Sunday Morning Worship Guide Archives

Sunday, June 22, 2008

This week we continue to look at passages from Romans, primarily having to do with our justification by faith through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We also continue to look at the life of faith that is exemplified in Abraham.  In Genesis 21, Abraham sends Ishmael his son and Hagar his servant out in the wilderness, trusting God’s promise to provide for them.  God hears their cries and gives them water to drink.  Psalm 86 also assures us that God hears and answers anyone who calls to him.  He provides (literally, “sees” or “sees for”), seeing our needs.  In our gospel reading, we continue with Jesus’ instructions to his disciples as he sends them out to preach and heal.  Though they will encounter hostility along the way, they need not fear, for God cares and hears.  Our hymns on June 22 will include The God of Abraham Praise (Trinity 34) and Psalm 91: Bow Down Thine Ear, O Lord, and Hear (Trinity 91 but tune is Duke Street Trinity 441). 

Gen. 21:8-21, God Protects Hagar and Ishmael

8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. [1] 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Footnotes

[1] 21:9 Possibly laughing in mockery  

Sarah finally has a child.  She did not believe that the promise of Abraham’s visitors would come true, but it did.  She has a son to whom they can pass on Abraham’s family name and possessions.  But, Abraham had had a son through his servant Hagar before he had Isaac.  Perhaps taking matters into his own hands, he had hoped to procure God’s blessing in his own way.  Now Sarah, watching this other son Ishmael, seeks to protect Isaac’s inheritance.  This is probably why she wants Abraham to send Ishmael and Hagar away.   

This does not seem like a loving thing to do.  It is a bit puzzling that, when Abraham is hesitant to send the boy and his mother away, God steps in and endorses Sarah’s plan.  God says two things.  First, he tells Abraham that Isaac is indeed the child through whom God’s promises will be fulfilled.  It is through Isaac that his offspring will be named.  Second, he assures Abraham that the child will be provided for.  God will make a nation out of Ishmael as well.  God will use Abraham’s impatient act—taking his slave woman to get a son for himself—and use it for good.  He will protect the child and prosper him.   

Later, in the wilderness with no more food or water, Hagar despairs.  She can’t bear to see her son die.  God comes to her and assures her that he has heard the cries of the boy.  He tells the mother as well that he will make Ishmael into a great nation.  God hears their cries and provides water for them.  Ishmael, in fact, means “God hears.”  The fact that God hears us when we cry to him enables us to keep trusting God and his provision for us.   

Ps. 86:1-10, 16-17, Great Is Your Steadfast Love  A Prayer of David.

1 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, / for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am godly;
save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
3 Be gracious to me, O Lord, / for to you do I cry all the day.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant, / for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; / listen to my plea for grace.
7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you, / for you answer me.

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come / and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things; / you alone are God. 

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; / give your strength to your servant,
and save the son of your maidservant. / 17 Show me a sign of your favor,
that those who hate me may see and be put to shame
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. 

This psalm of David’s is a plea for the Lord to hear him and an expression of his trust that God does hear.  The words “hear” and “call” and “plea” are often repeated here.  David is expressing the dialogue of prayer—he is crying out, and God will answer him.  

He begs the Lord to hear him because he is poor and needy (verse 1).  He asks the Lord to be gracious to him because he cries to God all day long (verse 3).  He knows the Lord will answer because the Lord abounds in steadfast love to all who call on him (verse 5).  He both expresses his belief that God hears (and even gives the reasons why) and begs for God to hear.  Please hear me when I call to you (verse 6); in my trouble I call to you because you hear me (verse 7).   

In verses 8-10 the focus broadens from the psalmist’s experience with God to God’s reputation among the nations.  All the nations worshiped their own gods, and Israel’s God stood far above all other gods.  This God’s works exhibited sovereign power.  No one else was even in competition.  Therefore, all the nations, which God himself made, will one day come to God and worship him.  He is great and his works are great, and every nation will one day bow a knee to him.  We see God creating nations and being sovereign over them in our Genesis passage today.  He made his people from Isaac’s seed, a nation to bless all nations by living out God’s ways and thereby showing them how to live in right relationship with God.  Today we saw him create another nation from Ishmael.  This nation too, when Christ comes and the gospel is spread to Jew and Gentile alike, will be invited into God’s kingdom.   

The Lord hears, answers, comforts, shows grace, to everyone who calls on him.  As he answered David in his time of need, and Hagar as she cried out in the desert, he hears and answers us.   

Rom. 6:1b-11, Dead to Sin, Alive to God

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self [1] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free [2] from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Footnotes

[1] 6:6 Greek man
[2] 6:7 Greek has been justified  

Since this passage references a previous discussion (“What shall we say then?”), let’s look at what Paul says in Romans 5, just before this section.  He teaches that justification and peace with God come by faith (see June 8 study guide).  We receive this reconciliation by faith, through the work of Jesus Christ.  That is, just as sin entered the world through one man, Adam, grace enters the world through one man, Jesus Christ.  Through Adam’s sin all fell; through Jesus’ obedience, all are invited into God’s life.  Justification (a right relationship with God) comes through the life of Jesus the God-man, the only one able to live his whole life in perfect harmony with God, the one who died the death we deserve.   

Paul then references the function of the law.  After Adam all humankind was bent toward sin, or inclined to sin.  God gave the law so that humans would be awakened to this fact; right and wrong patterns of behavior would be more sharply defined with the law in place.  This “increased the trespass” by illuminating sin, Paul said, but, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21).   

