Tag: faith

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Remember and Pay Attention to You

In Luke 17, Jesus provides some indicators about how things will be as His time to return draws near. With this in mind, the Savior starts with a significant instruction to His disciples: “Pay attention to yourselves!” (Luke 17:3).

The chapter begins with Christ saying that you can expect offenses and temptations. There are little ones about; these are new and immature believers, those trying to get on their feet. These ones are vulnerable. Those who cause them to stumble will not get away with what they do.

The Lord has His ways of dealing with those who do harm. He will be far more severe and complete than anything we might cobble together along the lines of human rationale in regard to retribution. His ways are much different than ours, so much higher is He, above all powers and kingdoms. 

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). Aren’t we all in His hands? 

It is so interesting to me that we attempt to fashion our own brands of vengeance. It reveals how little we know about God and the depth and breadth of His power, knowledge, and mercy. 

Yes, mercy. God weighs things according to His ultimate aim to draw all men unto Him. Anyone who falls into the hands of the Lord will feel the weight of His judgment, a weight that will take him to the bottom and even beneath it. 

Penetrating Work

We can see the nature of God and His penetrating work upon hearts in the story of Joseph that we can read in Genesis, chapters 37-50. In envy, the brothers plotted to do away with Joseph. At first, murder was on their minds, but they stopped short of killing him and instead chose to sell their brother into slavery. 

Years later, these very brothers, seeking to find food during a severe famine, bowed low before Joseph who had been raised up as a ruler in Egypt, a great and powerful empire at the time. The exchange between the distraught brothers shows just how the memory of their actions against Joseph had affected them.

Their hearts were tormented and had been for some time. What they had done to Joseph they did mean for evil. God, however, redeemed it for good to save them alive and to make way for their future as the fathers of the chosen nation anointed to witness to the world of the true Lord of all Creation. 

Woe to those by whom offenses come — not because of what human justice can manufacture, but because of what the Lord can and does do. This is not to diminish the effects that wrongdoing has on people. Still, we have to reckon on His Word as it declares: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows that he shall also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

“Pay attention to yourselves!” That’s our business, Jesus taught. 

Reasonable Service

I am really more than I can handle on my own. I need to lose my life in order to really gain it. I must give it to God and then, by His Spirit, all things are worked together. 

Psalm 119:109 says that our souls are continually in our hands. Who I am and what I am to become is all related to how I walk with Him. 

Later in Luke 17, Jesus spoke of servants simply doing what is required of them as employees. The boss doesn’t serve them, they serve the boss and then they are permitted to do their own things. 

What it is that God requires is to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God, according to Micah 6:8. Do what you’re supposed to do. This is reasonable service, Jesus illustrated with His sentences. 

Seek first the Kingdom. Love God and your neighbor. Forgive, as He has forgiven you. Jesus said if someone wrongs you the same way seven times in a day and seeks forgiveness, you are to forgive. Proceed with humility in the understanding of just how prone to failure you are in your own right. 

The Seed of Faith

The disciples were stunned. They said that this would require something of a major faith boost. 

Jesus replied that they were all wrong about the nature of faith. Faith, He said, is something of quality rather than quantity. Just a tiny seed of true faith can root out any obstacle that gets between us and God.

Real faith is about the object it is set upon. We look to Jesus and He authors and completes our faith (see Hebrews 12:2). He is the source of our faith and by Him we are enabled to be just and merciful and forgiving. 

The next passages in Luke 17 point out just how casual and familiar we can be with the Lord. 

A group of 10 lepers called to the Savior: “Mercy, Lord, have mercy.” They wanted to be made clean and disease-free. He shouted back a simple instruction: “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” As they went, they were cleansed (Luke 17:17-18). 

Only one, however, among the healed rendered the Healer any honor. This one, a Samaritan at that, glorified God as he came and fell on his face before Jesus.

The Lord wondered aloud “Where are the nine?” Concern must have come over Him for the days to come. Who will reveal thanksgiving and honor unto God? 

The Flood and the Fire

Jesus next explained the character of the end days. The world will be wasted and wasting away. The atmosphere will be as it was in the days of Noah and Lot. 

Noah found grace and got an assignment from God. For more than 100 years, he fashioned an ark, a large vessel of wood to carry one family and a host of creatures through the Flood of judgment. His work and his witness of righteousness went ignored. People did as they did, practicing and imagining all manner of evil as they ate and drank and married. 

And then the rain began to fall. 

In Sodom, Lot lived a vexed and twisted existence. His faith was small, though real. He possessed enough discernment to recognize angels who came to the city. The people around Lot went about their business as usual. The arrival of the newcomers stirred the evil passions in them. A crowd rushed to Lot, seeking to abuse the messengers sheltered in his home. 

And then fire and brimstone fell from the sky. 

Lot and his daughters escaped to safety. His wife? She turned back toward Sodom and became a pillar of salt. She was so attached to the life she had in Sodom that she couldn’t bear to leave it behind. 

“Remember Lot’s wife.” This was Jesus’ word of warning. Perhaps He was addressing Judas in a way. By appearances, some can seem close to God. But when judgment arrives all hearts are revealed. 

The Son of God was right there. He represented the Kingdom of God come among them. Few chose Him. They failed to see the reality of His redemption. He suffered and was rejected by that generation. 

He offered His Body on the Cross. The religious and political leaders of the time – the vultures – circled around Jesus and put Him to death. He gave His life to that dark moment. (See Luke 17:37.)

