One Life to Live (Hosea 1:1-11)

Sunday, June 10, 2018

            Be ambitious.  Don’t fear embarrassment.  Make messes.  Jump into the unknown.  We only have one life to live. 

            I agree with all these meme-worthy sentiments.  I say, live the way my high school football coach told us to play defense, with reckless abandon.  Try new things.  Go new places.  This life is the only one we get.

            However, that idea that we have but one life to live means more than just make the most of opportunities.  It is also true that we cannot separate our life into fragments.

            Bill is a lawyer, a golfer, a deacon and Sunday school teacher, and the father of a middle schooler.  On Sunday, he teaches his class the New Testament, the book of James, chapter 5, verse 12.  “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’  For 45 minutes he solemnly extols the virtues of honesty and integrity. On Monday, he goes to trial where he knowingly violates the ethical standards he swore a vow to uphold.  Win the case at all costs! That’s how he justifies his actions. 

On Tuesday night at home, he verbally harangues his 8^th grade son when he hears the boy tell an off-color joke.  In his Thursday golf league, he tells the same joke to the 3 other attorneys in his foursome, and they stand on the fourth tee box, doubled over laughing. 

            In all those places, Bill is Bill.  There’s no separating lawyer-Bill from golfer-Bill from Bill-the-dad from Deacon-Bill.  Nor can we break up our lives.  We only have one life.  We don’t act the same way in all relationships.  But we are who we are.  There’s no leaving the religious me at home tonight so I can go out drinking and doing all the destructive things that come after too much alcohol.  If I get sloppy drunk, all that I have said I believe about God in more sober moments still holds.  Theology professor Michael Fishbane writes, “We are not one kind of person when we walk the earth feeling hunger or love, and then an entirely different sort when we listen to music or talk about [God].  We are always one and the same.”[i]

            When we talk about God, we speak of the boundaries of our existence.  Venturing beyond God is impossible and even nonsensical.  There is nowhere that God is not.  Our God-thoughts and God-talk, our theology, sets our reality.

            Everyone here made the effort to get out of bed on a Sunday morning and come to this building.  Along the way if someone asked, “What you doing?”  You’d say, I’m going to church.”  We’re here because we chose to be here, so we all probably believe in God or are at least open to the idea.  Many are even filled with passionate desire to worship God.  The Old Testament prophet Hosea would applaud such zeal for the Lord.  Hosea would also watch us closely after church, on Monday and Tuesday, on Friday night; Hosea wants to see if the songs we sing and the prayers we pray influence the words we speak and the things we do when we’re not here.

            Hosea was a prophet at a time when the ancient Jewish people had been divided into two separate nations.  The North was made up of the descendants of 10 of the 12 sons of Jacob whom we meet in Genesis 25-35.  Whenever you hear the phrase ‘the 12 tribes of Israel,’ it’s a reference to the descendants of Jacob’s 12 sons.  The nation was one people under the first three Kings, Saul, David, and Solomon.  Their stories can be found in the Old Testament books 1 and 2 Samuel, and also the first 11 chapters of 1 Kings.  In 1 Kings 12, the son of the deceased King Solomon, Rehoboam, alienates the 10 northern tribes, so they separate and crown Jeroboam as their king. 

            This event begins the period of the split kingdoms of the Jewish people with the north referred to as Israel and the south as Judah.  The stories of both kingdoms are intermingled in the Bible books 1 and 2 Kings.  The Northern Kingdom is lost to history when they are defeated by the Assyrian empire in 722 BC.  The Assyrians take of many of the Israelite people into exile and then force intermarriage with other peoples they relocate to Israel.  The descendants of these intermarriages are the Samaritans who figure so prominently in the stories of Jesus in the Gospels. 

            Thus the history of the Israelite monarchy is told from 1 Samuel through 2 Kings, essentially the years 1020 BC to 586 BC.  That period of history is seen from another angle in the books of the prophets, especially Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea.  Hosea, who worked in the Northern Kingdom, spoke and wrote the word of God from roughly 780-730BC.  His writing is not to recount history but rather to reveal God’s truth in light of that history.  He wrestled with a terrible burden.

