On January 1, 2018, I deactivated my Facebook account. I had been an active Facebook user for about eight years, but I was starting a three-month sabbatical from pastoral ministry in my church, and I was concerned that the purposes of the sabbatical would be impeded if I spent time on social media. I also had numerous games on my phone, and I deleted those as well. Finally, I managed the church Instagram account via my phone, and I gave that up too.
On my laptop, as I navigated through the menus to get to Facebook’s deactivation page, I started feeling nervous. The social media giant had been a significant part of my life for a long time. I shared photos, articles, and kept up with my family, friends and church. All that scrolling through post after post after post. It seemed that extricating myself from that connection would be detrimental. My body actually felt anxious and fearful. Maybe I was making a bad decision. I’d read numerous stories of people who deleted Facebook, and I longed for freedom from the constant pull of fear-of-missing-out.
Similarly, I spent time on Facebook to be present where so many people were spending time. In fact one ministry leader stated on his podcast that pastors are being irresponsible if they aren’t active on Facebook. It makes good sense: be among your people and your community. They aren’t learning about your church by visiting your physical building. Instead they are first spending time on your website or on your social accounts. Now I was removing myself from that. Was I stupid?
To address this, we created a social media team to manage our church Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as the church website and podcast. All those digital connection points have continued to this day. I was the only one leaving social. Still, I was scared that I was making a mistake, personally and missionally.
A huge amount of work had gone into creating this sabbatical, though, and I really wanted it to go well, for me and the church. As I deliberated my Facebook decision, it was the purposes of sabbatical that won the day. Sabbatical has its roots in the word “sabbath,” first mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures when God himself takes a sabbath, a day of rest, after working for six days to create the universe. God embedded that concept of rest into the life of the nation of Israel. This Saturday break from work has numerous benefits, not least of which is a trust in God’s care for their needs. By not working on the 7th day each week, they are in essence, reducing their income by nearly 15%. That’s no small amount. The same goes for sabbatical. It is a period of intentional rest, designed to give a person an opportunity to refresh, and to trust in God. I wrote about that more here, and I knew that I didn’t want Facebook to get in the way. Cognizant of my tendency to open Facebook frequently, I could easily see myself wasting precious sabbatical hours on social media.
I hovered the mouse over Facebook’s “Deactivate” button, and I was sure something would happen after I clicked it. It felt momentous, significant, and very possibly consequential. Visibly shaky, I clicked my mouse and deactivated my account.
And nothing happened.
Not that first hour, nor that first day. Nothing happened for the first week or month. It was oddly calm and quiet. I thought for sure people would notice and contact me. Of course they would, it was such a big deal! They didn’t though. Over the course of the three-month sabbatical, being off Facebook had no discernible negative impact to my life. That has continued for the whole year. No one got angry. No one felt neglected. Or at least they never told me about it. A couple times people messaged me, as I kept Facebook’s Messenger app for that reason. But that was less than a handful of instances, over the past year.
As a result, this lack of impact was very eye-opening to me. I thought of all the hours I spent on Facebook, often justifying to myself that I was connecting with people, spending quality time learning about their lives. But with Facebook gone, I gained a new perspective on social media: it doesn’t matter.
Sure I missed out to some degree. I haven’t seen recent photos of my nieces and nephews, for example, but I still saw them at family events and got to catch up in person. Recently I found out about an acquaintance that got a new job six months ago. If I was on Facebook, I would have known this information all along. What I discovered was that missing out didn’t matter; it didn’t impact me at all. If something important was going on that I needed to be informed of right away, people still got in touch with me.
Removing Facebook actually added something that I believe is quite important. Intentionality. Rather than passively learning about friends and family on Facebook, if I wanted to express interest in them, I would have to be intentional about it. That intentionality is a very good thing, showing that I care about people.
I’m not saying that Facebook is bad or uncaring or that it is not possible to be intentionally friendly through social media. A person can be very healthy and intentional about their use of social media and the plethora of other digital communication and community resources available to us. Given their extreme popularity, many find that their use of social media is beneficial. But I didn’t. While I was on Facebook, I thought it was great. Once I removed myself, I realized how unnecessary it was. Frankly, I wasted a lot of time on social media. I own that. I made the choice. Now a year later, I’m so glad I’m not on any social media.
Will I ever go back? I can’t say. But I don’t think so. What I’ve found on the other side is far better.
In part 1 and part 2 of this series on Deuteronomy 20, we learned that Israel’s priests and army officers are to address the army before battle. Now God gives them some instructions about how to carry out battle. If you aren’t aware of these passages of Scripture, brace yourselves, as they can be shocking.
In verses 10-18, God refers to two kinds of enemies. Those that are far away, and those nearby. Israel was to handle them very differently.
First, in verses 10-15, when Israel goes to war against nations far away, make them an offer of peace, and if they accept, all the enemy’s people will be subject to forced labor and work for Israel. Is God condoning slavery?
But if the people in the faraway nation refuse Israel’s offer of peace, and they engage Israel in battle, God says Israel is to lay siege to the city. When God delivers the city to Israel, he says they should kill all the men, but keep everything else for themselves: women, children, animals, and possessions. Do you feel like it is hard to read a passage like this where God is approving such devastation? I really struggle with it. But it is about to get worse.
Next in verses 16-18, God moves his focus from the nations far away, and now directs Israel’s attention to those enemies nearby. He is referring to the nations who currently lived in the Promised Land of Canaan that they were about to enter. About those nations, God says, kill them all, total destruction, period. He also tells them why they are to take this severe action. “To keep yourselves from worshiping their gods and sinning against God.”
Whew. Enslavement of people. Total decimation in war. This is isn’t the first time we encountered this concept. It came up in 2017 when we studied Deuteronomy chapters 2, 3, and 7. I remember thinking, at the time, how often should a pastor preach about Old Testament holy war? I have wondered numerous times throughout this Deuteronomy series if I made a mistake choosing to preach through it.