Now He asks us to seek Him and surrender our lives to the purposes of the Kingdom. It’s not something everyone will choose to do, and the return of Christ will reveal this clearly. 

This one and that one and that one will be taken into the Lord’s reign, others will be left out. Why? Because they held fast to the life in the world that will face its judgment. 

What about us? What choices will we make? 

In Jesus, we have a forever life, an eternal life, a fulfilled life. Let us choose to see that life every morning and every evening. Put trust in Christ and His Truth and He shall bless and keep you.

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The Great Miracle of Forgiveness

She crashed the dinner party, just to get to Jesus. It was an embarrassing moment for the religious man who’d extended the invitation to the Son.

Yes, Jesus chose to eat at the house of Simon, a Pharisee, even though He had pronounced woes upon these religious ones. He was more than the friend to publicans and sinners. He also sought to be the friend of those who despised publicans and sinners. The Son was the friend to men such as this man, men who prided themselves on their right living and rigid law-keeping.

These, too, needed the saving grace of God. Jesus did say that He would be lifted up on the Cross to draw all men unto Him and to the Father through Him. All means all. Those who fail to see themselves as sinners are still trapped in their sin and in need of redemption, even though they are blind to their desperate state.

What to do about her? The Pharisee had to wonder. She was a woman known for her life on the streets of town.

Jesus had just taken His seat and there she was. And what she was doing only made matters more uncomfortable for the host Pharisee and his distinguished company. I must say for myself that the scene would be disconcerting to just about anyone who had just sat down to take a meal.

Something had moved this woman to tears, and she let those tears fall on the feet of Jesus. She carried no towel with which to dry His feet so she used her hair. She let loose her locks and they fell upon His toes. This is how she wiped them clean.

She proceeded to a most public display of affection by kissing those feet. Her finishing touch was to pour out on Him an expensive flask of fragrant oil. If, as some think, this woman was a prostitute, this ointment likely was a tool of her trade as a sex worker. In anointing His feet with this, she declared that she was turning away from her line of employment in coming to Christ.

Just before this encounter, Jesus gave an invitation of His own, one we can read in Matthew 11:28-30:  “Come unto Me, all you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

She heard this and answered His call to repentance.

Tale of Two Sinners

What we really read at the conclusion of Luke 7 is a tale of two sinners. One had become very much aware of her need for forgiveness and mercy; the other, as far as we can tell, remained restless and confused at the power and propriety of Jesus.

First, consider the inappropriateness of a woman – any woman – openly lavishing such endearment on a man – any man — in plain sight. Jesus had status in the community. He had gained a measure of respect as a Rabbi, and Simon was contemptuous that Jesus did not move away from her, nor did He move to stop her. “… [Simon] said to himself, ‘If this Man were a Prophet, He would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner’” (Luke 7:39).

Jesus would reveal just how much of a Prophet He was. He did know this woman and her ways. He also knew Simon and his thoughts. He exposed what was going on in the Pharisee’s head. He also took issue with his manner of decorum.

This moment was one of supposed hospitality, but Simon treated the guest of honor rather shabbily by the standards of the day. Jesus noted what went missing from his welcome.

The Son got no kiss of greeting. No water was provided for His feet. No oil was offered for His head. All of these would have been standard courtesies extended to a visitor.

Simon’s casual treatment of Jesus was a matter of heart. He possessed a curiosity. Perhaps, this whole setup was to be just a little meet-and-greet session, a get-know-you time. On another level, maybe this was part of the Pharisees’ investigation of Jesus. The Son was known and followed and this made the religious establishment anxious and envious.

Jesus knew Simon better than he knew himself. He was blinded to his true need and to the Truth about the Messiah sitting before him.

Jesus offered a brief parable about two debtors and their responses to the cancellations of what they owed. The one who owed much more was the more grateful one, as Simon pointed out.

Notice, both people in the story had debts they could not pay. The woman and Simon were in the same condition – each needed the forgiveness that comes from above through the Son.

It was most clear to the woman and so she seized the opportunity to express gratefulness. Her heart overflowed for the love and grace she had sensed from the Savior. None of the disfavoring glances were going to hinder her.

Who would squelch such joy? Certainly not Jesus.

This was a revelation. A life made right and clean was rejoicing before the One who set her free.

How long had she labored enslaved to her sinful lifestyle? Finally at peace, she let herself go to extremes in her thanksgiving, regardless of those present.

Set Free and Grateful

Forgiveness; it is the greatest miracle of them all. The result of it was there for all to see in the midst of a “holy” man’s house.

This chapter, Luke 7, began with a powerful turn of events. A Roman centurion, a Gentile magistrate, sought healing for the servant boy whom he loved. And Jesus marveled at his faith, his understanding, and the recognition of the Son’s power and authority.

With His Word, Jesus made that boy well at the request of a soldier.

With His Word, the Son next raised a widow’s only son from the dead and out of his coffin.

With His Word, Jesus brought this woman to Himself and His wholeness; He made her new and alive again.

Let he who has ears, hear and hear well. May we hear and believe.

Simon thought he was doing Jesus a favor with a seat at his table. Instead, it was Jesus who offered this Pharisee the greatest invitation of all, the invitation to be free from his debt, small as it may seem to him.

Forgiveness was there for the taking. Pardon must be received. Mercy extended must be mercy accepted.

This woman got the message. Did Simon get it, too? That remains a mystery. We are not told whether his unbelief was helped at all by what happened here.

Jesus brought the message of salvation home to this man.

