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2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
SPECIAL - Pattie Krohn interviews her daughter Olivia Krohn and her fiancé Daniel Carlson. Both are Christ-followers and PhD candidate physicists. Listen as they explore the place of apologetics in the sciences.
==This message was given in 2018, but is listed here for better chronological presentation==
When it comes to connecting to the person of God, we likely fall into three different beliefs. Some of us feel it is not possible. The cord is severed. God is so “heavenly” so beyond us, so set apart, that He cannot or would not connect to us personally.
Some of us may believe that God wants to connect to us personally, but we are afraid that if we allow Him to, there will be a shocking explosion-we will get burned. And some of us know we can be connected to God, we have collided with His life changing power in the past, maybe there have even been a few times we sensed and experienced a connection to God that brought His love and power into our lives in special way, but we don’t believe there can be a sustained, continual life-changing connection to our Father.
But as we look at John 20 and Mary Magdalene’s “yes” to standing at the empty tomb of Jesus Christ, we find that although there may some truth to what we believe, none of these beliefs are the truth.
Because Mary said “Yes” to standing at the tomb, she was first to have the truth explained to her: a way has been made to be personally connected to God. It is a powerful connection, but we need not ever fear being burned. And lastly, whatever collision we have had in the past, whatever transforming work God has done in us, is intended to be continual-deepening our intimacy each day! (seasons of slow)
As we look at the historical account of the event at the tomb, let’s ask God to help us understand what it means that Jesus has collided into our lives in order to connect us to the Father.
Over 2,000 years ago there was a collision of LOVE and hate along the side of road where-the Cross of Jesus Christ. And by the cross were a group of women who said “yes” to standing there at Jesus Cross.
Each of the women who stood by the cross, brought her own experiences with Jesus to the Cross –seeing the cross personally, uniquely. Being together, they likely viewed the Cross through each other’s eyes- confirming and expanding the reality of what they were witnessing.
When we say “yes” to standing at the Cross of Jesus we bring with us our own experiences that cause us to see the cross uniquely. As we have looked at the Cross in community, I pray it has confirmed and expanded what we see. But to be truly changed by the Cross we need God’s grace to see the Cross from His perspective; we not just a view of the cross but a view from the Cross.
If God, by His grace, will give us His view from the cross, there will be a collision in our hearts so profound that whenever we see a cross, be it bejeweled upon a neck or weathered wood on a hill there will be an inner collision of life-changing LOVE.
==This message was given in 2018, but is listed here for better chronological presentation==
As much as summer seems to be a season for weddings, the holidays seem to be a time for
engagements. Being engaged is such an interesting time in any young woman’s life. Ironically, it can
become a time in which women forget all about their groom. They essentially say “no” to the love of
their life as they say “yes” to the dress! In our western culture that makes it all about the bride, it is no
wonder many become “Bridezilla,” expecting everything/everyone to stop and say “yes” to serve them.
Our contemporary western customs of engagement are in stark contrast to the ancient Jewish customs
of Jesus day, where the focus was the groom and his family from beginning to end.
In Biblical times, the first step toward marriage was taken by the man and his family. An arrangement
was made, sealed by the groom and his family giving gifts: a bridal price given to bride’s family. The
bridal price could have been cash, but also could’ve been clothing, jewelry, or some other item of value.
Important to know that the bride price did not mean the girl was sold to be the young man’s property,
but the “price” was to recognize her economic worth, her value to the young man and his future.
Sometimes the groom and his family gave gifts to the bride too, for her future with their family.
This began the engagement, called a betrothal period, where the groom went to prepare a home for his
Bride -the focus of betrothal. When the home was ready, the groom would go, with his attendants, to
the home of his bride and get his bride and her wedding party (announced, surprisingly, with a horn).
The groom would then escort the whole wedding party to his house to begin the celebration feast.
At the celebration feast, that included music, dancing and lasted up to 2 weeks, the bride and groom’s
attendants were there to serve them. But if it was a royal wedding, the bride gave her attendants to her
groom to add to the glory of his court.