            Hosea was visited by God’s Spirit in a way that is unique to Biblical prophets.  The prophets mentioned in the Bible reveal the heart of God.  Even though the world different in our day than in Hosea’s, the heart of God still beats.  People today rebel against God in some of the same ways. Hosea’s burden was he could see it all – God’s holiness and the people’s rebellion.  What Hosea had to say in the 8^th century BC speaks in the 21^st century AD. 

            He jumps right to it.  God gives Hosea an absurd instruction.  “Take for yourself a wife of whoredom.”  Marry a prostitute and have children with her. Parents wants their sons to marry women of virtue and good character.  Parents want their daughters to marry men who are gentle, trustworthy, and faithful.  I can’t recall anyone I have heard say, “Man, I hope my boy finds a lady of the night when he grows up.”  No one says that. 

Everyone involved in the exchange that happens in prostitution is broken.  Life has led that woman to think that her best or maybe only option is to sell her body.  That man paying the money needs deep meaningful connection.  But he doesn’t know how to find it.  So instead, he pays money for sex without relationship, without intimacy.  Prostitution is sad.  And evil.  Everyone involved in it is deeply wounded.  God told Hosea, marry a prostitute and have kids with her.

Hosea’s first work as a prophet was to enter a marriage none of us would ever consider.  However, for Hosea, it is a prophetic act.  He is enacting what Israel has been doing for decades.  Marry a wife “of whoredom,” because “the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (v.2b).  The land – the Northern Kingdom – Israel is compared to a man who leaves his wife and goes to a prostitute.  The Israelites have worshipped other Gods.  That’s idolatry – turning away from the true God to worship stone idols.  Adultery is a having sex with someone other your spouse.  In God’s view, to worship anyone or anything other than him is spiritual adultery. 

And we do it all the time.  We cut God out of the picture and give our allegiance and our hearts to things: political movements; relationships; favorite past-times or hobbies; sometimes addictions.  Some people put their children in the place that belongs to God.  God wants us to love our families.  It is commanded in the Bible.  But we are not to worship our children.  They are not the ultimate.  God is. 

The Israelites of Hosea’s day obeyed some of the religious practices prescribed in the Law of Moses, spelled out in in Exodus and Leviticus.  They certainly believed in God.  But they also worship local Canaanite deities and Egyptian gods.  God was about as happy with this as you would be with your spouse sleeping with someone else and then coming home and acting like everything was fine. 

God told Hosea to live out the situation in his own life.  Marry a prostitute.  Name the first son you and she will have ‘Jezreel.’  This name means “God sows” or “God plants seed.”  The second child, a daughter, will be Lo-ruhamah, which means “Not pitied.”  When Assyria comes to destroy Israel, God’s going to let it happen.  And when the Israelites cry out for salvation the way they did when they were slaves in Egypt in the days of Moses, God will show no pity.  The third child of Hosea and his wife, the prostitute Gomer, will be a son called Lo-ammi.  That translates “not my people.”

God sends Hosea into a marriage he would not have chosen and tells him what his children’s names will be.  Those names tell us that God plants destruction.  When that destruction comes and the people are defeated and exiled, God will not be sorry. 

How do we suppose God feels about lawyer Bill who plays the good Bible teacher at church, but when Sunday ends, he becomes the unethical lawyer who beats competitors that naively play by the rules?  By week’s end, Deacon Bill, Christian Bill, has chastised his son and then repeated his son’s lewd speech, laughing all the while. 

It’s just an example.  Maybe the preacher is making too much out of something that’s not a big deal, a mountain out of mole hill.  Preachers tend to do that.  I wonder if Hosea’s critics dismissed him as being a holier-than-thou loud mouth who made a lot of noise over nothing.  How do we suppose God feels when the choices we make and the words we speak as we live our lives Monday-Friday fail to match up to the faith we proclaim on Sunday?

The book of Hosea is about an integrated life.  Who we are in our faith, who we are in the world – it is all a part of us.  The prophet asserts that God is truly furious when we try to carve our lives into segments. 

Now, you and I, each one of us chose to come to church and sing and pray and smile and hug and meet God and feel joy.  I bet no one came seeking the God who forces his best people into doomed marriages as a way of expressing his divine anger.  We didn’t come to hear God tell us, “I have no pity for you and you are not people.”