Now we come to our passage in Romans 6.  If, when sin is exposed, grace is exposed even more—grace enough to triumph over sin—then why not sin as much as we please?  This is the rhetorical question Paul poses in Romans 6:1.  Why not?  Because, if we have truly experienced the grace offered through the life and death of Jesus Christ, then we are already dead to sin.  Our lives are so united with Christ’s that we should not want to walk in sin.  Paul uses the image of baptism, saying that we were baptized into Christ Jesus, therefore being united with him in his death.  Why?  So that we might also be raised from the dead, like he was.  Those of us who have faith in Christ now walk in the same resurrection power, the same newness of life, that Jesus walks in.  He died because of our sin, and was raised to a powerful, new kind of resurrection life that cannot be stopped by sin or even death itself.  We have died to our sin—“in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing” (6:7).  We are now set free, alive to God in Christ Jesus.  We live with him and will live with him.  Paul is realistic about the reality of sin still in our lives (see Romans 7 that follows).  But he is also adamant that we are no longer enslaved.  We “must” consider ourselves “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (6:11).  

Matt. 10:24-39

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant [1] above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign [2] those of his household. 

Have No Fear

26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. [3] 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? [4] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. 

Not Peace, but a Sword

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Footnotes

[1] 10:24 Greek bondservant; also verse 25

[2] 10:25 Greek lacks will they malign / [3] 10:28 Greek Gehenna
[4] 10:29 Greek assarion, Roman copper coin (Latin quadrans) worth about 1/16 of a denarius (which was a day's wage for a laborer)

Our last gospel reading was Matthew 9:35-10:8.  We now continue with Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as he sends him out on a mission.  What is the mission?  To teach and to heal.  He gave them authority to preach the good news, to cast out evil spirits, and to heal every kind of disease and affliction.  In short, he gave them authority and power to do what he had already been doing.  The kingdom is at hand, and their powerful actions validated their message.   

If last week’s passage focused on what the disciples were sent to do, and where they were to go, this week’s passage focuses on the reception they might expect from their hearers.  Jesus warns them that they can expect to encounter hostility on their journey.  Not everyone will be interested in hearing the good news, and the disciples must be prepared for that.  They can expect to be treated like Jesus was treated—and if they said Jesus was from the devil, then they will say the same of them.  Pretty encouraging pep talk!   

But he follows this solemn statement with an exhortation to have no fear.  He doesn’t promise his disciples that no harm would come to them, and therefore they shouldn’t have any fear.  He promises that God cares for them, and that all will be made right in the end.  They don’t need to fear the hostility they will encounter because the God of heaven, who sees when each tiny sparrow falls, knows them intimately, even down to the hairs on their head.  They don’t need to fear because, even when they’re imprisoned or persecuted and it seems like good is not triumphing over evil, one day God will set all things right.  They can fearlessly proclaim the message of the kingdom because the kingdom is indeed coming.   

The disciples were sent on a mission.  Paul writes to Timothy that everyone who lives a godly life in Christ Jesus will face, at one time or another, persecution.  Those who live as people sent by God to invite others into the kingdom will sometimes be ill-received.  The gospel is truly good news, but it does mean submitting to the (good and freeing) reign of God, and agreeing to live in accordance with his will.  It does mean dying to self and to sin.  And some people will not like that message.  This is what Jesus is talking about in verses 34-39.  This message will be divisive.  Even though it is a message of peace and joy, it will be resisted.  Accepting this message means that no allegiance can be held as more important than allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom mission.  Whoever gives his whole life to God, this is the one that finds true life.   

Questions

1.  Do you “consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”?  Is there some sin in your life that you feel defeated by?  Pray that God would help you believe that you are not a slave to sin and begin to experience the power of resurrected life. 

2.  In Matthew 6, what two reasons does Jesus give his disciples when he tell them not to fear?   

3.    When God stepped in and endorsed Sarah’s plan to send Hagar and Ishmael away, what two things did God say to Abraham that reassured him?  What does “Ishmael” mean?  What is the connection between the passage in Genesis and Psalm 86?  

4.    In Psalm 86, the psalmist turned from looking at God’s workings in his life to a more national or worldwide perspective and how God compares to other gods and how other nations look at Him.  Is there any way this approach can and should be applied to our prayer lives?  How?  

5. The Youth Choir recently came back from a tour about the Ten Commandments, and they learned the two primary uses of the Law.  What are those two uses?  Hint:  one use convicts and the other use guides us.   

6.    In Mathew 9 Jesus tells his disciples not to fear.  By only using the lectionary readings this week as a reference, what basis is there for the disciples to take comfort in those words?     

Sunday, June 8, 2008

This week’s passages remind us that we, in and of ourselves, are broken, unbelieving sinners.  Yet, in this condition Jesus saved us (Romans 5) and calls us out into the harvest to call other weak and helpless sinners (Matthew 9).  We embrace the promises of the gospel through faith.  Faith is continual, life-orienting trust in God as the giver of righteousness and bringer of salvation (Psalm 116).  Often it is tempting to laugh at God’s promises as Sarah did, for his word seems implausible or contrary to reality as we see it.  But nothing is too hard for God.  Knowing this, we walk confidently and invite those outside the church to walk with us. 

Genesis 18:1-15 (21:1-7)    And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. 

9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10 The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” 

The Birth of Isaac  21:1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

In the heat of the day, Abraham is resting by his tent.  Suddenly he sees three visitors, whom he immediately recognizes as special guests (the particular Hebrew word translated “my lord” is usually used for deity).  Abraham’s hospitality is lavish and immediate.  He kills the best calf, serves goat’s milk, makes bread from the finest flour.  He tends to his guests needs (food, rest, washing), begging them to stay and not pass by.   

The visitor asks where Sarah is.  After thus getting her attention, he proceeds to tell them that they will have a son by that time next year.  We do not see Abraham’s reaction to this startling news, though in Romans 4 Paul says that Abraham’s faith did not waiver, even when he considered how old his body was.  The narrator focuses on Sarah, who laughed.  Surely, now that she is barren and old, she would not now receive the pleasure of a child.  All her life, perhaps, she had longed for one.  She had finally given up hoping.  It was beyond the realm of the possibility by now.  So she laughed.  The angel heard and reiterated the promise.  Nothing is too hard for the Lord.  Isaac is born a year later, just as the visitors had foretold.  Isaac brought Sarah laughter twice.  First, at the sound of the ridiculous-seeming promise.  Then, at the joyous miraculous birth of a son.  God promised Abraham that a nation would come through him.  This nation is marked out as God’s from the beginning, because its very inception was a miracle.   