I’m not going to rehash it here. If you want you can read the post here in which I discuss options for interpreting these passages. As you’ll read there, I don’t feel there is any satisfying way to understand these instances where God commands holy war leading to total decimation of foreign peoples. I do want to say this, though: war is always devastating. Our nation has fought wars like our Civil War where we slaughtered each other. And we’ve slaughtered other nations, including civilians in other nations, such as dropping atomic bombs on Japan. I say that simply to bring up the reality that war is always awful. We need to remember that when we consider the question I’m going to ask now: how should Christians approach the concept of war?
Can we find anything in Deuteronomy 20 that will help us? Take note that in Deuteronomy 20, Israel is making war. They are going out and starting war. They are about to enter into someone else’s land and try to capture it. Is that right? Why would God do that at all?
Let’s quickly go back to Egypt 40 years before. At the time Israel was a nation of slaves. God rescued them out of slavery in Egypt and when we hear that, we are cheering God. Freedom for the enslaved. Yes! But that raises a huge logistical question: where would this nation go once they have been freed? We’re talking about a nation that is likely a couple million people. That’s enough people to fill a large city. That many people need a land that can sustain them, so they can’t just go into the desert. But the fertile land nearby, land that could provide for them, is already occupied. Who is going to say, “2 million people, here you can have our land. It’s all yours now, and we will just leave and say goodbye”? Not going to happen. It’s like the Syrian refugee migration in Europe. It’s a massive logistical situation.
So what does God do? God gives Israel a land that had been in their family history, the land of Canaan, the land where their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived. He calls it the Promised Land. God is essentially saying, “Israel, I am returning land to you that was previously yours.” But they lived in that land over 400 years before. In 400 years time, when they were in Egypt, things had changed. New peoples and towns and cities and nations lived in that land now. So Israel wasn’t going to be able to walk back in and say, “Alright people, we’re back! You can go away now.” Nope. It was going to be a fight. Here’s the question, though. Was that a just cause? I don’t know that I can answer that. Some say yes, and some say no. Some might say, “Yes, that was their land originally, and they have every right to want it back, and to fight for it.” Others might say, “No, that was 400 years ago. I’m glad they are not slaves any longer, but they chose to leave Canaan looking for food in Egypt, and they have no right to now go back to Canaan and claim it as their own.” Still another might remind us that God is involved, giving the land to them. The whole earth is the Lord’s so he can give it to whomever he desires. Still we have to ask: Is it right for God to have Israel totally decimate the people in the land so God can give it to them? Is that just? What kind of God would do that? So we are back to that difficult issue. How should Christians think about war?
Frankly, I don’t find any material in Deuteronomy 20 that is helpful to Christians who are seeking to form a distinctly Christian viewpoint on war. Instead Christians must head over to the New Testament, and that is where we are going next, in part 4.
Soldiers are hardy, rugged fighters, right? They train to kill, learning not only weaponry, but also hand to hand combat. But what we will find out is that God has some surprising news for Israel’s officers. Some soldiers need to be in their gardens.
In part 1 of this series, we read that right before the Israelite army engaged the enemy in battle, their priests would give them a final pep talk, directing them to remember that God is with them, fighting for them. Now in part 2, we continue in Deuteronomy 20, looking at verses 5-9 where we read that the officers of the army also speak to the soldiers. Chronologically, however, this speech by the officers likely happened before the priests spoke. The scene is back at camp, before the army gets close to battle. In these verses the officers are to let people go home who are not qualified to fight!
God lists specific categories of people who would not be qualified to fight: those who built new homes, those who planted new vineyards, those who are engaged to be married, and those who are fainthearted. All these men can go home, and don’t have to fight.
Is this simply a description of troop selection that is wise or pragmatic for war? Or could we say that this is a description of God’s heart for his people to enjoy life and not be forced beyond what they are capable of? I suspect this surprising directive is both wise and caring. God knows that those who are distracted will not be quality soldiers. Their heart and mind will be elsewhere. The fainthearted could really bring down the morale of the other soldiers, maybe even spook them out. So let them go home. Keep only those who are ready and willing to serve. In Deuteronomy 24 this will come up again, when God says that after a man is married, he is not allowed to fight for a whole year. There again we see God’s heart to provide a good foundation to a new family.
This thinning out of the ranks requires the army to have quite an amazing trust in God, doesn’t it? Think about it. What kind of army reduces its numbers? In the face of battle, that is ridiculous. You want to sustain or, even better, increase your numbers. So the officers push their soldiers hard, even the ones that are fainthearted or missing home or scared. They say, “You want to go home to your wife and garden? Ha! No way. Buck up, buddy, this is what you signed up for. We’ve got a mission, and you’re going to give your all to help accomplish it.” But maybe the soldier didn’t sign up for the army. Maybe they were drafted into the military? There are plenty of times in our country’s history when people had no choice but to serve. There are many countries around the world today where every single person has mandatory military service, often for two years. No choice!
It is amazing, then, to hear God say that he wants the officers to reduce the size of the army. I can imagine plenty of stalwart officers, when they heard Moses giving this part of his teaching, thinking, “This is insane. Every able-bodied person over 20 should be in the army, period. God, you want to let people go home? They’re all going to say they want to go home.” But that’s God, caring for his people, and wanting them to trust in him. The officers, then, must let people out of the army!
That means those officers and soldiers
who stay are going into battle with reduced numbers. They are going to have place their trust in
God. You don’t trust in numbers, God is
saying, you trust in me. A smaller army
with God on its side is in no danger against a much larger more powerful enemy.
And that enemy is who God addresses next. Now that the army is prepared, trusting in God, he gives them very curious instructions about battle, which we’ll study in part 3.
