where the pastor gives you the three simple things you need to do to be ready – three steps to being prepared for Christ’s return.
But this text doesn’t offer such easy solutions for preparedness.
A short search for what commentators believe the oil represents for the believer include:
Good works
Faithful prayer
Constant repentance
Serving the needy
Faithful listening to God’s Word
An ongoing relationship with God
Faith, hope, love
The fruits of the spirit
Vocational fidelity
Faithfulness to your household
And the list goes on and on.
Read you Bible every morning and you’ll be OK. No. Do a good deed every day and you’ll be fine on judgment day. No.
The application is continual in nature. Be prepared all the time. Always be ready. Live in constant devotion, anticipation, and preparedness for Christ’s return.
Jesus calls us to have the same conviction the first believers had. Their response to Jesus’ promise of coming again in judgment changed everything about their lives.
They thought about Jesus and talked about Jesus. They gathered in groups to praise God and learn from one another. They prepared their lives to meet with Jesus to the point that they were called Christians – Christ imitators, little christs.
We will meet with Jesus some day. It might be today, it may be tomorrow, it may not happen until we die. But on that day we will each be accountable for our own preparedness. We won’t be able to borrow someone else’s oil. We won’t have time to prepare then. We need to make our own preparations now.
What does Jesus want from you this day? What does the oil of preparedness mean for you this day?
Let’s turn to God in listening prayer and respond to this Word of God with complete devotion.
11-16-08 “Be Prepared” Matthew 25:1-13
Are you prepared for Jesus to return? Are you ready for the angel to blow the trumpet and for Jesus to come down from heaven? Are we ready for the time of grace we live in now to give way to the season of judgment? Are we prepared?
The promise of Jesus’ return is certain. After Jesus’ death and resurrection he ascended into heaven right in front of his disciples.
In Acts 1 we read, “As they were watching, [Jesus] (he) was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
Are we ready for Jesus to come down from heaven on the clouds?
In his teaching ministry, Jesus concerned himself with our preparedness for this event. Our text this morning is one example of this teaching -- Matthew 25:1-13.
Matthew 25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
“Be prepared” – it’s the Boy Scout’s motto – it’s also the message of this parable. Jesus will come again – be prepared.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, his followers expected his return within their lifetimes. They lived with acute anticipation for the return of Christ. They expected him any minute!
Their anticipation changed everything in their lives. They thought about Jesus, talked about Jesus and they lived their lives oriented toward Him by remaining faithful to his teaching. They prepared their lives to meet with Jesus. They wanted to be ready for Christ’s return!
They modeled their lives after Christ’s life and came to be known as Christians – little Christs. But Jesus never came back…not in their lifetimes.
Since the first Century dozens of predictions have been made for the moment of Christ’s return. All the timelines have come and gone. Jesus has not returned.
What do we do with this greatly delayed prophecy?
This parable gives us the answer. Be prepared. Remain ready even in the delay.
Ten bridesmaids go out to meet the bridegroom – five foolish women and five thoughtful women. The bridesmaids represent confessing Christians. All ten go out to meet with the groom, who in this case represents Christ.
The wise bring their lamps and take extra oil with them. The fools bring their lamps, but no extra oil.
The wise women make preparations to meet with the groom. They don’t know how long it will be before he arrives, so they take extra oil with them. The fools simply grab their lamps and do not prepare for potential delays.
The groom’s arrival takes longer than expected and all ten women fall asleep. When the groom finally shows up at midnight they quickly prepare their lamps, but the foolish women find that their lamps don’t have sufficient oil.
They try to borrow from the wise women, but they refuse since it would leave them all with insufficient oil. Instead, the fools dash to the market for more oil.
While the fools go shopping, the wise women go into the banquet hall and the door closes and locks behind them.
When the foolish bridesmaids return with their oil to join the party, they find the door locked. They knock on the door and plead, “Lord, lord, let us in,” but the groom replies, “I don’t know you. Get out of here.”
The frightening reality of this parable is that all ten women represent converted Christians. They are the same except for one aspect – their preparedness for Christ’s return. They each expect to join the end of time banquet. They all have lamps, but only half of them get in.
Their preparedness determines whether or not they get to attend.
We must prepare for Christ’s return. This parable reveals that once Jesus returns the era of grace ends and the era of judgment begins.
Jesus’ words, “Ask and it shall be given to you, knock and the door will be opened to you,” have a statute of limitation. They’re only valid until the time of judgment occurs.
Once Jesus returns, it’s too late to ask for what we should already have. We must already have enough oil. We must already possess what we need for judgment day.
After Jesus returns, it’s too late to knock at the closed door of the end of time banquet. If we wait until Jesus returns to prepare ourselves and enter the party, we’ll hear the words, “Too late. I don’t know you.” Our preparations for the return of Christ must happen before he arrives.
