Tag: learn

Clear the Earth

Exodus 10:3–15; Joel 1:2–4; Mark 1:4–8

We read the Little House on the Prairie series to our kids. Ingalls relates how locusts one annihilated their crops. A family that barely lived on a shoestring certainly couldn’t afford that loss. That same swarm swept much of the United States, causing horrendous loss of crops and farms.

When we read the story of the plague of locusts in Exodus, we can be very clinical in our reading of it. We can also be judgmental (they got what they deserved). Most of the Egyptians were probably not as anti-Hebrew as the leadership, certainly Pharaoh. Many innocent people suffered as a result of disobedience to God.

The story of the plagues was a story of victory to the Israelites for Generations. Even today, for both Jews and Christians, this story is still told as a victory for the glory of God.

We must remember, though, that one of the biggest issues for the pharaoh (and the Egyptians) was pride. Pharaoh’s pride (with and without God’s hardening) was a key factor of the whole story. It was a person’s pride against God.

By the time of Joel, the pride of Israel/Judah was the issue. It was their pride against God. Like other prophets, Joel was warning the descendants of Israel to turn to God. In Christian parlance, we’d say “REPENT!”

The devastation of locusts would directly affect any harvest festivals and worship. It threatens the lives of the people. It might well drive them to go outside of the lands of Israel to survive. It threatened the destruction of Israel by abandonment.

Through advanced agricultural science (and serendipity, supposedly), locust swarms like that from the late 1800s are no more in the US. It seems, then, that it is pointless to talk about locusts. Except that there are two major things to reflect upon.

The first thing is that the locusts are no longer six-legged creatures, but two-legged. Some are blatant despoilers of Creation. Others take advantage of others through perceived needs (politics and corporations both practice this). The locusts of being like the Jones (or, I guess, the Kardashians) despoil families and futures by over-consuming the money, time, and energy of people.

The second thing, and that which is, even more, the issue, is pride. Humans are full of pride. We are all too full of pride. Often the locusts are just the result of human pride, seeking to consume everything at others’ expense.

Often, we are unaware of our own pride and so sometimes become the locusts. We are quick to see such behavior in others; we always find it difficult to see in ourselves. As our culture (and the world’s) becomes more of a “throw-away” society, whether for convenience or the ability to reasonably fix something, the locust-effect increases in both potential and actual.

As convenience and throw-away become a way of thinking, it doesn’t take that long before we start to think that way about people or God.

※Questions※

1) How does pride “clear the earth” similar to locust swarms?

2) How does this behavior damage or hinder our relationship with God and with others?

3) How does John’s eating locusts give us an image of God’s actions in the world?

※Prayer※

Creator, you have created all things. Help us to look at all things to learn more deeply about you and your love. Amen.

2020-11-08
Path Lighting

Joshua 4:1–7; Joshua 8:30–35; Proverbs 27:17

What do you remember? What “traditions” or practices do you remember from your childhood? What did that teach you?

Over the years, the church universal developed many practices to teach the faith to its people. It often had a hard journey, as it had to teach people from varying walks of life to be one with each other. It often had to surmount the lack of general education for centuries.

Many of these practices are no longer used. Many have lost the intent, and even the instruction that went with them. They became empty words. Valuable Truth was lost because people failed to teach well.

As we each go to church, whether online or in person, or whether we only listen to sermons or we add life groups, we each have a responsibility to learn and to teach. Often, we look to experts to train us. However, the experts are, well, experts. Experts often get lost in their expertise and then they can no longer translate their expertise to the non-expert.

In many respects, from a personal perspective, that may be part of the current state of the church. Perhaps we have left too much to the experts and not sharpened ourselves.

Of course, there is danger in such freedom. There is a balance of some sort between expert and non. We may well be in a place and time where we need to discover together what that balance is.

The passages from Joshua are just 2 passages where something was done to teach. The first was the pile of stones from the middle of the Jordan river. Yes, 12 stones pulled from the bottom of spring flood raging river. This pile of stones became a physical place of teaching.