As I was studying Deuteronomy 20 last week, I had songs going through my mind. War songs. Anti-war songs. It is interesting to me that there is in our culture an intersection of war and music. Then again, I suppose music touches all aspects of life. And, perhaps, so does war. I wanted to start my sermon with one or two of these songs, maybe a representative piece from each side of the war debate. There are so many songs about war and peace, so I asked my son to help me mash-up one of each. My younger kids later told me that it was a very weird way to introduce my sermon. See what you think:
How do you view war?
As we return to our study of Deuteronomy, we come to chapter 20, and it is all about war. Deuteronomy is written with a backdrop of war. The people of Israel were a nomadic, traveling nation, with an army. They left Egypt as slaves 40 years before, but in the intervening years, they had been transformed into a nation with a military, having fought battles here and there. Read the first chapters of the book of Numbers, for example, and it refers to the men 20 years old or older that are able to fight. That brings us to Deuteronomy where they are encamped on the eastern side of the Jordan River, getting ready for their most significant battle yet, the conquest of the land of Canaan. This is a people at war.
Earlier in the book of Deuteronomy, particularly in chapters 2, 3, and 7 we talked about war. This goes back to the fall of 2017, and I remember thinking back then, “Why did I choose to preach through Deuteronomy? All this talk about war?” That was over a year ago, and so we’re going to talk about it again today. One final time in this study of Deuteronomy. And we need to talk about it. The USA has been at war for almost 16 years…did you know that? We invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003. Then go back through our history, and it has been one war after the other. We, too, are a nation with a context of war.
Can Deuteronomy help us at all? Turn to Deuteronomy 20.
Verses 1-4 are very straightforward. Moses is saying to the people, “When you go to war, and the enemy seems more powerful than you, do not be afraid, God is with you, and God fights for you.” Remember that this was a major issue for the people. They had sent spies across the river into the Promised Land of Canaan, scoped out the land, and most of the spies came back saying, “All the people over there are giants, and we will surely lose.” But two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, said, “No…God will fight for us…we can take them.” Moses is reminding the people that God, the one with unlimited power, is on their side.
I find it interesting that the priest is the first person described as addressing the people. Look at verse 2, and it says the priest will speak before they go into battle. It seems that Moses is not speaking chronologically here. The words “into battle” give the impression that the message from the priest is a final encouragement before the army engages the enemy. It is a reminder to the army of the reality of God at work. But Moses lists it first in the chapter showing its thematic preeminence.
This is a principle that can carry over to us. God is with you, he is for you, no matter what you are going through in life. Israel was not to trust in their own ability, their own weaponry, the size of their army, or the wisdom of their officers. They were to trust in God’s power. From the moment they left Egypt 40 years prior, this was a principle they were to build their nation on: that God was with them and would fight for them. Humanly speaking, there was no way they should have won any of the battles they fought through the whole process. They were a nation of slaves, with no military training, no history, no experience, while the nations around them were much stronger and experienced. But Israel had God who has ultimate power. The whole point was that they should trust in him. We should trust God too. The principle is not saying that we can wage war whenever we want, and God will put his stamp of approval on it, if we just somehow trust in him. No. The principle in these first four verses is that we must trust in God and depend on God about anything difficult or scary that we are going through. But how do we do this? I regularly struggle with how a person actually places their trust in God. It has to be more than saying, “I trust God,” or believing it in our minds. What do we do with our bodies, our choices, our possessions, our time, our relationships, that show we trust in God? We’ll come back to this question at the end of the series.
Check back in to part 2, as we continue looking at what God says about Israel’s army.
Why did you chose to wear the clothing you have on today?
Clothing is often about form rather than function. We want to look good, look appropriate. But clothing is also about function. Do you wear a uniform for your job? Or perhaps your employer or hobby requires you to wear clothing that makes the job or hobby easier. Football players wear all kinds of gear. Same for soldiers or people who work outdoors, or underground, or people who need clothing to hold tools.
Today we are talking about getting dressed and ready! But while we are going to talk a lot about clothing, we are not actually talking about clothing. This is our final sermon in our Advent and Christmas series following the readings from the Lectionary. Each week, we’ve been seeking the thread that ties all four passages together. Turn to 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26, for our first reading.
We are going deep into the history of the nation of Israel, in a period when judges ruled their land. By this time the nation of Israel had taken possession of most of the Promised Land of Canaan, but they really struggled to consistently and deeply follow the way of the Lord, and as a result enemies would attack and persecute them. The people would cry out, repent of their evil ways and God would answer by sending them a judge who would lead them to victory over their enemies. Today we are going to read about the very last of these judges, a prophet named Samuel.
In this passage we read about a time when Samuel was just a boy, serving in the tabernacle, and he had a uniform. The text says that Samuel wore a linen ephod. An ephod is a Hebrew word that refers to a kind of decorative apron that was worn over a robe. The high priest of the land also wore an ephod, which held the breastplate made of metal and decorated with precious gems. But those serving in the tabernacle, like Samuel, would wear a much simpler linen version. Still, Samuel’s ephod showed the role he played, a helper in the temple.
But who was this Samuel guy, and why
in the world is a child away from his family and serving in the
tabernacle? If you turn back to 1 Samuel
1, you can read the story in which Hannah, Samuel’s mother, had no
children. She came to the tabernacle
pleading with God to allow her to have a child, and she said that if God would
give her a child, she would dedicate the child to serve the Lord. God gave her a child, and Hannah kept her
word, dedicating Samuel to the Lord.
As you keep reading the story, Hannah
is amazing. She made sure Samuel was dressed and ready to serve! Every year she visited him, bringing with her
a new robe that she had made for Samuel. Hannah followed through on the promise
she made to God.
The section concludes with a note explaining the Samuel grew in stature and in favor with the Lord and men. Keep that in mind.
That takes us to our next passage, Psalm 148. This psalm is pretty straightforward: over and over it says, “Praise the Lord!”
Did you notice any other repetition in the psalm? I’m not just talking about the word “praise him” over and over and over. I wondering if you noticed the structural repetition? There is a literary structure to the psalm, and the writer of the psalm crafted the structure very much on purpose.