Does this make sense? I mean, at its simplest level, Christ declares that we must prepare ourselves in advance for his return. We can’t wait till we see him riding the clouds down to earth and then get ready for judgment day. Make sense?
OK, what does preparing for Christ’s return look like? What do all ten bridesmaids have that we need? And what can we learn from the differences between the two sets of bridesmaids in order to ensure we are like the wise women?
All ten women have the first necessity of preparation for the wedding feast. They believe the groom will arrive and they go out to meet him.
For us, this means we must believe Jesus will return. We must at minimum trust Jesus’ promise that he will return and there will be an end of time banquet feast.
This simple faith in Christ’s return requires a change in life orientation. The bridesmaids dropped what they were doing and went out to meet the groom. Their lives changed because they believed the groom would arrive. They oriented their lives around the groom’s arrival. They were no longer self-centered. They became groom-centered.
Do we believe Christ will come again? If so, we must become Christ centered. In talking with people about Jesus’ second coming I heard someone say, “I’m not ready for Christ to return, not because of a lack of faith; it’s just that I want to have kids first. I’d like to do some things with my life first. I’ve got things I’d like to accomplish.”
Words like these betray not only a shallow understanding of the cosmic significance of Christ’s return, but also a self centered life orientation. Jesus expects us to put the promise of his return above our own personal concerns.
At minimum we must figuratively go out of our homes like all the bridesmaids do and wait for the groom.
I think this implies deep conversion. We take Jesus at his word when he says, “I am the way and the truth and the life and no one gets to the Father except through me.” It means receiving the unmerited favor of Jesus by having our sins forgiven and our lives renewed.
Only upon belief can we begin waiting for Christ’s return. But Jesus tells us this isn’t sufficient preparation. We must make further preparations in order to be ready when Christ returns.
The foolish and the wise bridesmaids differ in their level of preparedness. They all believe, but only half of them prepare. The wise have extra oil and the foolish don’t. The wise have positioned themselves to be constantly ready, while the foolish will only be ready for a short period of time – until their lamps burn out.
The foolish bridesmaids represent excited but lazy Christians. They believe Jesus is coming again. They receive the promise with joy and run out to wait for him, but they are too lazy to prepare for the wait.
The wise bridesmaids represent the excited and diligent Christians. They also believe Jesus is coming again. They receive the truth with joy and prepare to wait for his arrival. They take the possibility of meeting Jesus as the most significant meeting of their lives, so they prepare well for it. They’re ready to wait as long as it takes.
The foolish bridesmaids represent half-committed Christians. They want to be Christians, but not too much. They want to be Christian, but not so much as to change their behavior, their thoughts, or their words. They want to be Christians, but not so serious a Christian as to make Christ the director of their lives.
The wise bridesmaids represent the totally committed Christians. They desire to follow Christ with everything they have. Their relationship with Jesus and their expectation of his return change everything about them.
They think differently, speak differently, and act differently. They prepare for Christ’s return in such a way that they can wait for his return. They bring extra oil.
What do we need in order to be prepared for Christ’s return? Conversion is not the end of our obligations as Christ’s disciples. What is the oil of this Christian life? How do we adequately prepare for Christ’s return?
I suppose this is the time in the sermon – toward the end – where the pastor gives you the three simple things you need to do to be ready – three steps to being prepared for Christ’s return.
But this text doesn’t offer such easy solutions for preparedness.
A short search for what commentators believe the oil represents for the believer include:
Good works
Faithful prayer
Constant repentance
Serving the needy
Faithful listening to God’s Word
An ongoing relationship with God
Faith, hope, love
The fruits of the spirit
Vocational fidelity
Faithfulness to your household
And the list goes on and on.
Read you Bible every morning and you’ll be OK. No. Do a good deed every day and you’ll be fine on judgment day. No.
The application is continual in nature. Be prepared all the time. Always be ready. Live in constant devotion, anticipation, and preparedness for Christ’s return.
Jesus calls us to have the same conviction the first believers had. Their response to Jesus’ promise of coming again in judgment changed everything about their lives.
They thought about Jesus and talked about Jesus. They gathered in groups to praise God and learn from one another. They prepared their lives to meet with Jesus to the point that they were called Christians – Christ imitators, little christs.
We will meet with Jesus some day. It might be today, it may be tomorrow, it may not happen until we die. But on that day we will each be accountable for our own preparedness. We won’t be able to borrow someone else’s oil. We won’t have time to prepare then. We need to make our own preparations now.
What does Jesus want from you this day? What does the oil of preparedness mean for you this day?
Let’s turn to God in listening prayer and respond to this Word of God with complete devotion.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
December 14th and the 21st: PATIENCE...ugh.
