Followers

Monday, December 14, 2009

An Exposition on the Life and Role of Samuel.

Well, here I am again posting schoolwork. I thought while researching this paper that Samuel was a fascinating character in Israel's history, and is one of my biblical heroes. I hope you enjoy this essay. May you come to know God better in learning about Israel's last judge, a prophet, a warrior and a king-maker.
            His life began because of an impassioned plea. His destiny was sealed with a covenant made by a desperate and most grateful woman. His call came to him as a child. His God spoke to him; disciplined and refined him. He became a warrior. He became a prophet. He became a maker of kings. He became an instrument of God’s will for his chosen people. He is Samuel, the last judge of Israel, and his life is of vital importance to understanding God’s identity and purposes for his chosen people.

            In 1 Samuel, chapter 1, a woman named Hannah is introduced as one of two wives of a Zuphite named Elkanah. Hannah was barren, and she was miserable. Elkanah’s other wife’s name was Peninnah, and she habitually taunted Hannah for her infertility. A woman who could not bear children in the times around 1100 B.C. was considered cursed by God, and unfortunately, Peninnah chose to be cruel to her co-wife. Yet Elkanah loved Hannah with all his heart, giving her double portions of his yearly sacrifices, but Peninnah always got Hannah so worked up that she couldn’t eat. This went on for a long time, and one day Hannah could take it no longer and cried out to the Lord. The prayer of the priest Eli asking God to grant her heart’s desire went straight into heaven with her own prayer. God heard, and God answered.

            What is interesting to note is that Hannah felt compelled to bargain with God. So great was her desire to have a child that she was willing to offer the child back to God as recompense. She vowed that no razor would ever touch her son’s head if only God would remember her. Such a vow was usually only made by a person who chose to set himself or herself apart wholly in the service of the Lord, and these people further vowed not to eat or drink anything which came from a grapevine, and not to ever come into contact with a dead body, being guilty of breaking covenant even if the person died while in their presence (Numbers 6:1-8). These people were known as Nazirites, a term derived from the Hebrew word nazir meaning to consecrate. The root of this word is nazar, which means to set apart.  According to the Mishnah, the Jewish digest of oral law, a typical Nazirite vow was a period of service of about 30 days, although longer terms were not uncommon. Here, though, Hannah’s anguish provokes her not only to make the Nazirite vow for her son before he is conceived, but that she makes the vow for his entire life.

            It was no surprise to those who would later read the book of 1 Samuel as Scripture that God heard Hannah’s prayer and remembered her and allowed her to conceive a son. It must surely, though, have been a wonderful shock to Hannah and her family, and egg on the face of Peninnah, who would now have to cease tormenting Hannah and either repent of her misdeeds or be forever shamed by them. Later, in chapter 2, Hannah would pray a prayer of thanksgiving to God, and would release all of her emotions pent up during the period of Peninnah’s wicked needling (1 Samuel 2:1, 3, 5). In a sense, Hannah’s prayer shows godliness and a willingness to forgive, because in these times, it was commonplace for people to vent their darker emotions upon God in prayer, and not seek revenge upon their brethren.

            Hannah remembered her vow, and when the boy, named Samuel, which sounds like the Hebrew term meaning heard of God, was weaned, he was taken along with the correct offerings for the Nazirite vow, to the house of the Lord at Shiloh (1:24) and there he was given over to service to God for life. Thus begins one of the most awe-inspiring stories of the history of Israel.

            Samuel grew, and learned the ways of God’s priesthood. One night, God called upon him, and he didn’t recognize the Lord’s voice at first, until Eli realized that Samuel was hearing directly from God and advised him to heed what he heard and obey. It seems almost ironic that Samuel’s first prophetic message from the throne of God turned out to be a direct word against the house of Eli, who as the high priest was like a father to young Samuel, and who had taught him all the ways of the Levites. It was a message that Eli’s sons would soon suffer the fate that God had promised Eli years earlier (1Samuel 2:34-36) that they would. Although Samuel is afraid to tell Eli this at first, Eli tells Samuel not to hide it. After Samuel divulges God’s word to Eli, the Levite says something very wise: “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes” (1Samuel 3:18). The following verse tells us that God was with Samuel as he grew up, and fulfilled all of his promises to him. Samuel became known all over the country as a prophet of the Lord, and his word came to them, which means that when Samuel spoke, people listened and passed it on.

            An important thing to remember is that Samuel stayed true to his Nazirite ways all his life. As an Israelite, he remained true to the Law of God. As a Nazirite, he remained set apart from Israel, and walked a seemingly lonely road. While his people carried on their daily lives, with their daily struggles and daily habits and daily diversions, Samuel stayed absolutely faithful to the ways of God, which means not falling into the habits and lifestyles of his people in order to be ready to lead them, at a moment’s notice, into whatever God should call upon them to do. Samuel was the kind of leader that Israel desperately needed, because the Israelites had a history of being led astray. Samuel led a hard life, but his was a life of service to, and on behalf of, his nation and of his God.

            Now, Israel at this time was having many problems, not the least of which was oppression by the Philistines. It was during an unsuccessful battle with these enemies that Eli’s sons were killed, as God had said would happen, but also the unthinkable happened: the Ark of the Covenant, which was becoming more of an idol to the people than a symbol of God’s presence, was stolen. Upon hearing all of this news, Eli fell out of his chair and broke his neck and died. Certainly, matters are made worse when Eli’s daughter-in-law gives birth to a son that same day and dies in childbirth, only after naming him Ichabod, which means no glory, basically saying that since Eli and her husband are dead and the ark is gone, no further glory exists in Israel. Insofar as she was wrong to think in such a fashion, she certainly cannot have considered what such a name would have done to affect the life of her son. What she also cannot have known is that God would not let the ark stay in the hands of the Philistines. Seven months later, God sees to it that the ark is returned to Israel (1 Samuel 6). We know it was God because the ark came back on a cart with no driver!