And we know that God’s not like that.  Two weeks ago, we heard the Gospel of John say, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not become exiles in Assyria, but rather might have eternal life in the Kingdom of God.”  Every week we hear the Gospel: in Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God has come near.  He went to the cross for the sins of the world and in his resurrection, death is defeated.  When we give our lives to Him, we have everlasting life. 

We know God is not vengeful.  God is not as weird as He seems in the opening of Hosea.  Hosea knew this too.  Hosea’s terrible burden is he could see the sins of the people more clearly than they could.  He could see God’s absolute fury when the people could not. 

Hosea’s glorious privilege was he was allowed to see the heart of God. 

Beginning in verse 7, we see a pattern that will be repeated in this book.  It is as if God vents the divine anger, but then suddenly remembers that he is God and God is love.  “You name that 2^nd child ‘no pity.’” But then, verse 7, “I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them.” 

“You name that 3^rd child ‘Lo-ruhamah.’ They are not my people.”  Then verse 10 says, “The people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea.”  God made the promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17).  His descendants would outnumber the grains of sand on the shore. Hosea 1:11 says, “The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together … and shall take possession of the land.”

In 722 Israel went into exile in Assyria, with the only trace of the original people being the Samaritans.  In 586, the people of Judah went into exile in Babylon.  Before either of these events, the prophet promises God will reunite his people.  That’s the heart of God we see in Hosea.

By the time of Jesus, the Jews who made up Israel had disdain for their Samaritan cousins.  Yet, in both Luke and John, Jesus has moments in which it is clear that the salvation he brings is for these biracial people.  Jesus did not just come for Judah and Israel.  Jesus is the Savior in Samaria.  Maybe that’s one way the promise of reunification in Hosea 1:11 is fulfilled. 

In fact, in Jesus, all nations are drawn together into one family, united in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We who know him as our savior are tasked to announce his salvation to the world.  We are not prophets with the authority and vision of Hosea.  But, we are heralds.  We are the announcers and the messengers.  We live our lives as people of faith – in all the places of our lives.  And in those places we invite the people we know into the salvation Jesus gives. 

The same God who called his people to live integrated lives in Hosea’s day calls us to one life today; a life of consistent, contagious faith.  May we live the one life we have to the glory of God, in Jesus’ name.

AMEN

---

[i] Michael Fishbane (2008), Sacred Attunement: A Jewish Theology, The University of Chicago Press (Chicago), p.13.

And the Kings of the World will enter the City

I imagine a great parade, a procession full of color, music, pageantry, and the greatest of human glory.  Picture the “parade of nations” at the opening of the summer Olympics.  Now envision it on scale 100 times larger.

            “And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  … And the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory.  And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city” (Revelation 21:2, 24b, 26).

            When reading a passages like this one, does it make you pause?  Similar ideas are found in the Psalms and Isaiah.  The great potentates of the world, the emperors and czars and presidents, will come as those paying tribute to one much greater than themselves: God.  Do you ever stop and try to picture it? 

            What is the expression on the face of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he leads his retinue right alongside Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his entourage? 

Where in this procession of the “kings of the world” is the “king” of the United States?  How close in the line is he to the “king” of North Korea?  Each in their own way has had demigod status attributed to him.  What is the level of confidence and bluster as they walk into the presence of the actual God?

Recently the United State President Donald Trump met with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.  In their public dialogue, both expressed appreciation for the other.  President Kagame said ”It’s always a great honor to meet the President of the United States, President Donald Trump. And we had good discussions of those two levels –the bilateral relations between Rwanda and the United States. Rwanda has benefitted tremendously from the support of the United State. In many areas where there is (inaudible) support operations we have carried out in different parts of the world, we had the United States, on our side, supporting us.” 

Just a week prior to this meeting, in a session with members of congress, President Trump expressed frustration at the number of immigrants coming to America from poor, Southern hemisphere countries.  Some in the meeting report that he is used an expletive to categorize these nations, mostly populated by dark-skinned people as he juxtaposed them to the more fair-skinned Norwegians as he pined for more of the Norsemen to come to America. 

The whole exchange was fraught with racial overtones and elitism and was one more opportunity for the president’s political rivals to pounce. 