Genesis commentator Bruce Waltke writes of this passage:  “The word of promise characteristically falls outside reason…  Faith transcends reason.  Israel’s existence is supernatural, not natural.  God’s promises, embraced by faith, open the door of hope and future.  Abraham’s recognition of god’s power is the kind of faith that believes God raised our Lord Jesus from the dead, a faith that justifies (Rom. 4:22-25).  We are not locked into lives of barrenness.” 

In the New Testament, an equally impossible birth is announced to a virgin, who believed that God could do to her what the angel said.  And we are called to believe in this impossible birth, and miraculous resurrection.  Nothing is too hard for God, as the angel said.  And he is true to his word, even when that word is so amazing that it seems easier to laugh at than to believe.   

Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19*

1 I love the Lord, because he has heard  /  my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,  /  therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
12 What shall I render to the Lord / for all his benefits to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation / and call on the name of the Lord,
14 I will pay my vows to the Lord / in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of the Lord / is the death of his saints.
16 O Lord, I am your servant; / I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds. / 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord. / 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people, / 19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem. / Praise the Lord! 

This psalm opens with the psalmist’s declaration of his love for God.  Why does he love God?  Because God listens.  Because he has heard my voice and my cries, I love him (116:1).  Because he inclines his ear to me, I will continue to call on him (116:2).  In scripture, declaring one’s love for God (an individual’s or a community’s) is often immediately followed by a declaration of what God has done.  Love for God is always, for us humans, a response to how God has acted toward us and shown initiatory love toward us.  We love God because we have seen him act in this way or that way.  The psalmist was in the very grip of death (Sheol was the Hebrew term for the place of the dead), suffering anguish, when he called to the Lord, who answered and rescued him (see verses 5-11 for an account of God’s deliverance).   

After proclaiming how the Lord listened and rescued him, verses 12-19 focus on what the psalmist’s response to this salvation will be.  He asks himself, in verse 12, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?”  The answer consists of several parts: 

First, he will “lift up the cup of salvation” (116:13).  There are varying interpretations of this verse.  Some see “lifting” the cup of salvation as a motion of gratitude, sort of like a toast.  God has delivered him, poured his cup full of mercies, and the psalmist in response lifts these mercies back up to God in praise and thanksgiving.  Several versions of the Bible translate “lift up” as “take.”  The cup of salvation has also been interpreted as the fullness of life that God gives, which now for a time includes even pain and sadness.  But, because for the child of God even affliction is sanctifying and thus a cause for thanksgiving, the psalmist will take whatever God gives, drinking whatever God places in his cup.  This interpretation is reminiscent of Jesus’ prayer in the garden, when he asks God to take “this cup” from him, if it is the Father’s will.  That cup, given him by God, did not pass from him—that cup of affliction was truly the cup of our salvation, the means by which it was achieved.  In both cases, whether lifting God’s salvation up or taking and drinking it down, whatever it may look like for a season, the psalmist is acting out of gratefulness for God’s deliverance and provision.  

Second, the psalmist will “call on the name of the Lord” (116:13).  This phrase is repeated three times in the psalm (verses 4, 13, 17).  In verse 4, the psalmist recounts how God saved him when he called on the name of the Lord.  Then, in asking himself what he should do for the Lord in response to this deliverance, he says twice that he will call on the name of the Lord.  Confusing?  The psalmist seems to be saying that the proper and fitting response to God’s provision is to continue to ask for his provision.  We give him the most glory when, after receiving his mercies, we acknowledge that we still need him and call to him again to provide.  Our thankfulness should evidence itself in thanksgiving for past mercies and an acknowledgement of our continued need.  The commentator Matthew Henry wrote, “If we have received kindness from a man like ourselves, we tell him that we hope we shall never trouble him again; but God is pleased to reckon the prayers of his people an honour to him, and a delight…and therefore, in gratitude for former mercies, we must seek to him for further mercies, and continue to call upon him.” 

Third, the psalmist will pay his vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.  He will live as the Lord commanded, following in his ways.  “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?”  I will carry out what he has called me to do, fulfill the actions he has commanded, in the presence of all his people and in the presence of God himself.   

The list of things the psalmist will do in response to God’s deliverance seems to sort of start over in verse 17.  He will offer to the Lord the sacrifice of thanksgiving (in the Old Testament “thank offerings” were prescribed at set times), giving to the Lord of his possessions (grain or livestock, or for us, money, time, desires) as an offering of thanksgiving.  And, again, he will call on the name of the Lord and pay his vows to the Lord.  The psalms are poems, and often phrases are repeated for emphasis.  The psalmist is reiterating the necessity of continually calling on the Lord, relying on him for continued mercies, and striving to live in obedience to his law.   

* Psalm 116 (verses 1-4, 12-19) was also the scheduled Psalm reading for April 6^th, 2008, the third Sunday after Easter.  Much of this discussion is also included in the former devotional guide.   

Romans 5:1-8, Peace with God Through Faith   1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.   6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

Paul states that we have been justified by faith.  “Justice” and “righteousness” come from the same word in the Greek; to be justified is to be made righteous.  The Greek word that here is translated “we have been justified” is passive—our being made righteous, our justification, is not our doing but something done to us.  It is all God’s work.  Yet, we appropriate this gift through our faith.  Paul says we are justified “by faith,” made righteous when we believe and trust that God in Christ has made a way for us to be so.  Our faith doesn’t “earn” our righteousness but recognizes and trusts that God is our righteousness.  As we saw last week, in Romans 4 Paul uses the example of Abraham, whose faith was “credited” to him as righteousness.  What did Abraham have faith in?  He had faith that God would keep his promise to give him a son, even though his body was as good as dead.  Faith is hoping and trusting in God, continually calling out to him as in Psalm 116, understanding him to be the giver and bringer of salvation.   

Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Christ.  This peace, as we have seen before, is not just the absence of strife.  It is a word (eirēnē in the Greek) that connotes fullness of life, flourishing, blessing.  It is abundant peace, God’s shalom (the Hebrew term).  Instead of being at war with God, as we were when we were still sinners, we have peace with God through Jesus.  Peace with God!  The supreme ruler of the universe, against whom we had rebelled, is at peace with us.  And this peace isn’t just “absence of conflict” but entails jubilant harmony and intimacy of relationship.  And it all came about through Jesus.  Through faith we are brought into this right standing with God and into God’s grace.   

So what is the response to this good news?  We “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”  We rejoice, because we have seen his glory displayed in our lives and in the cross.  We rejoice because we have a sure hope that one day his glory will be displayed even more visibly when he fully establishes his kingdom.  And really, Paul says, that part is easy, or at least straightforward.  What is more, we rejoice even in our sufferings!  Why?  Because we know that suffering produces endurance.  Endurance, in turn, produces character.  The word “character” here means specifically character that has been tried and approved through testing.  In the King James Version it is translated as “experience.”  It is not just nice qualities in one’s personality but a depth of character that can only come about through the refinement and testing that suffering brings.  This tried character, in turn, brings hope.  Paul says elsewhere that no one hopes for what he sees.  In suffering we are reminded that there is much of the rule and reign of God that we do not yet see.  We do not yet see everything in subjection to him (Heb. 2:8).  We learn the habit of hoping when we most need something to hope in, when we most acutely realize that all is not yet well.  We are shaken from our complacency, realize our need and the world’s, and sense anew the meaning of “hope.”  This hope does not disappoint us or bring us shame.  The Holy Spirit is in us, encouraging and comforting us and nourishing the hope, ministering God’s love to us.   

Matthew 9:35-10:8  The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 

The Twelve Apostles  10:1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 

As is so often illustrated in the gospels, here we see Jesus both teaching and healing.  His travelling ministry always coupled proclaiming the gospel with healing “every disease and every affliction” (9:35).  He was declaring the good news of the kingdom—God is establishing his rule and reign in the earth and calling people to repent and follow him.  Jesus’ healing both verified Jesus’ authority and illustrated his message, showing what God’s powerful and peaceful rule looked like.  In God’s established kingdom, affliction and disease are replaced by fullness of life and peace.  It is not fully here yet, but Jesus declared and inaugurated  the kingdom’s “inbreaking”—God’s peace is breaking in to our fallen world and transforming it.   

Jesus went throughout the cities and villages, ministering to the multitudes.  His response to the crowds is instructive for us.  When he looked at the crowds, he had compassion on them (7:36) and desired to pray earnestly for them (7:38).  He saw them as 1) “harassed and helpless” and as 2) a harvest.  How do we see those outside the church, the “crowds”?  It is easy to view others as the enemy, as hostile to our message.  It is tempting to want to insulate our community from the world.  But Jesus has compassion on the crowds.  They are harassed, led astray, not knowing whom to follow but longing to be led—as helpless as sheep without a shepherd.  His compassion makes him desire that people go out to them and bring the good news.  These helpless, harassed crowds are a great harvest, a group waiting and perhaps unknowingly longing to be invited into God’s kingdom.  The harvest is ready, and is so big there aren’t enough laborers to gather all the wandering in.  Jesus commands his disciples to pray earnestly for laborers to go into this harvest field. 

Then, in the next verse, we see Jesus sending those same disciples out as laborers into the harvest field.  He sends them out just as he went out—both teaching and healing, proclaiming and demonstrating the coming of God’s kingdom.  He gives them power and authority.  And whom does he send?  His disciples; that is, he sends those who will doubt him (Thomas), those who will deny him (Peter), even one who will betray him (Judas).  In Genesis we saw that God gave the promised Isaac to a woman who laughed at the promise.  God sends us out in the harvest, faults and weaknesses and all.  He sends us, feeble-kneed and mindful of our own incompetency.  We are a motley crew, a people still weak and still sinful (Romans 5), but it pleases him to use us.  It is to weak vessels, and to the consciously humble, that he gives power.  They are the ones who know to continually call on him (Psalm 116), the ones who recognize that it is God who holds all power and authority and victory.  He gets the glory as he calls this rag-tag group together and sends them out with power on a mighty mission.   

Jesus tells them to go first to the house of Israel.  Israel, the people who were to bless all other peoples through their witness and relationship with God, shall be the first to hear Jesus’ gospel message.  This will change by the end of Matthew, when in Matthew 28:19 the resurrected Jesus commands his disciples to go out and make disciples of every nation.    When Israel rejects the message and crucifies Jesus, the invitation is spread widely, offered to all people. 

Sunday, June 1, 2008

This week’s readings also describe what a life of faith entails.  God’s people are those who have faith in him, relying on him for everything, glorifying him as the sole bringer of salvation.  God wants His people to trust him and love him with their whole hearts.  The covenant of love He has entered into with His people is exclusive—we cannot seek after other gods.   In Hosea and in Psalm 50, it is clear that God desires our love, not just our outward deeds of devotion.  In Romans, Paul teaches that it is our faith (not circumcision or anything else) that defines us as children of God.  God has come in Jesus to bring us life, and we enter into that life by faith, by taking him at his word.  This faith involves our hearts and our actions.   

Hosea 5:15-6:6

15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant

6:1 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love [1] and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

 [1] 6:6 Septuagint mercy

Hosea was the last prophet to prophesy before Israel went into exile (8^th century BCE).  Israel and Judah (the northern and southern kingdoms, respectively) were in the midst of very prosperous years.  They were established and respected, wealthy, and secure.  During these years (perhaps in connection to this prosperity) they wandered further and further from God.  They began to worship other gods in addition to Yahweh.   