            Fast forward twenty years. By now, Samuel is a man, and he knows his people are ready to be delivered from the Philistine oppression. He commands them to lay aside their Baals and Ashtoreths and once again put their trust in God. In the early days of his life, words from God were scarce and the people had fallen once again into the pagan practices of their neighbours, but now, with the Lord’s presence reaffirmed through their new prophet, the tribes of Israel once again renewed their faith. Pouring out water before God that day (1Samuel 7:6), they showed that their repentance was pouring out of their hearts, and then they fasted and confessed their sin, and from that day forward, Samuel was their leader. He showed them that their repentance was accepted when the Philistines, having heard of the assembly at Mizpah, attacked and Samuel cried out to God on behalf of his people and led them into battle. The enemy soldiers were driven before Israel by a great storm from heaven, whereupon the Israelites pursued and slaughtered the Philistine army (1 Samuel 7:11). From that day forward in Samuel’s lifetime, the Philistines posed no further threat. Samuel had proven his mettle as a warrior, as a priest, as a prophet, and seemed perfectly fit to lead Israel in the ways of the Lord.

            We fast forward again to nearly the end of Samuel’s life, and almost like clockwork in chapter 8, Israel once again shows her iniquity and lack of trust in God. They have Samuel the prophet and judge as a leader, a blessing from God in his own right. Yet, all of the neighbouring nations are ruled by kings. As Samuel ages, the Israelites realize that his sons, Joel and Abijah, are not as upright as he is, and although they serve Israel, they are dishonest and prone to perverted justice (1 Samuel 8:3). Obviously, this thought scares them. Samuel has been able to keep the neighbouring enemies at bay, but his sons can’t live up to it. Israel calls out for a king. Samuel protests, knowing that God is their true king. It has been God all along that has led them. Samuel had simply been obedient. Totally obedient. That should have been their example, but Israel is not known for her perceptive powers. Samuel tells Israel what the Lord has to say on the matter, that a king will ultimately prove to be more of a hindrance to Israel than a help, and ultimately a king will cause separation between the people and God, because of their lack of faith (1Samuel 8:10-18). They don’t listen. Samuel must have felt like a failure.

            So Samuel, after having warned Israel and receiving direction from God, anoints Saul (which may very well have been Samuel’s defining purpose in this whole lifelong journey), who starts out alright as king but who quickly allows power to go to his head. He makes a lot of stupid and arrogant mistakes, but in spite of this, Saul reigns forty-two years. At one point, Saul takes it upon himself to offer a burnt offering in Samuel’s stead, which proves to be a big mistake. It is one that would spell the end of Saul’s reign and that of his house. Later, Saul neglects to slaughter all of the Amalekites as God had mandated, sparing her king, Agag. Samuel has to finish the job himself, and shows once again that he has what it takes to obey the Lord in all things. Saul is subsequently ousted from God’s anointing.

            In the end, Samuel is instructed once more to anoint a king. This time, Israel fares better in the selection of David, youngest of the eight sons of Jesse. David’s eventual coronation marks a pivotal point in Israel’s history and begins the royal lineage from which will spring the King of Kings.

            As for Samuel, his time in the light is over, and in chapter 25 it is written that Samuel had died. His story, however, will never be forgotten. He set an example for all of God’s people and especially for their leaders. When a leader submits to a life of dishonesty and self-centredness, they will fall. When the people of God are led astray, they suffer. When a leader makes choices based on his or her own understanding and doesn’t consider God’s will, plans fail and people get hurt. Yet, a leader who humbles himself every day and follows in the footsteps of his God is a force to be reckoned with indeed. Samuel gave every shred of his love, his obedience, his dignity and his very life into the service of God, as one set apart in order to best serve his people, and during his time Israel had peace. May God’s people always remember what it is to serve him, and each other. Let there be peace once again.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

We're on a mission from God, really!

When people think of missions from a worldly perspective, often their thoughts leap to one or two of a dozen assumptions, most often based on ideas they have seen in the media, ranging in scope from soup kitchens in a local community to feeding starving children in Africa right out to blazing a trail through dense jungle to find and convert uncivilized tribes of people to Christianity. Often the media, especially television, paints a picture of Christian missionaries in a negatively humourous light, the exception being the wonderful Christian television stations and production companies who devote their lives to bring rich, truthful programming to the airwaves. In truth, what is often lacking in the world’s understanding of missions is the reason why missions are so widespread. What is it that makes mission a way of life for some people? What is at the root? Why, the root of mission is God himself. Yes, he is love. Yes, he is peace. However, as a result, he is also justice, and in pursuit of justice do the missionaries venture forth.

In the days of the Garden of Eden, when Adam and his wife served God and were in right relationship with him, God set before them a twofold task: to be fruitful and increase in number, and then to fill and subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28, NIV). God had created a world for them to live in that was in God’s eyes “very good” (Genesis 1:31, NIV), and as such set it before them to be stewards of creation, caring for it, nurturing it, and subsequently each other. Even in paradise, God had work for humanity to do. The aspect of God’s character that is prevalent here is his goodness. He is not wasteful, nor careless, but is committed to caring for his created things, including people, all people, everywhere. He does this through his creation, which was provided for his people, and through his people, which were provided one for the other.

