Christian Parenting - Instilling a heart to serve

Jesus said, "whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:27-28).  Serving is what our Lord does.  He serves those who are unable to serve themselves.  Truthfully, no person is self sufficient.  The old axiom, "No man is an island unto himself," is true.  We are not self-contained people.  In fact, we need others. God himself said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).  

Where's Jesus? the story of Jacob's flocks (Genesis 30:25-43)

In Genesis 30:25-43 the story of Jacob's family continues, this time as it relates to his wealth and the increase of his flocks.  Jacob takes the speckled or spotted sheep and goats and the dark-colored lambs.  But then he engages in some activities that are devious at best, or in some commentators minds, sorcery-like.  He places totems or fetishes in the watering bowls to look like the kind of offspring he wants.  He even engages in selective breeding in order to break his uncle's fortune and build up his own wealth.

Where is Jesus?  There are a few options for where Jesus is in this story.  Here are two:

Thomas Paine and Government Debt

I just finished reading Thomas Paine's Common Sense.  IN it he lays out the case for freedom and limited government at the time of the American Revolution.  Here is a quote that we would all be wise to remember:

Can we but leave posterity with a settled form of government, an independant constitution of its own, the purchase at any price will be cheap.  But to expend millions for the sake of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing the present ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity witht he utmost cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs, from which they derive no advantage.  Such a thought is unworthy of a man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a peddling politician.

Christ in the Gap - 2 Chronicles 30:1-27

I was reading this section of Scripture while on a prayer retreat in October and the sheer picture of Christ that it contains struck me.  If you are familiar with Old Testament history, you will recall that Judah has been in dire straits, plagued by a series of good and bad kings since the reign of David.  It has kind of been like our stock market this past year or so with some highs and many lows but mostly a downward trend.  Such was the kingship of Judah and Israel and that kingship paralleled the spiritual life and vitality of the people themselves.

Let me rehearse the history for you. After David’s 40 years of reigning over the 12 tribes and the securing of peace by God’s gracious provision, Solomon comes to the throne and the reigns for 40 years, although, unlike his father, Solomon worships idols and erects shrines to them.  Then the great split follows his death, the 10 tribes in the North become known as Israel, and the 2 tribes of Benjamin and Judah however remain under Solomon’s son, Rehoboam and are known as Judah.  Israel in the north, Judah in the south.  Israel erects its own temple at Bethel and Dan in order to show that they are independent.  And rulers like Ahab, Ahaziah, and Omri plague them.  19 of them before being carried off into exile by the Assyrians in 722 BC, 210 years of failing to worship God in Jerusalem.  210 years of apostate rulers. 210 years of spiritual oppression.

This is what Hezekiah is referring to in his plea to Israel to return to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover.  With his simple words, “People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.  Do not be like your fathers and brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord…Do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; submit to the Lord” (2 Chr 30:6-8).  Come back and worship rightly.

But was Judah any better?  No, not really.  Following the division of the kingdom, Judah too experienced her share of good and bad rulers.  Where Israel had 19 idolatrous kings, Judah managed to have a few bright lights – men like Joash, Hezekiah, and later on Josiah.  But Judah had been just as apostate; and had worshipped idols too.  In fact, as Hezekiah’s reign begins in the 29^th chapter of 2^nd Chronicles, we find these words, in the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord, and repaired them (29:3).  If we turn back through the pages of scripture we find that 16 years earlier, Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz had shut the doors of the temple (2 Chr 28:24).  And if we continue turning back, we find there is no mention of the Passover being celebrated by the kings since the time of Solomon (2 Chr 8:13).

One of the three great annual feasts, according to the Lord has been neglected.  The people of Israel and Judah have been apostate, they have been without instruction in how to worship the Lord, and it has been for a long time.  This is the history of the people when Hezekiah comes to the throne.  And isn’t that so like us as people.  Some of us spent large sections of our life bereft of any witness of God in our lives.  Some of us have had times when brightness has shown in our lives, illuminating our path and directing us toward God and his temple, but just as quickly as the light appeared, circumstances, like bad kings, arise and snuff out the light.  And if it isn’t snuffed out, it’s at least syncretized so that we can be friends with the world and with God. But don’t we know, friendship with the world is hatred towards God (James 4:4).  There is no living as Israel, overtly hostile to God and his Word, or as Judah – knowing God but failing to submit to his yoke.  Both are wrong, and equally condemnable.

Yet, every one of us, like they, comes from the stock of Abraham, Isaac and Israel.  All of us know about God, as Romans confirms, and all of us refuse to acknowledge and worship God as God.  Although we knew God, for his creation is full of his testimony, we have neither glorified him as God nor given thanks to him… (Rom 1:21).  All of us, even the most saintly among us, have failed to offer our bodies, wholly and completely, as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God.  All of us have turned away.  All of us are guilty of omitting some form of worship from our lives. For some, we fail to worship God with our finances, hoarding our wealth instead of giving it away.  For others, it is offering up our time in service to the poor and needy in our midst, we just never find the time or the motivation.  For still others, it is an inability to forgive the one who has wronged you.  For still others, it is pride, arrogance, lust, gossip, or some other sinful tendency at work in our spirits, keeping us from wholly being devoted to the Lord.  Such is our plight!

This is where the beautiful picture of Grace comes to us through our passage.  Just as Hezekiah calls these sinful people of Israel and Judah to return to worshipping the Lord, so the Spirit calls to us.  And just as those who respond and come to Jerusalem, though not all do as we see that some scorn and ridicule the messengers of the King.  Just as those who respond come unprepared, the word says they were not consecrated, nor were they purified, we too who respond to the Lord are unclean and not able to offer worship that is right, we have seen that already – our hearts, our minds, our lives are always drawn up short of the command to be holy and righteous. 

These worshippers are so bad off ritually, that they can’t even kill their own sacrifices as they were commanded in Ex 12.  In fact the only prescription for being ceremonially clean to eat the Passover, that I could find, is that one must be circumcised according to Ex 14:43-49, and yet again, the Word tells us “Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written.” They defied the very Word of God again in their worship, and so do we, yet Hezekiah realizes something and he expresses it in his prayer.  Listen,

“May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God — the Lord, the God of his fathers — even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.”