Even though the bride would adorn herself with jewels and beautiful clothing, her dress was to add to
groom’s beauty; he was the center of attention - his happiness, his beauty, his joy was the focus.
The most important part of the celebration was the pronouncement of blessing upon the union.
The bride then went to live in her husband’s home and became part of his family. She does not bring
anything into the marriage but herself. She gives herself completely to her groom and fam.
In our western mindset we might not see her joy, her excitement, her gratitude. But in her culture,
without a groom, she would be without a future. Because a man said “yes” to serving for her,
giving all he owned to her and she had a home and family. So she would spend her engagement saying
“yes” to serving him by being ready for when he came.
Throughout Scripture God’s people are referred to as a bride. And Jesus called the bridegroom. Our
groom, Jesus, wants us to understand that saying “yes” to serving Him is not about giving to him
what we have, it is about recognizing that we have nothing to give in of ourselves.
It’s about preparing for when He comes for us. And He so wants us to get this that He has given
us an account of two women He came for to illustrate it: Martha and Mary. Introduced to them in Luke
There has been much interest lately in the fairy tale Snow White with two versions hitting the box office recently. However, the two films that couldn’t be more different from one another. One is a quirky family friendly tale: Mirror, Mirror. The other. Snow White and the huntsman, a dark, sinister retelling- definitely not for children!
But the most fascinating is actually the original, Grimm’s, which is both quirky and disturbing.
Grimm’s Snow White begins much like all the retellings with the vain step mother so threatened by her step daughter’s beauty that she must see her eliminated, dead. There is a huntsman who is ordered by the Queen to take Snow White into the forest, kill her and then bring back evidence that she is dead. And of course, the huntsman cannot harm sweet Snow White and so she comes to live with 7 dwarfs.
But this is where Grimm’s tale becomes even more fascinating. Once the vain step mother discovers Snow White is alive she actually attempts to kill Snow White 3 times. The famous apple is the third attempt. The Queen step-mother, disguised as a farmer’s wife, offers Snow the apple and after one bite Snow falls into a state of suspended animation-no sign of life, barely alive. Assuming she is dead, the dwarfs place her in a glass coffin in the forest. From Grimm brothers, climax of the original story-
“Time passes, and a Prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He strides to her coffin, and enchanted by her beauty, instantly falls in love with her. The Dwarfs succumb to his entreaties to let him have the coffin, and as his servants carry the coffin away, they stumble on some roots. This causes the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, awakening her. The Prince then declares his love for her, and soon a wedding is planned.”
In Grimm’s tale, Snow’s lifeless body is rescued by the prince. But only after a piece of apple is dislodged from her throat does she come alive and enter into a relationship with the prince- a wedding planned.
By surrendering something deep within her, Snow got more than rescue. Because she got more than a touch, she arose to a whole new life. I was reminded of Grimm’s version of Snow White while studying Mark 5 and the lives of Jairus’ daughter and the bleeding woman..
In these two accounts, intentionally interwoven, we see two individuals whose situations are literally choking the life out of them. As Jesus passes by them, they look to Him for a rescue. They say ‘Yes” to surrendering their life-choking situations to Him. Looking to Jesus’ touch to rescue them.
By coming to Jesus, they were going to get more than a rescue, they were going to be offered a relationship with the living God. But to enter into this relationship, they would have to surrender more than they had planned.
Tim Keller, “Be aware that when you go to Jesus for help, you will both give to and get from him far more than you bargained for.”
This is exactly what we see as we take a deeper look this one account of two life-choking situations.
==This message was given in 2018, but is listed here for better chronological presentation==
“We are not captivated by Jesus Christ when we are strong and victorious and triumphant in ourselves. We are eager to tell everybody how they can be like us. But when we are shredded with failure, there is nowhere to look but to this Savior. God loves His Son. He loves it when we love and cherish His Son. He loves that more than our sinlessness.” – Barabara DeGuid
At the end of the day Jesusmade clear that law keepers and lawbreakers are sinners, and both need forgiveness, forgiveness he freely offered to all. The woman except it. Simon's response unknown. Simon invited Jesus to test him. A true prophet was one who avoided sinners—particularly female ones. For Jesus, a true prophet involves getting hurt for sinners by confronting their attackers. Simon is being challenged to accept forgiveness, respond with love, and revise his default setting of his outlook on the world. Jesus Reminds her that her faith in him is a force in her life that would lead her in the path of peace.