“Look at that river! God made it so our ancestors could cross it on dry land.” Imagine a young child overcome with the vision of the waters being told the story of the stones while seeing that river. That would certainly be formative. This is the kind of thing ideal in the informal settings of Life Groups.

The second passage is Joshua repeating the Law that they had been given. It was a reminder of who they were. The Law wasn’t just rules and regulations, it was their identity. In many respects, this is the more formal aspect of preaching and Sunday School.

The question that we each need to ask ourselves: is our faith important enough to us to learn?

2020-11-05
Cast Off

Matthew 23:13-15; Acts 15:1–22; Colossians 2:4–13

There is no question about Jesus’ attitude toward the scribes and the Pharisees in this verse. It seems pretty straightforward. What if it isn’t? What if Jesus was instead using their language in a way so as to make a point?

The Pharisees, with their belief in the afterlife, would certainly not want to be headed for Hell. They intended to go to Heaven. Jesus told them that while they think they are the bouncers for God, they’re not getting in either. There was probably some dismay there.

Jesus piled on with the various traditions (versus Biblical law) that the Pharisees and the scribes held everyone accountable for. Frankly, it was unbearable. That was Jesus’ point. They held onto traditions that made their lives Hell on earth. Jesus made it clear that it also prevented them from Heaven.

Jesus knew their hearts were stubborn. His greater concern was not them, but all those they dragged along with them. The concern for people who were now burdened with more than their hearts could bear. What if they decided they would rather be Hell-bound than bound with all the rules and traditions that made the life they were living hellish?

Sounds extreme, but this was exactly Peter’s point to the elders of the Jerusalem church. They and their ancestors could not withstand the misery. The people that were being drawn to the freedom and grace of Jesus Christ were being threatened with rules and traditions! Most of them the same that they (of Jewish descent) wanted to be freed from, and who believed that Jesus had done so!

Paul often had to deal with the Judaizers who kept trying to bring Jewish customs into the Christian community and imposing them on Gentiles. It made Paul quite angry at times.

You may have run across Christians who try to follow some of the Jewish law (particularly the dietary ones). They were free of the Law before they were born yet seek to be bound by laws that were not theirs to bear.

This is also something we need to be careful of ourselves. One of the big lessons of many missionaries was trying to impose Western thinking on non-Westerners. Western thinking got tied into the message of Jesus Christ, often putting burdens (things we would think of as burdens) on people that the Scriptures did not call them to bear.

The church in the Western world is fading. Ultimately, it must rediscover what it means to evangelize and be missional. Of course, the biggest group to which we must be missional are the people we are already comfortable with. We do not look at them with missionary eyes. We are too close. Even more than the Jews had to cast of their traditions, we may have to cast off much of what “makes” us Westerners so that we can be the messengers of salvation to our neighbors.

※Questions※

1) What might be your cultural blind spots that weaken your ability to evangelize?

2) How does our Western culture act in ways similar to the Jewish laws of old?

※Prayer※

Lord, soften our hearts and open our minds. May we feel your love for others and learn to set aside ourselves for the sake of others’ salvation. Amen.

2020-10-30
You|Me and Us

Matthew 18:15–20; Luke 5:23–32

There is nobody beyond God’s redemptive reach. No one. No matter what a person has done or how “unclean” they may be, God is still there waiting.

Tax collectors were not well appreciated. We generally are scornful of the IRS. The tax collectors of the age of Jesus were despised in general. Any Gentile was supposed to be sidelined from a Jewish perspective. The gentile tax collector even more so.

From a cultural, political, power, and wealth standpoint, the Gentile tax collector represented everything the Jewish people feared and hated. The Jewish tax collector, such as Levi (in the reading from Luke), wasn’t much better. Their only redemptive feature was that they were Jewish.

God’s grace extends far beyond our ability to comprehend. This is a good thing, as we are often too petty and malicious to redeem others.

