Tag: righteous

Red or White?

Genesis 18:16–33; Jeremiah 5:1–9; Romans 3:5–24

God hates me. God would/could never love me. God doesn’t care about me. No one can measure up to that standard.

Any of those sound familiar?

When we read stories such as Sodom and Gomorrah it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of destruction. Yet, there in the story there something important to read.

Abraham’s questions about the 50, 45,40, 30, 20, 10 and the response to the question gives us some insight. From all appearances, there was one righteous man…Lot. Even Lot’s “righteousness” might have more to do with Abraham’s and not Lot’s (see Genesis 19:29).

From our human perspective, what happened seems out of proportion. The ways of Sodom and Gomorrah were obviously long wrong. God did not do this on a whim. Yet, in the middle of all the wrong, 10 righteous people would have prevented disaster.

As the end of the glory of Judah approached, there, too, was an opportunity to change everything. All it would have taken is one righteous person. As the Scriptures show, however, that was not to be.

What does this say about us? Paul tells us that it is the very unrighteousness of humanity that displays the righteousness of God. Even in that, there is grace.

There is a long list that is part of Paul’s words. It is a list (Romans 3:10–18) condemning humanity for its response to God. Why would God want such creatures?

If you had someone who constantly said bad things to you, tossed your gifts at your feet (or the garbage), and gave credit everyone but you about the good things you’d done for them, what your response be?

God’s answer was through the cross. Truth? We aren’t worthy by any measure of that sacrifice. Truth? God did it out of love.

※Prayer※

Jesus, thank you for the cross. Father God, thank you for your mercy on us. Holy Spirit, thank you for drawing us to you. Amen.

※Questions※

1) When you read Paul’s list, how does it feel? To you feel condemned or judged? Or, do you feel something else?

2) How does grace and redemption feel in the face of that list?

3) What do you think your ongoing response should be as a result?

2020-07-18
If Not Them, Than Who?

Genesis 19:15–29; Isaiah 1:7–17; Matthew 11:16–24

Sodom and Gomorrah had long been on the example list. “Don’t do this, or you will be like Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Regardless of which sins you are convinced those two cities are guilty of (though Gomorrah can only be assumed), there is no question that the story of their end is dramatic, along with all that surrounded it.

There was something about these stories that stuck with a person. Whether it was God’s judgment, the portrayal of sexual sins, or the violation of hospitality.

It seems quite likely that Sodom and Gomorrah were often portrayed as unrepentant. It’s quite possible that additional (non-Scriptural) stories evolved around the two infamous cities.

This can be inferred from Isaiah’s words to the leaders of Jerusalem. While some of the sins of Jerusalem may indeed match the two cities, the broken relationship represented is the key feature.

The rulers had been so hard-hearted that all that was left was just shy of the barren and fire-scorched lands portrayed in Genesis. Now, God was bluntly calling them the worst of the worst.

There is a strong implication that had Sodom and Gomorrah sacrificed rightly, they might have actually been heart. Imagine the self-righteous hearts that heard that. They were even lower than Sodom and Gomorrah in God’s eyes.

That must have hurt their pride.

When Jesus speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah, again they are better than the “good” Jewish cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida!

There are a couple of things that should tell us. First, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah grieved God. From a human perspective, at least, they wouldn’t keep popping up if there wasn’t something else in God’s heart.

This also tells us that looking at someone as too far gone is not Scriptural. God is always there…waiting. As severe as Jesus’ words appear to be, they don’t close the door, just provide impetus to go through it.

※Prayer※

Lord, in our hearts there is a part that judges others, appointing them to hell. Help us, Lord, to cast out that part, and to fill it with your love. Amen.

※Questions※

1) What are the sins (there is a number) of Sodom and (assumed) Gomorrah? What are the sins (or what is the sin) that is really behind it?

2) What is the danger of focusing on the commonly assumed sins of Sodom and Gomorrah? What about the commonly assumed sins of those who do not declare themselves as Christians?

3) If God is open to the repentance of those “as bad” as Sodom and Gomorrah, and even those that are worse, who is outside of God’s works of grace?

2020-07-12
Who Makes You

Romans 9:14–33 (read online ⧉)

A vignette from a family life…

“It’s your fault,” said the child.

“How so,” asked the parent.

“You knew, and you didn’t stop me,” responded the child.

“Except I warned you before,” the parent replied.

“So, what,” retorted the child. “What’s that got to do with stopping me?”