What if we held in our minds these presidents (N. Korea, Iran & Israel, Rwanda & the United States,   pick your country  ) as we read Revelation 21?  What if we held Revelation 21:24 and the procession of kings in mind as we read news stories?  Does the word of God help us remember that presidents and kings and dictators are mere men and women, flawed human beings? In the light of the Kingdom of God, standing beneath the glow of the New Jerusalem, the United States is an impoverished, backward, place. 

However one may feel about our president, followers of Jesus are to pray for him and extend him grace.  This was true from 2000-2008, from 2008-2016, and it is true now. It always has been.  We who are in Christ don’t need to overreact every time the president say something stupid.  We see the glow of the city on the hill.  We’re walking toward it.  

Ominous Truth in 'Countdown to Zero Day' - Book Review

Review of the Book Countdown to Zero Day by Kim Zetter

I found Kim Zetter’s ‘Countdown to Zero Day’ to be an extraordinarily challenging read because of the implications in what is written.  Zetter is an outstanding writer who keeps the reader in suspense in her telling of all that happened in the series of Stuxnet cyber-attacks.

The most chilling observation comes in the way she talks about ‘firsts.’  The same country that launched the world into the age of atomic weapons is the one who launched the world into the age of cyber warfare.  And it was done as an attempt to cutoff future nuclear conflicts.  The irony would be worthy of an eye-roll if the implications weren’t so ominous.

As wonderful as Zetter’s writing was, I did at points find myself bogged down in the technical details of computer code and computer viruses.  In the acknowledgements at the end of the book, she notes the difficulty of composing a compelling tale and at the same time being true to the necessity of comprehensive technical description.  I appreciated her transparency in the challenge of accomplishing both (a well-written story and one that would satisfy people who know about code, which I do not).  I think she accomplished the goal.  It was easy for me to skim the portions that were beyond my capacity regarding technical description.  It did not detract from me getting into the narrative she shared.

The bottom line is this book makes me feel a bit less secure about the future of international conflict.  This book is another in the line of works that show how the computer age is a dangerous equalizer.  For me the first such book was Friedman’s ‘The World is Flat.’  Zetter’s work shows the next logical step in the flattening of the world.

I hope someone overly talented programmer with serious emotional imbalance in his life doesn’t launch a virus or other type of attack that destroys crucial systems nationwide.  I hope that type of catastrophe doesn’t happen.  After reading ‘Countdown to Zero Day,’ I kind of think it will.  And that is scary.

Disclaimer - I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

God's Servant in the 21st Century

            Think of the most important news stories in the world right now.  I don’t mean your favorite stories although the most important could be a good, positive story.  What I am getting is the stories that are significant for humanity.  What issues or stories are the big ones?  Concentrate on the one or two that come to mind.   Think on the first one or two stories that came to mind.

            Now, raise your hand if the story you thought of is negative.  If it would be “bad news,” just raise your hand.

            Some that came to my mind as example of the most significant current events include the following:

-         Race relations in the United States.

-         The ongoing war with Isis in Iraq and Syria.

-         The terrorist murders in France.

-         Climate change.

-         The Republican-controlled congress.

-         Immigration in the United States

-         Same-sex marriage becoming a norm in American culture.

I wonder if anything that came to my mind would be on your list.  It’s too simple to count every story as “bad”.  Some certainly are.  Others are rife with tension because there is the negative element, but also the potential for hope.  These stories and many you have thought of and stories that we can’t see coming that will dominate headlines tomorrow collectively make up the narrative of our time.  This is our day.  When seen collectively, the signs of sin wreaking havoc and destroying human life are all too obvious. 

What word does a follower of Jesus Christ speak into this bad news?  To what action is the body of Christ, His church, called in our day?

We want to live out our faith publically.  We want to live as Jesus’ disciples not only as we carry out our individual lives and our church life, but also as we give a witness to the goodness of God and claim that God’s goodness, seen in Jesus, it a truer story than the bad news we hear.  We want to counter the anxiety, hatred, death, and destruction we see in these stories with a story of the good news of life in Christ.  All people are invited to Him and He seeks the lost and in different ways most of us have times of being lost.

Isaiah, living in Babylon with the Jews who were there as exiles, spoke the good news of God into a situation in which God’s people felt defeated an abandoned.  They thought themselves dead and the promises dating to Moses gone, but Isaiah came along to say God is still all powerful, God is with us, and God will save us. 

