Blessing Outsiders (2 Sam 6:10-11)

Uzzah, a priestly insider, treats the Ark as ordinary and dies. So David, not willing to take the Ark the rest of the trip for fear of the Lord, leaves it with Obed-Edom the Gittite. A Gittite is literally, “A resident of the city of Gath.” David leaves the Ark of the Covenant with an outsider of the covenant; a Philistine! Worse yet, the Lord blesses the household of the Philistine for as long as the Ark is there.
What can we grasp from this? How you treat the sanctified objects relates to how you treat the Holy One of Israel and how you shall be blessed by Him. The Jews were entrusted the Gospel, now the Gentiles make up the majority of the church. Careful lest we consider the holy as simply ordinary. May we learn from this that what we have is a gift of great value, treat it with reverence. And we also learn that those outside of the covenant can learn to hold the holy and in turn are blessed by the Lord. What is in your hand? How are you treating it? Beware of calling the holy ordinary.

Minister like Nehemiah (1:12)

Following are some conclusions we may draw from Nehemiah as he followed God’s leading in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. As we are called to build the people of God may we emulate this great leader. Nehemiah 1:12 says, “And I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.” Notice these four things in his comments.

1. “God put…” God told him. Do what God calls you to, not what the people expect you to do.
2. “…In my heart” If your heart is not in it, it may not be your calling – you have to be invested in it to see it prosper.
3. “…to do for Jerusalem.”  God did not give you the vision in your heart for your own glory, it is in your heart for the people God has called you to minister unto.
4. “I told no one.” Sometimes people just wont get what God has put in your heart and it is better at times not to share your dreams with others. They may deflate your aspirations in various ways – sometimes they thwart you on purpose, other times they discourage you merely by misunderstanding it. Some things grow better without an audience.

Sabbath: Time and Space

There is a slight difference between the two lists of 10 commandments concerning the Sabbath. On of these differences is the Lord’s reason why one should take a Sabbath. Exodus 20 focuses on the Lord resting from the six days of creation. Deuteronomy 5 focuses on the Lord delivering Israel from bondage in Egypt. May we also take time to be free to admire God’s creation and enjoy the world we made for ourselves in like maner of our Lord who stood back, admired his creation, and enjoyed the fruits of His labor. And may we also take time to remember we are no longer slaves – so do not be slaves to our schedules, our to-do lists, our work, etc. Take time to spend time with family and with our Lord. We see from this commandment to keep Sabbath that God is creator and keeper of space (creation) and time but not limited or bound to it. What we are always seeking is our space and more time. Let us learn to enjoy the space and time God has granted us and allow him to keep control of it instead of ourselves. Sabbath begins by realizing we are in God’s creation – we are not slave to it.

Jesus’ After School Lunch Program (Luke 9:10-17)

It seems trendy these days to get people to come to church if we advertise food first. “The way to the sinner’s heart is thru their stomachs.” – to parody an old line. But Christ doesn’t pander to the audience to get them to listen. In fact in this story Jesus is trying to escape the crowd for a bit of a break, but their need for Him is so great they search Him out and He obliges. The added bonus is a free meal… after listening. Jesus rewarded hungry behavior, hungry souls were satisfied, and then empty stomachs. I think in ministry we must be willing to give our last, even when we want to take a break, to those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. It seems in ministry our best goes to those who need it and don’t know it. We must minister first to those clamoring for more. Feed those who know they are lacking, do not spend as much time force-feeding the starving who are satisfied on their meager spiritual diets. Feed those with their mouths and heart open to receive.

Family Centered Learning

Deuteronomy 6.7 says to “impress them [commandments] on your children.” My concern for the church is that we have gotten away from personal and family based learning and institutionalized the process. We take our children to other professionals for their mental, spiritual, and emotional growth when God has asked us to be personally involved in the spiritual upbringing of our children. I think we need to develop a study tool from the church to be used by parents in their own homes to impress upon their children. I like Moses’ word here, “impress.” What indelible mark are you leaving on your children? Is it a worldview or is it the impression of godliness?

October Missions Tour!

It’s that time of year again! Come out and learn about the work of our missionaries around the world. This year, we have a creative worker in a closed country and a traditional missionary from South America.