Or, a different vignette…

“It’s your fault.”
“You were warned.”
“You made me so mad, though, that I wasn’t thinking, and I did it. So, it’s your fault.”

Paul’s use of Old/First Testament imagery causes many modern people to struggle with these verses. In the Wesley/Arminian tradition, these words are a particular struggle, as they appear to not to be free will, a core belief in the tradition.

However, what we miss is the rhetorical questioning that is going on in the Greek. A rhetorically adequate translation would be more along the lines of, “Yes, while God can make you, that does not make it God’s fault that you still chose your path.” One theologian argues, with some decent reasoning, that even when God hardens hearts (sometimes called judicial hardening), it’s not that the hearts weren’t already hardened. It is that God firms their already stubborn and ungodly hearts so that their immediate action will result in the display of God’s glory.

In other words, God helps them be more firmly where they have already decided to be. Their decision was made first.

Now, unlike some other Christian traditions, this is not a one-way road. God is in the redemption business! Even when God hardens the heart for one action, there is often a redemptive action waiting in the wings. It is here that a person will choose to continue to harden their own heart or not.

The potter and the clay? An analogy, not a description. This passage, too, is often confused as that Israel (and thus the rest of us) are lifeless clay. Paul asks, what if? Paul is not concluding that God made some people for wrath and some are not.

God did not make us that way. Just as the passage of the Potter’s House, Paul is not saying that God did it so that people are separated from God. God made is so people choose to be separated from God.

This, too, is hard. For those of us who know God, and have a saving relationship with God, it is beyond our comprehension that people would choose anything other than God. Be grateful that you have chosen.

Paul’s ultimate conclusion is that God set out works for the people of Israel to do. They believe that is was the works (the tasks) they did to fulfill the Law that made them righteous. This was all while the lesson of Abraham was right there in the Scriptures…following and choosing God through faith.

※Prayer※

Gracious God, we thank you that we have been gifted the freedom to choose you in love. May you shape our hearts and guide our lives that we can help others also choose you. Amen.

※Questions※

1) Do you think you have ever experienced a time when God “hardened” your heart? Why or why not?

2) Why do you think people believe that God designs people and plans for people to be inflicted by God’s wrath?

3) What is the hardest thing to realize and feel about knowing that you have to daily choose God?

2020-06-22
Barrier Breaker

Luke 16:19–31; Acts 16:1–5; 1 Corinthians 9:16–23 (read online ⧉)

One of the more interesting things that is occurring in this event called COVID-19 and its physical distancing are the conversations that are going along with it. There are plenty of political and health conversations (neither necessarily with all the facts or research, and this comes from all corners). There are economic conversations. There are logistical conversations. There are, amazingly, religious conversations.

For some of us, we are watching religious conversations regarding topics that some people had been thinking about (for example, communion online) for a time, to an immediate need. There are those that were dismissive (at best) of having any sort of community online (and dismissing those who had it as shallow) who now are doing their best to understand what it means to actually do it.

Then, there are those who need to be theologically “correct” who have decided to do nothing. Taking a prophet’s words out of context, they kicked their sheep out to the wolves because they couldn’t feed them the “right” grass. Yes, that is more than a bit snarky.

However, this a different form of the conversation Jesus continually had and that Paul was having.

In Jesus’ story of the beggar Lazarus (not to be confused with the Lazarus who was brought back to life), Abraham points out to the rich man that the prophets and the laws were already there. He and his brothers either didn’t see them, ignored them (either of these two would fit in the context of Jesus’ story), or believe that they were rich thus they were righteous (a common belief then and now).

How does this apply? Well, the so-called righteous living was not be lived through the filter of the Law or the prophets. In other words, they confused results, riches, and power with being followers of God.

Paul, on the other hand, knew that he was dealing with the “blind”. He did an odd thing. He circumcised Timothy. As this was all part of the context of delivering the message from the Apostles about what Gentiles needed to do to be “right”, we understand that Paul did not impose this upon Timothy because Timothy needed it to be done to be righteous. Paul did it so that there would be one less barrier between Timothy (and Paul) and the Jews.

Paul’s mission was to share the Gospel. He understood that there would be barriers (mental, emotional, logical, theological) between him and others. He would do his best (without violating the Way of Jesus) to identify with them enough to remove barriers and build relationships.