However, Jesus’ words also bring something else to the fore, discipline. The US modern church, as a whole, avoids the concept of church discipline. There are a number of reasons, some of them cultural, some of them missiological, some of them evangelical, some of them just a general lack of training and understanding.

Church discipline requires a balance of individual and community. In white US populations, that is rather difficult. Whites, by and large, idealize individuality. In other US populations, community has a much greater strength and pull.

In most white populations, church discipline as a community is difficult, as the individual will often “go their own way”, severing their ties with the community. On the other hand, in non-white and isolated white communities, the community can be destructive to the individual.

For the church to be the church, we will have to work together to find the balance between individual and community. As the church finds its way in a world that wants to push it aside even more, the church needs to learn and embrace the community and the individual, including the roles and responsibilities of each.

※Questions※

1) What value do you find in being part of a community? What value do you find in being an individual?

2) What are ways you can think of that would allow and encourage people to be part of community and still respect individuality?

3) What do you think God’s perspective on community and individuality is?

※Prayer※

God, you have made us similar to each other…yet different. Help us to embrace what makes us different and embrace what makes us the same. Amen.

2020-10-24
Monuments to What

Ecclesiastes 1:10–11; Matthew 23:25–32; Luke 11:47–54; Acts 7:44–58

You have probably heard George Santayana’s famous quip, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Perhaps the writer of Ecclesiastes phrased it differently. The reality is that human behavior (especially, selfishness, greed, and hatred) has a tendency to repeat itself.

Jewish history is full of faithful followers of God being mistreated by their blood relatives. Whether it being cast into cisterns, having to hide in caves, being openly killed, it happened. We have the words and/or lives of some of these followers in Scripture.

Based on the general summary of the Old Testament, it is highly likely that there were many, many more that we don’t know about. The people of God were often more the people of the Enemy. Even with Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, it still seems to be the case.

I have read this passage in Luke many times, contemplating it. The harsh truth was that the Jews decorated and maintained the tombs of the people their ancestors had killed. Instead of feeling shame for what their ancestors had done, they applauded themselves for taking care of the tombs. They celebrated that they cared for the tombs of those their blood had murdered as if it was the honor of the dead to be cared for by them.

This comes to mind as there is a reckoning happening in the US. Statues of famous people are being removed. Buildings named “in honor of” famous people are being renamed. Even a whole university was renamed.

These famous people brought light and/or heroics in US history. All of them had parts that most of us today cannot support. They were, without a doubt, the product of their times. Even celebrated religious leaders in various denominations, including our own, had preferences or opinions that we would not today celebrate or endorse.

I was raised in a “Northern” household and a “Southern” household. Needless to say, the Southern household had a lot to say about the “War Between the States” (i.e., the Civil War). Not all of it was accurate, as I would learn. On the other hand, some of the behavior of the “heroes” was equally abhorrent as the defense of slavery, as I also learned.

All were products of their time. They did what they thought was right or did wrong to uphold a “higher” purpose. Sherman’s destructive march through the South comes to mind. Sherman was a military man. He was there to win the war. That was the higher purpose. Later, he was a leader during the Indian Wars (a horrific wiping out of First Nations peoples). This, despite being named after a famous First Nations chief.

The church too, as a whole, has similar shades of darkness in it. As the nation wrestles with its future, it also wrestles with its past. The church has much of the same work to do.

For the church to be what it called by God to be—a light unto the darkness—its people need to be diligent in cleansing, repenting and reconciling its past and current wrongs so that it can be the spreader of hope for a world that desperately needs it.

※Question※

What people and issues come to mind in this? What will/can you do to be Christ’s light in the darkness?

※Prayer※

Father of justice and mercy, be kind and merciful to us as we learn what justice really means, and how to apply it to our lives. Amen.

2020-10-14
Graveside Dancing

Psalm 30; Hosea 13:4–14

Yesterday was the birthday of my stepfather. He passed away years ago. For whatever reason, this year his birthday hit me kind of hard. He and I had our good moments. We had our bad moments. Just like any parent-child relationship. I was his only child.