As the story of creation unfolds, we find we cannot remain there, but must move inevitably to the scene of the Fall of Man, where Adam sins against God by disobediently eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 3:6, NIV) and then compounds the sin by blaming it all on Eve. In expelling Man’s forbears from the Garden (Genesis 3:22-24), God shows yet another aspect of himself, and this forms a beginning of a more outward-focused basis for missions throughout history: mercy. Though some of a fleshlier bent might say that an angry God was cruel and vindictive in casting the original sinners from the Garden, the Christ-follower must conclude unequivocally that it was mercy and love guiding his decision, because although humans were created to live forever, it was to be forever in perfection. Living eternally under the influence and effect of sin would have been too much for the frail human, and an abomination before God. An abomination to God is not just something that displeases him because he is stubborn childlike in wanting things to unfold his way, but quite the contrary. It is something that displeases him by doing some kind of harm, physical, emotional or spiritual, to something that he loves.

After the destruction of the first peoples of the earth by the Great Flood in Genesis 6, (also an act of mercy, which shall not be elaborated upon in this text) God allows humankind to grow over a significantly long time, then scatters them in Genesis 11 when they begin once again to become prideful, and attempt to build a tower that reached the heavens. God illustrates his commitment to protect his people, even from themselves, by confusing their speech.[1] It is from here that the saving work of God in mission really begins to show itself. In Chapter 12, God appoints Abram, of the line of Noah, to go forth and become a great nation (Genesis 12:2, NIV). Imagine the faith it took to leave family and familiar surroundings, and waltz into a land to which he had never before travelled, all at the call of God, and based on a promise at that! This is the call of missionaries today, to step out in faith based on the call and promise of God.

Through many trials comes Abram, then, even one that calls upon him to kill his beloved son, Isaac, and he demonstrates the heart for God’s mission. He proves he has what it takes to be on mission for God, and God uses him, giving him the new name Abraham, which means, “father of many,” in Hebrew (Genesis 17:5). Further, God fulfills the covenant he made with Abram by making a great nation, Israel, out of his descendants, thus demonstrating another of his traits: faithfulness.

Fast-forward to a time almost 5 hundred years later, and consider the call of Moses, an Israelite by birth who was saved from death as an infant by a Pharaoh's daughter, and who by “chance” got to be a prince of the mighty nation of Egypt (Exodus 1). Nonetheless he finds his heart turning towards his own people and leaves Egypt after killing someone for beating a Hebrew (Exodus 2:12). The call to mission here comes many years later when Moses is established as a shepherd in Midian, east of the Red Sea. God comes to him in the form of a burning bush, and calls upon Moses to go back to Egypt and lead them out of slavery (Exodus 3:10-12), promising to be with him the whole way. Moses begins to protest, not thinking he is capable, but God does not call the qualified; he qualifies the called.[2] This is the call of missionaries today, to go and lead God’s people out of slavery, and to know that he is with them as they attend to his work.

God’s mission is simply this: to gather all of his children back into his family, to soothe their hurts and dry their tears and bring them home to their rightful place in the Kingdom of Heaven. Every last one. His desire is to reconcile them to him, removing all their sin and its destructive effects, redeeming his children and inviting them to be a part of a larger story than the one into which they were born, and finally giving the redeemed eternal life, a return to the perfection of creation when he makes all things new. To do this, God has been calling upon people of faith who trust in him to go out and be the instruments of his plan.

All through the Old Testament, there are examples of mission activity initiated by God. Prophet after prophet and missionary after missionary are sent out to help, feed, clothe, protect, admonish, discipline and teach the needy and oppressed children of Israel. Consider Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, who began his career as a young man who didn’t know how to proclaim the Word of God, yet God gave him the words and Jeremiah trusted in him. Throughout the book, God’s punishment upon Israel is laid out and all seems grim, yet there is redemption to be had: “’Do not fear, O Jacob, my servant, for I am with you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but only with justice; I will not let you go totally unpunished’” (Jeremiah 46:28, NIV). Even in the midst of Israel’s rebellion, God is ever faithful as a father, disciplining but not destroying, ever mindful of justice. Teaching Israel justice must have been a painful process for God, who loves with a love beyond human understanding. Good fathers discipline their children, even when it means that the children must be made quite uncomfortable in the process. Learning, after all, is hard. As hard on Israel as the process was, it certainly was harder on their father in heaven.

The prophet Amos brings a message of justice as well. Amos was a simple shepherd with no known ministry credentials. He only had a word from God, yet out he went to represent God to his people as an agent for the poor. As Israel’s people become increasingly religious in their recaptured prosperity, God uses Amos to steer them straight into the face of ever-present social injustice and urges them to adopt true and pure righteousness as their way of life, instead of the imagined righteousness of ritual and doctrine. God says: "I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want” (Amos 5:21-24, The Message). God expects justice for all, not just the wealthy, those who are seemingly more blessed than the poorer members of society, seemingly more righteous than their pagan neighbours. All. All through the history of the Jewish people, God’s underlying theme has been: “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people” (Leviticus 26:12, NIV).

