Saturday, October 11, 2014
Jeremiah 22: 1-17
When God called His people he told them that they would have
a covenant together – a bit like a contract – that would bind them to each
other. God would bless them and make
them a blessing and all they needed to do was be faithful to him. Here in Jeremiah we see again God’s people
unable to live up to their side of the bargain.
One of the purposes of the Covenant was to show the world
what it looked like before the Fall. It
was the job of Abraham and his descendents to model right relationships with
God, with each other and with the larger world.
They were to be a living example of Shalom – a deep sense of peace and
rest that comes only in God’s presence. One
of the ways this was to happen was that they were to “do justice and
righteousness.” They were to be a
shining example to the world that looking after each other – and even strangers
was at the core of faithfulness to God.
What is equally important to see in this passage is that it
is only one generation from a good king – Josiah – to the bad king – Shallum. Each and every generation must make their own
choice as to whether they are going to be faithful to the Covenant or not. Today, each and every generation must make
its own choice whether it will embrace the true King and be faithful to Him and
His call as well. The blessings to us
and to the world are immense when we choose a life of faithfulness and
righteousness.
1 Samuel 15:17-23
The Israelites asked Samuel to give them a king so they could
be like everyone else. Not only did they
get what they asked for but this simple request drove them deeper and deeper
into themselves and away from the living God.
They already had a king – the Lord God – the just did know it or didn’t
want to live with that fact. They wanted
something more familiar, more comfortable.
One of the reasons people hesitate to come to the Lord - even when the weight of their sin is
unbearable – is that they are more comfortable with the known quantity of their
pain than the unknown quantity of freedom in Christ. As Ecclesiastes says, “there is nothing new
under the sun.”
The question that the Israelites should have asked
themselves – and the one we should ask ourselves everyday – is who do I want
ruling my life? Do I want someone who
sees the end from the beginning and who is unaffected time and tide, or do I
want someone like me – broken, selfish, fearful? When the Israelites rejected Yahweh as king,
they got Saul. When we reject Jesus as
king we get ourselves. In neither case
do we get what we need – thought usually we get what we deserve.
When Saul is confronted over the behavior of his people he
responds by laying the blame at their feet.
He takes no responsibility for them ignoring God’s directives. The truth is that the people would have
misbehaved anyway, but it is clear from Saul’s behavior that they are not
seeing a life of faithfulness and righteousness being modeled from the top.
When Jesus is king of our lives we will still misbehave but
at least we know we have a King we shows us the right way and who has the power
to forgive us along the way. The only real
question is will we follow in His way?
Thursday, October 9, 2014
1 Samuel 8
This scene from the final days of the ministry of Samuel are so sad and yet so indicative of the fickle nature of the human heart. We are prone to forget God and all he has done for us and go after whatever our heart says is right. After all, considering how all of this mess started in Genesis it really isn't that surprising is it...
There are three things to take note of in this passage. The first is how starts. Remember why God put judges in place? Because a generation arose that didn't know who God was or what He did for them. Now we see Samuel's sons, who we must assume were taught about the living God and all his wondrous deeds, turing away from Him and from leading the people in righteousness. Instead they turned to personal gain. What this tells us is that just being taught about God doesn't mean that one's life will reflect that knowledge in action.
The second point to take away is that Samuel couldn't do this alone - nor could he be responsible for the outcome. He work diligently for years to teach the people and even warned them of the consequences of the path they were choosing; all to no avail. Samuel did his part and then he left it in the hands of God. Sometimes we do our best and then we have to let people crash into walls if they so choose. We just need to be sure they aren't crashing because we didn't warn them.
Finally, the call to Israel was to be a beacon to the rest of the world. To show the surrounding peoples the truth of the living God through how they lived their lives. It's the same call to God's people today. It's a call to be in the world but not of the world. To engage with the world but to demonstrate a different way that is not focussed on ourselves but on His glory. But as the Israelites drifted away they asked for just the opposite. They wanted a king so they could be like everyone else. So God obliged them so they could learn the painful lesson - again - of what it is like to live outside of His plan. Beware what you ask for because God might give it to you.