==This message was given in 2012, but is listed here for better chronological presentation==
Can you imagine the frustration of having someone randomly place inappropriate stop signs throughout your city? At each one you would wonder, “Is this one for my safety or is it just keeping me from where I want to go?” We are dependent upon legitimate stops signs to keep us from plowing through dangerous intersections, but senseless ones keep traffic from moving as it should.
What is true for the road is true for the human heart. We are dependent upon legitimate stop signs to keep us from plowing through dangerous intersections.
But within our society, our own minds and even within our churches there are hundreds of stop signs. Places, ideas, activities that claim to be required stops necessary for our good. But in reality they are not all legitimate. Some are keeping us from going where God wants us to go.
It is hard to discern which stops are legitimate, keeping us from dangerous intersections, and which are renegade-keeping us from moving as we should.
We need someone to sort this out for us. And we have someone: Jesus. This is why Jesus came and what He came to do. In order to bring us back to God, Jesus came to identify all the renegade stop signs that are senseless, keeping us from entering into the life He has created us to live. And He has come to be the One stop that if we do observe, will allow us to enter into a life we never thought possible.
We will see this throughout Jesus earthly ministry, but possibly for us as women, no more profoundly then when God sent His Son to a significant well to a specific woman. There He identifies the renegade stop signs she is observing (places, ideas, activities) causing great injury and keeping her from entering into the life for which she was created.
He has come to her to become the One stop that if she observes will allow her to enter into a life she never thought possible.
Through her life’s account—beginning with where Jesus stopped—I believe Jesus desires to identify the renegade stops signs in our own lives, the places we are stopped that are keeping us from entering into the life we never thought possible.
OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mardecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so… get on your way!
I was reminded of this Dr. Seuss book as I “pondered”, tried to understand the meaning of Luke 2 and Mary’s “yes” to being the mother of Jesus. I was struck by the contrast. Mary, saying “Yes” was not about the places she would go- her head full of brains and her shoes full of feet, but the places Jesus would go the not-so-good streets that she did not want to go down, but went anyway, refusing to head straight out of town.
Mary’s book would be “Oh, The Places He Goes!” Although Mary brought Jesus into the world, was His caregiver, His protector, His mother, but she didn’t get to name Him, God did. She didn’t get to cast a vision for Jesus, He casted one for her. She didn’t get to take Jesus to her world-to places she wanted to go. He took her to the Father’s world-where God wanted her to go: uncomfortable places, places of inescapable pain and unimaginable possibilities.
As Mary experienced bang-ups and hang-ups, she didn’t escape to bright places, she kept saying “yes.” And as Mary continued to say “yes” she saw God. Mary saw confirmation that Her Son, Jesus, is the Deliverer. And the ways in which God confirmed it showed Mary the nature of God’s “yes” to His World.
Just as Mary carried Jesus within her, as believers we have the privilege of having His very presence within us. But sometimes we think this means taking Jesus where we want to take Him and when. Or worse: we look to Him to bring the world to us! This is saying “No” to God and missing seeing God. Saying “yes” to God is letting Him take us to the world, to the places He goes. This is where we see Him.
As I look at Mary and see what she was able to see, I want to say “yes” to the places He goes. For there, Mary saw LOVE and life collide: in every situation people were changed! I want to let Him take me to His world, that I might see Him. The only way to see LOVE and Lives collide. Means uncomfortable places!
As I have prayed over Luke 1 with a desire to see afresh what it means that God has given us His Son, God first took me back 20 years and asked me to see that His best gifts to me have been the ones that have revealed my heart to me and have given me the opportunity to say “yes” to being continually changed, to being transformed.
In sending His Son to born of Mary, God gave Mary, and you and me through her obedience, THE perfect gift. He gave us exactly what we needed to see the nature of our hearts.
But we must not miss what it meant for Mary to accept this gift, to say “yes.” For Mary, receiving the gift of God’s Son would have brought tremendous uncertainty; it would have devastated all her future plans.