Hezekiah intercedes for them, realizing the heart is more important than the action, than the liturgical ritual that is performed.  He prays for God to see the heart, not the liturgy, “And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people” (2 Chronicles 30:18–20).  Isn’t this the same with Christ, isn’t Hezekiah a picture of Jesus, the Messiah for us?  Aren’t the grace of God the Father, the work of Jesus the Son, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit pictured beautifully in this story?

The Holy Spirit summons us to the King to worship, and we respond because that same Spirit prompts us to go instead of ridiculing and scorning the Lamb of God.  But we show up just like these people, we aren’t sanctified, we aren’t clean, we are in fact sinners who bring all our sinfulness with us and try to participate in the act of worshipping a holy, righteous, magnificent, victorious Lord.  But Jesus intercedes for us and calls upon the Father to see not our actions, but our hearts, hearts that have been indwelt by His Spirit. Jesus calls upon the Father, interceding on our behalf that he sees the heart of flesh, which has replaced our heart of stone.  Though our lives do not yet conform to our new reality. 

Jesus calls on God to overlook our sin, and to allow himself as our Great High Priest to not only perform the sacrifice, but also to be the sacrifice restoring and maintaining fellowship with God Almighty.  He asks God to allow us to join in the worship and rejoice and give thanks to the Lord for his mercy and compassion, his provision and sustenance.  And God hears his prayer according to Romans 8:34 for, “Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” and accepts us because of his work according to Hebrews 10:12-14 “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” 

Jesus is our king and our priest, the door that re-opens communion with God.  Just as our sin blocked us from entering the temple, so his life is the door that opens that temple to us again. 

Now it would be easy enough to stop here and not go on, but the story gets even better, after the first 7 days of celebrating the Passover, the people agree to worship for another 7 days and it is during this seven days that more of the priests consecrate themselves and more joy flows, as do more acts of worship.  Such is our life in Christ after his intercession; we too are consecrated as a holy priesthood, built into a true temple of worship.  While I alluded to the struggles we all face as Christians earlier on, now I will focus on our sanctification following the intercession of the Son.  Where God looked and saw the finished work of Christ when we arrived broken, now this same God forms Christ in us by the ministering power of the Holy Spirit.  Now this same God disciplines us in order to make us obedient. Now this same God gives us gifts to use in order to serve one another so that the body of Christ is brought to maturity.  Such is the story of Hezekiah and the grace of God.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q3

Q.3. How do you come to know your misery?

A. The Law of God tells me.

Christ to crush the serpent’s head - Gen 3:14-15

 Merry Christmas.  The Savior is come.  The King of Kings, the prince of peace, the Mighty God is with us. This advent season we have been exploring the promised children of Scripture.  We have looked at Abraham’s promised child, Isaac; we have explored Elizabeth & Zechariah’s promised child, John the Baptist; we peered into the child Hannah promised back to God, Samuel and today we are going to look at the Savior who has come in the flesh, Emmanuel – God with us.

You may think that the natural place to go is to the child promised to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  But this Christmas morning we are going to look at the child promised to Satan.  What, you may ask, a child promised to Satan?  I didn’t know that Satan had been promised a child.  Truly, he was, although not as you think. When most of us think of a promise given to someone, it is a good promise.  Especially when we think of a child being promised to someone, that is a blessing, a gift, someone who will come along and continue the line of the one who has received the promise.  But not Satan. 

In Genesis 3:14 God begins to speak to the serpent, after Adam and Eve have sinned, and he makes a promise to Satan, point of fact, he makes 6 promises to the serpent, and one of these promises includes a child who will come and destroy Satan and his work. Gen. 3:14 begins with these words, “The Lord God said to the serpent…” There are a few preliminary considerations we should address, to make sure that everyone is on the same page. 

Firstly, The Lord God, Yahweh Elohim, the great I am (Ex 3:14), the creator of the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1).  The One God (James 2:19) who is above every other God (Ps 95:3), the ruler of all creation (1Chr 29:12-13), the sustainer of life (Heb 1:3), the author and perfecter of faith (Heb 12:2), the amazingly holy One (Lev 11:45, 1Pt 1:16), this God, of whom there are no others (Isa 45:18) in comparison, is speaking and is in utter control of the situation.

Secondly, this God who is in control, is speaking to the serpent.  The serpent, not humanity, is being addressed directly. The serpent is receiving the words of the Lord, although humanity definitely is included in them, as we will see.  But the very statements spoken are for the serpent.  Who is this serpent? There are a lot of ideas about this passage.  There are many who downplay evil, or personify it as an invisible force, but what does this scripture say about this serpent?  In Rev. 12:9, the apostle John records this revelation from the Lord writing about the great cosmic battle between God and Satan and the Lord’s plan for humanity’s redemption.  This is what he writes, “The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him…¹⁷Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.”  God is addressing His archenemy, the one who attacks his children and his people

Thirdly and finally, when God speaks, his words are true and must come to pass.  For this I turn to Heb. 6:17-18. In context, the author of Hebrews is arguing the certainty of God’s word to Abraham and hence his promise to redeem us. In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, 18 so that through two unchangeable things (the oath and promise), in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.

Summarizing our preliminary observations, we hold these truths – God is in control, there is none like him and when we speaks, his word is true and comes to pass, and Satan or the devil is the recipient of the particular words of God we are going to explore this morning.  So what were God’s words of promise to Satan?  First is a statement of fact, followed by 6 promises:

The statement of fact is “Because you have done this…” Because you have deceived the woman into eating the fruit, because you lied about the word of the Lord, because you denied God’s sovereignty and instruction, because you have brought shame and separation into the world.  These are all included in the this which Satan accomplished.  Deception is lying and he is the Father of all Lies (Jn 8:44), he calls the Lord’s right of rule into effect in verse 4 saying You will not surely die, God’s words aren’t true, they have no authority over you.  And the shame and separation that comes upon the man and the woman because of their new found “knowledge” actually drives them apart from one another and causes them to hide from God – shame, fear and separation.  All of this is the work of Satan, and all of it is still his work, for God brings redemption, restoration, reconciliation, truth and authority. 

So if you see the other at work in your life.  If you see, shame, fear, separation, rebellion against God’s word, lying and deception, then recognize them first and foremost as the work of Satan and then rejoice in these promises God has made about this kind of behavior.

