Book Review - Objective Troy

Scott Shane’s ‘Objective Troy’ is a much needed book.  Anyone who cares about America’s place in current worldwide affairs should read it.  Shane educated me about the nation of Yemen and the history of the United States’ so called war on terror.  

            Shane’s research is exceedingly thorough, his writing style flows nicely, and his conclusions are fair and based on facts.  He offers opinions, but he does so from a reasonable starting point.  This means his work is quite easy to read, makes a lot of sense, and is persuasive.

            That last observation, the persuasiveness of Shane’s work, for me is challenging. I have very much wanted to like our current president, Barak Obama.  And in some ways, I still do.  However, Shane reveals a side of Obama – the side that prefers secrecy to transparency –I find disappointing.  I believe what Shane shows is accurate.  In the ‘war on terror,’ Obama’s hands are dirty, and I am not sure the messes were handled in the best way.

            So, I recommend ‘Objective Troy.’  In fact, for anyone who wants to get a grasp of American history 2000-2015, I’d say it a must read.  

I was given a free copy of this book for the purpose of writing a review.

Hope from the Most Unlikely Places - Advent 4

Sunday, December 23, 2012

            “O Bethlehem … from you shall come forth … one who is to rule in Israel.  … He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

            … He shall be great to the ends of the earth

            … He shall be one of peace” (5:2, 4, 5a).

            Jesus came from Bethlehem.  “ … one who is to rule …”.  Is Jesus the king?  In frustratingly incomplete accounts in the four gospels, Roman governor Pilate is struggling with whether he should release Jesus or condemn him to death for rebellion against Rome.  Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you king.”  Jesus is silent.  Jesus, bloody, small and beaten, stands with composure that Pilate, the image of Roman strength, cannot muster.  Jesus talks about his kingdom and says it is not from this world and not one Pilate can possibly understand (v.36). 

Is Jesus the king who does what the prophet Micah says the coming one will do?  His birth so terrified Herod he tried to kill Jesus when he was just a baby.  His claims were substantial enough that Pilate did decide to crucify him.  If the New Testament and the early church are true, then he did rise from the dead – resurrected – and in a transformed body, one equipped for eternal life. 

He is “one to rule in Israel,” and He shall “stand and feed his flock,” according to the prophet.  Mary believed it when she was pregnant with him.  She sings of God, “He has scattered the proud … and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 2:51b, 53a).  The Gospels tell of Jesus miraculously feeding 5000 with a boy’s lunch.  Throughout history his church has overseen the work of feeding the hungry.  At HillSong, we feed the hungry in North Carolina, in Ethiopia, and in other places. 

Micah said he is “one to rule,” and he shall “stand and feed.”  Jesus did these things and his church does these things in his name.

Micah said this one “shall be great to the ends of the earth.”  Even as Christianity declines in Europe, the region where it enjoyed its greatest political strength, and even as Christianity has an uncertain future in the United States, in Africa, Brazil, China, South Korea, and other places, millions are turning to faith in Jesus.  They praise His name.  They proclaim him to be Lord of Lords and King of Kings.  His name shall be “great to the ends of the earth.”

We have journeyed with Old Testament prophets this Advent.  We begin with Jeremiah who spoke God’s word in the midst of the time in history when God’s people in Judah fell into exile.  Then Malachi brought the word of God from that time after exile, a disillusioned time when God’s people seemed weak and at the mercy of foreign powers.  In spite of their losses, they sought God and sought to reclaim and re-establish their identity as God’s people.  The we went a couple of generations before Jeremiah to Zephaniah who spoke the word of the Lord on the eve of exile when disaster was imminent but the people, caught up in their own ways to the neglect of God’s ways, could not see it.  Now today, we step back a few more generations to Micah who speaks to a conflict-filled populace, a people who do not seek God or his ways.