In the New Testament, God sees that the human race needs to be lovingly brought back into his grace from four hundred years of his silence. He knows the only way to do this is to come to Earth himself, in the flesh as one of his children, in order that humanity could relate to him, could identify with him, and could see that God absolutely understands the depth of human hurt. God understands that the Law he gave to his people, in order that they might be holy, must of necessity be fulfilled. Not one of the Israelites is capable, and God knows that he must save them or let them plummet into hell. God’s compassion for his people is summed up in the life of one man. Enter the Christ: Jesus of Nazareth.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, NIV). “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14, NIV). God’s theme continues even hundreds of years later. The Messiah has come! But early in his ministry, Jesus demonstrates that he is here for a very radical reason. He has not come to bring in God’s Kingdom by force. He has not come to destroy Israel’s enemies. He has not come to reward the ‘righteous.’ He has come to save the world. But how? Jesus exhibited another of God’s traits that sometimes baffles the self-righteous: compassion. The word “compassion” comes from two Latin words, pati, and cum, meaning essentially to “suffer with.” God saw that his people were suffering, and knew he had to take action. He came among us, to suffer with us, because of his eternal love for us. It is important for us also to understand, in our limited capacity, what the word “eternal” means. Dr. Pat Morley, founder of Man in the Mirror Ministries, said at a recent Promise Keepers conference:

Let’s look at what ‘forever’ really means. Let’s pretend there’s a one hundred foot by one hundred foot by one hundred foot block of granite. Now pretend that once every ten thousand years, a small bird comes along and sharpens its beak on this rock. Now, the amount of time it would take for this cycle to repeat enough times to wear the granite block down to dust, is but the very first blink of eternity’s eye...[3]

All people, not just law-keeping Jews, were targets for Jesus’ love and sense of mercy. The compassion of Christ is evident in the story of the man with leprosy (Mark 1:40-45, NIV), when Jesus steps outside the societal norm to touch a man who had not felt the touch of another human in a long time. Jesus, tired from a long day of healing and journeying, on the same day as he received the news that John the Baptist, his cousin and forerunner, has been beheaded by King Herod, still has compassion upon a large group of people he sees as “sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34, NIV). Everywhere he went, his compassion touched lives. When he healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:30-31, NIV); when he saved the adulteress from stoning (John 8:1-11); when he wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:32-36), not because Lazarus was dead, of course, but because of the profound pain of Mary and Martha, Jesus demonstrates time and again that God’s compassion knows no limit. When he tells us to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:39, NIV), it is because God himself loves us, his children, so much as this.

The ultimate compassion is shown, though, when Jesus is condemned to death upon a cross and as the nails are going into his hands and feet, he cries out to God: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34, NIV). Can anyone love us so much as to pray for us while we are torturing and killing him? God’s own compassion for us is eternal. It meant that he would have to die on a cross to rescue the world from sin and death.

It also means that we, his people, are called to carry out Jesus’ mission in his absence until the day of his return. Following his resurrection, the apostles were sent out to proclaim the good news of the gospel. They obeyed. Paul, particularly, is one such example. Here is a man who was a highly motivated persecutor of the early church, a Jew who was so offended by the beliefs of Jesus’ followers that he took it upon himself to torture and kill them wherever and whenever he could. Then came the fateful day on the road to Damascus, when he was met by the risen Christ in all his glory. Ever after, his life was changed. He dedicated his life to the service of Christ and to preach the gospel far and wide among the Gentiles, people who were not Jews, and according to the Jewish leaders, not eligible recipients of God’s blessings. His journeys took him to a great many places and he was tortured, imprisoned, and eventually executed for his faith, but his work drew a great many people to Christ and planted many, many churches along the way.

Drawing people to Christ is how God’s compassion plays out to save the world. Drawing them to believe in Jesus is how God reaches out to the lost, the broken and the rebellious. It is not religious proselytizing or persecution in Jesus’ name, but simply God using his people in his son’s stead to reach out to the orphan, the widow, the needy, the leper, the images of Christ himself, for as Jesus said, The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:40, NIV). This means that simple belief is not enough. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27, NIV).

In his book, Fields of the Fatherless: Discover the Joy of Compassionate Living, Tom Davis, President of Children’s Hope Chest charities, says,

It’s obvious that one of the reasons God calls His people to reach out to the defenseless is because they are the most needy. Without our help, they will die early deaths, they will be swept into lives of poverty, they will make bad decisions and end up in jail. The love of God’s people can help them not end up as statistics. We can show them they have a chance to make it in life. We can be a turning point for them by making an effort to express the Father’s love in simple ways that make eternal differences. (2008, p.122)

Tom Davis spends much of his time travelling to places like Russia and Africa in order to rescue children from poverty, prostitution and the widespread epidemic of AIDS. He says that if only 7% of all Christians would sponsor or adopt a child, there wouldn’t be any more hungry children. What this means on an even more practical level is that if children aren’t hungry, they are less likely to be enticed with promises of food and shelter, and even love, that enticed the more than ten million children that have been sold into the sex trade as slaves. What this also means is that if God’s people feed starving widows and orphans, “the least of these brothers of mine,” then they are in turn making disciples in accordance with the Great Commission. Not only disciples made from the widows and orphans, but from the world at large, who will bear witness to God’s work through his people.

Again, God’s people are called to fight against abomination, which is anything that brings harm to God’s children, which are every single man, woman and child on the planet. The trick is that we are fighting on several fronts. Poverty, disease, the ever more lucrative sex trade and the insanity of homelessness and abandoned children are a few of the most visible ones, but there are scores of others. Are not greed, the various lusts, self-righteousness, and the other hallmarks of today’s standards of success, in fact, reasons for mission as well? Phil Wagler, Lead Pastor of Kingsfield, a growing community of believers in Huron County, Ontario, says,

God loved the world. The entire motivation for God’s invasion of enemy territory[4] was love of a fallen, sin-scarred, warring, broken, indifferent, idolatrous, messy world. It was while we were yet his enemies that the Father sent the Son to reconcile us to himself and restore peace (Romans 5:1-8). The goal of this divine invasion was the movement of people, God’s precious possession, from a life that is perishing into a life that is eternal. In sending the Christ, God essentially came to rescue his enemies from the losing side. This eternal life is not some “other side of the grave” escapism. Rather, it is a here and now and forevermore assurances of a kingdom come on earth as it is and will be in heaven. (2009, p.21)

Mr. Wagler is a man whose feet are firmly planted in the truth of Scripture and whose heart is devoted to seeing all of God’s people out on mission together, fighting the Lord’s battle, winning the hearts of the needy as well as the greedy over to the one who was sent among us to minister to the needs of all and bring all of the prodigal children back into the passionate embrace of their loving Father.