The first of the promises to Satan – Cursed are you.  Cursed, judged are you.  Another way of understanding a curse upon someone is that the one who is cursing another is saying, “I will bring trouble on you.”  I, God Almighty, will judge you and bring great calamity upon you.  You will not stand, you will not survive, and you will not persevere in these ways.  You are cursed.

The second and third promises are closely related, so I will address them together – upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.  These twin promises of God are symbolic, for no snake eats dust, we are all aware of that; furthermore, the curse is spoken to Satan, not to snakes in general.  So what do these promises symbolize?  In the ancient world, to crawl upon your belly was a form of humiliation and submission.  In fact it is still that way in many cultures in the east today.  In Zambia where we lived, those who wanted to go in to meet with the chief were required to crawl in on their hands and knees to the foot of the throne.  And this corresponds to eating dust as a form of humiliation. Psa. 72:9 May his foes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust.  Is. 49:23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.   The Serpent is promised double humiliation and that he will be in submission to the God who governs all life.

The fourth promise is that there will be enmity between the serpent and the woman, between your offspring and hers.  Literally God will place hatred between Satan and humanity and humanity and Satan.  There will be active hostility between the two parties.  And isn’t that born out in life.  Don’t we, as humans actively abhor those actions of Satan we see in the world?  Don’t we abhor lying and dishonesty?  Don’t we abhor what the Belhar confession calls “the sinful separation of humanity?”  Don’t we abhor those who refuse to submit to their leaders, when those leaders are duly and legitimately elected?  Don’t we abhor these acts of Satan?  But the promise has a flip side, just as we hate these acts of evil, just as we hate the death and destruction which flows in Satan’s wake, so too does Satan hate humanity.  He accuses us before God trying to defame us as the first chapter of Job aptly illustrates with Satan challenging Job’s very character before the King Almighty.  The same truth about Satan’s hatred of humanity is echoed in Zechariah 3:1, Then [the Angel] showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.  In fact he hates and accuses God’s people so much that he makes war against them according to Rev 12:17, which we read earlier.  In fact, he prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1Pt 5:8).  God promises that Satan will be out to destroy us

But this is where the fifth and sixth promises of God come to play.  Let me treat the last promise first, for our sake we will call it the fifth promise of God, even though it is the last promise God makes to Satan.  It is that Satan will strike the heel of the woman’s offspring.  He will seek to inflict damage, but it will be minimal. That doesn’t mean it can’t be deadly, for we all know that a snake bite in the heel by a viper or a cobra is no laughing matter.  He will strike, kind of as a reaction as a defensive posture, as one who has been driven down the food chain and is striking trying to ‘get back’ at those farther up.  I am reminded of a day when we were in the bush learning from my language teacher sitting under the shade of a tree.  Morgan was walking around in the sand when Jen started yelling “Snake, snake.”  I was lost in another language and didn’t respond until she cried, “Linyoka.”  Up I ran, with my teacher as this little twig snake slithered away and the eyes on my instructor grew large, it was a poisonous snake, a very poisonous snake, responsible for more deaths in our province than any other snakes.  As we got it out and started to kill it, beating its head into the ground and crushing it, he said repeatedly, “This is Satan.”

That picture stands in my mind, as we look at God’s final promise to the humiliated, subjected, cursed enemy. Here is God’s promise of a child to the Serpent, “[The woman will have a child and] he will strike your head.”  You are going to be hostile to one another, you are going to hate one another, you are going to war against one another, you Satan are even going to be able to inflict pain upon him, but that will be nothing compared to what the woman’s offspring will do to you.  He (singular) will strike your head, he will crush your head, and he will damage you in the most important part of your body, and you will strike back from and inferior position trying to defend yourself.  That is what happened that day in the Zambian desert.  The snake tried to defend itself, but it was of no comparison to the skill of my language teacher who beat it into submission and eventually into death.

God has made a promise to Satan that he will be destroyed.  And the disciple John paints the same picture again but in different inspired words when he writes, Rev. 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while…7 When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison8 and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, in order to gather them for battle…9 They marched up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 10 And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

This is the reason we gather this Christmas morn, for the seed of the woman has come, the one to crush the head of the serpent was born to a virgin named Mary some 2000 years ago and his name was Jesus = he saves.  And the Scripture tells us that of his kingdom there will be no end.

In Conclusion, this is the Christmas message, the promises of God to Satan  - his humiliation, his submission to God, his hatred, all of it will be destroyed for his head has been crushed, and the Savior of the World, the seed of Eve has come, and we are now endowed with the same power as Christ, contemplate this final verse as we enter into Communion:

Romans 16:20 The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Christian Parenting - Teaching Stewardship to your children

What is stewardship?  Stewardship is the act of managing every resource within one's control for the glory of God.  The steward asks the question, "Will my actions enhance the Kingdom of God by displaying the heart of God to the world?"  The steward is concerned about representing his or her master well to the world.  The steward wants to see God's glory proclaimed, God's name uplifted, God's kingdom expanded and God's world cared for.

Stewardship is the combination of prayer, compassion, service, creation care, justice, generosity and simplicity, all rolled into one overarching view of life.  Because of this, the steward knows the heart of the master and acts on this knowledge.  Furthermore, he or she uses everything at his or her disposal in order to cooperate with God in the advancement of His Kingdom on this earth.

So how can this be taught to our children?

Where's Jesus? The story of Jacob's children (Genesis 29:31-30:24)

In Genesis 29:31-30:24, there is a fascinating story about Jacob's wives and the children they bear.  In it Leah conceives and gives birth to six sons; Rachel has one son and the two servants have two sons apiece for their mistresses.  Thus Leah is the most prolific both directly and by Zilpah, her servant eight sons to four.  Where is Jesus in this story?  If my earlier premise is right that Jesus is in the bigamous marriage as the one who brings Jew and gentile together under his tent, then this story seems to imply that the Jews and the Gentiles will each bear fruit in the family of God.  While the Gentiles, represented by Leah, will be great in number, there will come a time when God turns his grace back upon the Jewish people and they too will bear children of the covenant.