At his burial, the priest spoke about his baptism sealing him to Jesus Christ. This was spoken pastorally to people grieving. However, scripturally it has some weaknesses. His life, and to my knowledge, and beliefs were not of Jesus Christ.

On his death bed, my wife shared the Good News of Jesus Christ. He was in a “non-responsive” state. Yet, she felt a physical response to the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior. Only in Heaven will I learn if the baptism was “sealing” as the priest said, or whether the physical response truly was an acceptance of Jesus. I can only hope and trust in God.

Why share the angst? “I cried to you for help, and you healed me.” In our pain and sorrow, God is there to “turn [our] lament in dancing”. Joy in Christ in the midst of the pains of life is the life we are called to.

In lament and pain, it is easy for our faith in God to be shaken, while at the same time relying more firmly on God will help us through the pain.

There are many kinds of loss. The verses of Hosea summarize loss. The people lost (walked away from) God. They had experienced blessing, then they lost it. The vision of loss sounds brutal. Think of it though from God’s anguished heart.

“…like a bear robbed of her cubs.” Have you seen a momma bear (or many human mothers) separated from their children, with the feeling that the kids are threatened? I’ve seen a recorded version of one and lived the other. Don’t be the one that separates momma from the cubs. Just don’t.

THAT’S GOD! Something is between momma (God) and the cubs (the children of God)! That is just not going to go well! It could be a kingdom that has the name Israel or Judah attached to it.

THAT is the concept of ransom and redemption. Death and Sheol are not going to be forgiven for taking away the Children of God. The exact mechanism (despite a whole lot of theologians arguing over it for centuries) is unknown. All we know is that heart of God wants to turn our lament into dancing and our sorrow into joy.

※Questions※

1) What’s do you think about dancing at the death of death?

2) As Christians, why does death still frighten us? If we truly believe that a fellow Christian is in Heaven, why do we grieve?

3) “Deathbed Conversions” will continue to decrease, as too many don’t know the basics of Jesus. How will you turn regular conversations into God conversations?

※Prayer※

Father, thank you for redeeming us from death through the death and resurrection of your Son. May the Holy Spirit guide our hearts to speak the words of Christ to the world. Amen.

2020-10-03
A Time To Sin

Job 1:9–22; Ecclesiastes 3:1–11; Ezekiel 18:5–18

You are probably familiar with Pete Seeger’s Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season). Written in the late 50s, it was commercially via The Byrds in 1965. It takes Ecclesiastes verses 3:1–8 and puts them to music.

Pete Seeger’s intent behind the song was to promote world peace. That’s a very laudable goal. The irony of that goal is that the lyrics are almost a fatalistic response to the fallen and unpeaceful ways of the world.

There are a lot of things not specifically mentioned as having time for. Certainly, singing and learning were part of life at that point, but they aren’t specifically mentioned (though singing could be inferred with dancing). The internet and driving weren’t mentioned specifically (of course) but would be covered under “everything”.

The “everything” is a pretty big catch-all. Does that mean, then, that there is a time to sin?

That might seem to be a stupid question, yet, depending on one’s view of God, it isn’t stupid at all. The answer to that question may very well display what you think about God in several significant ways (though we won’t get them all).

When you read the story of Job (whether allegorical or true) how do you “read” the conversation between Satan and God? Is God allowing or directing?

Based on the end of this section of verses, Job did not assign wrongdoing to God (blame), and as such, did not sin. Then should we conclude that God allowed this to happen?

For many, leaving it as “a mystery” is fine, except for the problem of blame. If God wills/desires it, and if God is omnipotent, then how can God be loving and full of grace and mercy. The rejoinder often is, we can’t know the mind of God. This is true, in so far as finite creatures (us) trying to fully understand the infinite (God).

Yet, the Scriptures (given by God) also provide us insights into who God is, so the conclusions we draw from the Scriptures also deeply affect how we view and relate to God.