No one ever said this would be an easy task. Cross-cultural missionaries face a more daunting task than ever before. Hostile governments and radically violent and militant religious groups threaten Jesus mission at every turn. Countless missionaries are tortured and executed. Churches in a host of foreign countries are persecuted just for belief in and surrender to the will of God. The apostle Peter says,

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’ But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:13-17).

What Peter meant is that God’s people are to set an example of grace, mercy, goodness, kindness and respect for others to see the effect of having Christ as the centre of their lives. In order for these traits to be worth anything, they have to hold up under harsh conditions, like persecution. Remember that compassion means to “suffer with.” As God’s children suffer with the poor and needy, the widows and orphans, the homeless and the diseased, the power-hungry and the sexually immoral, the rich and the prideful, so it is that they suffer along with Christ; not a bad place to start, for it is God from whom all blessings flow. Missions are the blessing from God to those who are in need of blessing.

Therefore it is our God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Trinity, maker of the entire universe, who is the true basis for missions, both local and abroad. Where there is hopelessness, he brings hope, in the form of Christians reaching out. Where there is pain, God sends Christians to soothe it. Where there is sin, God sends Christians to fight it. Wherever God’s people need him, he is there, in the form of us. We are all God’s people. May we hearken to his call.




[1] The confusion of speech and diversity of the many languages throughout the Earth is symbolic that the curse continues to affect us today as new languages continue to be generated, even fictional ones like Klingon and Elvish!

[2] This is a common saying in Christianity nowadays, and not originally my idea, though I am unsure of its origins. It is, however, very appropriate to the context of world missions.

[3] I attended this conference, which was entitled, “Forever,” on Nov. 13 and 14, 2009, at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.

[4] This is C.S. Lewis’ interpretation of the incarnation in his book Mere Christianity.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Temptation of Jesus: 40 Days of God's Love

Hi, all. Yet another school assignment to share with you. I think stuff like this needs to benefit more than just me as a grade on a college paper. May God meet with you as you read and foster growth in your journey with him as he continues to do in my life.

Luke 4, verses 1-13, reads as follows:

1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

3The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"

5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

12Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

What do you think when, as Christians, we hear people making statements such as:

- “I’m a self-made man?”

- “I answer to no one but me?”

- “I made it on my own steam?”

- “I don’t need anyone for anything. I’m totally self-sufficient?”

You get the idea. Today’s society, and even society in generations gone by, has really been buying into a tempting new gospel. Supposedly it is a gospel of freedom, but it is really a gospel of self-centredness, a gospel of introspection and self-reliance, and a gospel that is leading even seemingly solid Christians into rebellion and waywardness. It is for all appearances an idyllic prospect, and I’ll not deny that it sure feels good when we obey our fleshly desires, but at what cost?

What we’re speaking of here is the sinful nature of man, and its natural response to the overwhelming number of temptations we must deal with on a daily basis. How often do we give in? How do we resist? Where is God when the temptations come? Is he watching? Do you think he’ll pay too much attention if I just take one second look? Will he mind if I indulge in one lingering touch? ‘She’s so pretty, and my wife has been so moody lately.’ How about if I let my church offerings slide for a while? ‘My new car is quite expensive, but it’s so shiny.’ Maybe if I grab a couple of bucks out of the till? ‘I`m out of milk, and the case of beer is almost empty.’ What if I only ignore a few needy people? ‘That couple can be really hostile, and I’m in a hurry.’ I mean, how can God know what I feel? He’s out there ruling the world, but he doesn’t know my situation. Surely I can justify a little bit of sin just to get me by comfortably. I’m no worse than the next guy, and better than most, and I deserve it, don’t I? After all, everyone’s doing it, and if God really wanted us all to stop sinning, he’d do something spectacular, like sending a flood, or a plague, or a prophet, right? I wonder if he really even cares. How could he? He’s so big and I’m so small. He’s so good and I’m so bad. I wonder if he`s even there...

You see the result? You see the slippery slope we slide down if we venture too far? We’re human, and we are so weak. We have a God who created everything and who created us, but he is invisible to our unseeing eyes; eyes that are blinded by the very thing that feels so good: sin. Is he watching? Does he care? Why doesn’t he answer? Did he really say that? These are the questions put to us by our enemy. Yes, we have one. We are God’s people, and so we have an adversary. He is the same one whose pride and ambition to seize the very throne of heaven caused him to be cast down by his creator. He is the same one who tempted Eve in the garden. He is the same one who even now lies in wait to ensnare God’s people in a web of sin. He is our oldest enemy: Satan. He is called the Devil, the Tempter, the Prince of Lies, the Evil One, and the Serpent, and he is very effective at what he does, especially when we take our attention away from God. He tells us we are worthless. He tells us God isn’t real. He puts sin in our path that we might indulge in it, and we do. We do because we like it. We do because society today advocates it. We do because some of us think that we are Christians and so we are forgiven and are free to do whatever we want and still get to heaven. We do because Adam sinned and allowed sin to come into the world and it’s in the nature of the scorpion to sting the frog, so the frog should have known better than to give the scorpion a ride across the stream. So it is with man. It’s in our very nature to sin. So what are we to do? To answer that, we need to look to the best example we can find, to the only person who never, ever committed a sin. We need to look to the life of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Let us consider the journey of Jesus into the desert. It begins with an act of obedience. Jesus made his way to Bethany where his cousin John, who was also his forerunner, was preaching and baptizing new believers in the Jordan River. In John 1, verses 29-34, John explains the Baptist's purpose:

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God.”