Why did Mary say yes to disgrace, yes to destitution, yes to tremendous difficulty? Because as Gabriel described the gift God was giving to her, Mary knew this gift would take away her ultimate disgrace (of sin), rescue her from eternal destruction.
Mary said “Yes” to God, completely yielded as a slave, because she was being given something she knew she desperately needed but thought impossible-to be made perfect in the sight of God.
To say “yes” to God, we, like Mary, need to see clearly what THE perfect gift God has given to us and what this gift reveals about our hearts. Beginning with the sending….
==This message was given in 2018, but is listed here for better chronological presentation==
When dreams die they evidence, eventually, the nature of our “Yes” to God. How we handle the barren places of our life, our hopes unfulfilled, our longings not satisfied, help us see whether our “Yes” to God is to Him alone or if it comes with the expectations that our dreams coming true. It is in these painful places of waiting and seeing hope slip away, that the depth of our faith is revealed, shaken and then deepened or forsaken.
Elizabeth waited, for likely over 40yrs, to experience the most profound hope of all women in her day- to become a mother. When we meet her, her dream has died. She is barren and advanced in years. Although her greatest longing had not been satisfied, Elizabeth kept pressing into God, not wavering in her love for or worship of her God, but deepening in it. Amazing!
But what amazes me even more about Elizabeth is how she did not waver when she surprisingly got what she must have always wanted. No. With her dream fulfilled she pressed into God more deeply.
Unfulfilled dreams do impact our faith, but fulfilled dreams do too-maybe more! Once we get what we always wanted our hearts may initially draw near to God in praise, but most of us begin to press into, enjoy the new blessing more than our God—our commitment to the LORD wanes. It is the wonderful places of blessing, when our dreams come true that the depth of our faith is revealed and is either deepened or forsaken.
When we get the career, the title, the husband, the kids, the home, etc, our passion for God, if we are honest cools, until another longing comes our way! If our commitment to our God wanes when we don’t get what we want OR when we do, we are seeing the nature of our “yes” to God.
In Elizabeth we see a real life deeply impacted by a significant dream lost. And then spectacularly and unexpectedly fulfilled! Neither barrenness nor blessing distanced Liz from her God. No both not only evidenced the genuineness of her faith and both deepened it.
Today I want us to look at why, by seeing the real nature of God’s “yes” to Elizabeth. And how we can become more like Elizabeth, by seeing the real nature of her “yes” to God. We’ll see this by first looking at her barrenness and then her blessing.
Elyse Fitzpatrick, ““The hope we have in the gospel is that the fullness of God condescended to us in Jesus Christ. WE don’t have to wonder about the Father’s disposition toward us; we don’t have to speculate for one moment about our future. We can have a strong and sure hope, because we can see the invisible God by looking at the gospel.”
The women we will be studying are real-not fairy tales, their life-changing encounters are the Gospel. Their accounts of LOVE colliding into life are lights in the night sky drawing us to where we belong, to become who we were created to be.
Elizabeth-picture an older woman steady faithful, good, upright-not perfect, but humbly seeking forgiveness when she sins, committed to a right relationship with her God, her husband, her community. In her eyes a sorrow, a sadness. She is missing the very thing she would have most longed for-a baby. She suffers from disgrace, often subjected to the words or at least looks of those in her community who believe she is being punished by God for some reason. She is barren and her wrinkled face will never look upon her own child, her aged spotted hands never hold her husband’s child.
Mary: By contrast picture a young teen girl in small dusty poor village in Palestine where everyone knows everyone! She is deeply devoted to her God, longing to do what He has asked of her. As her young hands tend to animals, her youthful face tries to smile as her voice greets those in her village. She wonders, “What will happen to me when it is discovered I am pregnant? Will anyone believe that I am still a virgin? How can I tell Joseph, whom I am to marry that I am with child by the Holy Spirit?