Isaiah’s words to the exiles are found in Isaiah 40-55.  Within that block, there are four passages called the servant songs.  Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and then the most well-known 52-53 are passages in which the prophet speaks of a special servant of the Lord, or the prophecy is from the perspective of the Lord’s servant. 

Bible scholars have widely debated who specifically was being discussed in these “servant songs.”  Who is the servant?  There have been many suggestions.  The servant is the prophet himself – Isaiah.  The servant is the nation of Israel, commissioned by God to be a light that shines and allows the world to see God (Is. 49:6).  The the emperor of Persia when Persia overthrew Babylon and allowed many Jews to return to Israel, Cyrus, is specifically named in Isaiah.  Thus, many think he is the servant.  New Testament writers took the prophecies to be signposts pointing to Jesus. 

Isaiah certainly did not know Jesus was coming.  He knew God was doing a new thing, but he expected to see God work in his lifetime and he did.  God has always been a God who saves.  I don’t think Christians are wrong to read the “servant songs” and immediately think of Jesus.  However, I think there other ways of identifying the servant are equally appropriate. 

Donald Gowan of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary writes, “The identity of the servant is not the key issue.  … What God accomplishes through the servant is what is important.”[i]  Another expert, Norman Gottwald, of New York Theological Seminary says, “The most promising question is not who is the servant but what does the servant do?”[ii]  When I was in seminary, we would get caught up in discussions over issues like this, and I have found it extremely encouraging to read these scholars and hear them express more concern about the servant’s action and what it says about God.  Most helpful is the perspective of Paul Hanson of Harvard Divinity School.  He says, “The servant is the description of the human being whom all who love God are challenged to become.”[iii]

Isaiah?  Israel?  Cyrus?  Maybe the servant image pointed to these, but when we consider the world around us, and the problems, and when we realize we are called as Christ-followers to announce the Gospel and the hope it brings to a lost, hurting, dying world, then the servant is a depiction of who we are called to be as God’s witnesses.  And in Jesus, we have a perfect example.

Look at Isaiah 42.  God delights in the servant.  After Jesus was baptized a voice from Heaven said, “You are my Son, the Beloved.  With you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).  In Isaiah 42 God says, “I will put my spirit upon him.”  Luke 4:1 says Jesus was full of the Spirit and led by the Spirit.  Isaiah 42 repeatedly shows the servant to be an agent of God’s justice (v. 2, 3, 4).  In his first public sermon Jesus declared that the Spirit of the Lord anointed him to bring “good news to the poor, … release to the captives, … recovery of sight to the blind, and … [freedom] to the oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

In Isaiah 49, the servant is the speaker.  “While I was in my mother’s womb, he named me” he says (49:1).  The Angel Gabriel told Mary, “You will bear a son and name him Jesus” (Luke 1:31).   The servant says God made his mouth like a sharp sword.  “He made me a polished arrow” (49:2).  In Revelation, the resurrected Christ is described as having a two-edged sword coming from his mouth (1:16).  In Isaiah, the servant says God is glorified in Him.  In the Gospels, God is glorified in Jesus during the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36).  Also in John 12, shortly before he is arrested, Jesus declares that his action of sacrificing his own life brings glory to God.  Immediately, a voice from Heaven confirms what Jesus just said.  God is glorified in Jesus and in what Jesus’ act of dying on the cross (John 12:27-28).

If the various Bible scholars are correct and the most important thing to see in Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and 52-53 is what the servant does, then we can see that Jesus does it better than anyone.  He perfectly filled the role of the servant described by Isaiah, and the servant is the key figure in God’s salvation of Israel and in turn the world.

Now recall again the problems we face – racism in our country; war in Syria; terrorism on a global scale; an immigration system that is completely broken and affects millions of people in our country; pollution which leads to climate change.  As Jesus’ disciples, we are called to respond to the bad news of terror, war, and death by sharing the good news of life in Christ.