Jesus was baptized in accordance with his Father’s will and was set to begin his ministry in Galilee, except for one thing. God knew that in order for Jesus to fulfill his mission, he would have to be baptized with fire as well as water. It was part of his training. As an athlete conditions herself for the rigours of competition, or a soldier steels himself for the horrors of war, so Jesus knew he must be sharpened and tested before venturing forth to defeat sin, a seemingly impossible task, certainly for one man. Yes, he is the Son of God, but as John points out in verse 14,

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Jesus was a man, fully human and totally vulnerable to temptation. Though divine in origin, Jesus was God in the flesh. He was subject, of his own choosing, to the entirety of human experience. Pain, fatigue, hunger, thirst. These were part of Jesus’ life, just as they are a part of ours. There was more, however; another reason for this journey. Jesus set out to set an example. We’ll see why in a short time.

Jesus left Bethany after being baptized and was led by the Holy Spirit out into the desert. It was his time. It was time for Jesus to fulfill all that God had sent him to earth to fulfill. There was no more time for education. No more time for the daily life of regular men. It was time to execute God’s mission: to save the world. Sounds heroic, doesn’t it? And it is. The story of Jesus is epic. Today, when we think of stories where people save the world, it is usually in movies where there is a lot of kung fu and machine guns, fast cars and helicopters crashing, bombs exploding and giant alien robots being hewn to bits by shirtless, sword-wielding warriors whose true motive is to rescue the damsel in distress and if the world is saved in the process, it’s an added bonus. The saving work of Jesus is actually just as exciting as all of that; more exciting, even. In order to accomplish it, however, there had to be a test endured and an example made.

Why the desert? Consider what a desert is: a wasteland. A place of solitude. A place of suffering. A place of extreme temperatures and dangerous creatures and mortal peril and endless emptiness. A place, then, where the enemy, Satan, is right at home, and a where a man is in totally foreign territory. A place not his own. For Jesus, it was to be the crucible where his mettle was to be refined. You see, the desert was not only Jesus’ place of purification. It was a battleground.

Jesus spent forty days there, fasting and praying and walking and suffering. Forty days. You would think a week, or maybe ten days might be enough to break the spirit of any man, when faced with poisonous scorpions and snakes and scorching days and freezing nights and no food or drink or any comforts. Consider how many of us at the slightest bit of discomfort begin to complain. We immediately retreat to our creature comforts, don’t we? Air conditioning on hot days, turning up the furnace on cold days, fast food when we’re a little hungry, a Timmy’s coffee or a Coke when we’re thirsty. Jesus stuck it out for forty days. Six weeks. Wow. That`s not even counting the temptation he suffered. We`ll go there in a moment.

There is a significance to all of this, and God`s plan is so beautiful. Jesus was led into the desert, because the desert is a place of purification. It is a place of testing, and a place of surrender. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, their sin caused God such anger as to keep them wandering in the desert for forty years (Deut. 29:5-6), in order to test them and purify them and show them who he is. Moses ascended Mt. Sinai and remained there with God for forty days (Ex. 24:18), communing with him and learning from him directly. Long before that, when Jacob, who was called Israel, had died, it is written that his embalming took forty days (Gen. 50:2-3), the embalming ritual being a cleansing or purification of the body for burial. And long before that, God in his wrath against sinful man destroyed the world in a torrential rainstorm that lasted forty days (Gen. 7:11-12), essentially purifying the earth so that he could begin again. In order for a surgeon to perform his work to save a person’s life, his instruments must be sharpened and sterilized. So too, when God set out to save the world, his instrument, Jesus Christ, had to be sharpened and cleansed.

In addition to the harsh elements of the desert, Jesus endured direct attacks from the devil. Satan pulled out his most formidable weapons at Jesus’ weakest moments and brought them to bear in the hopes of foiling God’s purposes. He tempted Jesus in a great many ways during the whole forty days of the ordeal (Luke 4:2), but three stand out, and these three pertain to three areas of temptation to which sinful man is prone to succumb: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.

First of all, Satan knew Jesus was so hungry that any man so hungry as this would eat anything. So he challenged Jesus by reminding him he was, in fact, the Son of God, and of the fact that he could, at any time, give in to his flesh and change stones into bread (v. 3). But Jesus was not so easily swayed. What did he do? He relied on Scripture. “Man does not live on bread alone” (Deut. 8:3). Go, Jesus!

Knowing he could not tempt the Saviour’s flesh, Satan moved on to try and tempt Jesus with some eye-candy. Taking Jesus to a “high place” (v.5), he offered Jesus all authority over the magnificent kingdoms of the world, in all their glory and splendour if only Jesus would bow down and worship him. Again, Jesus goes back to Scripture: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only” (Deut. 6:13). Score: Jesus 2, Satan nada.

The Devil had yet another card up his sleeve. It was the one with which he himself was defeated: Pride. Pride is the elevation of self to God’s level. It is displaying one’s greatness so everyone can see. Satan takes Jesus to the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem and tells Jesus to show off by jumping, so that angels will come and rescue him as it is written in Scripture. (Ps 91:11-12). The Devil, as you may know, knows his Bible, too. He knows it better than you or I, and it is his game to twist the meaning of God’s Word to fit his schemes. But Jesus knew better. He went to God’s Word once more: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Deut. 6:16). Game, set, match!