In response to the faithlessness of his people, God called Hosea to prophesy to them.  He told Hosea to marry a prostitute, Gomer, who bore him two sons.  His wife was repeatedly unfaithful to him, but Hosea remained faithful to her, always seeking her out and bringing her back.  Hosea’s life was a living testimony of God’s faithful love for his unfaithful people.  God had entered into a covenant with Israel that, like the covenant of marriage, entailed a mutual love that tolerated no rivals.  Israel had forgotten this covenant.   

In addition to Hosea’s lived message of God love and forgiveness, Hosea also warned the people that God would discipline them for their unfaithfulness.  This punishment is part of his love—the coming judgment and God’s continued faithfulness are part of the same overarching message of God’s love.  God desired Israel to remember her need of Him and commitment to Him and, in her exile, turn back to Him.  Because He loved Israel and wanted her to flourish, He wanted her to love him wholly and only.  He would discipline her in order to purify her and bring her back.   

In this passage, Hosea begs the people to return to the Lord.  He has “torn” us, or disciplined us, but it is for the sake of our healing (6:1).  The Lord makes it clear that the purpose of Israel’s covenant with him, and the only way for her to truly live, is in knowing God (6:3).  They must “press on to know the Lord.”  This knowing is not merely knowing the right rituals or commands; it is a relational and an intimate knowing.  God desires “steadfast love” and not sacrifice.  This is Hosea’s main message.  God desires our whole hearts, all our love.  He says in verse 6, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”  Even if Israel kept the established sacrifices and festivals, worshiping outwardly in the ways God had commanded, the fact that they were also worshiping other gods showed that they did not understand what God wanted from them.  God entered into a covenant with his people.  He will be their God, and they will be his people.  He would protect, love, guide, and they would love, worship, and walk in his ways.  In the days of Hosea, prosperous Israel seemed to have forgotten her need, and forgotten who it was that enabled her to flourish.  God’s people began worshipping other gods in addition to Yahweh, and her ways were corrupt.    

Israel had “dealt faithlessly with the Lord” (5:7; 6:7).  He would punish them for their unfaithfulness, but the punishment was meant to encourage them to turn back to Him once again.  He has torn so that He may heal.  The book ends with the promise that God will not forsake Israel.  He will discipline them in His love, and He will welcome them again.  God declares, “They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine” (14:7).  Hosea closes with the Lord’s last plea for his people to return and honor their covenant with him.  “O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?  It is I who answer and look after you” (14:8).  He will answer, even after Israel turns away repeatedly, because of his unswerving, steadfast love.   

Psalm 50:7-15

7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.  8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;  your burnt offerings are continually before me.  9 I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.

12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? 14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, [1] and perform your vows to the Most  High, 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

[1] 50:14 Or Make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God 33:1-12 or Psalm 50:7-15 

Again, God wants the whole hearts of his people.  He is not interested in sacrifices as if he needed them.  Sacrifices were markers of the covenant.  They symbolized the life commitment God and His people had entered into.  God does not need us.  Yet, in his love and grace he created the world and desired to be in relationship with it.  He lovingly invited us to be a part of his glorious life.  Our sacrifice to God, then, should be thanksgiving.  Our proper response is a continual recognition of our dependence on him. This psalm encourages us to call on him, to acknowledge His sufficiency and ability to meet our needs.  He will deliver, and the deliverance will bring glory to him (50:15). We are to make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God.  Call on him.  Acknowledge your need and His sufficiency.  He will deliver, and the deliverance will bring glory to Him. 

The rest of the psalm (verses 16ff) declares that judgment will come to those who only give “lip service” to God.  They recite his statutes and offer him sacrifices, but they inwardly delight in those who transgress God’s law.  Even if they know the right words to say, their actions betray that they do not love God.  They hate discipline, love theft, speak lies, slander.  God is clear in Psalm 50 that he cares about how we live daily, how we relate to our neighbors.  He cares whether what we say and hear in corporate worship is carried out and “leaned into” throughout the week.  The wicked in Psalm 50 are those who are greedy instead of grateful, corrupt instead of righteous in their actions.  The Psalm ends with verse 23, “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”   

Romans 4:13-25, The Promise Realized Through Faith

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. 

Paul brings up Abraham in his letter to the Romans to show that God’s people are those who have faith in him.  The Israelites were God’s people, and the chief identity marker for them was circumcision.  By this cutting of the flesh Israelites were marked and set apart as God’s.  In the New Testament, after Christ, many Gentiles started believing the gospel.  This brought confusion for the group of Jews that followed Jesus.  By heritage, they were Israelites, God’s chosen people.  They were circumcised.  Now these Gentiles were joining their numbers, and the question had to be addressed:  what makes someone part of God’s people?  What is the identity marker now?  Some argued that all believing Gentiles should be circumcised.  Paul argues against this.  What defines someone as God’s is their faith, not circumcision.  What is more, this is not something new.  God has always been concerned with the heart of his people, not just their outward observances.  These things (ritual observances, sacrifices, circumcision), as we saw in Hosea and in Psalm 50, were meant to be outward expressions of an inward reality—faith in and love for God as sole provider.  If the inward reality is not present, all outward expression is displeasing to God. 

Abraham was considered righteous before God because he had faith in him (4:9).  He trusted God, believed what God said, depended on him.  His whole life changed as a result of this faith.  He left everything he had and moved to an unknown land when God told him to.  Paul reminds the church in Rome that Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith before he was circumcised (4:10).  Therefore, Abraham is the “father of all who believe without being circumcised” and the “father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised” (4:11-12).  Paul does not say that Abraham was the father of those who were circumcised but did not live a life of faith.  Abraham is the father of God’s people—which includes all who have faith in God, circumcised or not. 