During these two weeks we will use some of the lectionary texts, but focus mainly on patience. The rarity of this fruit of the Spirit in me and in most people compels this study. Scriptures will be posted here as they are selected in the coming weeks.
For now, think of stories, videos, or anecdotes with the theme of patience in them.
Thank you.
For now, think of stories, videos, or anecdotes with the theme of patience in them.
Thank you.
December 7 -- Mark 1:1-8 and Isaiah 40:1-11
These two passages predict and fulfill the ministry of John the Baptist. He serves as the forerunner of Christ.
What hopes does Isaiah have for the coming Messiah?
What do we learn about Jesus from the Mark passage before Jesus is introduced?
What does he predict?
What is John the Baptist's role? How does he see himself?
How do these passages create anticipation?
Most importantly, how do you respond to them?
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.
8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
What hopes does Isaiah have for the coming Messiah?
What do we learn about Jesus from the Mark passage before Jesus is introduced?
What does he predict?
What is John the Baptist's role? How does he see himself?
How do these passages create anticipation?
Most importantly, how do you respond to them?
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.
8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
November 30 -- Isaiah 64:1-9
This week begins the season of Advent. We wait with anticipation to celebrate our coming Messiah.
How does this anticipation filled passage relate to Advent? What does Isaiah expect? What does he desire? How do these things relate to what we need from God?
Isaiah 64:1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence--
2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.
5 You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
How does this anticipation filled passage relate to Advent? What does Isaiah expect? What does he desire? How do these things relate to what we need from God?
Isaiah 64:1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence--
2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.
5 You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
November 23 -- Matthew 25:31-46
Because of the Protestant Reformation with its slogan "Sola fide" which means "Faith alone," we don't often think of our works as important for our salvation. We tend to think in Billy Graham like terms. Has the person prayed the "sinner's prayer?" If so, they're good to go -- to heaven of course!
Do these verses challenge this notion?
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,
33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'
37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'
40 And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'
41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'
44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?'
45 Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Do these verses challenge this notion?
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,
33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'
37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'
40 And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'
41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'
44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?'
45 Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
November 16 -- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Matthew 25:1-13
These passages deal with the resurrection of the dead and the return of Jesus. I don't often preach about the End of the Age, but these texts provide a great chance to look closely at what the Bible says about it...
Please comment on what you think when you read this...
What does Jesus mean when he tells us to "keep awake?"
What does it mean for us to take sufficient oil with us?
What feelings stir in you as you read the Thessalonians passage?
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.
15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.
16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Matthew 25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;
4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.
6 But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'
7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
8 The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
9 But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.'
12 But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Please comment on what you think when you read this...
What does Jesus mean when he tells us to "keep awake?"
What does it mean for us to take sufficient oil with us?
What feelings stir in you as you read the Thessalonians passage?
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.
15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.
16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Matthew 25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;
4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.
6 But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'
7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
8 The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
9 But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.'
12 But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
This Blog's Vision and Purpose
This website experiments with the idea of letting the community help in the process of writing weekly sermons.
I will make blog entries of future texts with some initial observations. I invite you to share your reflections on the text or respond to what others have written.
If what you read reminds you of a movie clip, please share it! You might just see it in worship on Sunday. If you’re reminded of a story or anecdote, please share it! You might hear it told back to you for the benefit of our whole community. If what you read makes you think of a joke, please share it! I’ll do my best to tell it well…
My desire is not to make my job easier; but rather, to preach more effectively and deepen your reading of the bible and deepen your devotion to Jesus. Don't worry, I'll still be studying like mad every week. :)
If you are a fellow pastor, a friend, or a random blog reader, please participate! It'd be great if the Worldwide Web could cause Christ to be glorified in people's lives thousands of miles apart. Our church's website is www.edinacov.org. I can be contacted at ben.vicar.swanson@gmail.com.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Matthew 23:1-12
This is the text I'll be preaching this week. If you're a Bible reader, a preacher, a teacher, a thinker, or a curious blog surfer, please respond with your thoughts. I'm especially interested in how this text applies to our lives today.
NRS Matthew 23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;
3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.
4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.
5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.
6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues,
7 and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.
8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.
9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father-- the one in heaven.
10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.
11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
12 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Initial thoughts:
Frederick Bruner translates the scribes and the Pharisees as the, "Bible teachers and the serious" to modernize its application (see the second volume of his Matthew commentary on pages 432 and following). I like this because it removes the temptation of going after the Jews and makes the text speak to us. This text certainly is a warning to us.
Jesus says the Bible teachers "sit on Moses' seat," which is to say they are the ordained instructors of the Torah. Jesus says to do and keep all that they say. But great qualifications occupy the rest of this chapter of Matthew. I guess we're to do as they say, not as they do...