How do Isaiah’s prophecies and Jesus’ ideal modeling of those visions help us?  Consider what we are.  Paul writes in 1^st Corinthians 12, “You are the body of Christ” (v. 27).  He also says, “In the one spirit we were all baptized … and we were all made to drink of the one Spirit” (v.13).  After Jesus rose from death, he breathed the Holy Spirit into his disciples (John 20) and after his ascended, the Holy Spirit filled hundreds of Christ-followers at Pentecost.  Jesus is as present and as active as when he walked the earth but not bodily.  He is present in spirit and in the church, us.  We act as the body of Christ.

What did Professor Hanson say about the “servant songs?”  If we are people who love God, then we strive to live into the role of God’s servant.  Thus we look at the same verses from Isaiah Jesus fulfilled and see if those depictions can continue to be descriptive of the church in the world today.

In Isaiah 42 it says God delights in the servant and in Luke 3, at his baptism, God calls Jesus his beloved.  Isaiah tells us that God puts his spirit upon the servant, and Luke 4:1 says Jesus was full of the Spirit and led by the Spirit.  What about today?  Paul writes in Romans 5, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (5:5).  As the servant is beloved of God and endowed with God’s spirit, so too are when we receive forgiveness and give our lives to Christ. 

Last week we talked about seeing God above the problems of the world, as over everything.  We see God for God is.  This morning, we add to that, our perception of ourselves.  In Christ, we are sons and daughters of God.  When we find ourselves tempted to dwell on problems, our own personal struggles or the evils that threaten people around the globe, a helpful spiritual discipline is to remember that in Christ we are sons and daughters of God.

Isaiah 42 shows that God’s servant works for justice (v. 2, 3, 4), and Luke 4 among many other Gospel passages shows Jesus’ concern for people who suffered injustice.  We are living into the life of God’s servants when we identify the most vulnerable people in society and we work to help them.  Most often, these are those who are victims of injustice.  We see it, name it, and work to counteract injustice.  This will be our theme next week, but here we’ll simply say that the Lord’s servant speaks and works for the justice the Lord demands.  When we act out of compassion to help those in need, we are living into the role of God’s servant. 

Isaiah 49 also showed us some things about the servant including that God knew him before his birth.  And the Angel Gabriel told Mary she would have a son and would call him Jesus.  Does the Lord pay such careful attention to us even before we are born?  Luke 12 and Matthew 6 are both places where Jesus talks about the intimate, detailed care God has for us.  Like the servant, we too are loved. 

Isaiah 49 also tells us that the servant speaks the piercing truth so that his words are like a sword, and we see the same of Jesus throughout the gospels and the sword metaphor used in Revelation 1.  The servant says God made his mouth like a sharp sword.  If we as individual disciples and collectively as the body of Christ want to answer God’s call and live as God’s servant, we have to speak the truth of the word of God.  We don’t need to go out of our way to try to step on the toes of people in our lives.  We don’t need to quote scripture all the time.  But our words must laced with, colored by, and washed in the truths of the Bible.  When they are we end up pointing people to God. 

That’s not always comfortable or easy.  It doesn’t always feel good.  But, speaking truth in all occasion with love and compassion and tact indicates that we are living on God’s terms for God’s purpose.  We have given up our lives to Him that he would use us as His instruments of healing in the world. 

Finally, in Isaiah, the servant says God is glorified in Him.  In the Gospels, God is glorified in Jesus.  When we love, when we show compassion and work for peace and justice, when we welcome all people, and when we realize that because of Christ we are God’s offspring as well as his creation and all this determines how we speak and how we live, then God is glorified in our lives. 

The servant songs become a 21^st century word that speaks to the world around us as we see ourselves for who we are in Christ and set our lives so that all that we say, think, and do reveals our complete God-orientation and Holy Spirit dependence.  Now, again, recall the opening question.  What are the stories of today, the big issues?  Which one troubles you most?  It could be a national current like terrorism.  It could be something local.  Maybe what troubles you most is something in your own neighborhood or your own family. 

We are God’s servants – loved, Spirit-equipped, armed with the truth we have in the word, and commission to work for justice, show compassion, and point people to Jesus.  We are going to take a few moments now for silent reflection.  Consider what you find most troubling in the world today.  Ask God how you, as His servant, and how we, His church, are to speak and give his hope and peace and love to the people suffering from that trouble God has put on your heart.  Take a few moments to think and pray about it silence, the problem, and the word of God we, His servants, are to bring to the people who suffer.