Paul describes Abraham’s faith in detail in verses 18-22.  Abraham believed whatever God said, no matter how implausible it seemed.  He left his homeland because he believed God when God said he would give him a new land.  “in hope he believed against hope” that he would be the father of many nations, even though he and Sarah were old and had no children.  He knew he was old (his body was “as good as dead”, in fact), but that fact did not weaken his faith (4:19).  Even with a barren wife and a 100 year old body, he was fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised to do.  And as he gave glory to God, declaring him to be supremely able and faithful, his faith just grew stronger and stronger (4:20).   

Paul writes that Abraham’s example teaches us that righteousness comes by faith, not through the observance of the law (4:13).  Righteousness will be counted to us as well as we believe the God who raised Jesus from the dead.  We must trust God’s promise of salvation—that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (4:25).  Faith in this good news must, as it did for Abraham, show itself in tangible, concrete ways in our lives.  Faith entails the orientation of our whole lives.  As we grow in faith, we become habituated to trusting that God will provide and will do what He has promised, no matter how unlikely it seems.   

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 

Jesus Calls Matthew

9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

10 And as Jesus [1] reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. 20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. 23 And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went through all that district. 

Today’s gospel reading, from Matthew, gives several examples of people responding in faith to Jesus.  First we see Jesus call Matthew.  Matthew was a tax collector—not the most respected of positions at the time.  Tax collectors worked for Rome.  They had a certain amount of money they were supposed to give back to the Roman government, and whatever they could manage to tax over that amount they could keep for themselves.  

Jesus passed by Matthew and told him to follow.  Amazingly, Matthew dropped everything and followed Jesus.  Later, Jesus was eating with Matthew’s friends.  The Pharisees asked Jesus’ followers how he could dare eat with sinners.  Jesus responded to them by quoting our Hosea passage.  Jesus came to those who see their need of him.  The sick are the ones that need a doctor.  God desires our whole hearts, a life of love and mercy (from the same Hebrew word).  The Pharisees apparently needed to go and learn what that meant.   

The next passage, verses 18-26, is two stories in one.  We first encounter the story of a leader asking Jesus to heal his daughter.  But, sandwiched in the middle of this story, we see a woman being healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ garments.  The father, a respected ruler, showed faith that Jesus could raise his daughter from the dead if he would only lay his hand on her.  Jesus, responding to his faith, goes with him to the house.  On the way a woman who was bleeding—and had been for twelve years—believed she would be made well by one touch of Jesus’ robe.  Jesus notices, turns to her, and assures her that her faith has made her well.  In both cases, the people had faith that Jesus could give life and bring healing.  They stepped out on that belief and received his healing touch.   

Jesus ate with sinners, put his hand on a dead body, and touched a bleeding woman.  All of these things went against Old Testament purity codes and were “unclean”.  But Jesus was responding to their faith, recognizing that they were children of God because they trusted God’s provision and his power, manifested in the person of Jesus.  He came to bring healing and life to the unclean, the sick, the sinner—to anyone (from any nation) who would believe.   Jill Zimmerman 

Questions for Discussion and Reflection 

1) In the Hosea passage, why does God say he will judge Israel and Judah?  That is, what is the main purpose for punishment?  

2)  In what ways do we add in modern day “idol worship” to our worship of God?  How do we fail to give him our unadulterated love?  What do we tend to run after or rely on instead of Him?   

3) Read through all of Psalm 50.  In response, pray a prayer of thanksgiving for all the ways God has provided and is providing for you or your family.  Try to make this “sacrifice of thanksgiving” become a routine this week (incorporating thanks for God’s provision before mealtimes is a good place to start).   

4) What does Paul say is the true identity marker of God’s people?   

5)  How do the three main characters that Jesus interacts with in the Matthew passage (Matthew, the ruler, and the woman) each exhibit faith? 

Sunday, May 25, 2008

This week’s readings examine the nature of faith and affirm God’s faithfulness to us.  Faith is more than head knowledge.  Believing God’s words, having faith in him, involves our entire lives.  Noah, for instance, believed God’s word and responded by obediently building the ark God designed.  His faith meant he was ready to trust God’s words and act on them even when no rain cloud was in sight.  God provides for his children and is sovereign over all our circumstances.  He is a trustworthy God; we can put our faith in him.  Jesus warns that this faith must involve action—we must not be hearers of his words only but doers of them.  We must live out our faith, visibly and actively.   

Our hymns will include A Mighty Fortress is Our God (Trinity 92) and Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me (Trinity 500).   

Gen. 6:9b-22; 7:24; 8:14-19, Noah and the Flood

9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, [1] for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. [2] Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, [3] its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof [4] for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Genesis 7:24 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Genesis 8:14-19   14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.  Footnotes

[1] 6:13 Hebrew The end of all flesh has come before me
[2] 6:14 An unknown kind of tree; transliterated from Hebrew
[3] 6:15 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
[4] 6:16 Or skylight  

The story of Noah lies toward the beginning of God’s narrative of redemption.  The world, after Adam’s fall, grew so wicked that God saw fit to purge it from its wickedness and start almost completely over.  We saw in last week’s excerpt from Genesis that God created the world good.  He then commanded mankind to “fill the earth and subdue it”—man was to care for the earth, tending it, cultivating it, spreading out into it as caretakers.  In Genesis 6:11 we see the same word “fill.”  But instead of filling the earth and subduing it as God had intended, the earth was “filled with violence.”  The earth itself was corrupt because of how man had filled it.  “All flesh” (possibly including even the ways of animals) “had corrupted their way on the earth” (6:12).  Man’s way of relating to the earth and with each other was twisted; it was a perversion of what God had designed.   