Here is the structure.
A – verse 1a – Praise the Lord!
B – verses 1b-4 – List of things that should praise God: spiritual and physical heavens
C
– verses 5-6 – Reason to praise the name of God: act of creation and promise
B’
– verses 7-12 – List of things that should praise God: all things on the earth,
weather, land, animal and human.
C’
– verses 13-14a – Reason to praise the name of God: his name is exalted above
all, and he raised up a horn for his people.
A’ – verse 14 b – Praise the Lord!
How might a psalm like this, filled as it is with so much praise, relate to our theme of being dressed and ready? Perhaps the compiler of the Lectionary had Isaiah 61 in mind? I can’t say for sure, but there is an interesting possible connection.
Read Isaiah 61:1-2. Does that passage sound familiar at all? It is the very passage the Jesus read from when, very early in his ministry, he stopped in to the synagogue at his hometown of Nazareth and read to the people from the Old Testament. Luke in Luke chapter 4 records that Jesus read only the first few verses, proclaiming that these verses were fulfilled in him.
What he reads to them is a description of his mission: to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, to release prisoners from darkness, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s Favor. All that began when Jesus was born as a baby, which is what we are celebrating each Christmas! This mission of Jesus continues today as our mission. It is as though we are living in an extended year of the Lord’s favor, through the ongoing influence of the Spirit of God in our world, through the church. Look what God desires to accomplish through his Spirit-empowered church?
As you see, in verses 2-3 there is a reversal. God’s Kingdom is always about the great reversal. Thus sometimes it is called the upside-down Kingdom, because in God’s Kingdom there is comfort for those who mourn, provision for those who grieve. God gives a number of wonderful gifts to replace the darkness and pain of their lives: the crown of beauty replaces ashes, the oil of gladness replacing mourning, and then notice this last gift, the garment of praise that replaces the spirit of despair! There’s a connection between between praise and clothing.
God wants to clothe us with a garment
of praise! In the midst of our despair,
God wants to give us a new set of clothing, a garment of praise.
There is a great connection here, as well, to Hannah’s song praise in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. She was in the midst of great despair because of her lack of a child. God answered her prayer, and she bursts forth in praise to him. In the same way, at Christmas we burst forth in praise because we are celebrating how God entered into the darkness and pain and despair of our world, becoming one of us, Emmanuel, God with us, to save us and bring us hope.
Thus is right and good for us to praise God like Psalm 148 does. In fact Psalm 148 reminds us that every single thing praises God. What we find when we put on this garment of praise is that praising the Lord is transformative. It glorifies God when we praise him in the midst of difficulty. Just like Hannah did. That is what it means to wear a garment of praise.
This garment of praise brings us to our third reading, Luke 2:41-52. Does this story remind you of the passage in Samuel? Both boys serving the Lord in the tabernacle/temple?
There has been much scholarly discussion about this passage. In the first century Jewish world that Jesus grew up in, he would have gone to school like all children his age. But only the most capable students would study on beyond age 12. Those students identified with special gifts would then attend advanced rabbinical schools. Is that what we are reading about here? We just don’t know. I’ve read good arguments supporting the idea that Jesus went to an elite rabbinical school, and I’ve read good arguments against the idea. None of the Gospel writers mention anything about his life between this event and his baptism. It is regularly assumed that he just learned to be a carpenter, or mason, like his father Joseph. But the Gospels actually don’t say that either. We just don’t know.
What is quite clear, however, is that Jesus knew, even at the age of 12, his role in the mission of God.
Look at verses 46-47, for example. Do you see the verbs that describe Jesus? He was sitting, listening, asking. He was understanding and answering. Look at his response in verse 49. Many Bibles translate this passage as: “I had to be in my Father’s house.” Others translate Jesus as saying, “I had to be with my Father” or “I had to be about my Father’s business.” The point is, Jesus knew his mission! He was dressed and ready! Even at age 12. Those of you that are 11, 12, 13, or older teenagers, that means you can follow Jesus’ example at your age too! Of course we adults can as well.
Do you remember the final verse from the Samuel passage that I asked you to take note of above? 1 Samuel 2:26? The one that talked about Samuel growing in stature and in favor with God and man? Look at Luke 2:52! This is another excellent description of what we are talking about today. Young people, you are growing. In my home, we’ve had teenagers in our home for the past 8 years, and we have watched them shoot up, taller and taller. Just like Samuel’s mom, Hannah, visiting him every year to give him a new robe, our kids grow out of their clothes, and we buy them new ones. We want to keep them dressed and ready. But the description of Jesus and Samuel is more than just physical growth. They are growing in wisdom, and in favor with God and man. They were dressed and ready spiritually! Young people reading this, I especially want to ask you: as your body grows physically, how are you growing spiritually? Are you giving attention to your spiritual growth? You are old enough to read the Bible, think deeply about how God’s words apply to your life, and spend time talking with God or writing to him in a journal, seeking to change your life to honor him!
And that brings us to our final passage. Colossians 3:12-17. Throughout this last month, the Lectionary has taken us to a number of these short letters in the New Testament, almost all from the Apostle Paul to his friends in various churches. This letter is to the church in Colossae. Today, all that remains of Colossae, located in modern-day Turkey, is a hilltop that has yet to be excavated. In Paul’s day, though, there was a bustling city and Christians lived in it. So what did he say to them?
Look at verse 12. He tells them that because they are God’s chosen
people, they need to see themselves as holy and dearly loved! They have a special relationship with
God. This cannot be underestimated. It is so vital. You and I need to dwell on this. We are dearly loved. That is so evident at Christmas. God showed his love for us by giving us his
Son!
Paul then says that our relationship
with God means we should live a certain way, and look at the metaphor he uses:
Clothe yourselves! Be dressed and
ready! How are we to clothe
ourselves? We already saw that we are to
wear a garment of praise. But now Paul has a lot more clothing for us to
wear: Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Gentleness,
Patience.