In this, I have tried to show how Jesus fits the role of the one the prophets said God would send.  Each prophet spoke words that were true in their day and for God’s people in subsequent generations.  They weren’t predicting Jesus as precisely as some Christian writers suppose.  They were inspired to speak God’s truth.  Methodist pastor and author Charles Aaron writes, “New Testament authors look to Micah, not because he had a crystal ball to predict the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, but because the prophets had insight into the ways of God” (Preaching Hosea, Amos, and Micah, p.117). 

The ways of God; perhaps the greatest question we can ask in our lives once we decide we want to be Christians and be Christ-followers is are we seeking to live in the ways of God?  The problem these prophets dealt with in the midst of the chosen people of God was that the general populace and especially the leaders in the temple and in the king’s palace were not seeking the way of God.  In fact they brazenly rejected the ways of God thinking they were safe standing on their nationality and theologically unique station in history.  This was true in the generations leading up the exile to Babylon, it was true on the eve of exile, during the exile, and afterward.

We are not in exile, but as a nation and as Christian people we feel the sting going away from God to our own ways.  As we move to Christmas to celebrate the birth of the Savior – Jesus – I am struck by three things.

First, a black shadow rising from the unspeakable tragedy at the elementary school in Connecticut hangs over us this Christmas.  It is sad, sad, sad.  I don’t lessen my belief that Jesus is the king who rules in the majesty of God, whose name is great to the ends of the earth, who feeds his flock, and who is the one who brings peace.  But as my heart goes out to families who have lost their precious children and to a community that can no longer feel safe putting their little ones on the school bus, a seemingly normal, benign activity, I wonder if my feelings about Jesus would be as strong if I lived there?  He is the only who can bring hope, but are those who mourn able to receive it?

Second, I am struck by the conflict among us that rises when we should focus all our energies on prayer, support, encouragement, love, and caring presence.  One side yells that without God in schools we can expect this kind of man-made disaster.  The other side yells that if we had better gun control laws we could have prevented this disaster.  And I have one friend who is very intelligent, conscientious person, and he has used this sad event to bring to light the normalcy of killing in other parts of the world.  Even as our president mourns the loss of innocent children in Connecticut, and I do not doubt the sincerity of the president’s emotion, my friend observes that our government sends drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The drone missiles are indiscriminant and school children have died.

Is this the way of God?  It is just as sad when a Pakistani first grader dies because an American-sent drone was off target as when Connecticut first graders die due to a deranged gunman.  We cry harder for the Connecticut first grader.  God weeps for both. 

I am struck by the events of last week.  I am struck by how this sadness heightens conflicts among us.  And third, I am struck by the Gospel and the truth that even in times that our tragic and bewildering, there truly is good news.  More shockingly, this good news comes from the most unlikely of places.

I said a moment ago that the prophets do not speak words that directly predict the birth and life of Jesus.  Rather, the prophets are attuned to God’s ways and when we read them, we should read with humble, vulnerable minds, ready to accept their critique of us and ready to be changed by the force of God in the prophets’ words.  One of the most outstanding features of God’s ways is to work in the world through people who do not appear powerful in the world.

God conquered Pharaoh and established his people through Moses, a speaker that stuttered.  God defeated the Philistine giant, Goliath, through a boy, David, who was so small he could not even wear the king’s armor.  God established his church, which now worships him from all over the world, through a tiny minority of people from within a nation – Israel – that itself was a persecuted weak minority within the Roman Empire.  Do you ever perceive yourself to be small, powerless?  If so, it is through you that God will change history because that’s God’s way.

In the case of Micah, preaching God’s ways in the face of a world that seemed indifferent and even in open rebellion, one word of prophecy turned out to be a direct link to Jesus.  “You, O Bethlehem, … from you shall come … one of peace” (5:2a, 2c, 5a).  From time to time, God’s hovering Spirit, influencing world events in big-picture way, moves in and God’s hand directs specific events.  I don’t know why God doesn’t move in specifically and prevent tragedies.  I am sorry I don’t know.  I feel terrible as a pastor that I cannot say why God doesn’t stop gunmen in schools.  I just don’t know.