God says yes to stopping for a woman living a complicated and lonely: It’s the heat of the day and a woman is alone gathering water. Her strong arms and hands lifting water jars out of the well. Sweat dripping down her back under her long folds of fabric. Her face shows evidence of hard life, her hollow lifeless eyes expect condemnation. Rejected by five husbands and now living with a man who has not married her, she is shunned and lives an isolated life.
God says yes to the sacrifices of a “Sinful” woman: A feast is happening in the home of a highly respected religious leader. The smell of roasted meat and simmering spices fill the dusty air. The who’s who of the community are reclining at a table, likely in their best robes made of beautiful fabrics. Conversation is lively and purposeful. And then an awkward almost indignant or angry hush of shock falls upon the party. A woman, who is well known for her immoral behavior, defined by it, enters where she is not welcome, dressed, smelling and behaving scandalously. Her long hair falls beyond her shoulders, an likely unexpected and unwanted sweetness fills the air as she approaches Jesus. Unable to control herself, she wets Jesus’ feet with her tears, gently drying them with her hair
A Woman diseased: Jesus is traveling in the middle of a huge crowd, pressing in on all sides. Imagine a moving wall of hot sweaty bodies all pressing in on Jesus, wanting to be near Him, to hear Him to watch what He will do next. Making her way through the dense, moving, noisy crowd is a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years. Her bank account and her hope is depleted… almost. She grabs for the robes of Jesus. She-takes one last chance, reaching for a man she has heard can heal. A robe made by human hands covers the Son of God and now runs through the fingers of an unclean outcast who health has put her out of society. Immediately Jesus knows He has been touched. Amidst the pushing, the throngs of sweaty bodies all around Him, He feels the touch of the sick woman and he stops the moving crowd. Bodies bump into each other as Jesus asks, “Who touched my clothes?”
God says ‘Yes” to serving sisters Martha and Mary: Real sisters, real life, real family issues. Clanging of dishes getting louder and louder as one sister is getting exasperated with work while her sister refused to help and instead just sits at this teacher, Jesus’, feet! Anger rises as Martha believes Jesus is allowing her sister to slack-off! Tension rises until Martha cannot hold in her anger and resentment. She lashes out at both the teacher and her sister. One can only imagine Mary’s expression. Was she clueless to Martha so intently listening to Jesus or was she rolling her brown eyes for the hundredth time.
Women at Cross and Tomb: All that had been done in the very real lives of these very real women was only the beginning.. Jesus, the light of the world, was interested in so much more. And He made His move. As these women continued to watch His real life unfold they began to understand what this light of the world really is.
In response to His disciples’ questions regarding the fulfillment of His Kingdom that will bring about the end of this world as we know it, Jesus tells many parables recorded in Matthew 24-25. In His final recorded parable in the gospel of Matthew Jesus boldly foretells of a great separation, the day of Judgment that will lead to two very different eternal destinies: eternal life or eternal destruction.
In the words of Kenneth Baily, Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats boldly proclaims: “There is life after death and earthly life is related to it.” That we who are in the midst of this earthly life might be certain our destiny is eternal life, we have been given the parable of the sheep and goats
Matthew 25:31-46 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan is set within the life-story of an expert in the law of God – making it complicated. On the surface it looks as though Jesus is dealing with two different issues: salvation and the kind of love that please God. Jesus shows how both are intertwined.
Stand to read Luke 10:25-37. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."
Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan is set within the life-story of a lawyer asking about the Kingdom of God that we might set the parable within our own life-story, to see what we know of God’s kingdom.
Making it painfully personal, we are intended to see ourselves in light of Jesus point: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “We are not meant to control our Christianity; our Christianity is rather meant to control us.”
To see how being a Christian and the kind of love that pleases God are intertwined, we need to first see how – like this lawyer – we seek to control our Christianity. Then see that true Christianity is that which moves us from controlling our Christianity to our Christianity controlling us.
In Matthew 13, after five parables describing how God enables one to receive the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus tells two small “treasure” parables illustrating the life of one God has given eyes to see, ears to hear and heart to respond to Jesus message to, “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 13:44-46 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Here we discover in the words of Dutch Theologian Edward Schillebeeckx, “Christianity is not a message which has to be believed, but an experience of faith that becomes a message.”