After we have this reflection time, we will sing, you will be invited to come for prayer if you would like to come. 

AMEN

---

[i] Gowan (1998), Theology of the Prophetic Books: The Death & Resurrection of Israel, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville), p.159.

[ii] Gottwald (1985), The Hebrew Bible: A Socio-Literary Introduction,Fortress Press (Philadelphia), p.497.

[iii] Hanson (1989), Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preachign: Isaiah 40-66, John Knox Press (Louisville), p.44.

Nation of Israel - Guest Post by Pastor Rich Goodier

Rich is my friend and colleague and I appreciate him letting me share his thoughts.

Nation of Israel (August)

As I write this article, the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip rages on, with over 700 Palestinian civilians, many women and children, having lost their lives in the fighting. The very area of the world where Jesus Christ our Lord proclaimed “peace on earth and good will towards men” is once again embroiled in violence. The people of Israel have always held a special place in the hearts of Christians. If one equates the modern state of Israel with the people of Israel of our Scriptures, then we have some serious questions to answer regarding this most recent strife.

Aside from the Jewish people themselves, arguably no one knows their history better than Christians, for we cherish their history in the pages of our Holy Scripture. And we know how often the Jewish people stumbled in their pursuit to walk in God’s ways. God would send prophet after prophet to call them back on the path of righteousness. Today is no different. We must be careful not to support any and all that the nation of Israel does, for they too stumble, and God continues to call them back.

I often hear from brothers and sisters how we are to support the nation of Israel, but I rarely hear that we must call them once again to seek shalom (peace), to be a city on a hill that draws all nations to itself. We cannot give Israel a blank check to do anything it wants, for that is putting Israel ahead of Jesus. There is a danger of forsaking the commands of Jesus for the sake of the nation of Israel, and this is something we should never do. When Israel (or any country for that matter) uses gratuitous violence against innocent civilians, we must be prepared to stand up and say, “No.”

Years ago, there was a group of people who forsook the Savior for the sake of the nation of Israel. They were described as the Pharisees. According to the Gospel of John, the Pharisees were so preoccupied with the safety of Israel, they were willing to go as far as to orchestrate Jesus’ execution.

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (John 11:46-50)

The Pharisees made the conscious choice to save their lives and the life of their country by forsaking the Messiah. Ironically, Jesus prophesied that in just a few years Rome would indeed come and take away both the temple and nation. Perhaps this is a sober reminder of Jesus’ warning, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it (Mat 16:25).”

God has called us to be ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Cor 5). In a very real way, we citizens of God’s Kingdom can serve as ambassadors between Israel and the people in Gaza, seeking reconciliation, condemning violence, whether perpetrated by Hamas or the Israeli government, and being witnesses on behalf of the One who called us to be peacemakers. And in all these things we can hold securely to the promise: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Pastor Rich

What to Think about Israel? An Email from My Friend

I received the following Email from my friend:

Rob,
Really need some insight and perspective ....
Concerning the modern day Israel and it's place in Biblical prophecy. I unfortunately have two very strict evangelical in-laws who believe ( I think falsely) in strict belief of the divine nature of the modern day Israel and modern Jews. My studies are conflict with their views. I am told I am in violation God's will because I do not agree with this and that anything said in a critical nature towards the actions and or concern for the state of Israel's "goodness" are met with rebukes and prayers to "turn from evil" from these "false beliefs".

The specific passage is Genesis 12:3: I will bless those that bless (Israel) and I will curse those that curse (Israel). (paraphrase) is routinely thrown in my face. What is your take on how so many Christian's interpret this to mean complete blind devotion to Israel, regardless of her actions, influence on and unfettered support by the US government to the modern state of Israel.

I understand what the old testament stories say about Israel, but it is my understanding that the new covenant makes all born again Christian's God's "chosen" people...that today, the Church is the new Israel. I seem to think that most of the truths in the Gospel should supercede anything in the OT...shouldn't they?