Is this that important? Yes. When you sin, is it you sinning by your will, or is God willing you to do something then assigning the sin to you? That is the choice laid before us.

Ezekiel’s words reinforce one answer. Your sin is a result of your will (or weakness in the face of temptation).

What is also part of this is that your sin cannot be laid at another’s feet (God’s or human’s). It is yours. Own it. Yes, own your sin.

This is not go and sin again. It is own your sin so as to repent and restore right relationship with God.

“‘…For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death.’ This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. ‘So repent and live!’” (Ezekiel 18:32)

※Questions※

1) Repent is based on the root of “turn from” or “turn around”. What do you need to repent from? If you cannot think of a “sin” (or even if you can), what is something else that you might need to turn from to improve or deepen your relationship with God?

2) How do you define sin? How do you know/learn if something new (such as a behavior) is a sin, or not?

3) What your current or past Job moments? How do/did they affect your relationship with God?

※Prayer※

Heavenly Father, as we read your word, we learn about you. Help us to be stirred to read your word that we continue to grow in our knowledge of and relationship with you. Amen.

2020-09-24
Say Grace

Matthew 5:20; Matthew 19:23–26; Romans 5:20–21

As schools have begun, for high school junior and seniors this is when many start thinking about the next step…college, and if that is even for them. Colleges begin their paper and email storm of recruitment. Excitement builds as it seems everyone wants them.

There are colleges that don’t recruit. They expect interested students to pursue them (the college). This is where dreams may be shattered.

Students begin to learn that perfect GPAs are not everything. They learn that money is hugely important, but still not everything. They learn that extracurricular activities only go so far.

For many who want to go to the “best” schools, they learn that they (as near as they could tell) had done everything to get in to the college of their dreams, and it still wasn’t enough.

Jesus’ words have pretty much the same impact. There is nothing you can do to earn you way into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus’ quip about exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees and the scribes would have been depressing (if not horrifying) to his hearers. To their understanding the Pharisees and the scribes were the most righteous of all. “If they can’t do it, how could I?”

Jesus’ statement about the rich not making it in was incomprehensible, too! The rich were those blessed by God, it was thought (a false theology still alive today). If those who were so blessed by God couldn’t make it in, how could they?

The larger understanding, which Jesus was undermining, was that entrance into the Kingdom of God was transactional. You paid enough and/or you followed the rules enough, that you made it in. Many Christians today still struggle with this thinking.

Granted, in a very limited way, there is a transaction: accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It is that simple. Yes, it is profoundly deeper. It’s still simple.

Paul emphasis on grace is an attempt to wipe away the human tendency to strive for goals of completion. By focusing on grace, Paul was trying to condition people to accept the freeing gift of God.

It’s also this answer of grace that explains Jesus’ challenges. No one can earn their way into Heaven—into the Kingdom of God—it is an act of God’s grace.

※Questions※

1) What is grace? Why does grace matter to you and your salvation?

2) How do you explain grace to someone who thinks they have to earn their way into Heaven?

3) Do you struggle or know someone else who struggles with thinking they have to “earn” their way into Heaven? How did that thinking develop, do you think?

※Prayer※

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the grace that you have shown to us. May we also show grace to others, especially your grace. Amen.

2020-09-20
Prayer Filled

Psalm 19; Matthew 6:7–15; Romans 8:18–27

We decided to get “weight management” dog food for our dog. She is a little overweight. Strangely (and this should have been a big clue), she got a greater volume of food with the “diet” food than with her normal food. Instead of a cup-and-a-half per meal, she got 2 cups per meal.

Anyone who understands basic physiology would understand that the more food one eats, the stomach “learns” and expands. Our dog has become accustomed to the larger amount of food and had made it quite clear that she is hungrier than she used to be. Not a real help for losing weight.

It is, however, why the “diet” food requires more volume than the regular food that is of importance…filler. The manufacturer puts more “filler” into the food, so that the dog is “deceived” into thinking they’re getting enough food. At least in our dog’s case, that trick doesn’t seem to work.