There are three things to take note of in this passage. The first is how starts. Remember why God put judges in place? Because a generation arose that didn't know who God was or what He did for them. Now we see Samuel's sons, who we must assume were taught about the living God and all his wondrous deeds, turing away from Him and from leading the people in righteousness. Instead they turned to personal gain. What this tells us is that just being taught about God doesn't mean that one's life will reflect that knowledge in action.
The second point to take away is that Samuel couldn't do this alone - nor could he be responsible for the outcome. He work diligently for years to teach the people and even warned them of the consequences of the path they were choosing; all to no avail. Samuel did his part and then he left it in the hands of God. Sometimes we do our best and then we have to let people crash into walls if they so choose. We just need to be sure they aren't crashing because we didn't warn them.
Finally, the call to Israel was to be a beacon to the rest of the world. To show the surrounding peoples the truth of the living God through how they lived their lives. It's the same call to God's people today. It's a call to be in the world but not of the world. To engage with the world but to demonstrate a different way that is not focussed on ourselves but on His glory. But as the Israelites drifted away they asked for just the opposite. They wanted a king so they could be like everyone else. So God obliged them so they could learn the painful lesson - again - of what it is like to live outside of His plan. Beware what you ask for because God might give it to you.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Judges 2: 10-19
As we move through the various books of the Old Testament we
come face to face with the reality of the human heart after the Fall – we are
all about ourselves. Our tendency is to
tell ourselves that we are okay, that we are good people. We compare ourselves with someone “really bad”
and then declare that we are doing all right.
But the Bible paints a different picture. It paints a picture that shows the downward
spiral humanity finds itself on once we rejected God’s sovereignty and decided
we should rule our own lives.
The book of Judges shows us what kind of relationship we
were intended to have with Him. It is supposed
to be like a marriage covenant – a relationship of fidelity, loyalty and trust.
In an effort to restore this
relationship – that He had done nothing to damage mind you – God puts in place
a series of judges to help lead His people.
But as the book of Judges makes it clear, humanity’s response was to “whore
after other gods.” In fact, as verse 19 points out, each time a judge died the people
behaved even worse than they had previously.
The cause of this downward spiral was simple. In verse 10 we are told that a generation
arose that did not know the Lord God and what He had done for them. They had no context for their lives other
than themselves and what was running around inside their heads. The same is true for us so many years
later. When we forget what the Lord has
done for us – either because we are too focused on ourselves or because we have
failed to actively open His word – we lose perspective. We lose a nuanced sense of time and so we
lose the ability of seeing the difference between what is truly important and
what is simply tugging at our sleeves at that moment.
The call to God’s people has always been to keep the memory
of His saving actions to forefathers at the front of our minds and hearts; and
of course to teach them to the coming generations. When we keep this perspective of life, everything
else has a way of falling in to place so that we have the ability to see the
world in a more realistic way.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Deuteronomy 11
There is no doubt that God is loving. In fact we are told in the New Testament that
God is love – that love is one of his main characteristics. But often we seem to mistake the kind of love
that God embodies with some sort of Hallmark sentiment. God shows His love by never leaving His
people, by always offering grace and forgiveness at the foot of the cross, by
never changing His rules or softening them for us. This last part seems a little counter
intuitive doesn’t it. But it’s not.
Most of us would never argue with the need for rules and consequences. But when it comes to God we either don’t want
to believe that it works the same way or we have simply misunderstood grace. God shows His love by establishing standards
and then saying He expects us to live up to them. He also says that there will be consequences for
us if we fail. If we actually love God
and want to know the fullness of His love in our lives, we need to show our
love by being obedient. That’s what we
expect from our children – so why would God be any different. When I punish my daughter I still love her –
in fact that is one of the ways I show her that I love her. No matter what we do God will love us – but He
will also punish us and potentially exclude us from His presence. It’s a heavy idea I know, but unless we
recognize that then we simply paint a picture of God worthy of a cute greeting
card – soft, pliable and sentimental.
And I would never describe the creator of the universe in those terms.
If you have ever been a parent, are a parent, have had a
parent or have had to act in any way shape or form like a parent (i.e. teacher,
uncle, boss, older sister, whatever) you have enforced rules. In general those rules were in place to
maintain some semblance of order and to keep people safe. They were a tangible way of expressing
love. You didn’t soften them – at least
I hope you didn’t – for one child over another or because someone was having a
bad day. Generally there were probably
consequences for breaking those rules as well.