Can you imagine how angry Satan must have been? No one had ever been able to resist him before, and no one in recorded history has been able to resist him completely every time since then. How then was this man, this Jesus, able to do it? Was it because Jesus was not in fact a man, but a divine being with special abilities? I should say no, because so many Scriptures say otherwise. They speak of Jesus thirsting (Jn 4:7). They speak of Jesus weeping (Jn 11:35). They speak of Jesus getting angry and using human means to express that anger (Mk 11:15-17). Jesus was fully human as much as he was fully God. That’s a hard concept to grasp, but I use it here only to demonstrate that Jesus’ resistance to temptation was not due to any supernatural ability he may have possessed. He had something else about him that each and every one of us is offered by God, as a free gift. We cannot conjure it up. We cannot buy it. We cannot assume that we have it if we pray the Sinner’s Prayer.

What Jesus demonstrated in resisting Satan’s temptations was FAITH! If Jesus had not believed totally that God was with him, and that what he was doing was clearly the will of his Father in heaven, do you think he would have put up with 40 days of pure torture that he could have ended simply by walking back to Bethany? I wouldn’t have, and I surmise that you wouldn’t either. If Jesus had not believed unequivocally that God was truly God, and was he who created everything, and was he who spoke through the prophets and gave the Law to Moses, do you think he would have memorized so much Scripture and understood it so well as to be able to apply it to his every situation? I have not done so, and I surmise that neither have you. If you have, your faith is astounding, but you still need Jesus, just like the rest of us who haven’t.

The point, of course, is that it is our faith in God that allows us to resist temptation. Now that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, believers in Jesus are given this free gift, but it must be honed, sharpened by fire. It does not grow in a happy, safe environment, but in the midst of suffering. Faith doesn’t become strong without a healthy dose of pain. This is not to say we must injure ourselves or put ourselves needlessly in danger. Simply that to really see what God can do to transform lives and forgive sins, one must have really seen it, as redundant as it sounds. We need to have had God raise us up out of this darkness, to forgive us, and with his kindness, lead us to repentance, not guilt. Who among us likes to feel guilty? Not me.

Take a look at James 4, verses 4-10:

4You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

What is James saying? Do you think he’s railing away at the people in an effort to make them ashamed? No! He’s trying to tell them that submission to God is the road to repentance, and recovery, if you will, from the disease of sin that permeates us. In this case, submission to God means belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he suffered and died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day to bring us all into everlasting life. This belief will fill a person with hope, and a hopeful person is a grateful person and a grateful person is a loving person and a loving person does not sin against his brother or sister. When we submit to God, we are actively resisting Satan and he will flee. He flees because the power of God is so great he knows he can’t win against it. He cannot have the souls of those that God has saved, and he knows it, so he goes away defeated! Praise be to Jesus!

I’ll leave you this Scripture in closing:

13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Cor 10:13)

I urge you; take stock of your lives. Look closely at your own rebellion. Look hard and honestly at where you are and what sins you have not confessed before God, and see just how destructive it is to your relationship with him. He loves you. He wants to revive your dead soul. He wants to revive my dead soul. He sent his son Jesus to save us, but also to live as an example for us to follow when temptations come, and they will. Will you follow him?

See you all next time. May your days until then be blessed.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

A Gospel Reflection: John 8:2-11

Hello, readers.

It's been almost a year since I wrote last, and that's because my life has been a whirlwind, but I hope you will welcome my words once more. As things turn out, my hopes have come to a measure of fruition. I will, in two weeks time, be beginning my education at Emmanuel Bible College in Kitchener, Ontario. God's calling in my life has pointed me towards a pastoral ministry and I have answered his call. May I be a humble and eager student from this day on, even beyond the years of college. And may God speak to me and through me for his glory, not mine.

For my first entry, I want to share a reflection I wrote on the story of the adulterous woman in the Gospel of John. An online survey of the New Testament which I've been pursuing through Distance Education has called for a Gospel Narrative Reflection paper, and I goofed. I was supposed to think of a story involving Jesus in one of the Gospels and then insert myself into the scene and experience the moment. THEN I was supposed to write 1,000 words about my experience with Jesus. However, my first attempt was to write the experience as it happened, which was not the assignment. So I had to start over. Nonetheless, it is a piece of writing that some prayer and thought and time went into and I believe it to be worth sharing, but that will be between you, dear reader, and God.

“Stone her!” they cry.

“God’s wrath be on the harlot!”

“Feed her filthy carcass to the dogs!”

I find myself hollering and jeering along with them, though truly I feel pity for the wretched wife of that drunken carpenter Moshe. I know what will soon befall her, and what they’ll think of me if I show the slightest hint of pause. She struggles against our grasp, trying desperately to escape, for she too knows the Law, and what must now transpire cannot but frighten the poor woman. Blood will be spilled this day.

I and my companions shove the woman accused of adultery into the center of the court gathered in the temple. The assembled throng all bend down and begin picking up an assortment of stones from the ground, with obvious intent. The accused woman sobs, and then begins to shake with fear. “Have mercy!” she cries, falling to her knees on the floor of the temple court. But there is no mercy, only judgment on the faces of the Pharisees, only a hateful wrath... A chill runs down my spine.

There is one, however, who does not cheer, and who does not shriek and tear his clothes at the sin of this whore. It is that rabbi Jesus of Nazareth. What is it with him that he behaves so strangely?

And what is to become of the woman’s lover? Should we not have seized him as well? Does not the Law command us to convict the man along with the woman in the case of adultery? (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22, NIV) I know not where this is going, but something here seems odd, as if perhaps the woman’s disobedience of the commands of God is not the only issue before the court. I cannot let the Pharisees see my suspicion.

Jesus looks up, and his gaze suddenly meets mine. His mouth tightens a little. Yet his eyes soften. What does he see? What does he know? I cannot look into those eyes any longer. They are tugging on my very soul.