Hannah’s Son of Service – 1 Sam 1:1-28, 3:19-4:1a, 7:3ff, 7:15, 12:1-3 12:23, 16:13

So far, this advent season we looked at the promised child of Abraham and saw how God had promised Abraham one who would continue the family line.  How his promised son would be specially chosen by God to be the one to propagate the promises of blessing to the people.  We saw how that corresponds to Jesus Christ as the descendant of Abraham, the Seed to whom all God’s promises were made and how we can be inheritors of the promise by being in Christ, too.

Last week we explored John the Baptist’s promised birth to Zechariah ad Elizabeth, descendants of both Aaron the High Priest and Samuel the great prophet, priest and judge we are going to explore today. John came to preach repentance and to prepare a people ready for God to be built into a building and readied into an army.  But Jesus actually builds us into the Temple of God, his flesh and body in the world, and his army to proclaim peace between God and men to a dying world.

This week we are looking at Hannah’s son, Samuel. Although there is a striking difference between Samuel and the other promised children we are exploring this Advent season.  Abraham was promised a son, so was Elizabeth whom we studied last week, and Eve who we will study on Christmas day.  But Hannah was never promised a son by God, rather she promised her son to God.

This makes her story different than the other promised children, but powerful this Advent season nevertheless.  Let’s quickly move through the setting of the story, Elkanah has two wives: Hannah and Peninnah. “Etymologically, Hannah means something like “charming,” reflecting the fact that she was the loved one [which verse 5 tells us]; Peninnah may mean something like “prolific” or “fecund,” corresponding to her role as the wife who bore children [verse 4 – he would give portions of meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters].”[1]

So, every year these 3 characters and the rest of the family head out to Shiloh to worship, and inevitably the family dynamics kick up and life becomes difficult to unbearable for someone, it just so happens that Hannah always happens to be this someone. 1Sam. 1:7 tells us, “This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.”  So Hannah prays to God asking, begging God for a son.  Just one, give me a child, she pleads and if God will but answer this one prayer, then she vows, “…I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head” (1Sam. 1:11).

How many of us have heard the stories about the crisis prayers.  People facing death who beg God to get them out of this difficulty and I will worship you forever.  Or provide me the money to make all my bills God and I will give to the next person who asks me for help.  Or something else that is pleaded for and promised.  The only problem with these “deals” is that rarely do people follow through with them.  But not Hannah, she pleads the Word tells us, amidst tears and pain, promising something more difficult than most of us would ever consider.  She asks promises to give up the very thing she given, to hand him over to God to be a Son of Service in the House of the Lord.  Hannah’s child is promised to be a Son of Service.  And she follows through with her word. 

She raises him and weans him and then takes him to the Tabernacle at Shiloh and presents him to Eli the priest saying, ““As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he (Samuel) worshiped the Lord there.” (1 Sam 1:26-28).

This is where I want us to really start digging in.  What is the promised Son to do?  Who is this promised Son to be?  Let’s start with the second question first.  Who is this promised son to be? He is to be given to the Lord wholly and completely.  He is to be God’s child, the Lord’s possession.  He is to take his orders from the Lord and his direction from the Lord.  He is to be a servant of the Lord and to be used by the Lord as the Lord sees fit.  The closest analogy we get for a person being given to the Lord is in Leviticus 27.  In this chapter, Moses is telling the people what happens if vows are made.  In the first part, he is speaking specifically of “a special vow to dedicate persons to the Lord by giving equivalent values,” (Lev. 27:2).  So we can see that one given to the Lord is to be dedicated, single-mindedly set upon serving the Lord and his work.  That is who he is to be.  But then a few verses later we also learn that those things, which are vowed, are holy and cannot be exchanged.  To give something to God is a one-time decision without recourse to re-evaluation or change.  Listen to the words from Lev 27:9-10 “If what he vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy. He must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if he should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy.”

So the promised Son, Samuel, is to be given to God, holy, single-mindedly centered on God’s will and God’s way.  He is to be a child of the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God.  His life is to be wrapped up in God’s life and God’s ways.  Therefore, he must be attentive to the voice of God.  This is who he is to be. 

So from this description of the character of one given to the Lord, we can return to our first question.  What is the promised Son to do?  The author of this book tells us, “He worshiped the Lord there.”  The promised Son given to God worships.  This is going to mean he sacrifices, he prays, he instructs, he sings, he thanks the Lord.  Every one of these activities is part of the life of worship, the life of one given over to the Lord.  For Samuel is to be a prophet, a spokesman for God.  His words are to ring true with God’s words.  He is to speak God’s word to the people as one devoted to the Lord.  And that is exactly what he does, beginning with his words to Eli concerning his wayward sons Phineas and Hophni and their immanent deaths and continuing throughout his life. 

1Sam. 3:19-4:1 tell us, “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.  4:1 And Samuel’s word came to all Israel.”    Thus the promised child was to be prophet, a voice of God to the people, telling them how to live and worship.  Directing their steps.

But he was also to do a priest’s job of facilitating worship, offering sacrifices and praying for nation.  This Samuel illustrates in the 7^th chapter where he calls Israel back from worshipping false gods, the prophetic side of his life, but which he goes beyond to offering a “suckling lamb…as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him” (1Sam. 7:9).

But the priest and the prophet also teach the people, which Samuel illustrates in his dealings with Saul, the errant king, in 1Sam. 12:23 “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.”  As a priest he also anoints the Leaders of the country, first Saul (1Sam. 10:1) Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance?”; then David, (1Sam. 16:13) So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.

But Samuel does one other task in his life as one devoted to God.  He leads the people of Israel honestly and fairly.  He began by leading them out of oppression to the Philistines in chapter 7, and the 15^th verse tells us, “Samuel continued as judge (leader) over Israel all the days of his life.”  He led them faithfully and delicately, honestly and fairly which the word attests in chapter 12:2-3f  “2 Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. 3 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these, I will make it right.”  And the people affirm that Samuel has done none of these things.  He has been a good leader, and while Samuel would shudder at this title, King.  I believe it is an appropriate designation.  Samuel was given over to the Lord and although God didn’t promise him nevertheless, as one promised to, dedicated to God he did the work of a prophet, a priest and a king or ruler.