Leviticus 5:14-19
Ah Leviticus. The book
which stops so many well intentioned people in their tracks as they attempt to
read through the Bible from front to back. It seems like it so chock full of
things that have little to do with life in the 21st Century. It seems in many ways so dark, so
negative. In reality, however, without Leviticus
the entire New Testament doesn’t make any sense. More than that, there are actually lots of
very practical aspects for our lives to be found within the pages of this book.
What we see in Leviticus is the process of God putting in
place the rules and regulations for people to be restored to righteousness – to
right standing and wholeness – before God.
It was through these varying and different sacrifices that people were
able to know forgiveness and sense God’s grace.
No sacrifice, no forgiveness.
This reality points us back to Genesis where God said that the result of
eating from the tree at the center of the Garden would be death.
Out of an abundance of grace God allows those who are
repentant to avoid that death by offering an animal sacrifice in their
place. God is also giving humanity the
opportunity to see how futile it is to try and get themselves back into God’s
good graces – even with animal sacrifices to help them. The whole point of the sacrifices wasn’t
really the animal being sacrificed; it was the attitude of the one coming to
the altar. Even this part humanity
couldn’t get right. They came offering
sacrifices without offering their hearts or lives – that’s often not much
different from today really.
In addition to pointing us backwards, Leviticus also points
us forwards to the person and work of Jesus.
The trouble with the animal sacrifices was that they needed to be done
year after year; and, as we’ve seen, they needed to be accompanied by a
repentant heart to actually be effectual.
If you couldn’t make it to the Temple or have the resources for a
sacrifice then you would have felt as though you could not know God’s grace or
forgiveness. So Jesus offered himself as
the once and for ever sacrifice.
God said, “Now can you see that you can’t do this by
yourselves, do you see how big the gap is between my holiness and your
brokenness? So just bring your hearts
and I’ll do the rest.” And he did. Alleluia!
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Exodus 20: 1-17
If you’re a parent or have ever been around kids (or frankly
have ever seen a movie involving young kids) you are all too familiar with the
constant “Why?”, “Why?”, “Why?” that follows almost every statement that an
adult makes to a young child. While it
is a little annoying at times – alright, a lot sometimes – this is how little
children process the world. They want to
know the reason and context for the rules and advice that they are being
given. It’s when they stop asking “Why”
that we are really in trouble….
When we understand the context for things it becomes easier
to integrate them into who we are and into the pattern of our daily
living. As we read the Ten Commandments it’s
important to pause and see how God begins them.
I don’t mean just that the first Commandment is that we should have no
other gods but God, but I mean verse 2.
Here God sets the context in which the Commandments are supposed to be
seen. These are not just random rules or
the ramblings of an overprotective or dictatorial parent. These guidelines arise from a much larger
context – from a much larger story.
God says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” God is not some inanimate idol upon which our
pleas and supplications fall in vain.
God is a living and active being who can deliver His people from
bondage. He doesn’t angrily demand our
worship and loyalty – thought he certainly could – he simply reminds us of his
inherent nature and then points to an appropriate response.
By setting the Commandments in this context, God is also reminding
us of the larger narrative. He is
reminding us of the displaced nature of our lives – we are separated from Him,
from our home and from each other. God
has continued to work His plan of restoration and redemption by releasing the
Israelites from bondage. The Ten
Commandments are part of that plan as well.
They outline simple ways that we can be involved in the work of our
restoration. They speak to a holistic
approach to our relationship with God and with each other that is intended to supplement
His work in bringing us to a new and restored home.
Too often the Ten Commandments are seen simply as a set of
rules or boundaries. But when we see
them in their true context they both remind us of God’s plan to restore the
world and they give us practical ways that we can embody that restoration. Of course, God also knows that we will fail;
so thank God for the grace we find at the foot of the cross.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Genesis 12:1-3 and 28:10-15
In both the Old and New Testaments we see a variety of “call
narratives.” In these accounts a
particular person is called by God to do a specific task which will bring Him
glory. Here we have the call of Abram
(who later becomes Abraham). This is one
of my favorite moments in the Bible. While
I’m pretty sure that God has been working His plan of restoring creation
already, this is the first moment where I feel like it is really out in the
open. Not only that but it also makes it
clear that humanity is going to play a major role in restoring that which we
broke in the first place. Such grace at
work!