Often, even usually, people want others to remove their barriers. However, the love of Jesus Christ should be goading us to remove our barriers so that the message of the Gospel is receivable by others. Whether it is online, in person, through music, through television, or some other medium we need to remove our barriers.

It is not their responsibility to move closer to us. It is our responsibility to move closer to them. How do we know this? God came down as a baby. The infinite became the finite. We could not remove the barriers between ourselves and God. Only God could.

※ Prayer ※
God, help us to set aside our ways for your ways. Help us set aside our desires for your desires. Help us to reach people with the Gospel who neither know nor believe they need it. Amen.

※ Questions ※
1) What is one thing that keeps you from “agreeing” or “getting along” with people from another political party? Why does that one thing matter to you? Why might that one thing matter to them differently?
2) One of Jesus’ lessons is that our religiosity can inhibit others from having a relationship with God. What might one religious thing of yours might that be?
3) Why is it so important to understand that we have the responsibility to approach others? What might that mean for our daily lives?

2020-05-16
Easy Listening

Jeremiah 26:20–24; Matthew 23:29–24:2 (read online ⧉)

The most famous Uriah in the Bible is not the one we read about in Jeremiah. The famous Uriah died because the king slept with his wife. He was…inconvenient for the king.

Perhaps being named Uriah isn’t a blessing?

Uriah, son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, was also inconvenient. Just as Jeremiah, too, was not popular with what he preached as a warning against and condemnation of Jerusalem (as a symbol of the whole of the Jewish people), Uriah wasn’t popular either.

Jeremiah had court protection and support. He was safe from the king and his underlings. For whatever reason, Ahikam had the influence and power to protect Jeremiah from the people and the King.

Uriah fled to Egypt. It was an odd place for him to flee to, as King Jehoiakim was still a vassal of Egypt. It is possible that Uriah believed that he might receive some protection from Jehoiakim’s overlords, but he was disappointed. He was killed. The Book of Jeremiah strongly implies that it was because of the message from God that he dared to share (which was the same as Jeremiah’s). While we don’t hear about Uriah again, his story is important down the road.

Jesus does not mention Uriah by name nor any of the other prophets (other than Zedekiah) that were killed after bringing God’s word to the people. He called the religious leaders to account for their hypocritical attitude as they “mourned” the prophets that their forefathers killed, and yet were of the same heart as their forefathers when confronted by the Word of God.

Jesus foretold that they would repeat not just the scorn, they would also repeat the murder of the prophets and representatives of God. They would likely also celebrate such deaths for they “preserved” the status quo.

While Jesus puts to their “account” the death of all the righteous, there isn’t an outright zero chance of escaping the judgment. If one looks at this as a prophetic warning (which it was), repentance was the way out. Judgment wasn’t fixed…yet.

In addition, a number of commentators perceive the, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” both as a foretelling of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the return of Jesus as the Judge.

While we are often quick to judge those who lived in Jesus’ day as ignorant or something because they could not recognize Jesus for who he was, how often are we guilty of condemning prophetic messages because they don’t match the culture.

※ Prayer※
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [BCP 1979]

※ Questions ※
1) What kinds of cultures do prophets speak against? In a non-religious setting, how would you test a prophet?

2) What do you think is the biggest obstacle for people hearing a prophetic word? Have you been guilty of that yourself when a prophetic word was spoken to you?

3) We focus on famous names, not like Uriah the prophet. How does that make us shallow? What might we be missing God doing?

2020-05-09
Commandments and Following

Deuteronomy 4:3–9; Mark 12:28–34 (read online ⧉)

Imagine walking around and loudly announcing that ALL of God’s commandments are righteous. How long before people would denounce you and unfriend you? Even those who might believe similarly to you might distance themselves.

This part of Moses’ speech to the Israelites is definitely part of a “ra-ra” kind of speech. Our God is great! Only our God is actually with us! Only our God listens to us! Only our God gives us righteous rules to follow!
Only our God!

It’s not that God has changed, and really not that this was intended to be a ra-ra speech. Moses was indeed trying to invigorate the people before he died. Moses wanted to make sure they started out well. From a cultural perspective, the Israelites were going into another god’s domain. Culturally that would mean they are the weaker party…and they are entering for battle. Moses was telling them that God was with them regardless of country (many of the gods were territory based). God was saying, I am with you.

Perhaps not quite the same as Moses’ speech, Jesus talked about the Great Commandments. The reality is, though, that we love the Lord our God because of the very pieces that are part of this ra-ra speech. The righteous statues are part of the Second Great Commandment.