Samuel is an excellent promised child of Hannah’s as we look forward to the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ – the Prophet, the Priest, and the King who surpasses Samuel’s character and function in every way. For Jesus not only spoke God’s word to the people, he was God’s Word.  John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).  Where the prophet spoke God’s word, Jesus was the actual word speaking not on behalf of God, but speaking as God.  Where the old prophets said, “Thus sayeth the Lord…”, Jesus said, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…”

Jesus[2] is the great prophet; in fact he is greater than any prophet, for he was the Son. Hebrews 3:5-6 “Moses was faithful as a servant (Moses was a prophet, speaking God’s word to the people) in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house.” The parallel is to be prophet-son, servant-son.  Jesus is greater.

But Jesus is also the priest.  Not only did he offer sacrifice, but the sacrifice was himself, a perfect sacrifice Hebrews 10:4 tells us, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins…Heb. 4:14 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess…Heb. 10:12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy…Heb. 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”  Jesus is our great high priest.

When the OT priests like Samuel entered into the holy place, the people could not go in with them, but now, the curtain has been torn in two, and we are ushered into his presence. Heb. 6:19-20 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus entered before us, as a forerunner, or first runner, so that we may follow him into God’s presence which is exactly what Heb10:19-20 tell us: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body…”

And where the old covenant priests could only pray for one person at a time and hear one person’s request from God at a time, Jesus as our priest can always intercede for us, continually praying for us, always making intercession for us as Hebrews 7:25 and Romans 8:34 affirm, Heb. 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Rom. 8:34 …Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

And He is also the King, or ruler extraordinaire.  As a king, he exercises authority over God’s people, ruling the creation, building his church and ensuring that the gates of hell will not prevail:

Matt. 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Eph. 1:19-22 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

Phil. 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Rev. 19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He is the promised child of God, who exceeds anything that man can ever promise back to God.  So what are we to make of this promised child who is superior to Hannah’s son, Samuel?  We are to imitate him.  You heard me, we are to copy him and act in our feeble ways, under his power as the new prophets, priests and kings of this earth by evangelizing the world and thereby speaking the truth of God’s word to a dying world.  We are to disciple one another, thereby speaking the truth of God’s word to fellow believers for 2Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

We are to intercede for one another, for the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective, James 5:16 tells us.  We are to offer sacrifices of praise and sacrifices of good works as the priests we have been proclaimed according to Hebrews 13:15-16 and 1 Pt 2:5 and 2:9:

Heb. 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

1Pet. 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

We are to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship (Rom. 12:1).

Furthermore, we are to exercise the authority of Christ over one another, serving one another, resisting the devil, stewarding our resources for God’s kingdom and God’s people.  Raising our families to know and love God above all other things in this world.  Advancing the reign of God in our employment, for our final destiny is to reign with God forever and ever.  Rev. 22:5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they (speaking of the church, the body of believers) will reign for ever and ever.

People of God, Christ is coming, greater than the child Hannah promised to serve in God’s presence.  He is the prophet, the priest and the King Almighty, so go out as little prophets, priests and kings in your own spheres, for the word promises,

Rev. 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

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[1] WBC, 1 Samuel 1:1-3 Commentary section.

[2] The section on Jesus as prophet, priest and king and how we are called to the same 3 offices come from a lecture by Wayne Grudem at Scottsdale Bible in 2007.  The mp3’s are on my computer.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q2

Q.2. What must you know
to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

A. Three things:


first, how great my sin and misery are;


second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery;


third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.

christianity-New Age dialogue #5

On Dec 1, 2009, at 9:53 PM, Joshua Williams wrote:

I thought of some things. I remember seeing you mention that you were trying to see if there were some "self-help" value in some of the new age stuff. While my lines may be blurry in my beliefs between Christianity and my adapted beliefs, I am still fairly clear on the line from the Christian perspective. I may be able to help you use some of the findings in a Christian way.

The most powerful form of prayer is gratitude from my perspective. This is not to say that one should nor could trick God into giving them what they want by being grateful (Dude is way too smart for that :)

Christian Parenting - What is a Biblical Worldview? How to Impart it. Part 2

Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary has an excellent correspondence course entitled, "Christian Worldview and Contemporary Challenges."  In this course, Mouw outlines 4 questions that are essential to the creation of any worldview:
1. What is the general view of reality?
2. What is the nature of the human person?
3. What is the nature of the human predicament?
4. What is the solution to this predicament?

Or stated another way,
1. Where am I?
2. Who am I?
3. What's wrong?
4. What's the remedy?

If as parents we are called to train up our children in the way they should go, then we must focus on helping our kids to gain a solid answer to each of these transcendent questions.  They need more than just platitudes like "be good", "don't lie", and "help others."  These are true, but they reduce worldview to relativism and moralism.  And because of this, they are subject to change as our culture redefines what "good", "truth" and "helping" are.

In order to oppose this moralizing and relativizing tendency, we need to impart the grand story of humanity to our children, and we need to do it in a compelling, holistic, total way.  Our children need to learn that:
1. We are inhabitants of God's created world.  This is his universe.  These are his people.  This is his land, and so He is Lord of it all.
2. Because it is God's world, all people are creatures made in God's image, the pinnacle of his creation and individually of inestimable worth.  We are inherently valuable and worthy of respect.
3. But we are all sinners, who are disobedient and stubbornly refuse to conform to God's laws to Love him and love others as we love ourselves.  We have all denied his authority and turned form his kingdom in order to establish our own kingdoms.
4.  The solution to this problem, is the grace of God being given to people in order to love them and draw them back into the Kingdom.  This grace brings forth repentance, a turning from disobedient refusal to submit, and joyful, grateful submission to God's laws for God's world.

All four of these Christian premises are under attack in our world, and each one builds on the one previous.  Without an understanding that God is the sole creator, then it is impossible to believe we are all valuable without questions, that each person is worthy of respect and love.  Without this belief, one cannot recognize that when this respect isn't given, not only is the person offended, but God their creator is offended and sin is running our lives.  Furthermore, without a belief in sin, then there is no foundation for a belief in repentance and submission to the original creator.  We must teach our children these foundational truths.  We must ground them in the Scriptures and teach them the stories from an early age.

Worldviews are imparted and enforced by the cultures we are immersed in.  Hindu children accept the Hindu worldview because everything around them is conformed to that worldview.  The same is true of Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish children.  And to change a worldview requires a vast amount of psychological dissonance.  It isn't impossible, just highly difficult.  So, how much of our society reflects the Christian worldview?  Unfortunately, most of it is shaped by secularism, a worldview which posits that I am in a material world, as a material being, the problem is that I don't have enough and the remedy is to accumulate as much as possible at whatever expense in order to be happy.  This is simplistic, but it is true.  The secular view denies God, sin, service, salvation.  Do we want our children immersed into this worldview or do we want something better for them?