In the midst of this wicked earth stood one man,  Noah, who walked rightly.  He stood righteous before God.   God told Noah of his plan to purge the world of men’s violence and commanded him to build an ark to save himself, his family, and two of every creature.  The flood was not simply God’s angry determination to destroy his creation.  He intended from the beginning to save his creation by cleansing it and providing for it a new start.  God’s flood  was both “punishing and purging” (See Bruce Waltke’s commentary, Genesis).  He took from among creation a remnant (as he later does in his judgment and restoration of Israel through a remnant).  Noah’s salvation in the midst of the flood shows God’s commitment to his creation and the drastic measures he will take so that his creation can become what it was intended to be.   

After hearing God’s plans and instructions, Noah set about building the ark.  He and his family labored for decades, building a boat half the length of a football field, with no water in sight.  Truly, Noah must have trusted God.  He acted on faith, believing that God would carry out his word.  

And the flood waters did come.  When they finally subsided and everyone came out of the ark, God reinstated the same creation mandate that he did with Adam and Eve.  He first commanded the animals to “be fruitful and multiply” and then reiterated the command to Noah both in 9:1 and 9:9.  The reiteration highlights parallels between this story and the story of creation, showing that the flood narrative can be read as a type of “recreation” story (see Waltke, 127).  The first act of creation was to separate the water from dry land, setting boundaries for the watery chaos.  The waters are separated from the land again as they recede after the flood.  Both Adam and Noah are said to “walk with God.”  Both Adam and Noah are given the same command to be fruitful and multiply.  The flood shows God’s faithfulness to his creation and the necessity of faith on the part of his people.  When humankind lacked trust in God, filling the earth with violence and disregarding him, God saved creation through one faithful man.  God used Noah’s unswerving faithfulness to God and trust in him to give creation a new start.   

Ps. 46, God Is Our Fortress

1 God is our refuge and strength, / a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;/ he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; / the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,

how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God. / I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; / the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 

The psalmist declares that God is our refuge, a place of hiding and protection, and our strength.  He is a “very present help” (or, “well proved” help) in trouble.  God is our refuge, therefore we will not fear.  God is our stronghold, and he keeps his people from being shaken, no matter what is moving or crashing down around them.  This assurance leaves no room for fear.   

The psalmist focuses his attention on contrasting what is stable and secure (and worth trusting) and what is not.  The righteous,  whose refuge is God, should not fear even though the earth may give way.  Those who trust in God will be protected and provided for, even in the midst of roaring, foaming waters (like those that Noah saw).  Even the mountains tremble at the rising flood (verse 3), but God’s people will not.  Mountains may crumble into the sea, but the people of God will not be shaken. 

In verses 4-5, the psalmist contrasts the shakable earth to the unshakable city of God.  She will not be moved.  In contrast to a surging flood, we see a river making glad God’s city.  God is “in the midst” of his city, therefore she will not be moved.  God is the help of his people, and he will protect their city.   

In verse 6 the focus is again on what is not unmovable and trustworthy.  The psalmist now states that “kingdoms totter” and “nations rage.”  Kingdoms and nations, societies and cultures move and are shaken.  Even the most established and powerful kingdoms eventually fall.   

The rest of the psalm proclaims that God is sovereign over the movements of the earth and its kingdoms and peoples.  It is at his voice that the earth melts (verse 6); he is the one that brings down nations, that makes wars cease.  He is the one who upholds and the one who brings down.  He is sovereign over the earth and over the nations, and he will be exalted in the earth and among the nations.  Nothing can threaten the people of God—natural disasters or powerful political or social forces—because God is sovereign over them.  God may cause mountains to quake and kings to fall, but he has purposed to hold up his people forever.  They are the only ones who will never be moved.  And so, in conclusion, he says to “Be still, and know that I am God” (verse 10).  Be still—don’t be frightened, or panicked, or moving frantically trying to find security in the midst of an unstable world.  God stands over every earthquake, every tornado, every political struggle, every uncertainty.  The final refrain shows up in both verses 7 and 11 for emphasis:  “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”  Just as in verse 5, this refrain links God’s presence with God’s help.  He has not put us in a secure position and then left.  We are secure insofar as he is with us.  The Lord of all is present with us; he is our help.  We can therefore trust him, no matter what.   

Rom. 1:16-17; 3:22b-28

Romans 1:16-17, The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, [1] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” [2]

Romans 3:22b-31

22 For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Footnotes

[1] 1:17 Or beginning and ending in faith
[2] 1:17 Or The one who by faith is righteous shall live  

Paul writes that the good news of Jesus Christ reveals the righteousness of God.  We see in Jesus God’s goodness and mercy, how he always relates rightly and lovingly with his creation.  And, we see in Jesus God’s righteousness available for us.  God’s righteousness is accessible, through Jesus, by means of faith—if we believe (not just a head knowledge, but a life-orienting and action-filled belief) the good news of Jesus, then we are considered part of him and right before God.  And God’s righteousness “is revealed from faith for faith” (1:17).  The revelation of the righteousness of God begins with faith, and that faith keeps increasing.  As commentator Bob Mounce puts is, faith is “the origin of righteousness and the direction in which it leads.”   

“The righteous shall live by faith.”  Paul is here quoting Habakkuk 2:4, “the righteous shall live by his faith,” or, in the Hebrew, “by his faithfulness.”  The righteous will be preserved through any difficulty through their steadfast loyalty to and trust in God.  Noah was saved because of God’s faithfulness and provision; at the same time, that provision included Noah’s action in building the ark.  Faith is actively putting our trust in God.  Having faith gives a certain shape and direction to our lives; that is, the presence of faith should make a visible difference in how we act and react to daily life circumstances.  Our actions convey where our trust is placed.  The righteous—those who are right with God through belief in Christ—shall live according to and by means of faith.   