And He brings it home to us, over and over. We are forgiven and free. Let us weep before Him. Let us pour out praises to Him.

Our faith saved us. May we go in peace.

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Faith That Saves

Two tables. Two hosts. Two salvations.

The episodes I want to examine are both found in the gospel of Luke. The first one is toward the end of Luke 7 and involves a Pharisee named Simon who asked Jesus to come to dinner at his home.

The word on the street was that Jesus was very comfortable to share a meal with tax collectors and sinners. This activity brought questions and scoffs and mockery.

Jesus had an answer for such slanders and accusations: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). This habit of His was part of His healing mission, He said.

How would things go for Jesus at the table of “healthy” man?

Casual Reception

I am sure the Pharisee’s invitation carried an ulterior motive. It was calculated, a setup of sorts. Simon knew the talk of Jesus. Some were calling Him a prophet. His words were words that projected authority; His talk left hearers astonished with its clarity and penetration. His miracle works of healing and deliverance created a remarkable stir, an expectation was growing that perhaps the Messiah had really come.

Yes, Simon indeed had heard of His sermons and His works. His invitation offered him an opportunity for this “healthy” one to gauge the carpenter’s Son from Nazareth at close range.

And so Jesus showed up. However, His reception at the home was of a perfunctory sort. His was a somewhat chilly and borderline dishonorable welcome when judged by the cultural standards of the day and region.

The Son was not met with a kiss of greeting; He was given no water with which to clean His dusty feet; nor was the courtesy of fragrant oil for His sun-parched brow extended to Him. Still, Jesus entered and took His place of recline with the others there and was prepared to enjoy the meal that was to come.

An Uninvited Visitor

The scene at the Pharisee’s home soon was interrupted by one of the “sick” ones. A “woman of the city,” one well known as the village harlot, came in and she reached the Feet of Jesus. She began kissing those Feet and weeping upon them. She let her hair hang down – a somewhat immodest act when done in public — and with her hair she began to wipe those Feet. She lavished one more thing upon those sacred Feet as she broke a box of costly perfume and poured it out.

Likely this final act represented that there had been a real transformation in her life. This perfume was among the important tools of her trade in the sex market in which she trafficked. Here, she abandoned this valuable essence and sought to put aside her sordid livelihood. She was giving herself to the Lord.

Another from among the publicans and sinners had become a friend of Jesus. She crashed the dinner party and turned the event into a salvation celebration. For that’s what this became in the Savior’s heart anyway.

Hearts Revealed

Simon the Pharisee was too incredulous and too filled with scorn even to speak. Instead, thoughts of contempt percolated within him: “This Man cannot be from God for no holy Teacher would allow Himself to be part of something like this,” he thought.

Jesus heard those thoughts as if they were spoken out loud. He delivered a parable on big debtors and small debtors and drove home the point that those forgiven much are those who love much.

Forgiveness? Did Simon even realize how much he needed it? He did at least “judge rightly” in noting that those who are shown greater mercy respond with greater love.

Jesus then brought things to head with these words to her: “’Your sins are forgiven.’ Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this, who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace’” (Luke 7:49-50).

A Man Up a Tree

The other episode we want to look at is in Luke 19. It happens in the town of Jericho. There, a tax collector named Zacchaeus was stuck in the midst of a crowd awaiting the Lord’s arrival. Being a short man, Zacchaeus got himself up into a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He walked into town.

This time Jesus took matters into His hands, setting up His own lunch date with the notorious publican. “Zacchaeus, get out of that tree. I must eat at your table today,” announced the Savior.

The atmosphere was soon thick with consternation. Those in the throng muttered aloud about Jesus’ choice of company. The man was a cheat and a crook and all of Jericho knew it.

By the time Jesus reached his table, Zacchaeus was changed. Born again, the tax collector committed himself to new way of living. “And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods give to the poor. And if I have jdefrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’” (Luke 19:8-10).

More Than Friends

This is one of the clear presentations from Jesus on the matter of saving faith. Abraham believed and was made a friend of God. By faith, righteousness was counted to him. Lost and desperate Zacchaeus was called out of the tree and shown the way to new life in Jesus.

The Son came to seek and to save – us, all of us. Revelation 3speaks of the Lamb of God knocking on our doors, bidding us to open up to Him. If we let Him in, He will sit down at our table and sup with us (see Revelation 3:20).

It’s a great bargain, a great exchange – He gives us His life for ours. All we have to offer Him is our faith, and that’s enough for Him.

Just open the door. Believe God, believe Him more than ever. He forgives and restores and cleanses. Friends of God are made this way.

He sees as more than friends really. He sees us as One with Him. He sees each of us as He sees Himself, as the Son of the Most High.

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The All We Have to Give

A widow marched to the offering box with all that she had, as we read in Mark 12. Just two mites were in her hand – all of the money she had to her name. A mite represented the smallest and least valuable of the coins in circulation during Jesus’ days on earth. It is likely that a single penny plucked out of a gutter on Dundalk Avenue would count for more monetarily than what this woman gave.

Others in the giving line that day, for sure, deposited far more by economic and business standards. But were these ones being as generous as her?

On this day, the Lord was watching and He liked what he saw.

Jesus took note of this widow and her gift, and He rejoiced. He gathered His disciples to Him and made much of her. “Truly I tell you, this widow has put more into the treasury than all the others,” the Savior explained (see Mark 12:43).Here was someone willing to give her all to the work of God. Her action revealed a wealth, a richness that exceeded the riches as they are measured by our world.