Returning to my earlier premises in previous posts, the best way to impart a biblical worldview is by immersing our children in situations where that view predominates.  Personally, we have decided that the home is the ideal place, although others may choose alternative options like Christian schools.  After deciding on where to immerse your children, the next question becomes, "How do we help them to defend their view?"

My answer: Use every opportunity available to ask your children the four worldview questions.  Ask them when they read a book what was being taught about worldview.  Ask them when they watch a movie or listen to a song, what is being posited about the nature of reality and the problems  we are facing and the solutions needed.  Take them to the Scriptures and train them.  Read books yourself that challenge your worldview and wrestle with the answers that are being presented in these books.  Teach your children that every position is a faith position.  There is always an underlying premise that cannot be proven and so everyone must take a stand of faith at some point.  Help them see this and tell them why you believe the Christian and particularly the reformed expression of Christianity are the most coherent.  Finally, pray.  Pray for wisdom, insight and words to speak.  Pray for your children to have the gospel dwelt in deep. Pray for the gospel to become their own.

If there are other ideas out there, I would love to here those thoughts as well.

Where's Jesus? The story of Jacob stealing the blessing. (Genesis 27)

As I continue on a new line of posts entitled "Where's Jesus?"  I am thinking that every Wednesday I will post a thought on this topic. Today, in my second posting in this line, I would like to explore the story of Jacob stealing the blessing from Esau.  The story is found in Genesis 27.  Where is Jesus in this story of a younger brother tricking his elderly father into giving him the family blessing?  Where is Jesus in this story where Jacob lies to his father? Where is Jesus in a story where the prime player says "The Lord your God gave me success" (v.20) as he perpetuates the ruse in order to scheme his way into blessing?

The Grunch of Giants by Buckminster Fuller

GRoss Universal Cash Heist = GRUNCH.  Fuller believed that corporations exist in order to slowly or quickly, it matters not the speed, although fastest is best, transfer wealth from workers to the corporate owners.  Although, this is not the shareholder, they benefit a little, but it is the owners of the corporation who hide behind swiss bank accounts and who manage to control one another's boards and steal our money through inflation and price hikes.

His thesis continues with the belief that money always follows military, it is the military that is constantly innovating new technology on tax payer backs and then the GRUNCH comes along and convinces government to hand over all the rights to the technology in order for them to sell it to the public as well, effectively placing all R&D costs on the backs of the public who cannot enjoy the break throughs without paying for it a second time.  (Velcro, Satellites, cell phones...)  All of this limits the risk to the corporation by infintely extending their production capacity.  Their only cost is making the article now that we, the people, have paid for its research.

Furthermore, Fuller believed that there were two kinds of people: those out to make money and those out to help humanity.  He firmly believed the two couldn't go hand in hand for making money requires paying attention to certain social conditions and mores, but helping humanity steps beyond that and does what it can to help without concern for profit.

After thinking on his book for a few days, I am impressed with his insight.  Particularly with this thoughts about R&D, Military, Government and profitability.  They seem to me to be right on.  One other point of interest he raised was related to the last round of bailouts the US government performed in the 80's for Lockhead Martin (missile trigger maker) and Chrylser (Tank manufacturer).  Looking at our current bailouts, we have GM (Hummers), AIG (Insurer of Military Contractors and Subcontractors) and I would guess that the deeper we look, some of the other banking institutions have tight military connections and are therefore unloseable for national security purposes.

These are a few of my thoughts so far, more may come, then again, they might not.  I recommend the book highly.

Christianity-New Age dialogue #4

On Nov 30, 2009, Josh wrote:

Scott,

My relationship with God has been first in my spirituality since I was young. I was devout in prayer, and still am today. I will say that today I am more thankful to God than I was in the past.

I was Christian when I was young, and just felt the presence of God and that was enough for me. In high school I remember hating Christians because I had seen many ugly things that disgraced the God I knew. I set out to know the one true God. I felt that God was telling me, "If you want to know me then pray everyday and I will show you." (Something along those lines, it was more felt than dictated.) I prayed everyday for a year. 

The Promised Child who prepares the way - Luke 1:5-17

It is the 3^rd Sunday of Advent, and in a few days we will be celebrating Christmas day, the birth of the Savior.  This advent season we are exploring some of the promised children of scripture.  We saw that Abraham was promised a son who would continue his line and continue the blessing.  And we saw how Christ is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, furthermore, we were encouraged, I hope by the fact that we are now heirs of those blessings.  We are descendants of Abraham, just as Isaac, Jacob, David and ultimately Jesus were. 

Today we will look at the promises God made to Zechariah and Elizabeth through the prophet Gabriel.  We will see how Christ is the fulfillment of these and how we too share in his glorious ministry to redeem humanity from the curse of sin and death.  Our story is found in the Gospel of Luke.  It is the only place where this particular part of the nativity story is told and Luke gives us a fair amount of detail about the setting before he moves onto the promises concerning the child to come.  Let’s look at it for a moment:

It is the time of Herod, Herod the Great who ruled over Palestine (which composed parts of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) from the mid-40’s BC to 4BC.  Herod was a pretty great king in the eyes of the ancient Roman world and he left his mark on much more than just the biblical narrative.  He was a staunch ally of Rome believing that nothing could be achieved without their aid and consent.  This belief caused him to use all his power to stay on Rome’s good side – he squashed rebels, fought against the Hasmonean’s (Jewish priestly movement to reclaim the royal throne), and even fought against Antony’s gladiators as the East and the West of Rome was being congealed under Octavius, a.k.a. Caesar Augustus.  Add to these political choices the fact that Herod was desperately jealous of his empire and ruthless to protect his rule and we have a man who drowned the High Priest at one point in his reign, killed his wife and 2 of his sons along with countless other “threats.”  On the positive side, Herod was a grand builder, not only at home building two cities and rebuilding and enlarging the Temple.  He also built all across the ancient world – buildings, temples, gymnasiums in Athens, Sparta, Rhodes, etc. 