Through His parables, Jesus describes what it means to be a Christian, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven: it is to discover what we do not have, to decide we must have it, and then to experience the difference it makes to have what we did not have.
For those hearing from Jesus that the Kingdom has come, there was a troubling revelation regarding the mystery of His Kingdom: the continuing presence of evil in the world. Likely the most difficult “mystery” of the Kingdom of God –then and now - is God’s delay in judgment. If His Kingdom has come, why is evil still being done?
It is no wonder that of Jesus’ parables recorded in Matthew 13, the parable of the wheat and weeds– confused the disciples most, causing them to ask for an explanation. Aren’t you grateful they did? If you are like me, you too wonder, “If His Kingdom has come, why is evil still being done?” And if you are like me you are even more grateful that Jesus gladly gives His followers –then and now- knowledge into this mystery of the Kingdom in Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43. Stand:
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'
But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Pray verses 11-12: to whom it is given, more will be given to abundance).
For Jesus hearers –then and now- He reveals: What this “Kingdom that has come” is; what it is “not”; and why “what the Kingdom is and is not” are both necessary to bring about “what the Kingdom will be.”
Adults and children alike – when drawing a house, draw more than a picture. They draw their life being played out. So too are the parables of Jesus. They draw a picture, but more than a picture. Jesus’ parables are windows into familiar life being played out not-so-familiarly. Another world, another Kingdom, is calling this one into question. A Kingdom rejected by some while longed for by others. And this is key –as we will see – as to why Jesus spoke in parables.
Matthew 13:10-17 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: "'"You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive." For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. 'But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Tables and Chairs:
Together Satisfying the Soul’s Hungers
Psalm 34:8,10 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! …Those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
You are invited to a feast. Plates and platers, bowls and baskets, glasses and silverware, all beautifully set for you. But if you only look at the place settings, you will walk away hungry.
Gathering around His table we will experience a new day, become a new people. Our study of the feasts of Israel is an invitation to celebrate with the One who desires to satisfy our deepest hungers. Together we will taste and see that the Lord is good; we will discover how each feasts leads to Jesus and the fulfillment of every promise in God’s Word.
RSVP. Come to the table. Pull up a chair. Dig in and Join the celebration. Feast!
The timeless message Thessalonians is how God has made a way by the sending of His Son, for us to be brought into the story for which we long… And They Lived Happily Ever After. The timeless challenge to Thessalonians and to you and me, is to recognize and embrace the importance of “They”.
1 Thessalonians 4:17b-18 …and so WE will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage ONE ANOTHER with these words.
The message of Thessalonians is not only that God has made a way for us to brought into forever—the Ever After our soul’s long for. It is also the challenge to live together as if we are forever. A potentially confusing mouthful. As an intro to Thess, we will unpack this—for His glory and our good.
The End… Ever Living for the Everlasting
“Why would a God do that? Send His Son to die for ordinary people?”
In Yann Martel’s bestseller The Life of Pi, a Hindu boy named Pi meets a catholic priest, Father Martin, who tells Pi the story of the gospel-the defining moment in the story of God and His people, the life, death, resurrection of Jesus. Pi asks for more: “I asked for another story, one that I might find more satisfying. Surely this religion had more than one story in its bag—religions abound with stories. But Father Martin made me understand that… their religious had one Story, and to it they came back again and again, over and over. It was story enough for them.”
Father Martin is right… Christianity has one Story, and to it we come back again and again, over and over. It is story enough for us.”
In the ever-changing story of our lives, our hope lies in coming back again and again to One Story. It is because this Story never changes that it is enough.
Change brings about endings to chapters within our own story—depending upon what ends, we love change or hate. Because of this one Story, to which the story of Daniel points us, we can face change with hope and even thankfulness. In fact, we can embrace endings—ever living expectantly.
In the weeks ahead, spending time together in the book of Daniel, if we let Him, God will transform the way we embrace endings by enabling us to grasp and live for what is everlasting.
Proverbs 5 should be "forefront" on the brain of every man - sexual "Guard rails" for living In Christ.