The One with Almost Everything

This story comes to us a couple of chapters after Jesus encountered a rich, young ruler. That man was a man of means. He had money, youth, and power – everything that the world counts as valuable was his.

Still, this rich, young ruler was missing something and he knew it. He surmised that he was somehow poor. The sense of his poverty brought him to Jesus. He fell before the Savior and asked:  “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (See Mark 10:17).

Jesus first deflated his words of flattery – “Why do you call Me good? None is good except God alone” – and then told him to keep the commandments. These things, the man claimed to have done from his youth.

Next came what Mark described as a moment of divine affection:  “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing:  go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’” (see Mark 10:21).

Go, sell, give, come and follow. Simple and huge commandments had been laid before the rich, young ruler; these commandments were directed straight at his heart. He was unready for such an answer. He left the scene in dismay and grief, Mark wrote, for his possessions were many and these things possessed him, as they so easily do when we wed ourselves to the ways of the world.

Jesus sorrowed too at that moment. “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God?” He lamented to His disciples as the man walked away.

Seek His Face

What became of this rich, young ruler?

We aren’t told specifically. Some have conjectured that this man was really John Mark himself, the very one who wrote the story. The Bible, however, leaves open the question of his identity. The Word of God refuses to behave like fairy tales and legend stories. Tidy endings very often go missing, and we are left in wonder and moved to consider afresh His unsearchable judgments, His ways that are passed finding out (see Romans 11:33).

What the Bible does clearly tell us is this:  “Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face evermore” (Psalm 105:4). His face, God wants us to come before His face.

This is the richness of real life in God. David wrote, “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to You, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek’” (Psalm 27:8).

Could it be that the rich, young ruler had this going on inside of him? Jesus was there and this man wondered of a better life, of a life before the Lord, of a life eternal and forever, of the life missing among his prosperity. And so he sought the face of God in Jesus. He put himself right there.

This brings to my mind Ecclesiastes 3:11:  “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

The widow had so little by sight. Something in her brought her to the Temple on that day. She saw the richness of God and His grace. She committed herself to Him. She was richer than she, or anyone of the others giving that day, could imagine. She embodied what James wrote:  “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5).

The rich, young ruler, perhaps, wanted to be an heir in the Kingdom. He wanted peace with the Lord and an understanding and security in the life that comes from above. I pray that he did bring himself to heed the words of the Lord. I want to believe that he gave away his possessions to possess what really matters.

Oh, how rich we are because of our faith in Him. May we realize this eternal reality. And may we be generous with the love and faith the Lord has poured into us. Let us bless others and forgive and show mercy and walk before Him in His greatness.

Small things are never despised by Jesus. Anything given with the whole heart is worthy of honor for what the world sees as last is made first in Heaven.

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God at Home in Us

God made each of us for Himself. This reality is something we must embrace. For the Lord loves us and seeks to bring us into a mature, healthy relationship with Him.

The book of Revelation begins with Jesus sending specific messages to seven different churches. These messages are kind of like report cards. Each church has a particular character and a few of them are facing real issues that are affecting and even hindering the movement of God in the midst of their assemblies.

The church at Laodicea had fervency issues, it seems. The Lord addresses the lukewarm nature of that group. He used strong language to express His distaste over what was going on there:  “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16).

Let’s be careful not to stop reading at that statement. God had more to say.

“To those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” The strong language of the Savior was intended to wake up these sleepy believers. He wanted them to fully enjoy the life that He had for them. And this attitude of Jesus led Him to say what he said next:  “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:  if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

God comes to our doors. He knocks upon them. He wants to sit at our tables. He wants to share a meal with us.

Our Soul

This is true for every single church of God. And it is true for every single believer in Jesus Christ. He wants to be with us. He wants to talk with us. He knows who we are. He knows our challenges and our struggles. He loves us and He loves those beyond us. He loves the world, “so loves” it, says John 3:16.

We may cool off in our relationship with Him. We may allow things to interfere with our fellowship. We can say the wrong things, just as we say the wrong things to the ones closest to us, to family and friends. We can do the wrong thing, from time to time. We offend people. We may have even broken someone’s heart at one time or another.

The Good News, the Gospel Truth really, is this:  He is still here, knocking on our doors, patiently waiting, hoping that we will open up to Him.

Every one of us is a member in particular of the Body of Christ. Each of us was fearfully and wonderfully made by Him (see Psalm 139). We are what we are because of His design and wisdom.

There are people all about us. We are members of families. We live in communities. We have neighbors.

However, we each stand and fall before God. We are believer-priests and we belong to Him and to Him alone.

We have responsibility before Him. Our soul is “continually” in our hands. This truth is communicated in verse 109 of Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible. It is a psalm that emphasizes the importance of the Word of God over and over and over.

The Lord wants to be at home in us. It is up to us to open our doors to Jesus when He knocks. He’s not even concerned over what’s on our tables when we let Him in. He just wants to be there with us, heart to heart. One day we will be face to face with Him.

Temples for Him

Moses and Israel erected the Tabernacle in the wilderness according to the design of God. They made it and the Lord showed up with the cloud of His Presence. There was so much glory there that Moses himself could not enter. Solomon organized the construction of the great Temple. You can read of it in 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles. He imagined the magnificence of that building, which was mostly designed by King David as God gave the details to him. The Temple was completed and again God came in with His Presence and all fell upon their faces in worship.

Two other temples were built, one by the people of Israel and another by Herod, the Roman appointed king of Judea. But we do not read of the Lord showing up in those buildings.