Prayer

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal God, unchanging and ever loving, we thank you for the Great Commandments that lead us into the heart of who you are. Amen.

Questions

1) How does the triumphal pieces of Moses’ speech guide you in regards to the Great Commandments?
2) In what ways do you think the Old Testament laws apply to today, and in what ways do you think they don’t?
3) What is important about Deuteronomy 4:9, and how does that apply to today?

2020-05-05
Unyielding Prayer

Psalm 39; 2 Samuel 12:13–23; Luke 18:1-8 (read online ⧉)

It’s hard to grasp why God would appear to condemn an innocent child to die. How it occurs is a mystery. We can infer that David understood that the child would die and that God would not save it. This would be in contrast to God sentencing a healthy child to death. In other words, what if the child had a definite birth defect and would die shortly after birth. God had the capability to save the child, yet the child died of natural causes, rather than supernatural causes. Yes, this isn’t much of a help. However, there are other circumstances around the child that ought to be considered, too.

David’s fathering left a lot to be desired. The drama surrounding his family (and his life) would do a soap opera proud. The poor child, a product of adultery and murder, would have had a horrible childhood, and probably an awful adulthood. Again, it doesn’t help much, but perhaps God was wise.

While this isn’t the focus of this devotional, it does lead into David’s prayer. David prayed, and prayed, and fasted, and prayed, and so on. He didn’t give up. The prophet Nathan had given David no hope. David still prayed. God (through Nathan) had made the pronouncement. David still prayed.

The lesson isn’t solely that David prayed for something he “knew” wasn’t going to happen. After not getting what he prayed for, David returned to “normal” life and worshiped God. His child died and he worshiped God. It’s not to say he didn’t mourn. We are long past the age of high infant mortality rates (though some still experience such momentous losses). Yet, any person that has lost a child understands the loss that David felt. It’s not that David was happy the child died. David knew that worshiping God was also important.

The persistent widow never gave up. This seemed a matter she would not give up until she died. That is persistent prayer. How long was she pursuing it? Jesus doesn’t say. It isn’t Jesus’ point. This was a woman who did not give up until she either received what she sought or death (hers or her adversary’s). Note that Jesus did not say she was right in what she was pursuing, though it is implied as the judge was unrighteous. This is important, too, as it helps us to think that God is righteous and we are not, so what would God do?

How many people, however, are not like David? They pray for something (whether minor or major) and it doesn’t happen. They do not (as the song goes) thank God for unanswered prayers. They get angry with God. It’s not that anger at God is a sin. It’s when that anger at God draws you out of fellowship with God or to a place of doubting God that problems come. In pain and misdirected anger, people make themselves an enemy of God.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, as you are patient with us, grant us mercy to be patient and enduring in our prayers. Jesus, may your words guide our hearts and prayers. Holy Spirit, live and breathe in us, that we may pray in ways and for things that bring glory and honor to God. Amen.

Questions

1) What is the longest you have prayed for something (or are praying for something)? If you have stopped praying for it, why? If you haven’t stopped praying for it, why?

2) Do you see yourself more like David, the widow, or something/one else?

3) What do you do say to those who are frustrated with their prayers not being answered?

2020-05-03
You, The World, God

Exodus 20:1–17; John 2:13–22; 1 Corinthians 1:18–25; Psalm 19 (read online ⧉)

The 10 Commandments in Exodus. The temple cleaned out with whips. The foolishness of the Cross versus signs and wisdom. All 3 passages are passionate reminders of who God is, and each tells so in different ways.

Exodus establishes the foundations of the God-Israel relationship (and speaks to ours, as well). The Gospel of John tells of the cleansing of the temple, removing man-made obstacles and the exposing duping of the faithful. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians encourages them that they cannot base faith on mere Greek “wisdom” and the Jewish desire for signs.

God sets some ground rules for righteous and loving interacting relationship with God and man. Jesus summarizes it this way, “…‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:36-40]

Through the cleansing of the Temple, Jesus cleared his Father’s house of that which distracted from worshiping God, and that which prevent right worship. Jesus made a point that his Father’s house has one purpose, worshiping God. He also called the leaders and merchants out on their corruption of a sacrificial law that was intended to bring people to God, while reminding them that they needed a bridge (blood) to cover their wrongs.