Proverbs 1:1-7 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth-- Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
As a way of introduction, I want us to look at three overarching realities we will explore in our study of Proverbs: We have been routed for wisdom. We need to be rerouted to find it. And the ongoing rerouting necessary to follow wisdom.
You may be saying at this point: “Do I really want to follow you into Ephesians????” YES!
Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved—
The book of Ephesians: Rethink Possible. Its message: we crave more because we were created for more. We experience less because sin entered this world and our hearts. And when it did we were cut off from God. Unless reunited we will experience less and less… come apart completely.
Central message of Ephesians is that God has made and revealed His way to give us what we long for by bringing us back to Himself.
Ephesians 1:9-10 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Unite us to His plan, fill us with the passion and purpose for which we were created.
Tell Me the Story Again!
When my children were small (4 of them), they loved to hear/read/ watch certain stories over and over again. I would have to talk them into something new. And when I was successful, that new story was repeated over and over again. Not surprisingly, this led to amazing memorization, especially for Austin.
Wanting to redeem Austin’s love of stories and ability to repeat, verbatim, I began to try to replace his sweet, but silly tales with stories that gave a Scriptural principle or were directly from Scripture. I wanted more than “Pooh and the Blustery Day” to fill his little head. Knowing all the lay ahead of him, all the things of this world that will vie for his heart, I wanted anchors for his heart to find its rest in the Lord–Psalm 2, Psalm 23, John 14.
As an adult, I am not that different. There are certain stories with which I never tire (you shared yours in your group). In fact, I like to hear/read/ watch them again and again (ad-naseum for Jeff- Jane Austin-ish). Lines from great stories, movies I can quote with a simple cue.
As God looks at what I am drawn too, I wonder if there are other stories He desires to put before me to anchor my restless heart?
In these past couple months, as I have read over the passages we are about to study, I know the answer is YES. There is a story God continually puts before me. Looking back it is the same story Has been putting before me since He brought me to Himself. And it didn’t matter whether I was in a season of relative comfort, conflict, confusion, or chaos it anchored my restless heart.
The thought of rewards-particularly the idea of being motivated to do good in order to gain rewards may trouble us, but it’s not only biblical, it pleases God. Eternal rewards are the crowning piece of our salvation by grace. Freely forgiven, God empowers us for good works, then rewards us for the good works that he has brought about in us. In of themselves our righteous acts are like filthy rags but God chooses to purify them in his own sight and honor them with reward.
Derek Kidner, “To Hear God’s ‘Well done’ is the most innocent and most cleansing of ambitions.”
Wrap up Neh. Neh is marked by a great understanding that God remembers (not about forgetting)- marks, accounts, thinks-on what we do, why we do it, in order to reward us. Neh’s desire for God to remember, to reward was God-given to him and to us.
C.S.Lewis, Mere Christianity, “If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.
Neh was effective in this world because he was convinced that he would receive a reward for refusing to be far too easily pleased by this world. God would be his judge and would reward him for the good he has done, not man.
What is crucial to understanding that “well done” is the most innocent of motivations is to see what “good deeds” Neh counts on God to remember-what Neh has done for God’s people to glorify God’s name. First is deeds of compassion.
In response to their repentance, God has rescued His people from captivity. He has united them as His beloved people, using them to restore and rebuilt His Holy Temple and city whose walls were broken down and its gates destroyed by fire in just 52 days! He has shaken their enemies to their core and washed them with His Word reviving their hearts, bodies and souls. In response they vow to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD, to not neglect the house of our God. They celebrate by pausing and purifying themselves to evidence their dedication to the Holy City- their joy in His presence is heard far away.
With such restoration, rebuilding and revival why doesn’t the book of Neh end at the dedication? Why is there a chapter 13? After such a solid dedication to NOT neglect the house of their God, why does Neh find the people neglecting the house of God?
Naïve, ignorant, or lazy about the reality that things never stay as they are. Life is not static, it is in constant motion-three forces: Human restlessness, God- working to transform people into his image and Satan’s working to corrupting the good work that God is doing. What is restored, rebuilt and revived will not stay that way unless there is an intentional, proactive effort to protect it.
C.S.Lewis, “There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.”