That’s because God had something else in mind. Through Christ, a new and living way to worship was made, worship not based on place, time, and ritual, but worship that is rooted in Spirit and Truth.

Now, we are the Temples of the Living God. Paul wrote of our bodies as holy places (see 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19). Each of us can make our hearts a comfort zone for the Holy Spirit.

Oh, the Spirit does live in us, regardless of the state of our walk with the Lord. This is the fact of amazing grace. He makes us sons and daughters and this is a permanent identity. We cannot erase the seal of God that He puts upon us when we welcome His mercy and call upon Him to be saved. But we sometimes must choose to unclutter and dejunk the structures of our souls so that the Spirit will not be quenched or grieved.

So how are we to do this? Psalm 119 gives a number of instructions. No. 1 is to “take heed” to the Word of God. Paying attention to the Truth cleanses us in seasons of failure, and it can keep us from sin (see Psalm 119:9, 11).

One important prayer phrase in Psalm 119 is this one:  “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).  Here’s another good one:  “Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments” (Psalm 119:73).

Let’s allow the Word to give form and order to our souls. This will provide a frame of reference for the work of God in us. Jesus, of course, put it best when gave this amazing promise:

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

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The Meaning of the Temple

The Chronicles, books 1 and 2, begin with a name – Adam.

This is significant because these books in our Bibles are the collected writings of men who served in the second Temple at Jerusalem. The words come from the priests and Levites connected to the care and the practices performed in the holy house of God.  This house was a reconstructed one, fashioned and built by those who suffered through Israel’s captivity and exile.

How is it that Adam is to be considered as so related to the Temple?

I think of Adam as really God’s first Temple, as the Almighty’s first holy house. It was into this original man that God put something of Himself. Consider this: the first human was formed from the dust of the earth and then was made alive in this fashion: “And the Lord God … breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

This reality should serve to color the way that we look at anyone from any place at anytime. “The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord,” says Proverbs 20:27. God made man for His habitation, so that He could delight in him and rejoice through him (see Proverbs 8:30-32). He made space in people for Him to be present, to reveal His glory, for His will to be carried out on earth as it is in Heaven.

The books of Samuel and of the Kings report some of the same stories that we read in the Chronicles. In former books, the words are focused on the throne of the nation. We read of the kings’ rule and of how they battled and built along with their policies and reforms. Palace intrigue and political stunts and manipulations are presented. Foolish decisions and spectacular failures are also exposed and detailed.

In Samuel and Kings, all things relate to the one in charge and the words we get are oriented from the top down. But in Chronicles, we find that the communication is organized from the bottom up. We gain an understanding of the people and things at the roots of life among God’s chosen people.

And so it all starts with Adam – the one made in the image of God and instructed to exercise dominion over the earth that was made for him, a planet on which he was to be fruitful, multiply, and fill with his children. 

Book 1 of the Chronicles up front offers us pages of names, a seemingly dull registry of people and tribes and such. Look carefully though and see how the line of the human race is traced for us. In particular, the line of Israel is drawn clearly, starting with Adam through Noah and Abraham to Jacob and onto Judah and David.

Eventually, we come to the key element of the Temple and of the nation’s life as a whole. This is the Ark of the Covenant, with its Mercy Seat. It is symbolic of the presence of the Lord. His Shekinah, the glory of His Person, shines forth between the gold figures of cherubim positioned to frame the Mercy Seat, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled year by year.

David was said to have a possessed a heart after God. He did occupy the throne in the palace. The great thing about David is this: he understood that the real and true power of government rested in the Throne of Grace.

And this king strived to relocate the Ark to Jerusalem, to the royal city. His first attempt was done in haste and resulted in disaster – one died for touching the Ark as it tottered on a cart. Later, David had the Ark carried, transported on the shoulders of the Levites, according the Law written by Moses.  The Ark is set in place as David dances and leaps in celebration.

The Levites’ place in this story points to the order of God’s design for worship before Him. Before we get to all of the stuff about David and his days, it is the Temple servants who are noted and celebrated in 1 Chronicles.

Gate watchers. Doorkeepers.

Spice mixers. Furniture movers.

Bread bakers. Table setters.

Cymbal crashers. Singers of songs.

All of these are mentioned in some detail. For example, “a Levite called Mattithiah was entrusted with baking the bread. He was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite” (see 1 Chronicles 9:31). These sons and daughters of Adam represented vital, cherished, gifted portions at the center of Jewish life. The works that they did and the tasks that they carried out formed the foundation for what went on in the worship of the Lord.

Sure, there were remarkable soldiers and their battlefield exploits were very well known. But the Lord wanted these ones to be known as well. God wanted us to see the hidden things and faithful servants who made the Temple all it was to be.

It all goes back to Adam and how God made man for His presence. And the gospel of Luke makes this clearer to us with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. This family record works in reverse, naming all the names through the line of the Savior all the way back to whom? Back to Adam, the first one to be fearfully and wonderfully made.

May we see ourselves in these words and pages and recognize the glory of the Lord that dwells in us and works among us.

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Answers for Discontentment

We can be people of very short memory. We forget and ignore what the Lord has done for us. Consider the people of Israel and how quickly they lost sight of how God worked for them.

For 400 years plus, the descendants of Jacob lived as strangers in a land ruled by a people who feared and despised them.

What was it that made Egypt suspicious and envious of the Israelites? That’s simple:  these people were fruitful and multiplied a lot. They were the ones who followed the mission God had given to humanity when He fashioned Adam from dust and made this man alive with His breath.