But around 4BC, God moved Caesar to call for a census.  Joseph from Bethlehem had to return there to be counted and taxed by Rome.  He took his young pregnant wife, Mary.  And Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

In Micah’s day everything happened in Jerusalem.  But he prophesied that Jerusalem, Zion, the city of David, would be a “heap of ruins,” (3:12b).  Seven hundred years later, Bethlehem was like every other Jewish village, crushed under the merciless heel of Rome.  Today, Bethlehem is surrounded by an oppressive wall, 24 feet high.  That wall is there to keep Palestinians in and Jews out.  Today, Bethlehem enjoys over 50% unemployment.  Those who do work have menial, low-paying jobs in Israel.  Those who do not are fertile fields, recruited to be suicide bombers for the PLO and other groups.  Today Bethlehem is the epicenter of the unending war that plagues the Middle East.

And yet, we believe with all that is in us that Bethlehem is where peace comes from.  Jesus comes from Bethlehem and he is the hope for the world. 

I spent more time this week walking and praying than I have in a long time.  I thought about all the tears of our nation and of those in Connecticut.  I thought of how it must evoke memories of Aurora, Colorado, Virginia Tech, and Columbine.  And others.  I thought about places where death has become so normal that events like school shootings are not that significant.  And yet, as I walked and prayed, a more powerful thought overcame these others and that is the thought of God.  I thought of who God is and what God had done in Jesus. 

We’ve recited Micah’s prophesy.  In Jesus God comes out of nowhere – Bethlehem.  In Jesus rules, provides, and brings peace.  Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s love.  As the darkness and the thoughts of God’s action in the form of Jesus competed for dominance in my mind, something came to light.  The most inspiring stories are born in the darkest of times.  The teacher gave her life for her students.  Celebrities and strangers, in the week after, reached out in generous and loving ways to comfort the victims’ families.  The president, and I say this not disregarding legitimate critiques of him, showed his heart.  Why does such inspiration come from the midst of such pain?  Because that’s who God is.

I fully believe the hope that inexplicably rises from Bethlehem will visit all who wail in Connecticut and Pakistan and Afghanistan and Bethlehem of the 21^st century other places of great pain.  God comforts those who mourn.  That is God is.

More to our context, I believe God will visit where we mourn.  Maybe this Christmas is hard because you lost someone this year.  Maybe a relationship in your life isn’t going well.  Maybe your life is not where you want it to be.  Maybe you’ve given lip service to faith and the truths of Christianity, but you cannot see how it helps in the particular difficulties in your life.  Maybe you did not expect any help from a prophet who spoke and wrote in the 7^th century BC.

But she who is in labor has brought for a son who is the prince of peace, who is God in the flesh, and who is not the Savior of the world, but the Savior who is your Savior.  When we give our lives to Him we enter into a real relationship with a living, present God. 

We wouldn’t expect our individual stories to turn around dramatically, but the God we celebrate in our Christmas songs comes to us in unpredicted forms and wows us in ways we did not expect.  When he comes, and He will, we have hope.  Whatever you might be going through right now, God sees you, knows you, and loves you.  There is hope because of who God is.  Micah knew this, even in his dark prophecies.  The people in Connecticut are discovering this even their grief.  And we will discover it too as worship, celebrate, and remember throughout this Christmas season.

AMEN   

The Paradox of Wisdom

The Paradox of Wisdom (Job 28:12-13, 20-28)

            Tuesday night, it was cold, rainy and windy.  Candy and I were on campus at the symphony.  Walking across campus, bundled in coats, we saw many of the high quality students, students bright enough to be admitted into the celebrated University of North Carolina, and they were walking around in this nasty weather in tee shirts and shorts.  We thought they were crazy.