The problem that arose in the Garden was that Adam and Eve’s
relationship with God was broken, they were thrown out of their physical home
and they ceased to understand they belonged to each other. When God calls Abram He says “I will be in
this with you” (restored relationship), “I will take you to a land I have for
you” (a new physical home), and “I will make you a great nation” (I will
restore not just your sense of connectedness, but I will prosper that
connectedness across the generations).
What a gift of grace considering He could have just blown it all up and
started from scratch.
The only catch is that Abram must make a decision. He must decide if he is going to trust
God. In fact he must decide if he is
going to trust this God that he doesn’t even know very well yet. If Abram is going to play his part in God’s
plan of redemption and restoration then he must go away from what is familiar
and comfortable to him and trust that God knows what He is doing.
This is the same call to us.
God will use us in His plan and in the process will knit us back
together in our relationship with Him, He will give us a place to call home and
he will reconnect us with the rest of his people. But it also requires us to turn from what
seems familiar and comfortable and trust that God is leading us into something
that will not simply be familiar but which will connect with us in ways that we
never thought possible.
The final passage - the story of Jacob’s ladder – is a
reminder that this is a multi-generational promise. How we respond to God’s promises of
restoration and belonging today will have an impact on the next generations of
our family as well. That sounds kind of
heavy I know, but what parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt or whatever doesn’t
want to leave a rich legacy to the next generation. There is no greater gift to our God, ourselves
and the next generations of our family than to trust in God and His son Jesus
and faithfully step into the unknown.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Digging Down
Welcome to the new Sycamore blog. With so much going on in all of our lives it is my hope that I can provide a small daily thought or observation about the intersection of faith and life. The winds of life have a way of knocking us down when we least expect it if we haven't taken the time to really root ourselves in the embrace of God. It's my hope that what you find here will help root you in Christ so that you will thrive in this life and look forward in hope to the next.
For the next month we will be focusing on the new one-month bible reading plan that we launched yesterday during the two worship services. But don't be surprised if you also find links to interesting articles, thought provoking sermons or just random quotes designed to provide food for thought. Your comments and observations are always welcome.
Come on, let's get on with this journey!
For the next month we will be focusing on the new one-month bible reading plan that we launched yesterday during the two worship services. But don't be surprised if you also find links to interesting articles, thought provoking sermons or just random quotes designed to provide food for thought. Your comments and observations are always welcome.
Come on, let's get on with this journey!
Genesis 3:1-19
We often think that the moment sin entered the world was
when Eve, quickly followed by Adam, ate of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. But it
actually happens before that. When Eve
responds to the serpent in verses 2&3 she embellishes on God’s instruction
to her and Adam. In Genesis 2:16-17 God
tells Adam and Eve that they may eat of any tree in the Garden except the one
in the middle. There is no mention of
not touching the tree. Yet, when she
responds to the serpent she says that God told them not even to touch it.
It doesn’t really seem like that big of a deal does it? I can see what she was thinking. “If he told us not to eat its fruit then we
probably shouldn’t touch it either.” I
can imagine her thinking that she was adding a layer of import to what God told
them. But it really was a big deal. Rather than simply taking God at his word she
felt the need to add to it, to interpret it through her own lens. In some ways it feels like she thinks she
knows better than God. If she hadn’t
taken this simple misstep I wonder if she would have taken the next even bigger
step to disobey God.
I find this scene to be so indicative of how we treat God
and His word. How often do we think that
we know better than God? How often do we
think that we really know what He meant to say when we don’t like what we read
in the bible? How often do try to make
our efforts at righteousness more important than simply being faithful and
obedient?
My heart breaks every time I read Genesis 3:8. God is walking in the Garden in the cool of
the day and Adam and Eve are hiding from Him in their shame. If only they had simply been obedient they
never would have feel the need to hide.
How often do we hide from God’s presence? I yearn for the day when I can walk in the
Garden in the cool of the day talking with God.
I know that when I come to the foot of the cross and hand my life over
to Jesus each day that I get a glimpse of that.
Some days I am overwhelmed by the deep sense of God’s mercy and love – I
can only imagine what it will be like when my Lord Jesus welcomes me home for
good.
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