Israel’s numbers made Pharaoh anxious for he knew nothing of Joseph, the son of Jacob, whose wisdom from the Lord once preserved the empire in days of fierce famine. Rather than appreciate the presence of God’s people within his borders, this ruler strategized to keep them in place.

One of Pharaoh’s first measures was a program of harsh labor. Work Israel hard. Wear the people out. Perhaps, they will become too tired to reproduce. The sons of Jacob were forced to make bricks and build cities for the Egyptians.

This empire and its citizens were used to having other peoples do the difficult and tedious tasks related to life. Luxury and idolatries reigned in their cities and towns. Pharaoh figured he and his subjects could sit back and watch Israel’s people work themselves to death.

He was wrong. The more the Israelites were worked, the more was added to their numbers.

Death Sentences

These developments pushed Pharaoh to implement more diabolical measures of population control. Israel’s Midwives were called before the ruler and ordered to let all male babies die. These midwives trusted God rather than this king. They were rewarded for their faithfulness to God’s people and given households with children of their own.

Egypt ramped up the pressure. The order went out that all boy babies were to be tossed into the Nile, where they would drown or be eaten by crocodiles.

Moses did wind up in the Nile, but his parents set him there in a waterproofed basket. Found by Pharaoh’s daughter, the son of a slave made his home in the palace. This boy, taken out of the river, grew up aware of his ties to Israel. And those ties were strong. He slew a slave supervisor for beating one of his “brothers.” As a result, he was driven from Egypt to the desert reaches of Midian. He spent 40 years there, took a wife and became a father. He was out of sight and out of mind.

That is, until the people of Israel prayed. God then chose to answer the cries of His chosen ones by first visiting Moses at the burning bush. He called Moses to service in the deliverance of Israel.

Moses confronted Pharaoh in the name of Yahweh. The empire wilted under a series of plagues, judgments sent from Heaven. The ultimate one left every Egyptian’s firstborn dead.

The people of Israel were shown the way of escape from the death angel. They were to slay a lamb and place the blood around their doors. Inside, under the sign of the blood, they were safe. They ate. They sang. They waited.

The next morning, Israel’s hundreds and thousands were driven from Egypt by order of Pharaoh. God’s plagues had done their work and more. Gold, silver and myriads of precious jewels and clothes were heaped upon these slaves set free. The bound became bedazzled.

Where were they going? They really didn’t know. Moses led them and God revealed His presence in the form of a cloud that glowed with fire by night.

The Sea Opens … and Closes

It wasn’t a clean and easy getaway, however. The Egyptians missed the servants who performed so ably for them. Once they learned that the Israelites’ freedom march had stalled at the Red Sea, Pharaoh sent his chariots and soldiers to reclaim the slaves.

God opened the sea and Israel crossed on dry ground. He then closed the waters and swamped the Egyptians, sinking the chariots and washing the bodies of their drivers up on the shore for Israel.

Again, the chosen ones of Jacob escaped certain death. Again, they sang, shook their tambourines and began their journey across the wilderness. A land of promise, one that flowed with milk and honey awaited them. They just had to get moving.

How hard could that have been for them given what they had witnessed? They tasted and saw the goodness and favor of the Lord. Their oppressors were no more. Their chains had been broken. They were laden with spoil they did not have to fight for. Who could ask for more?

The Israelites, that’s who.

They weren’t but a few miles from the sea when they presented their first grievance against their new status as freed people. Water was lacking and they wondered where it would come from. Never mind that God had just performed a remarkable and triumphant feat involving the waters of the Red Sea. They pined for life back in Egypt.

Grumbles and Grace

Once slaves in body, the Israelites were now slaves in spirit. Their unbelief and mistrust mushroomed as the days in the wilderness wore on. Soon they bowed, danced, and played before an idol, a golden calf that they honored as their deliverer. What made things worse was that this calf was made by Aaron, brother to Moses and the closest observer of all that God did through him for Israel.

Reaching the place of promise would be no easy road, especially for the faithful followers of the Lord such as Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. These men did all that they could to help Israel’s unbelief. But the complaints kept coming.

Their leader Moses grew weary of the dishonor on display around him. It left him so weak at one point that he himself ignored the word of the Lord when he hammered his staff upon the rock that gave water for the people who were thirsty again. He had been told to speak to the rock, not beat it.

Result: Moses, the one who had seen the glory of the Lord, would not be permitted to lead Israel into her land.

God is the Faithful and True Lord of All. We do live in a fallen and fractured world. Things do go wrong in our relationships, in our occupations, in our very bodies. We find ourselves with few friends and few cents. We do cry out as David did in Psalm 13: “How long shall You forget me, Lord? Forever? How long shall You hide Your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1).

Seasons of discontent are very real. I don’t want to diminish them and make light of the real pain we each experience. But the answer for discontentment is content; that is, we need a filling of our hearts and minds with thanksgiving and promises and prayers.

Jonah was about as low as anyone could get – stuck in the belly of a great fish as it swam through the sea.  But there he spoke in faith the truth he knew of God:  “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to You; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (Jonah 2:9).  Soon Jonah was delivered.

Talk to the Lord. Tell Him all about things. There’s a place of Promise waiting for us. It’s being prepared by Jesus Himself (see John 14:2).

Our battles belong to the Lord. Trust His Word. Open the Book. Consider its chapters and verses. Let us furnish the rooms of our souls with the truth of who He is and what He is doing.

Christ brought us out of the bondage of sin and into liberty of His grace.