Sunday, 7PM in the Sanctuary

Monday, 7PM Prayer and Pastries (bring a sweet to share as we pray for the missionaries)

Tuesday, 11AM PrimeTime

Wednesday, 6:30PM “Out of the Bleachers” – Wear your balck and gold as we play games and pray with our misisonaries. Hot dogs, popcorn and the like for dinner, we will end with a candy tailgating party in the parking lot.

Make our missionaries feel welcome, encouraged and ready to go back to their mission field.

Noah’s Dad (Gen 5:28-31)

“Lamech…became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us comfort from our work and from the toil of our hands from the ground which the Lord has cursed.”

Noah had a dad. But I don’t remember in Sunday School ever talking much about Lamech the Good. Who taught his child in the way acceptable to God? Lamech must have known the LORD for he mentions his name and he must have been compassionate for when he named his son, Noah, he had humanity in mind. As I read the short text concerning Noah’s dad I am reminded of the parents today. When we dream of the future of our children do we dream with humanity in mind? Do we dream too specifically? Lamech’s desire to see his child grow up as a “comforter” for the toil of the agrarian society both incites great happiness and sadness in my heart. Great it is to name your son “Comforter” and think of the plight of the common everyday laborer. Sad it is to dream so low, and so specific. When we see the potential in our children let us not stifle their dreams with specificality. But let us dream as with Lamech that our children will be comforters for humanity and allow God to guide their steps to be what we don’t even see the potential within them to become.

The Necessity of the Word (Mtt 2:1-6)

Two things stick out to me from the story of the magi seeking “the King born of the Jews.” First, God used supernatural ways to bring non-believing pagans to worship Jesus. But God stopped just short and made them stop for the final directions from the Word of God. It seems to me that God can bring people to Him but the final step must be through the Bible. The magi were close, but not quite close enough without the essentail piece of revelation from the Bible.

Secondly, God rewards those that dilligently seek Him. It says to seek Him – not seek the Scriptures. What good is a well understood roadmap if you ever take the journey? The chief priests and scribes had no problem deciphering where the Messiah was to be born – but none of them accompanied the magi to Jesus on that short walk. How sad to know all, and be very close but in the end lose everything.

May we never be caught knowing about God and never meeting with God and may we always join new comers on the journey instead of merely pointing out the route and sending them on their way.

Righteousness and Justice from Genesis

As I continue to unravel the concept that God is looking for those who live out righteousness and justice I found a connection to the very first family of God. The first sin was against God, a breakdown in righteousness. And their children saw a breakdown in justice as Cain overcame Abel. From the very first pages, the pleasing of God was found in righteousness and justice and the judgment of God came to those who broke these very foundations. In order to continue to be close to God requires righteousness and justice and the punishment in each case for rebellion against living right and just lives was exile; exile from the garden and exile into the land of wandering (Nod). May righteousness and justice overpower our decisions that we may glorify God and thus enjoy His presence forever.

Righteousness and Justice – God’s Plum and Level

Throughout the Scriptures the people of God, from the servant to the king are measured by their righteousness and justice. These are God’s measuring systems as illustrated in 2 Kings 21:31, “I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab.” And Isaiah picks up the theme in 28:17, “I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line.”

RIghteousness is sacrifice in order to lift up another whereas justice is restoring righteousness when it has been put down. The Divine Plum Line checks our motives and our virtical relationship with our Lord who has called us to act as He has revealed Himself, the father to orphans, widows, aliens and the disadvantaged. The Divine Level checks our horizontal relationship with our fellowman, doing our part to put right what once went wrong.

Over and over again Scripture places these two words together, righteousness and justice. Psalm 9:8 says that the Lord, “HE will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.” Isaiah says in 9:7 that the Coming Messiah will reign in the coming kingdom, “establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”

The book of Proverbs says that the Fear of the Lord is found in doing what is right, just and fair (1:2-7). 21:3 that “to do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” and in 22:21 that “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” To have wealth, honor and life 23:4 says we must be people of humility which is equated with the Fear of the Lord. In sum, if we are willing to do righteousness and justice, to humble ourselves before God and man we will find life (even if it costs us our own on earth) true prosperity (even if we are poorer because of investing in the lives of others who cannot repay our kindness) and honor before the Lord.

Let us live as if we are being checked to see if we live straight and level lives before our God who keeps accounts. Let us live in righteousness and justice.