Romans 3 states clearly that none of us can claim any credit for this faith.  We have all fallen short of the glory of God.  Being made right with God is a gift received by faith.  We have no reason to boast.  We did not earn our faith or our justification.  We see this in the life of Noah who, after surviving as the head of the only righteous family on the face of the earth, is shamefully lying drunk in a tent.  We all, even the most faithful, fall short.  This is cause for humility—we are always dependent.  The beginning of our walk with God came from faith in his provision for us.  As we grow in this journey and mature in our faith, it is not that we come to need God less.  Growing in our faith, our trust in God’s help and provision, does not mean growing out of our dependency on him.  Our righteousness, again, has its origin in faith but also its forward movement in faith.  We increase our trust in God as we see him provide again and again.  We continue to fall short, but he continues to be faithful.  We grow in our understanding of our great need and our great God.   

Matt. 7:21-29

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. 

Jesus’ words teach us much about the nature of faith.  Faith is not merely mental assent to certain “facts” or propositions.  Having faith  in Jesus entails more than acknowledging in word that he died and rose again for your sins.  Faith entails not just agreeing with Jesus’ words but doing them.  Jesus teaches that there are some who call him “Lord” who are not his children.  His children are those who “do the will” of his Father (verse 21).  We are not only to hear his words but “do them” (verse 24). 

Noah is a good example of this active faith.  He heard God’s words and did them, building an ark in a dry place.  He was certain of what he did not see—that the God of heaven would do as he said and bring a great rain.  Hebrews 11:7 records that “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.  By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”   

Jesus said that those who both hear and do his words are like a man who builds his house on the rock.  No matter what comes, his house stands firm.  The man who trusts God, who has faith in him, will not be moved even when flood waters rise.  As Psalm 46 says, God is with them as their refuge and help.   Jill Zimmerman 

Questions for Discussion and Reflection 

1. Adam was commanded to fill the earth and subdue it.  By the time of Noah, what had filled the earth?  How was this a perversion of God’s initial command? Can you give any examples from today’s culture where God has given us a positive command which we as a culture have now perverted? 

2. How is the salvation of Noah and his family a picture of God’s salvation of Israel?  How is it a picture of our salvation?

3. Name some of the similarities between Adam and Noah.

4. What is being contrasted in Psalm 46?  We know Psalm 46 was written in David’s time, but could Noah have written Psalm 46?  In what ways does it apply to Noah?  How does it apply to you and your family? 

5. Is faith knowledge only?  If not, what is it?  Should it be visible?

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Trinity Sunday is unique in the church calendar.  Most special days are linked to events in the scriptural narrative.  We celebrated Christ’s birth, the coming of the Magi, Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Trinity Sunday directly follows the Day of Ascension (last Sunday), capping a four month season (starting at Christmas) of remembering these events.  Trinity Sunday is linked to a doctrine rather than an event.  It makes a declaration:  Our God is Triune, existing in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This statement is a fitting encapsulation of all the events we have recently celebrated.  We have remembered how God came as a baby, went back to heaven to be with the Father, then came as Spirit and is with us now.  In response to this, we celebrate the mystery, power, and glory of this Triune God.  It is to the Trinity that our worship is directed, and by the Trinity that worship is enabled.  God the Father has brought us to himself through the salvific work of Christ.  We are enabled to believe this and to come to him by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. 

The three persons of the Trinity are one, intimately united in love and mission.  Today let’s remember that we, the bride of Christ, have been invited into union with this Triune God and thus into union with each other.  As we unite our hearts and voices in prayer, in singing, in hearing the word, we express and experience this unity.  The hymns will include Holy, Holy, Holy (Trinity 100), Father, I Adore You (Celebration 191), Glorify Thy Name (Celebration 9), Praise Ye the Triune God (Celebration 155) and How Majestic Is Your Name (Celebration 121).  

Genesis 1:1-2:3, The Creation of the World

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the water that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants  yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The Seventh Day, God Rests

2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  The Bible’s opening affirmation has many implications.  First, it teaches that God created the world; he is the opening and central character of the whole biblical story.  Second, God made the world in the beginning.  This has not only a temporal element (creation was the first act in this drama of God and the world) but also theological implications.  God established the world, with its rhythms and seasons, once and for all.  The world is firmly grounded in God’s foundational creative act.   

Our beliefs about creation affect not only our conception of how the world began but also of how the world is structured and upheld, and of how we are to live in the world.  It was important for the Hebrews to understand that the world was created by one God, that this God created a world of order, a world designed to function best when we relate and act in certain ways.  The creation stories of their nearby neighbors sounded similar to theirs in some regards.  Yet, in many ancient creation stories, the world was created by a number of gods.  For some nations, the world was created in the context of a major battle between gods; that is, the world was created as a byproduct of violent divine disputes.  Jewish beliefs about creation were articulated similarly (in story-like form) but spoke directly against this aspect of pagan cosmology.  The Hebrews believed that one God created the world.  This God created the world peacefully, by speaking it into existence.  This God declared what he had made “good.”  The world is founded on one Supreme Being and is therefore established firmly; its existence isn’t left up to the unstable whims of multiple gods.   

 It is important for us to start here as well—“in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  God brought creation into being on purpose; it is not by chance that we are here.  This God declared creation to be good.  Because he created with specific intention, and created well, it would seem to follow that he has certain things in mind, certain purposes for this creation.  Our affirmation that God created the heavens and the earth—on purpose, well, and with specific designs—leads us to understand that this God knows how creatures should live in order for the good creation to run beautifully and smoothly.  Saying that God is the creator, that is, also leads us to say that God should have say over how we live our lives.  In fact, God’s first words to humans after he made them were instructions—“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth”’ (Gen.1:28).  He has, in scripture, told us how to live in and steward his good creation. 

Christians today, through New Testament teaching and the creeds of the early church, have a lens through which to read the scriptures that the ancient Hebrews did not have.  We can affirm, when taking the whole testimony of scripture into account, that the God who creates is one God, but is one God consisting of distinct relationships (three “persons”, we often say).  The God who created heaven and earth is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Genesis 1:2 mentions that the Spirit of God “hovered over the waters.”  Each person of the Trinity played a part in creating the world; in deed, it seem