Paul let Christians know that the world would never view them the same as it used to. Their interactions with the world would be strained, as they were considered fools by their beliefs. This church of Jew and Gentile was confronted by the Jew and Gentile outside faith in Jesus, and how they no longer quite fit into the world they left behind.

Much of our journey in faith can be summarized into these three areas: our relationship with God; our relationships with others in the faith; our relationships with those outside the faith. We can even look at Jesus’ life with these three facets, seeing the ebb and flow.

At the beginning of our walk, we usually try to balance these three facets, but unlike a triangle or tripod, the three facets are not really able to be balanced. We tend to extremes in them all, bouncing from one to another. Many people have found that the best expression is the three concentric circles, starting with a small circle, which is circled by a larger one, which is circled by even a larger one.

Of course, the question is what is the order of the circles?

1) Going from inner to middle to outer ring, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each perspective?

a. God / Others in the Faith / Others in the World

b. Others in the World / Others in the Faith / God

2) Which one are you?

2020-03-15
Restart and Reset

Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16; Romans 4:13–25; Mark 8:31–38 (read online ⧉)

We celebrate people who reach the 100-year mark (or more). Reporters will ask how they’ve lived so long, and the person will say that they never did such-and-such, or always did such-and-such, or that it is all about perspective. We are amazed at their age. Of course, we are always seeing the once who are out-and-about and doing pretty well.

If you asked any of them if they would like to have a child at their age, I’m sure they would look you as if you were crazy. Start all over again as a parent?

Yet, here God is telling Abram, now Abraham, that he was going to be a dad…again. And 90-year old Sarai, now Sarah, will bear her first child.

To top it all off, Abraham and Sarah would be the ancestors of nations! To see the proof of being ancestors to nations, Abraham and Sarah would either have to live a very long time, or they could trust God. They did live a long time, but neither saw a grandchild from their son. They could only trust God.

Trust and faith. By trusting God, God called Abraham righteous. Abraham trusted God, as God trustworthy, thus Abraham had faith that God’s promise would be fulfilled. While Abraham had a long walk in faith, there were probably many things he questioned as to God’s plan.

Peter opened up with his doubts. He “knew” that God’s plan was wrong. Jesus corrects him swiftly and with brutal honesty. Jesus then takes that and expands upon it. Jesus tells his disciples that there is a “cross” for each of us to bear. Yet it is by carrying our cross that we step in concert with God…a faithful walk.

1) Paul writes about Abraham’s faithful walk with God. Why was Paul so adamant that faith was the driving force, rather than acts? How does this inform your walk with God?

2) When you read about “picking up your cross”, what does that mean to you?

3) As we “walk to the cross” through the time of Lent, is it time for you to lay down the cross you carry now, and pick up a new one?

2020-03-08
Trust, Truth and Restoration

Daniel 9:16-19, Psalm 25:1-10, 2 Timothy 4:1-5

Daniel knows that God is holy and righteous. Daniel knows that the people of Israel are in exile and hopeless because they chose to ignore God and the many prophets that He sent. They chose to follow their leaders who looking to earthly things to gain personal value and power. Daniel understood that the current situation was a consequence of unfaithful behavior.

Yet, Daniel had enough trust in God to know that God would listen and that God, ultimately, wanted Israel restored, not just as a nation or people, but as a people of God. Daniel understood that it would only by God’s mercy that Israel would be restored. He was confessing on behalf of an entire people that they had missed the mark, yet he still asked.

1) In Psalm 25:6-7 (NIV), the psalmist writes, “Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.”
Just like Daniel, the psalmist was appealing the consequences based upon God’s mercy and love, knowing that both preexisted the errors of the psalmist. Daniel, too, that God’s mercy and love existed long before he did, or the tribe and nation of Israel existed. The underlying thought here is that there was something that needed to be forgiven; there was something that needed to be repented of. Is there something that you think could be a problem, but aren’t certain that it is a problem that God is concern about? Bring it to God, anyways! That small thing could very well help you heal in other areas in your life, or God may use it to show you what is really hampering your relationship with Him.

2) In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul is warning Timothy that people will get to a point where they will not listen because they don’t want to. It is no different than what the people of Israel had done for generations prior to their exile. The very things Daniel was repenting of. We are often quick to say that there is false teaching all around us, even in our church!

Have you thought there was false teaching? What did you do?

Do we ever call something false teaching that does not conflict with scripture, but appears to conflict with our understanding or traditions?

2020-02-28