Then he describes this clothing even
more precisely in verse 13, “Bear with each other, Forgive whatever grievances
you have, forgive as God forgave you!”
Are you dressed and ready? Are there any of these clothes that you need to put on?
Paul has more clothing for us in Verse
14, and this is the most important piece of clothing! “Above all [Put on] love, which binds all the
previous quality in unity.
Then in verse 15 he describes this
clothing even more: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since you are
called to members of one body, and be thankful.”
Paul is covering all he bases here. He has a whole closet full of clothing! Are you dressed and ready?
But there is still more: In verse 16 he says, “Let the Word dwell in
you richly, as you teach and admonish, as you sing, with gratitude.” So verse 15 finished with a mention of
thanks, and now verse 16 does too. Being
thankful must be an important piece of clothing!
Paul’s wardrobe continues in verse 17. He says, “Whatever you do, do it all in the
name of Jesus, giving thanks to God.”
Did you hear that? Thanks is
mentioned again. In 15 and 16 and
17!
God is seeking to clothe you with his
righteousness so that you are more prepared to serve him!
I recently heard the story of a woman
was clothed and ready to serve.
Candice Benbow couldn’t sleep. Music was blasting from the apartment next
door. Her neighbor would crank the music
often, but on this night it went really late because he was having a Christmas
party. At 3:30am she couldn’t take it
anymore. So you know what she did? Get on the phone and call the cops? Nope.
Go over there, bang on the door and yell at the neighbor? Nope.
The passive-aggressive move, maybe?
You know, just pound on the wall?
Nope.
Benbow got up and decided to bake a cake. A pound cake to be precise. And she brought it over to her neighbor, and
left it on his doorstep with a note.
Her neighbor, Tom Amaro, said that
Benbow’s apartment had been empty for a while, and he didn’t know anyone had
moved in.
Amaro got the pound cake, and soon
after the music died down. In each of
the next few nights, the music was also quieter, and then on the second day the
two neighbors met.
Benbow said that Amaro apologized for the noise, promised to invite Benbow to his next party, and then said her pound cake was amazing! Amaro later said that he was so grateful Benbow didn’t take action like calling the police. Since that time, the two have become friends. They each realized that they were new to the area, and that the holidays were tough because of the memories of lost loved ones.
Showing that she was dressed and ready
to serve, Benbow tweeted, “we never know what folks are going through and it is
always best to lead with kindness. When
we can extend grace, we really should.”
There is so much in this section of Colossians! Which part is God speaking to you about? Read it again slowly. Maybe read it every day this week. Is there a word or phrase that you feel God wants you to pay particular attention to, or work on in your life? Maybe his Spirit wants to transform you in that way in 2019. Because when you are dressed and ready, God will use you.
Today we’re going to meet shepherds. But as I studied these passages, what emerged was something surprising, something unexpected! During Advent, we have been following the readings in the Lectionary, and our first passage is Micah 5:2-5a. Micah gives us in verse 2 a prophecy of a future ruler who would come to rule over Israel. Can you figure out why this is a prophecy that is mentioned at Christmas almost every year?
Because of the reference to Bethlehem! That is the first part of the prophecy: notice that it actually says it is given to Bethlehem Ephrathah. Bethlehem was the town, and Ephrathah was the region. It says that Bethlehem was a small clan, and yet in the nation of Israel, it might be the second most famous city behind Jerusalem. Why?
Bethlehem was the birthplace of kings! Do you remember the first king who was born there? David, the greatest king of Israel. Now in this prophecy we are told that there was going to be another king born there.
So Israel was awaiting the arrival of the King. Why? Because, as Micah tells us in verse 3: Israel broke the covenant God had made with them, and they were abandoned by God. Israel could read this passage and you could see how they might not fully get the part about their sinfulness. The passage doesn’t say “Israel you broke my covenant, so I am abandoning you.” But there are plenty of other places in the prophets where God said to the people, “You disobeyed me. You broke our agreement.” We saw this in Jeremiah’s prophecy which we studied a few weeks ago. But here in Micah 3, it could seem like God is just randomly abandoning them, and so when this new king is born and rules the people again, that new king is going have the power of God and bring security and peace to the land. If you are living in Israel through all the many occupations by foreign powers, Micah 5:2-5 sounds really great. Right around the time of Jesus’ birth, you might be expecting a savior to be born who would lead Israel’s armies to fight the Romans, and kick them out of the land and bring peace.
But there is more to the story!
In verses 4-5 we learn that this new ruler, this new King from Bethlehem will shepherd his flock. It will be a wonderful peaceful time. This would have been a familiar image to the people of Israel because their great king David, the previous king born in Bethlehem, started his career as a shepherd. Then fast forward to Jesus’ birth, it was the lowly shepherds whom the angels of God visited to declare the amazing news that the new king had been born in Bethlehem.
So in Micah, we read the prophecy of a new Shepherd who was to come from Bethlehem. Now we turn to the second reading, Psalm 80:1-7, written by Asaph, and one we actually studied the last year, when we were studying psalms of lament.
Who do we meet in verse 1? The Shepherd of Israel! But this is an entirely different shepherd than the one promised in Micah. The psalmist is writing a song that a group of people would sing, and we see that they are singing to God. They say that God is a shepherd who leads Joseph like a flock. Joseph is one of the nation of Israel’s patriarchs. In fact, do you know who Joseph’s dad was? Israel (also known as Jacob), which is how the nation got its name. Thus the psalmist is using the word “Joseph” to refer to the whole nation of Israel.
Then the psalmist talks about the one who sits enthroned between the cherubim. That is another very Jewish image. The cherubim were angels that were crafted out of gold and placed on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. Remember the Ark of the Covenant? Not the big boat that Noah made. That Ark was essentially a small box that was kept in the tabernacle and later, the temple. I’m talking about the same Ark that is featured in the movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Do you remember what was kept inside the Ark? The stone tablets on which God wrote the Ten Commandments, some manna, which was the food God sent Israel from heaven, and finally the high priest Aaron’s staff which had budded with almond blossoms. And God’s presence would rest between the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant.