I have tried to cross reference in studies and found that in what I have read it is closest to what is said in Galatians 3:8. http://bible.cc/genesis/12-3.htm

But I also understand and have conflict with what my in-laws say as well, because it is taught so heavily in most modern churches and I have only recently changed my mind from this perspective. If you watch a lot of TV as they do, it is the dominant belief in that mainstream Christianity world. Even so, this later belief now causes an uncomfortable visceral reaction in me for some reason because I am more aware that the modern Israel Government does not practice anything resembling true Judaism that honors God. I cannot see how anyone who is not in God's will can be "blessed". IMO, modern Israel, like many nations, is a heathen nation. Totally secular and devoid of God. Not the Israel of the Bible who held strict adherence to Torah.

So anyway..I'm asking if you can give your perspective on what our role is to modern Israel. Let me be clear that I certainly believe we are to bless all men and Jews by loving them, and giving to one another, and anyone else who wishes to "Voluntarily" support Israel in a way they see fit. Key word.."Voluntarily". But I do not wish to be lumped in with "anti christ" to suggest that those that do not wish to have "force" used to do so are out of God's will.

Your thoughts?

T-----

And, my response:
I agree with you that modern Israel is not carrying on the responsibilities laid on Israel by God in Exodus and throughtout the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy). There are many passages in the prophets that talk about God withdrawing blessing if Israel fails to keep covenant, and I think Israel as a whole has failed to keep up its end of the covenant. I think the Apostle Paul calls Jews who reject Jesus as Messiah the "synagogue of Satan" (Rev. 2:9). In 2nd Peter, you see a pretty harsh invective against false teachers (2 Peter chapter 2), and those false teachers were possible Jews who insisted torah-observance was more important in salvation than Christ. So, the Old Testament warns against Israel failing to keep covenant and the New Testament warns strongly against Jews or anyone else rejecting Jesus.

Romans chapter 9-11 for many people are the definitive chapters on how Christians should view Israel. Unfortunately, there are countless opinions on how to read and apply Romans 9-11.

My take is Jesus is the Messiah and the Savior and salvation comes through him. In studying the gospel, I am not called, either by scripture or by the Holy Spirit to form an opinion on Israel. Israel's eternal fate and the eternal destiny of individual Jews is God's business. I would say the same thing about faithful people who are humble and earnestly, honestly seeking God but have either never heard of Jesus, have only been taught that Christians are enemies from America, or have been taught Christianity by abusive people. In those three scenarios, I think God has mercy for the humble who earnestly, honestly seek Him. I think the only way to Heaven is through Jesus. But I refuse to make definitive statements about the eternal destiny of people. I don't think it's my job to identify who goes to Hell. I think Hell is real, but God gets to say who goes there, not me.

My job is to love with the compassion that Jesus showed. Christians get caught up in talk of Israel or talk of AntiChrist (or abortion or other issues) because that's easier than dealing with the reality of their own sin and their own selfish attitudes.

Read Luke 13:1-5. People wanted Jesus to engage in theological speculation, but he wouldn't play that game. He told those who wanted to sit around and make definitive judgments that they needed to spend more time repenting of their own sins. I doubt that any scriptural proof I could offer will make much headway with your in-laws because their agenda is not faith. It is being right. They are sure they're on the side of those who go to Heaven. They're in the right. So they don't need to repent and they do not need to check their views, regardless of facts that might be presented. It's very much like politics which you follow a lot more closely than me.

The way for the humble, the legitimate truth seekers is faith. And faith requires equal attention paid to Scriptures and to the present, continuous voice of the Holy Spirit. To hear the Holy Spirit, we need to shut out the noise (especially of most TV preachers and much of what is in the media). We need to prayerfully quiet our minds and let God speak. I think in doing this, we hear the scriptures and what they have to say in our circumstances. But if what I think I am hearing doesn't jive with compassion, then it is most likely not from God.

Long answer, maybe not helpful. But, I am not overly concerned with Israel from an eschatological (= end times) standpoint. A bigger sadness is how many in Israel do not recognize the love of God revealed in Jesus. And much of that failure to recognize is due to the hatred express by people in Jesus' name (think Crusads, Pogroms, Holocaust). The biggest enemy of evangelism, from about 300AD to present, has been hatred expressed by people who claim to follow Jesus.

Pray for your in-laws. You never know when the Holy Spirit will grip a heart and make a person see as Jesus says. I am praying the Holy Spirit will do that to me today.

- Rob