            We had a good laugh at the insanity of it.  Later though, I thought back on the evening and I had to admit my own stupid, foolish acts.  Sure, I was wise enough to wear a warm coat.  But before leaving the house, I argued with my son, and I was as irrationally angry as he was.  He was bull-headed and I matched him.  Only I am 42 and supposedly mature – mature enough to know better.  I was as a big a fool as anyone that night.

            Humans are fools and our folly is most easily seen when it is time to elect a president. 

Some fear that decadence and immorality are on the rise in our society.  But, there was just as much decadence and hedonism in ancient Rome as today.  I have heard doomsday scenarios regarding our economy.  But, I have friends who have studied this in depth and they tell me not to fear the current recession.  They say the economy has always been cyclical and successful times will always be followed by cycles of recession.  People see the state of the world and fear we are in the “last days” and final judgment is upon us.  Actually would that bad, if it means the return of Christ?  Good or bad, Jesus said not to speculate or worry about such things.

            None of this bothers me, but I am worried and unhappy about the polarizing condition of politics.  I voted early.  I tried to joke a bit with the partisans handing out voter guides.  It’s been so vicious, this campaign, I thought some levity might help.  They couldn’t laugh.  They agreed if I critiqued the other party, but got defensive when I teased theirs.  I was joking but they could not laugh.  They could not see how in politics we refuse to look at our own views critically and we are totally illogical in how we demonize our rival’s views. 

            If I were to say a single good thing about either Romney or Obama, it would erase all else I could say this morning.  Half would get mad at me for liking who you hate.  Half of you would automatically be happy because you’d take the one nice thing I said as an endorsement of “your guy.”  In politics there is no space for balanced, reasoned discussion. 

I began voting for president in 1988, George Bush v. Michael Dukakis.  This is my 7^th opportunity to vote for president.  Every single time, it is ugly.  Every presidential election brings out the worst in us.  I don’t see any improvement.  It feels like it is getting worse. 

Is this what God wants? Some of the ugliest political vitriol I have heard has come in church or from Christians.  God cannot be happy.  We need help.  We need wisdom.  And this need for wisdom is a major problem.

Job says, “Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?  Human beings do not know the way to it” (28:12-13a).  After suffering tremendously and then arguing with friends about the purpose of his suffering, Job concludes that wisdom is completely inaccessible.  “It is,” he says, “hidden from the eyes of all the living” (28:21). 

Someone running for office makes promises about all the things he is going to do if elected.  He chides his opponent for failed policies and empty promises.  He follows up with his own arrogant boasting about how he will bring strong leadership.  Where is his wisdom?  According to Job, wisdom is not “in the land of the living” (v. 13b).  Wisdom cannot be bought; “silver cannot be weighed out as its price” (15b).

Wisdom also cannot be earned.  In the book of Ecclesiastes we are told to be wary of any teaching or study beyond wise sayings.  “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is weariness of the flesh” (13:12).  Wisdom, something we need as much as a need anything as this grinding political cycle comes finally to a conclusion – wisdom is impossibly elusive.  Where is the hope that our narrative could differently, more peacefully, with less evil speech? 

Can Democrats be good Democrats without demonizing Republicans?  Can Republicans be who they are without belittling Democrats?  Can Christ-followers rise above it all and participate in our country’s democracy and at the same time bring glory to God in our word and speech? 

Gerald Janzen of Christian International Seminary notes where Job dismisses human efforts.  In his talk about mining precious metals and then dealing in Ophir and onyx and sapphire, as well as silver and gold, Job observes that neither technology nor commerce can find or produce wisdom.  Science and business both come up short.  Yet in our time, we are so proud of the wealth produced in our capitalist society.  We brag of the gains of our technological advancements.  Where does it lead?  Not to wisdom. 

From Proverbs 8: “Does not wisdom call?  On the heights at the crossroads, she takes her stand” (Proverbs 8:1a, 2).  There, wisdom speaks.  “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts long ago.”  Turning to the New Testament, we look to James 1:5.  “If any is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given to you.”  And again from Job, “Truly the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” (28:28).