This is the time frame and the political context of the day that we must understand when Luke says, In the time of Herod, king of Judea.  A Jewish people are being ruled by an Idumean (descendant of Esau) named Herod the Great, who is more allied to Rome than to Yahweh.  In this time a priest named Zechariah is married to Elizabeth.  We know a few interesting things about Zechariah and his wife.  First, they are both upright and blameless.  They are of the faithful, obedient to the revelation they have been given.  They are religious, not secularist.  Luke gets at this even more when he informs us that Zechariah is of the priestly division of Abijah and Elizabeth is a descendant of Aaron.

Let’s look at Zechariah first.  According to 1 Chronicles 6:28 as the text is listing off the descendents of Levi, whom the priests and the Levites are to come from, we run across the name of Elkanah in verse 26 who has a son named Samuel.  This is the same Samuel we will explore next week.  But what is pertinent to us right now is that Samuel has 2 sons: Joel the firstborn and Abijah the second son.  Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that Zechariah is a direct descendent of Samuel, for the Israelite people were carried into exile and of the 24 priestly division David established, only 4 returned with Ezra (2:36-39) but the book of Nehemiah implies that out of these 4 divisions who returned, the 24 divisions were reconstituted (12:1-7).  Luke is telling us that there is a connection being drawn between Zechariah and the last great Judge – Samuel, specifically that a descendant of Samuel is coming.

Elizabeth is a descendant of Aaron, who was the first High Priest and Moses brother.  Furthermore, she also carries the name of the Aaron’s wife, the only other Elizabeth in the Scriptures. Ex. 6:23 Aaron married Elisheba… I believe that Luke inspired by God is trying to make a statement to the church, and to the Jewish people.  A very profound statement as a matter of fact.  Where the prophets have been silent for more than 400 years, I am raising up a prophet who descends from one of the great prophets; where the modern day priests are failing to direct the people to God, I am going to be raising up a new descendent of the High Priest to point people to the Lord; where your king has allied himself to Rome and secular expediency, I will be raising up a leader allied to God Almighty.

Thus the angel of the Lord comes while Zechariah is performing his priestly duty of burning incense and says, “You will have a son, name him John – Yahweh has given grace[1].  He is going to be a joy, a double joy (delight) and others will have joy because of his birth.”  For a great priest, prophet and judge is coming into the world.  But this is where it gets good. “He will be great in the sight of the Lord.  He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.  Many people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God.  And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, another wonderful prophet who fearlessly proclaimed the word of God to the people.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 

This sounds like the opposite of everything that Herod has exemplified and everything that the priesthood has been doing.  God is raising up a leader, a prophetic, priestly leader to point the people back to their Lord, to prepare the people to be ready for battle, to be built into the house of God.  The very last phrase, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord carries all these implications.  For the only other things in scripture that are prepared are buildings and soldiers.[2]  The son that is promised to Zechariah is going to get people ready for the master builder to come; he is going to train them so that their General of the Army can command them.

Those two themes make a lot of sense out of the Gabriel’s proclamation concerning John.  For if he is going to ready the people for being built into the true and living temple of God, the body of Christ, then he needs the empowerment of the Spirit, which is promised even from birth.  From the very beginning of his days, God will be leading him and guiding him.  If he is going to ready the army of God to take orders from their supreme commander then he needs first of all to turn people back to God from their wayward wanderings, their flirtatious experiments with Rome, their dependence upon dead religion instead of upon living faith and repentance. 

And it all begins in getting the adults to become like children, and the disobedient, not to become obedient, but to become wise.  Zechariah’s son is going to turn the fathers’ hearts to childlike faith.  At least that is how I understand the parallels,

Luke 1:17 to turn the hearts of parents             to             [their] children,

and the disobedient                         to             the wisdom of the righteous,

to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

When the disobedient parents become like the wise child, or maybe said another way, when rebellious humanity gains childlike faith, trust and acceptance then they are becoming a people fit for God’s use.  In fact isn’t that what Jesus himself says in Matt. 18:3 “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

But how are we supposed to become like little children?  How are we to gain the wisdom of the righteous, salvation by faith apart from works? How are we to be built into a people, in to a temple?  The rest of scripture tells us John the Baptist came preaching a baptism of repentance, John the Baptist came calling people to turn from their wickedness and to recognize their sin and flee from it.  This is the first step in gaining the wisdom of the righteous. 

But this kind of repentance without the assurance of forgiveness and the knowledge of salvation is less than a message to rejoice in.  That is why John prepares the way for the Lord, but Jesus is the way of the Lord.  John’s disciples were awaiting the full message of salvation, as Acts 19:4-5 illustrates (Paul said,) “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, and the text goes on to say they received the Holy Spirit. 

So do we have work to do?  Does this story have bearing on our life? On our world?

You bet, we live in a world where many of our leaders aren’t that different from Herod.  They are making names for themselves.  They are building monuments to their greatness[3].  Many of our leaders are more interested in compromise and building their own names than they are on pursuing wisdom, discernment, and servanthood.  Yes we have a call to preach repentance and faith in God.

Furthermore, a vast number of our religious leaders aren’t turning people toward God; rather they are turning people toward popular psychology, self-help and self-improvement.  They are mixing the gospel with other religious teachings.  Our spiritual leaders have become enamored with religion that leaves people bereft of any hope of change while placating the sinful tendencies of society and baptizing them as Christian.   Our churches have become bastions for popular social experimentation both on our children and our families.  Prayer has almost vanished. Did you know the typical Christian only prays 3-5 minutes a day and most of that for himself? 

Yet God intended that the church would be a house of prayer.  God desired a people wholly devoted to his name, calling on the Lord day and night, giving thanks for everything, seeking his glory and his kingdom, praying for the formation of the spiritual community.

We desperately need the message John was called to preach, but we need to ensure the message goes with the truth of the incarnation so that people have hope.  People desperately need to be awakened to the desires of God.  We need to proclaim that the Lord is building a house and calling a people to resistance against all that the world offers up as normal and standard and acceptable.  Jesus wants you.  Jesus wants me.  Jesus wants everyone of us to be equipped and empowered for works of service and for being united with his Spirit so that we can transform this dead and dying world into a living, breathing picture of his Kingdom full of love and obedience.  And every bit of it begins in acknowledging that there is a God whose being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth are infinite, eternal and unchangeable (Westminster Shorter Q4).  This is second step in gaining the wisdom of the righteous.  First is to acknowledge our sin, second is to acknowledge God’s righteous character.