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The Wait, the Wind, the Word

The Apostles kept looking up, their eyes on the sky. They stared steadily at the spot where Jesus had escaped their view. The Savior rose through the clouds before this group and was gone.

It was now 40 days since Resurrection Sunday. Jesus came and went among them. He appeared and disappeared to Peter, to James His half-brother, to a group in a locked room, to 500 at once. He spoke with His followers and ate with them. He invited them touch Him. There were to understand that He was present in flesh and bone. He revealed to them that our future reality would have substance, an existence not at all ethereal or ghost-like.

But Jesus had gone up through the heavens. What now? Surely, uncertainties filled the minds and hearts there. For a time, they were frozen in place.

Angels then arrived with a question and a promise. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (see Acts 1:11).

Power was coming, Jesus told them so. Power had been on their minds. They asked Jesus if Israel’s Kingdom season had arrived. “That’s not for you to know,” the Lord answered them. “Times and seasons belong to the authority of the Father,” He said.

After all that these people had seen and heard with Jesus, they still had so much to learn. Kingdom authority was coming in a new and living way. Power was about to be sent from above. Holy Spirit fire would fall on them. A new baptism was about to be introduced to the world.

“Wait,” Jesus said.

Isaiah 40:31 says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Christ had spoken of the Spirit and what would come with Him to these faithful ones. They would require the strength, the wings, the stamina, and the leading that would be sent to them.

The disciples did as they were told. Soon these followers of the Resurrected One gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem.

It was a feast time in this city. The Jews gathered for Pentecost, a harvest celebration, a time of thanksgiving to God for the first fruits of the wheat crop. From throughout the Roman Empire, thousands came to be with their kindred at the Temple.

These pilgrims were about to experience a pivotal moment in history. They went on with their religious duties, doing their best to honor God with sacrifices and offerings.

Meanwhile, the disciples of Jesus labored in prayer. A small room full of waiting ones became possessed with divine expectation. The communion of these believers was true and real. They were in one accord when sound of the Wind came.

It was mighty and rushing. It filled the room. To each one, this Wind swept a “tongue” – a small flame that rested just above every head. God filled His people with Himself. The offering of Christ on the Cross opened the way for our bodies to become temples for the Spirit.

The love of Christ called them to Him. Their love for each other in Christ had drawn them together. Now the love of God in and among them shined out to others. They were now ready to address the world full of fields ripe and ready to harvest.

At last came the Word.

Those in that room began to speak with the languages known by those filling the streets of Jerusalem. The Wait and the Wind made the followers of Jesus ready to speak with power and authority. News of this miracle moment spread through the city. The sound captivated hundreds.

Some mocked – they laughed the group was full of wine. Others heard, however. And as they listened, they were cut to the heart.

The Spirit’s breeze blew upon them as well. The dust of their cold religion was carried away, and a new thing put before them.  Thousands seized upon the message and responded in the faith of the Son of God.

Peter addressed them with the Gospel of the Kingdom. The essence of this message was this: “Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).

Could it be time for a new Pentecost? Are we willing to wait and watch? Are we listening for that mighty, rushing Wind?

A world full of trouble awaits a message of hope. We have this message. The Gospel of Christ must be spoken in every tongue to every tribe of people.

Do we believe it? Will we do it? May His Wind blow fresh upon us.

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All on the Altar

The Lord told Abraham to take Isaac and present him as a burnt offering. This son, the son of promise, the son of Abraham’s old age born when wife Sarah was in her 90s, was to become a sacrifice at Mount Moriah.

What an outrageous request this seems to be. And it is, but it is one that God did ask of His friend. How did Abraham respond? He rose early, saddled his donkey and got moving with two young servants and Isaac. The traveling party reached its destination and, there, Abraham and Isaac walked off with the wood, the fire, and the knife.

“Where’s the Lamb?’ Isaac wondered aloud at one point.

“God will provide for himself the Lamb,” Abraham answered.

Eventually, the wood was stacked, Isaac tied down, and the knife raised in the hand of Abraham. Then, and only then, did the voice of the angel of the Lord speak out — “Do not lay your hand on the boy!”

A Test of Friendship

The Bible describes this as a test for Abraham, and he is commended for his response of faith. “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is one the seashore. … in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (See Genesis 22:17-18.)

That’s how the story ends.

To some, I am sure that this conclusion is unsatisfying. We want explanations and answers, and we want them on our terms.

Why would God test a man in such a way? Sure, Abraham passed the test, it seems, and so the Lord then spoke of the great things to come. But, really, is this what it means to be the “Friend of God?”

Actually, real friends do bring out the biggest things in each other. God’s challenge to Abraham revealed a depth of trust that earned the man this title: “the Father of our Faith.”

What did the Lord say would come from Abraham? A remarkable line of descendants, that’s what. Some offspring would be stars, others would be sand.

On one level, these word pictures point to the multitude of children who would come from him. Yes, Father Abraham had many sons; many sons had Father Abraham, as the old Sunday school song goes. There are, naturally speaking, millions who trace their genetic roots to this man. These ones are the sand, and like sand they’re everywhere, in every corner of this world.

However, the Lord also declared that some of Abraham’s descendants would shine. These stars of heaven are those who have believed God as Abraham believed God. And, just like Abraham, they’ve had righteousness reckoned to them.

What if Abraham’s response had been different? Suppose he scampered away with Isaac in an attempt to hide from the Lord and His test? Jonah ran from the Lord. He was given a mission and a message and, at first, he refused to do as God asked him. This prophet was guided back into the will of God, but it was not a smooth ride.