So while this psalm is referring to God as the Shepherd of his people, their situation is dire. Look at verses 2 and 3. Asaph is calling for help, salvation, and restoration. Things are bad. He uses the word “awake,” making it sound like God is asleep. That is very similar to the word “abandon” we heard in Micah. Israel knows that God is powerful, but for some reason he is not answering their call for help. What this call for help indicates is that they can’t do this alone. They need God.
In verses 2-7 then we have a nearly
identical theme to Micah: they are feeling God has abandoned them, and they are
crying out for restoration. There is a
deep longing in this psalm for God’s salvation.
Now we fast forward to the First Century AD, to our third passage, where are going to hear about the fulfillment of the prophecy of Micah and the answer to the prayer of Psalm 80. Turn to Luke 1:39-45, where we read a fascinating story.
It is a story of two women. Mary and Elizabeth. Relatives. Mary is from the northern part of Israel. She is a young girl from the tiny town of Nazareth. She is engaged to be married to a man named Joseph. But there is a problem. Mary became pregnant before she is married. We know that the baby growing inside her is a miracle baby, placed there by God. But no one in Mary’s town knows this. Only Joseph. So as Mary starts showing, it could get very uncomfortable for Mary and Joseph. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, her relative, who lives near Jerusalem in the south. We don’t know the specific relationship between the two ladies: aunt & niece, or maybe great aunt, etc. We just know Mary is young, Elizabeth is old. Both are pregnant with special children.
These babies are the two messengers! Do you remember the two messengers of Malachi 3? In that chapter we learned that one messenger would arrive and prepare the way for the second messenger, who was the Lord. These two babies had been predicted over 400 years before, and now they are about to be born. Read verses 39-45.
Isn’t that wild? The first messenger, the one who would prepare the way is John, which is Elizabeth’s baby. There he is in the womb, leaping at the sound of Mary’s voice, because Mary is the mother of the second messenger.
The story gets even wilder as we read that Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit, and in a loud voice said speaks this really cool poem.
In the poem, Elizabeth has blessings for Mary, for Mary’s child. She praises Mary for her belief in God, and she proclaims that Mary’s child will be her Lord! And in the middle of it all we read Elizabeth’s question: Why am I so favored? Elizabeth is marveling at how God has blessed her! Elizabeth is getting to see the fulfillment of prophecy and the answer to centuries of prayer come to pass right before her eyes. And she is mother to one of the babies, and her relative is mother to the Lord! Wow!
It is hard to put into words what a
wonderful scene this is!
After Elizabeth speaks, then Mary speaks. What we read next in verses 46-55 is Mary’s Song, sometimes called Mary’s Magnificat, which is the first word of the song in its Latin translation. In our English translations it is the word “glorify” or sometimes translated “magnify”. “Magnify the Lord, O my soul.”
Look how she describes the Lord, just
like the ruler and shepherd who will be the savior of the world. He is a just and merciful and good God. He scatters the proud, but he lifts up the
humble. He feeds the hungry, but sends
the rich away empty. He cares for those
who are oppressed and he is not impressed with those who the world
worships.
With this amazing vision of our savior God in our minds, turn to our fourth reading, Hebrews 10:5-10. Here we meet the one who was promised in Micah, the one prayed for in Psalm 80, and the one the Mary raised as a baby. But what we find is that this savior, this Jesus, is not at all what we thought
The passage starts in verses 5-7 with a quote from Psalm 40. Look at verse 5. Isn’t it interesting that God does not desire sacrifices? It sure seems like God desires tons of sacrifices when you read the OT Law. But Psalm 40 reminds us in verses 8-10 (here in Hebrews 10) that sacrifice is not sufficient. God actually wasn’t pleased by them. There was, however, one sacrifice that was sufficient. The shepherd who sacrifices himself for the sheep! Hebrews 10 doesn’t use the phrase, “the shepherd who sacrifices for his sheep,” but Jesus did. He said in John 10 that he was the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.
When Jesus came to us, even in the
form of a little baby, he was saying, “Here I am, I have come to do your will,
O God.”
It is like the writer of Hebrews is envisioning a conversation in heaven between Jesus and God the Father. God is saying, “My people have turned away from me, and all those sacrifices they do are empty and meaningless because their hearts are far from me. They are just going through religious rituals. But that is never what I wanted! I wanted to be in a real relationship with them, a loving relationship. But they are so easily tempted away by lesser things like false gods, destructive addictions, empty possessions, things that will never satisfy. What can change the human heart?”
I imagine heaven goes silent. And then Jesus raises his hand.
He exclaims, “I’ll do it!” and he could. He alone could do it. He alone could become a human, live a perfect life, show us the way of his Kingdom, call us to follow him, and then give his life as the ultimate sacrifice, once for all. Jesus willingly came and gave his life.
When Jesus made that sacrifice, the writer of Hebrews tells us in verse 9 that God honored that sacrifice, setting aside the first idea, which was all those sacrifices at the temple that we read about in the Old Testament. That sacrificial system was set aside, and God established a second new plan, that of Jesus being the once and for all sacrifice. And look what happened!
In verse 10 we read that we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all! When Jesus gave his life on the cross and then 3 days later rose again from the dead, he showed that his sacrifice was the one true sacrifice! He defeated sin, death and the Devil, and made a way for us to be holy like he is holy.
That is not at all what Micah or Psalm
80 expected. They wanted a military
ruler to defeat the Romans, and Jesus said, “Here I am, I have a much, much
better and bigger plan than that. I will
defeat sin, death and the Devil.” And
that is just what he did.
Now we can see clearly why Elizabeth
and Mary are praising God! Jesus is the
savior of the World. It was totally
unexpected. The Shepherd gave his life
for the sheep.