And this means that my natural ways of living are more often than not going to be an affront to God for I am not the possessor of infinite, eternal and unchangeable wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness or truth.  So I need to repent and turn to his Son who alone fulfilled the righteous commands of the Lord, who alone can bring me forgiveness.  He alone can enable me to serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness (Luke 1:74-75). And I would venture to guess that you would agree with all of these same statements about yourself.

And so we wait, liturgically a few more days, but in reality knowing that the birth of the one who can redeem us from all our sins and release us into the newness of life has already come.  This we must proclaim for all the goodness of the kingdom is available to whoever will believe. God has granted us a great privilege and responsibility - We are the ones who prepare this world for the Lord!

This is the story of Advent. Where John could tell people about their need, Jesus meets the need and we proclaim him.  Where John could tell people their hearts were corrupt and to admit it, Jesus gives a new heart and we proclaim him.  Where John could tell people to serve God and acknowledge God as God, Jesus gives us his spirit so that we can utter both the word and be empowered to do the deeds and we proclaim him.  Where John prepared the building site and brought the stones together, Jesus builds the temple, first in his flesh and then in his body, the church and we proclaim him.  For we are (1Pet. 2:9-10) a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

John got things ready, but Jesus did the work.  John went before the Lord Jesus as a prophet denouncing sin and calling people to repentance, but Jesus gave his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins just as Zechariah prophesied in Luke 1:76.  This is what Advent is all about, it is about the atonement beginning, and it’s about God visiting his people and empowering them to remain his people.

And we get to participate in it.  Jesus calls us his mothers and brothers and sisters in Mark 3:34-35 and he calls us his friends saying (John 15:15) I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  We are partners with Jesus.  In one sense we are like John, people sent by God to proclaim repentance, in another we are greater than John, for we know the whole truth about Christ and Christ himself indwells us.

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[1] Translation of John from Brown’s The Birth of the Messiah, pg. 261

[2] 1Mac. 10:21 So Jonathan put on the sacred vestments in the seventh month of the one hundred sixtieth year, at the festival of booths, and he recruited troops and equipped them with arms in abundance. 1Mac. 15:3 Whereas certain scoundrels have gained control of the kingdom of our ancestors, and I intend to lay claim to the kingdom so that I may restore it as it formerly was, and have recruited a host of mercenary troops and have equipped warships, Heb. 3:3 Yet Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. Heb. 3:4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)

Heb. 9:2 For a tent was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place. Heb. 11:7 By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.

[3] whether they be actual statues like Lenin, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein built or legislative wonders like FDR or Ted Kennedy wrote, or inconsequential pet projects like the Alaskan bridge to nowhere, or tattoo removal in Mission Hills, CA

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q1 - Week 2

Q.1. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

Born to Die - Book Review

Have you ever wondered what the book of Leviticus has to do with Christ?  I mean all those sacrifices - the burnt offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the grain offering, the peace offering? I have just started a series of posts entitled "Where's Jesus" to address such questions as they relate to the narratives of the Old Testament, but I would like to recommend a book to you by Doug Stringer entitled Born to Die that we may live: The work of the Cross and the Power of the Resurrection.

In this short, 125 pages the author explores these 5 sacrifices and how they relate to Jesus Christ.  While some of his interpretations see like long stretches, for example, comparing the female goat to be offered by the commoner for his Sin offering to Mary the mother of Jesus (pg 93).  The vast majority of the book is very encouraging and edifying, particularly for taking a book like Leviticus and pointing to Jesus.

Christian Parenting - What is a Biblical Worldview?

Are your children being taught to think like the Scriptures?  When they encounter the ethical questions of life, will they work through these difficulties based on the teachings of Scripture or the indoctrination of secular philosophy?  As Christian parents, we are called to train up our children in the way they should go and one of the best ways of training them is to ground them in a Biblical Worldview.

A Worldview is a set of beliefs about the way life is to be lived.  We all have a worldview.  We all believe certain things about how to interact with each other, how to best punish or encourage one another, or what is right and what is wrong.  Similarly, a Biblical worldview  (BW, for short) views these questions and countless others through the eyes of God as he has revealed himself in the Bible.  A BW sees all of life as the gift of God, it sees all of humanity as creatures called to live in submission to God.  This is the foundation from which all ethical, social, political and economic decisions must be made.

How do you instill this into your children?  First, you have to live it yourself.  Do you believe that God is God and has the right to tell you how to live?  Do you believe that your finances, time, relationships and politics should conform to God's plans for humanity?  If you don't, you will never succeed in giving your children a BW.  But if you do, then you can move onto the step 2.

Step 2 is to pray for your children.  Practice the other disciplines we have discussed earlier in these posts: family worship, obedience, spiritual formation.  These lay the groundwork by modeling the importance of taking time to seek God and living under authority.  When this is in place, or concurrent with it, start to catechize your children.

Catechizing is a process of teaching children core truths of the Scripture by question and answer.  Our family is currently using the Westminster Shorter Catechism as we work through Starr Meade's book, Training Hearts, Teaching Minds.  By memorizing the questions and answers, we are planting the foundations of a scripture based worldview in our children.  I am currently working on a similar book related to the Heidelberg Catechism.  Each of these catechisms cover things like: Who is God?  Who is man?  What is sin?  What does the 10 commandments teach?  The Lord's Prayer?

As children learn these 100-127 questions the foundations are established.  Then over time we can invite our children to reflect on political and social events from their understanding of the Scriptures.

Where's Jesus? The story of Jacob marrying Rachel and Leah (Genesis 29:14-30)

Jesus makes a startling statement in John 5:39 when he says,

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me..."  

If this is true, and it is, for every bit of Scripture is a testimony to Christ, then one of the best questions we can ask of any passage is "Where's Jesus?"

Sometimes finding Jesus is akin to finding Waldo in a picture full of detail, sometimes it is as obvious as can be.  I have been studying Genesis with my small group and must admit that more often than not I don't see Jesus clearly in the text.  Take for example the story in Genesis 29:14-30 where Jacob marries both Leah and Rachel.  Where is Jesus in this story?  (After thinking about it yourself, continue reading.