Janzen cites this truth as the centerpiece of Job – it all comes back to the fear of the Lord.  Job’s friends talk about God in time-worn clichés the way politicians talk about their platforms and lampoon their opponents.  Voters mimic the sound bites of their candidate of choice.  Job, too shaken to wax theological, resorts to prayer; it comes in rather abrupt laments that are uncomfortably honest and rash.  But Job does not spend time theologizing or spouting clichés or sound bites.  Job prays.  Janzen sees in this his fear of the Lord.  In declaring the impossibility of wisdom, Job shows the way to wisdom.

Wisdom cannot be found, cannot be bought, and cannot be earned or figured out.  Only God discovers wisdom; wisdom itself is God’s first creative act.  God is the giver of wisdom, something he happily doles out in generous amounts.  And the simplest definition of wisdom is fear of the Lord.  Another way of saying it is wisdom is found when we worship God, revere God’s holy name, and acknowledge God, revealed in Jesus, as Lord and master of our lives.

The essence of truth in Job is ridiculously simple.  And this may be the very essence of truth throughout scripture.  Fear the Lord and turn from evil, for as Job says in the second phrase of verse 28, “to depart from evil is understanding.”  Every good thing that comes from human hands, human speech, and human minds begins in our worship of God and our rejection of evil.

Building on this we add more from James, chapter 3, beginning in verse 13:

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.¹⁴But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.¹⁵Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.¹⁶For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.¹⁸And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

 

            Wisdom is found when we revere the Lord.  A sign of those who have found it is that their works are done with gentleness.  Most who have wisdom don’t know they have it.  They aren’t trying to be the smartest person in the room; they strive for purity and peace.  They are gentle and full of mercy. 

How many candidates in local, state, or national races are gentle and full of mercy?  I have heard it over and over: you can’t run for office and be honest or nice.  You’ve got to be a little dirty because your opponent with surely be underhanded.  But God’s Holy word says wisdom from above, which I believe is far superior to any wisdom humans can concoct, is seen in acting rightly, gently, and mercifully. 

If that is heavenly wisdom and all candidates have to be nasty, given to deceptive exaggeration, and aggressive – all things the opposite of what we read wisdom to be in James chapter 3 – then does it mean all our elected officials are fools?  No.  It means our system has gotten to a point where it rewards foolish behavior and ignores the wisdom of God.  We are ruled by Job’s friends, the only ones our system allows to have power – at least the power of elected office. 

What then do we do as God’s church?  We can’t find wisdom and give it to our president and senators and governor.  Wisdom can’t be found.  We can fear the Lord, which means we revere and worship Him.  We can seek him because, as James says, he gives generously and ungrudgingly.  We have something more powerful than our one vote.  We have prayer. 

The paradox of wisdom is that it is ours when we stop looking for it and begin seeking God.  We possess unlimited power when we empty ourselves, die to self, and silence our own voices, speaking only to God and speaking in tones only God hears. 

What can we do?  Every one of us should vote.   Between now and Tuesday, we pray.  On Tuesday, we pray.  And after Tuesday, we pray.  We might appear as fools to the world, but fear of the Lord, which leads us into prayer, is wisdom.  So we go before the Lord, who through His only Son Jesus invites us as his sons and daughters.  In prayer, we go to him, and we carry in our hearts those who are victims of the foolishness of America.  We pray by name in earnest for Mitt Romney and Barak Obama, for Walter Dalton and Pat McCrory.  We do it because at the end of the book of Job, the salvation of Job’s friends came when Job prayed for them.  Job’s friends rule us now, and they need God’s wisdom.  They’ll only get it if God gives it and they receive it.  We cannot control their responses.  We can only control what we do.  The wise thing is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly before the Lord, and to pray.  This is a time of prayer. 

AMEN

 

After the sermon, we will have a time of response where the church is invited to pray for the nation.