The Pharisees are speaking to Jesus now. “Teacher,” they say, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

Such a question to ask of a rabbi! What are the teachers thinking? Will Jesus presume to contradict the commands of God? Or worse, presume to have the very authority of Almighty Yahweh at his disposal? Only a madman would dare do that! Or a devil! Or God himself...

But now Jesus has simply walked into the circle and has squatted down. What is that he is doing? Writing in the dust? Is this man insane? The Pharisee has asked him a question! Has he no dignity? He looks up briefly to catch my stare again. There is a depth in those eyes. A …timelessness. His knowing gaze pierces me and again I must turn away. Who is this man?

The teachers grow impatient. They question Jesus. “Well, is the woman guilty of a mortal sin or not? Shall we stone her or not? The will of God is clear, is it not? Yet we wait for your answer, Rabbi!” I can feel the contempt oozing from their lips. I fear I may have been mistaken in being part of this endeavour. Despite her sin, this woman is about to die for a horrible reason. I am feeling sick to my stomach.

Suddenly I discern the purpose of Jesus’ writings. He is writing pieces of the Law on the temple floor! Pieces which are linked to proceedings such as this, and more! His grasp of the Law of God is impressive. Such knowledge and wisdom in such a young man! Who is he? Why did he come here?

Jesus sighs and straightens up. He looks at the woman. Is that compassion on his face? He even smiles slightly. I am ashamed at first to be in the same room with such a man. He cannot seriously believe this behaviour is acceptable in the court of the temple. I can feel the hatred of the Pharisees. They are trying to trap Jesus! Trying to manoeuvre him into presuming authority over the Law of God. That they need to resort to such tactics shames me too, for being associated with them. So much tension in this place; it is almost visible in the air. Perhaps this wretched woman will not be the only one to die today. That is a shame. As antagonistic and disrespectful as he has been, I have never seen anyone with such knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and such love for the people. Surely this man does not deserve death, for if he does, we all do.

Jesus speaks. “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” he says calmly. Now I know he is insane! No one has spoken to the teachers of the synagogue in such a way and lived to tell of it! I wish I could crawl away somewhere and hide. I look at the Pharisees and their faces hang agape with poorly concealed rage and astonishment. I suddenly notice that I too am awestruck by the audacity of the Nazarene, and that my jaw hangs slack. I try quickly to compose myself before the teachers see, but Jesus is looking at me again, and I can hide nothing. Am I so captivated by a lunatic? Or has a devil taken such a firm hold upon me that I can no longer control my senses, let alone my body? Nonetheless, I must drop my stone, for I cannot bring myself to throw it.

But lo, I am not the only one, for as my own rock falls to the ground, so I hear others thudding as they tumble from the other would-be murderers’ hands. This is incredible! That I have lived to see such a thing with my own eyes is nothing short of miraculous! That Jesus is not dead but alive and in control of this unbelievable scene is sheer madness, yet somehow it is the way it must be! Slowly, the oldest of us begin to walk away, their stones lying on the floor, uncast and forgotten. I cannot move, for I am filled with a foreign emotion that I’ve not felt in a very long time, perhaps not since I was a boy. What is this? Could it be...hope? Joy? How long since I felt these things? Too long…

More people are walking off now, leaving a trail of rocks, and the youngest are now beginning to follow them, their expressions revealing puzzlement. I know why. They’ve never yet been taught this. Mercy for sinners is not something they can yet grasp. Much of the older generation still knows it not. Yet here it is. Mercy. Who is this Nazarene, who by his rebellious words is able to shame the Pharisees and extend the mercy that only God can offer to a sinful, adulterous woman? As I, too, walk outside with the crowd, I wonder in amazement at the redemption I have witnessed. I pause at the door, trying to hear the words which follow. I can hear Jesus speaking again. “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

She speaks softly, but I can still hear her clearly. “No one, sir,” she says.

The voice of Jesus is steady and resonant, filled with an authority not granted by men. It is powerful and merciful and loving and joyful all at once. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declares. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

On hearing this, I turn back. I must speak with him. I must ask him a question. I believe I have experienced a revelation from God, and all at once I am hopeful and fearful and giddy with new possibilities and I am not sure what else I am feeling but I know something absolutely wonderful is occurring inside of me. I must talk to Jesus!

I burst back into the court. The woman is leaving. She looks me in the eye on the way past and I see tears in her eyes, yet a large and toothy smile adorns her painted face. I cannot say for certain, but there is little doubt this adulteress has had a similar realization to the one I have just had, the one all of the others missed as they shuffled out the door, mumbling and shaking their heads. She turns one last time to look upon Jesus as she goes back to her daily life, one that I have no trouble saying is about to undergo a most radical change. I think a certain lover will be very disappointed indeed. Perhaps he too should speak with this rabbi before the Pharisees catch up to him for his vile acts. Jesus looks up at her and smiles, and she hurries out the door. I stand for a moment while he surveys me, gazing into his eyes. This man is not like any other I have ever known, and I must find out!

I approach him, my head down, and my eyes cast to the floor to escape his knowing gaze. He smiles, slightly but warmly and says, “Speak, son. You have a question for me.”

I say, “Teacher, is it you? Are you he? Are you the Messiah? The Christ? The anointed one promised to us?”

Very simply, he puts a hand on my shoulder. His eyes twinkle with a deep-set joy that I cannot fathom. He grins widely and replies, “Go now, and leave your life of sin.” Then he turns and walks out.

I can do naught but raise my hands to the Lord our God and weep, for I have no words left. He has come! In the silence of the now empty temple court I know that I will always remember this day. I will remember and tell my children, and they their children, about the day that I met our God in the flesh, and that on that day he forgave my sins, forever.

See you again soon.