Abraham reacted in another way. He heard and obeyed; he promptly set out to prepare an altar — upon which he would put his son.

Places of Sacrifice

Abraham’s life was a life defined by altars for he had built three others before this one at Mount Moriah. Altars mean sacrifice. Abraham believed God; he’d offered before and he would offer now — he would offer what God asked him to offer. Isaac, the one for whom he had waited so long, would be placed before the Lord.

When we read forward into the prophets and the New Testament, we discover that God was not asking Abraham to do something He would not do Himself. Jesus is the revelation of this. The Son of God would be offered for us all on the altar of Calvary. Isaiah 53 describes Him as “smitten by God … pierced for our transgressions … crushed for our iniquities … a Lamb that is led to the slaughter. …”  The gospel of Matthew opens with this statement: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Christ came to be the King, a descendant from the line of Abraham through David, the bright Morning Star from Heaven.

God says that there are things that “are not for us to know.” Job wrestled and complained and protested as he went through his trials. The end of the story shows Job with twice as much as he had before the tragedies that befell him. Still, nowhere do we read of God explaining Himself and His ways. Job held fast to his integrity; he clung to the reality of the relationship he knew that he had with the Lord.

Friends know each other well enough that they do not need to know all things. Abraham followed the leading of God through his years. It was not a perfect walk. Twice, he lied about Sarah being his wife when he feared for his life. He also went along with his wife’s suggestion and slept with Hagar, a union that gave the world Ishmael and the wild “sand” of offspring that came from him.

But when God said “offer up Isaac,” Abraham’s faith in the Lord was sure. He knew God as the God of the living. Abraham believed God, and he put all on the altar.

What would the Lord have us put before Him? Are there things we’ve determined are off limits to Him? Our great Friend may ask something big of us. He may ask us to stretch, to reach, to move, to stand. The good news is that He will not require us to perform in our own strength.  His Spirit lives in our hearts. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Jesus, what a Friend we have in Him. We never shall know all things, but we do know the One who does. Let us rest in His power and provision. Let’s rise, saddle up, and move forward in Him.

 

 

 

 

 

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Bound to Life Through Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord is THE beginning. We first come upon this phrase in Proverbs 1. These words fall at the end of Solomon’s introduction to this collection of instructions. Eugene Peterson, the pastor-teacher who produced The Message translation of the Bible, indicates that the “fear of the Lord” is a “bound” phrase – it is not to be dissected. These words, in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, are always viewed as a whole. Fear of the Lord points to relationship, to responsive living. That is, we hear from God and answer Him.

This began in Eden with Adam. He heard from the Lord: “Be fruitful and multiply. … Dress and keep the garden. … Name all the animals. … Eat from all the trees, but do not eat from this one, lest you die.” These things Adam did. He listened and responded until the day that he was distracted by another voice. His faith had rested in the Voice, in the words of the One who made him. On the day described in Genesis 3, however, Adam misplaced his trust. He gathered “new” information from the serpent, who had tricked Eve with his word-play and enticed her to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The man and the woman heard and responded to the initiations of another and chose to turn from the words of the One who had made them.

The serpent enticed Adam to enter into suspicion about the motives and character of the Lord, our Maker. At once, Adam died a death – his innocence was gone and his sense of trust expired. The security of life in paradise was overthrown.

Adam felt the effects immediately. Shame overwhelmed him as he analyzed his “perfect” body. He and the woman ran into the trees and fashioned bits of clothing from the leaves.

What did they cover up? They tried to hide away the very parts of their being that were designed for their purpose to “be fruitful and multiply.” And so began man’s over-occupation and distortion of what human bodies are made for. Society – families, communities, cities, states, and nations – groan under the weight of mangled misperceptions related to our skin and bones, and to our sexuality, which God designed as very good.

Fear Fell

What fell first? Adam dropped his fear of the Lord. He let the enemy’s accusations about God cloud his relationship with the Lord and, as a result, the man became unresponsive. What entered into Adam now was a perception of unworthiness. He felt that he could not face God and so he hid. The man and the woman had begun to experience the fear that has torment. Their sense of disorder and lost-ness was immediately a great weight upon them.

In the midst of this disaster, however, we discover the thread of hope.

God did not leave Adam and Eve in the jungle of their wrong decision. He came after them. “Adam, where are you?” He sought after His lost children. The Good Shepherd went to fetch the ones who had strayed away. With this initiation, God began the process of redemption; He started His work to restore “fear of the Lord.”

The bit of good news in all of this begins with this sentence from Adam’s lips: “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

We can mark this as the first confession in our Bibles. This is the monumental moment in the Redemptive purpose: Adam answered when God called to him; he heard and he answered. Response is the key element in our “fear of the Lord.”

Adam responded; it was the beginning of the restoration of man’s true understanding of God.

Faith and Hearing

Fear of the Lord – it is the key to everything we are about.

Our ears do the heavy work in developing this right fear in us. Jesus was once asked about the greatest of the commandments. In the gospel of Mark, He answered this way:  “The first of all the commandments is:  ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31).

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We listen; we learn. We discover the love of God. This throws our human fears out the door.

Fear of the Lord begins with our understanding of the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the Christ, the Savior of the World, the Son of the Living God. Once we set our minds upon this Rock of Truth, we become settled. Once we grasp this reality, what enters us is a respect for who the Lord is. We honor His character and nature. Our lives then become lives of integrity – honesty, transparency, and faithfulness define who we are because we know who He is.