In the midst of the darkness of sin in our lives, we have hope.In the midst of our pain, no matter
what you are struggling with, we have hope.
We can choose to rejoice just like Mary and Elizabeth. On Christmas Eve we rejoice! And we can rejoice any day throughout the year, no matter what is going on because we have a Shepherd who cares for us, who gave his life for us. One of the ways our family has been trying to apply this principle is to be intentional about playing worship music, especially in those moments when life is hard. Instead of wallowing in the pain, getting bitter about it, we have been playing worship music to purposefully redirect our thoughts to the hope we have in our Good Shepherd who loves us and gave his life for us! How will you rejoice?
Editor’s Note: I’m playing catch-up with blogging Faith Church’s sermons. My doctoral coursework, a heavy load grading online classes I teach, and the holidays landed simultaneously these past few weeks! So before we jump back to the Deuteronomy series, I’ll survey the last few weeks of Advent, belatedly, of course.
On the Third Sunday of Advent 2018, Emerald Peters preached the Lectionary passages. The passages were: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Philippians 4:4-7; and Luke 3:7-18. Read the passages and see if you can discover a theme!
Emerald started her sermon with a Pop Quiz! One question, multiple choice. There are many statistics that say this time of year has some of the highest rates of:
Happiness
Warm fuzzy feelings
Suicide and depression
Pleasant family interaction
What’s your answer? Then read the Scripture passages to learn how the Scripture passages on the Third Sunday of Advent address this!
In this series on the Lectionary readings for the Second Sunday of Advent, we have been following the life and ministry of John the Baptist and the message God was proclaiming through John: a huge roadwork project. What is that project? God wants us to repent, so that he might bring righteousness on the world. And that brings us to the fourth reading, Philippians 1:3-11, which explains what this means for us.
There we read Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, a writing which would have been 25 years or so after the events of John the Baptist’s ministry.
Very much like the church we heard about last week, in the city of Thessalonica, Paul had started a church in the city of Philippi, which like Thessalonica, is in modern-day Greece. But unlike modern-day Thessaloniki, which is a bustling city, Philippi is now just an archaeological site. In Paul’s day, it was another important city, however, not far down the road from Thessalonica. You can read about Paul’s visit there in Acts 16.
We learn in his prayer in Philippians 1 that Paul had great affection for his friends there. Take a look at Verses 3-5 and 7-8, and there we see Paul’s thankful and joyful prayer because of their partnership in the gospel. In verse 6 he expresses his confidence that God, who began good work in them, will carry it to completion. Sfter that encouragement, he concludes with some teaching and goals for them in verses 9-11. It is a prayer for four things:
First, that their love may abound more and more in depth of knowledge.
Second, that they would be able to discern what is best.
Third, that they would be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.
Fourth, that they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ.
The anchoring phrase of these verses is that first phrase of Paul’s prayer: that their love may abound more and more in depth of knowledge. In the language Paul originally wrote this in, ancient Greek, this is a very vivid phrase. It carries the idea of an overflow of love that just keeps growing beyond what can be contained. What happens in that extremely loving atmosphere of a church family is that they will be able to discern what is best, and they will be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, which is the day of the second coming of Jesus. This is a love that knows no bounds, and a love that is getting to know one another more and more.
Paul is once again, like he was last week with the Thessalonian church, looking forward to second coming of Jesus, now teaching the Philippian Christians how to act in preparation for that day. They are to love one another with a growing, overflowing love, that is marked by knowing one another more and more.
That raises an interesting question: Is it possible to love someone who you barely know? You may be aware of them, but it cannot be said that you love them. Love requires knowledge. And knowledge boosts love. When they love like that, growing in their depth of knowledge for one another, Paul says, there will be residual blessings. They will be able to discern what is best, and they will be pure and blameless as they wait for Jesus to return. Love for one another ,then, is foundational for a church family.
Finally, take notice of last phrase of Paul’s prayer: “that they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ.” This is the word that ties all our passages together: righteousness.
Paul wants the people to be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus. From Malachi’s prophecy of the two messengers we learned about God’s desire for his people to be righteous. Then from Zechariah’s psalm in Luke 1, we heard Zechariah, the father of the first messenger, talk about God’s plan for rescuing his people so that we could serve him in righteousness all our days. Next we looked at the ministry of Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist, who fulfilled the role of the first messenger, calling people to repentance and lives of righteousness. Now we conclude with Paul teaching the people how this righteousness flows from Jesus. Paul will teach in many passages that we do not have a righteousness of our own, but instead we can only accept the gracious gift of Jesus giving his righteousness to us, at one point describing it like putting on the clothing of righteousness.
After we take on Jesus’ righteousness, waiting for Jesus to return, we are called to lives of love, demonstrating the righteousness that Jesus came to give to us. That is the amazing gift of Malachi’s second messenger, who is God himself, that he wants to cleanse us of our unrighteousness and give us his!
What is this righteousness? I mentioned that it is very much connected to the idea of justice, of making things right, flowing from a heart of love.
As we wait, then, for Jesus to return, we are to be a people so filled with love, abounding with love, that we work to make things right in our lives, in our relationships, and in the world around us. That is the fruit of righteousness. That is how we live and work and prepare for Jesus to return. That is the work of clearing the debris, making straight the crooked paths, smoothing the hills and filling the valleys. By loving one another with so much abundance, we are bringing justice and righteousness to the world.
To this concept of justice, I think of the recent report given at our local ministerium about homelessness in our school district, Conestoga Valley. It is rampant. CV has more homeless students in our school district than any other in the county except for the school district of Lancaster. This is why we support CVCCS and the Ministerium and Homes of Hope. I encourage you to consider what role you can play, especially at Christmas, no matter where you live. Get to know your community. Can you find any evidence of injustice?