Often, we fill our prayers to God with filler. We deceive ourselves that the amount of words mean that we are praying better. Sometimes, it’s with the standard speaking filler words such as: uh, um, like, okay, and. Other times it’s filled with: Father, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father God.

It seems strange to consider God’s names as filler. If we were to speak to people in front of us using their name in every sentence, it would get awkward quickly. When it comes to prayer, specifically public prayer, filler has become the norm.

The prayer filler, in this case, isn’t automatically bad. It does indicate, however, that we may need to re-learn lessons from the Scriptures.

The Psalms are short and long. The longest, Psalm 119, is a poem using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet as a starting point. Don’t use that as your determiner of prayer length. Psalm 19 isn’t really a prayer yet verses 12–14 summarize what a prayer could contain. It has breadth. It also has limits.

The words, in many respects, are less important than “the meditation of the heart.” The groanings of our innermost being (Romans 8:26) gets to God. We don’t need to use lots of words, for the Holy Spirit is with us.

However, often this becomes, spew it out, let God sort it out. When it comes to the “groanings”, we seem to operate this way, but Paul’s groanings were wordless (or there are no words to say it), not lots of words.

Perhaps the greatest gift of the Lord’s Prayer is organization. We have a pattern. As we publicly or privately pray, let’s look to the Lord’s Prayer as our map. The Lord’s Prayer is simple. It is deep and profound. Yet, it is simple. Jesus’ preamble about the many words Gentiles use gives us some boundaries for our prayers. We get what to pray for and how not to pray.

※Questions※

1) In keeping with “the meditation of the heart”, what is the state of your heart when you pray?

2) Do you organize your prayers and petitions, or do you just speak? What is the difference between rote and organized prayer?

3) Is silent prayer ineffective? Why do we seem to judge the worth of our prayers by the number of the words we speak, rather than by the heart with which we speak?

※Prayer※

Holy Spirit, guide the meditations of hearts and the words from our mouths to be holy and sanctified prayers that bring you, the Holy Trinity, glory and honor. Amen.

2020-09-12
Crossing the Line

2 Chronicles 7:12–22; 2 Kings 21:1–17; 2 Corinthians 4:7–17

A great tragedy occurs every day, babies and children are abandoned. In all grace and truth, many of the parents are truly afraid of the responsibility and their inability to fulfill it. Some of these are abandoned at hospitals in the same way as babies used to be left at the doors of orphanages.

If you are a parent, you probably can only imagine the heartache and life circumstances that a parent could ever abandon their child.

Society is at a point where adult children are remaining in their parents’ home longer, whether it is due to jobs, education, lack of opportunity, or lack of romance. The attitude of people is changing as this is becoming too common for it to be solely an individual issue. Parents are looking at their children, wanting the best, but not desiring to abandon them to the world.

No matter how much a parent loves their child (or children) however, there can be limits to a peaceful home. There are always rules and boundaries. At some point, violating the rules and crossing the boundaries becomes too much.

Think of God. His children (of Israel) had abandoned God by actions and by heart. They willingly walked away from their “parent”. They knowingly and willingly violated the rules and crossed boundaries that God had set in place to protect them.

From Moses’ speech in Deuteronomy to God’s admonition to Solomon, God was quite clear that there were consequences. In the admonition to Manasseh, we get the feeling though…abandonment. In the CSB version, “I will abandon the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies.”

Yes, God was angry. Yet, abandon is not a small word. It is also not as if God was going to leave them there. However, for a time, it would be as if God were not with them.

Would God’s heart be breaking? Yes. Would the Israelites be in misery? Yes. Would the Israelites learn from this? Yes. Did the lessons stay with them? Not so much. The lessons, however, remain with us.

The Great Commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; love your neighbor as yourself.

This is the boundary that we must not cross, for wouldn’t we want people to love us, too?

※Prayer※

Jesus, let your light of love shine in us so that we may shine your light into the darkness. Amen.

2020-08-23