The "Serious" were the lay, strict Bible adhering group of the time. We may label them "The Legalists" I suppose...
The specific "doing" Jesus opposes is the same show off type hypocritical acting he talks about in Matthew 6 in his Sermon on the Mount -- performing deeds in order to be seen by others. Our acts of devotion should be done not to gain fame, but rather, to honor God and grow his fame.
Phylacteries were small boxes containing scripture attached to the upper arm and forehead. Using them was a literal application of Deuteronomy 6:8, 11, and 18. I guess they wore them in prayer, but sometimes continued wearing them to show off their super-spiritual condition. Modern day examples of this are bumper stickers, crosses, buttons, etc, if they are worn for the wrong reasons...
Jesus warns us against seeking seats of honor at banquets or in the sanctuary. The place of honor at a party would be right next to the host. The place of honor in the church was in the front facing the congregation...kind of makes me question my place up there on Sunday mornings...
We're not to be called "rabbis" or "instructors." Rabbi can mean teacher, but his meaning here is most likely "Master." Bruner translates instructor "Tutor." We're not to call anyone father, except our Heavenly Father.
I don't think Jesus is being legalistic here. I think he teaches us to have him as our Master and our Instructor. If we do the work of teaching and instructing, we must always teach the Messiah, lead people to Jesus, and show his way. His lordship conditions all of our work of teaching and preaching. If we teach anyone else, we put ourselves in danger of disobeying Jesus' message here.
The current church's struggle with the "cult of personality pastor" reveals one of the reasons Jesus teaches these things. Jesus is master, we are not. Jesus is Lord, we are not. Jesus is The Teacher, we are not.
Jesus teaches us not to rank fellow believers. The foot of the cross is level ground in that we all come needy to Christ. After receiving his grace, the ground remains level...no one is better and worthy of high titles. This flies in the face of almost every church organization chart I've seen...
Jesus concludes this text with his familiar reversal: The first will be last and the last will be first. If we honor ourselves here on earth, God will humble us on the last day. If we humble ourselves and serve here on earth, God will exalt us on the last day.
NRS Matthew 23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;
3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.
4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.
5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.
6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues,
7 and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.
8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.
9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father-- the one in heaven.
10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.
11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
12 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Initial thoughts:
Frederick Bruner translates the scribes and the Pharisees as the, "Bible teachers and the serious" to modernize its application (see the second volume of his Matthew commentary on pages 432 and following). I like this because it removes the temptation of going after the Jews and makes the text speak to us. This text certainly is a warning to us.
Jesus says the Bible teachers "sit on Moses' seat," which is to say they are the ordained instructors of the Torah. Jesus says to do and keep all that they say. But great qualifications occupy the rest of this chapter of Matthew. I guess we're to do as they say, not as they do...
The "Serious" were the lay, strict Bible adhering group of the time. We may label them "The Legalists" I suppose...
The specific "doing" Jesus opposes is the same show off type hypocritical acting he talks about in Matthew 6 in his Sermon on the Mount -- performing deeds in order to be seen by others. Our acts of devotion should be done not to gain fame, but rather, to honor God and grow his fame.
Phylacteries were small boxes containing scripture attached to the upper arm and forehead. Using them was a literal application of Deuteronomy 6:8, 11, and 18. I guess they wore them in prayer, but sometimes continued wearing them to show off their super-spiritual condition. Modern day examples of this are bumper stickers, crosses, buttons, etc, if they are worn for the wrong reasons...
Jesus warns us against seeking seats of honor at banquets or in the sanctuary. The place of honor at a party would be right next to the host. The place of honor in the church was in the front facing the congregation...kind of makes me question my place up there on Sunday mornings...
We're not to be called "rabbis" or "instructors." Rabbi can mean teacher, but his meaning here is most likely "Master." Bruner translates instructor "Tutor." We're not to call anyone father, except our Heavenly Father.
I don't think Jesus is being legalistic here. I think he teaches us to have him as our Master and our Instructor. If we do the work of teaching and instructing, we must always teach the Messiah, lead people to Jesus, and show his way. His lordship conditions all of our work of teaching and preaching. If we teach anyone else, we put ourselves in danger of disobeying Jesus' message here.
The current church's struggle with the "cult of personality pastor" reveals one of the reasons Jesus teaches these things. Jesus is master, we are not. Jesus is Lord, we are not. Jesus is The Teacher, we are not.
Jesus teaches us not to rank fellow believers. The foot of the cross is level ground in that we all come needy to Christ. After receiving his grace, the ground remains level...no one is better and worthy of high titles. This flies in the face of almost every church organization chart I've seen...
Jesus concludes this text with his familiar reversal: The first will be last and the last will be first. If we honor ourselves here on earth, God will humble us on the last day. If we humble ourselves and serve here on earth, God will exalt us on the last day.
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