Addressing injustice in our communities is just one example of how we can bring justice and righteousness and prepare the way for the return of the King. Think about that return of the King. What will he see when he arrives? Just like the dignitaries that visit Jamaica, will Jesus find a road with potholes and debris, or will he find a road that is paved and cared for? I’m not talking about actual roads, in case you were wondering! I’m talking first and foremost about his church, but also all people, society, and culture. Will Jesus find broken relationships, people stuck in addictions, ravaged by injustice? Will he see his church striving to love and to bring righteousness to the world?
Road construction, as we said in part 1 of this series on the Lectionary readings for the Second Sunday of Advent, is usually a nuisance. Today we learn that God wants to do a major road construction project. Will it be a nuisance? Do we need it? Let’s move to the third reading, Luke 3:1-6, and find out. Who do we meet there? Zechariah’s son, John, now an adult. Remember Zechariah the priest from the second reading? Review his story here. He had a son, John, and now that son is grown up, and we find out that his son is quite a character. Let’s take a look at how John fits with the readings so far this week.
We start with verses 1-3 which is simply a historical placement of John’s ministry in the First Century Roman Empire, and we read in verse 2 a familiar phrase, “the word of God came to John.” That phrase is used frequently in the Old Testament describing the prophetic ministry of many people whom God spoke through. Luke is clearly saying that this John, the son of Zechariah, was a prophet. He tells us that John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, exactly like his dad, Zechariah, in his psalm Luke 1 which we studied in part 3, said John would.
Luke goes on in verses 4-6 quoting one of those Old Testament prophets, Isaiah 40:3-5, showing John as fulfillment of the prophetic words in Isaiah 40. We’ve already seen how John was the first messenger prophesied in Malachi 3, and now we hear a bit more about the first messenger’s prophetic task.
Remember how the first messenger prepares the way for the second messenger? In Isaiah 40, that ministry of preparing the way is illustrated with amazing images. It is a massive earth-moving project used to depict personal repentance.
Look at the images in Luke 3:4-5: “Make straight paths, Valleys filled in, Mountains and hills made low, Crooked roads straightened, Rough ways smoothed.” That is some serious demolition work done by this first messenger. But that’s what you do to prepare the way for the king. You don’t want the king’s vehicle to be driving down a road with potholes and crazy curves and dangerous debris.
When we lived in Jamaica, we experienced some of the roughest roads ever. But what was interesting was that the road from the airport into the city was really nice. They took care of that road. They wanted visiting dignitaries to think that Jamaica had nice roads.
How does this relate to people? The first messenger wasn’t a road construction worker with dynamite and a jack hammer, a paver and roller. Nope, John preached to people a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The messenger’s ministry was one of helping people smooth out the rough patches of their lives. He encouraged them to get ready spiritually for the coming of the king. That is what the Season of Advent in all about. And that is what the first messenger was doing to help people get ready for the arrival of the second messenger, the Lord.
Why? As we read in Luke 3:6, so that all mankind will see God’s salvation. God wants all people to repent and come to him and be saved. It doesn’t mean that all will. It is still a free choice. But God is saying that he desires all to repent. What that means is our theme continues. Though the word isn’t used,God wants all people to experience righteousness.
In part 5 of the series, we’ll look at our fourth and final reading, examining how the theme of repentance and righteousness matters to our lives and our world.
Normally, our second reading from the Lectionary is from the collection of Psalms in the Old Testament. But for this second Sunday of Advent, the Lectionary takes us to the New Testament, to Luke 1:68-79, and guess what we find there? A Psalm! A New Testament Psalm. And one that I think you’ll find is very prophetic.
We read that this psalm was given by Zechariah the priest who ministered in Jerusalem in the very early part of the first century AD. More than 400 years had gone by since Malachi wrote our first reading, and life had changed once again for the people of Israel. The Persians in Malachi’s day were defeated by the Greeks, and then the Romans conquered the Greeks. The Romans did massive building projects, including a huge new temple in Jerusalem. And that is where Zechariah ministered.
In Luke 1, we find out that Zechariah had a problem. He couldn’t talk. He was made mute by God as we read in verses 19-20. He was silent for nine months! Nine months…what happens in nine months? Babies are born. There was a pregnancy. Who’s pregnancy? It was his wife, Elizabeth, who was pregnant. She and Zechariah were old, and thought they were past child-bearing age, but God came to Zechariah in a vision and said they were going to have a baby, and get this, God said their baby was going to be the first messenger God promised in Malachi 3! Zechariah was an upright man, Luke tells us, but he was blown away by this news. He and his wife were old, so he questioned God, “How can this be?” At that moment of Zechariah’s disbelief, his mouth was closed by God.
After nine months of silence, what are the first words out of his mouth? As we read in verse 64, his first words are praise to God. No anger at such a longtime. No bitterness. But praise! Filled with the Holy Spirit, here is what Zechariah said.
First in verses 68-75 he is rehashing the covenant promise God made to David, about God freeing Israel from their enemies. He uses the Old Testament phrase, “a horn of salvation” which indicates strength, like the strong horn of an animal. Then he prays, “enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” There’s that word again, righteousness. Zechariah is praising God that his prophecies are being fulfilled right before his eyes.
Where the prevailing idea of the people was that the way God would fulfill his prophecies was to boot the Romans from their land and turn Israel into a regional superpower again, like it was in the days of Solomon, Zechariah understood that God had a much bigger vision that than, and it had to do with righteousness.
Zechariah continues this flow of thought in verses 76-79 which are a commentary about his son John as the fulfillment of the first messenger of Malachi 3. He says his son, John, is the first messenger who will prepare the way for the second messenger, and here again we read about the big plans God has!
What are God’s plans? Zechariah says the plans are to give people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of God. What great news!
He then uses imagery of the skies when he says, “By which the rising sun will come from heaven, to shine on those living in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
So in the first two readings we have heard the prophecy of the two messengers, how it will be a new covenant based on righteousness, and we have seen that Zechariah believed his new baby son John was the first messenger.
In part 4 we’ll move to the third reading, and I think you’ll see very quickly how it connects to the first two.
Engaging Scripture 