Israel was either too casual or prideful about the reality of their restless nature caught between these two forces. So after about a ten-year absence Neh finds that Israel has broken her covenant to keep God’s law. Neh 13:4-5 records the key to Israel’s slide.
Neh 13:4-5 … Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, …
Eliashib, appointed by Neh to gate-keep the sacred storerooms of the temple allowed Israel’s enemy, Tobiah, to move into the temple. Tobiah, related to Eliashib by marriage, had audacity-not just a toe in the temple, his belonging replacing the sacrifices of the people. Tobiah inhabits the nerve center of the community-influence and corruption
We each have a gate-keeper that unfortunately cannot always be trusted like Eliashib. Our Eliashib is our flesh. Tobiah is our sin nature, related to us, but our arch-enemy. Our sinful nature has audacity. If our flesh does not submit to the Spirit of God and allows even a toe’s bit of sin nature to move in, it will have the same audacity as Tobiah and bring all its belongings into our heart, overpowering that which God has restored, rebuilt and revived to make His name famous.
If we are naïve, ignorant, casual about our gate-keeper, our flesh, we will, like Israel, compromise the community of God by compromising our commitments to God. What is restored and rebuilt and revived will not stay that way without proactive gate-keeping.
Martin Luther, “The essence of sin is that man seeks his own in everything, even in God.”
As we looked this week at the idea of dedication, I had to ask myself the questions, Do I live like God has set me apart for His use, or rather than the Lord is set apart for my use?
1999 bestseller, Cat ‘n Dog Theology: Rethinking your relationship to the Master. There is a joke about cats and dogs that conveys their differences perfectly—A dog says, “You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, you must be God.” A cat says, “You pet me, you feed me, you shelter me, you love me, I must be God.”
Cat ‘n Dog Theology, by Bob Sjogren an Gerald Robison is a humor filled, scripture based way of communicating the need for Christians to re-think their relationship to God. Not recommending.
The Israelites in Neh day have much more than a humorous Scripture based book to evaluate their relationship to God, they have had a living encounter-many- with Him. In response to their repentance, He has brought them back from captivity and restored them to His Holy City. He has united them as His beloved people, using them to restore and rebuilt His Holy city that was in trouble and shame-broken down and its gates destroyed by fire (52 days!) -In just 52 days, no less, shaking Israel’s enemies to their core. Then Lord God washed them with His Word reviving their hearts, bodies and souls.
With such living encounters with the covenant God, His touch, His feeding, His shelter, His love, the people could have assumed they were god. “OK, God, thanks for the city-we’ll take it from here.” But what we see in Neh 12 is that their response to all He has done is to say, loudly, so that they are heard far away, “You Must Be God.”
The Israelites get that the restoration, rebuilding and revival they have been experiencing is not about them., but about God’s glory revealed to the nations.
J.G. McConville, “When the people march on the walls to the Temple they do so after having placed the temple once again at the center of their thoughts The walls thus appear for what they are: not a monument to the strength of Judah—heaven forbid!—but God’s gift for the protection and perpetuation of his name in the world.”
Jeff and I have been married almost 24 years. 25 being a time when many renew their vows, I tried to find the originals- couldn’t! Had to watch the video-2 sets, traditional- to love, comfort, honor and keep in both sickness and health, richer or poorer, forsaking all others as long as we both shall live-ones we wrote. As I thought about facing Jeff and repeating these now, knowing what I know now, it would be a different experience. For now I know what it means to keep them in sickness and health (Aubrey, death of family, holding my hair when barfing). What it means to keep them whether rich or poor- stress on marriage of finances. And the battle to choose to forsake all others-to not even give into the temptation of what it would be like to be married to someone else.
After 24 years of marriage, I have a deeper awareness of what it takes to keep these vows and the pain caused by breaking the traditional vows. Knowing what I know now about marriage and myself, I would better know what vows to write as my personal vows.
I think about this with the people of God and their renewing of their vows. To move forward in their restoration with God, repopulating of God’s holy city, there had to be a deep awareness of what it would take to keep their vows and the pain of breaking them.
Looking back to Neh 10, it is interesting that although they vowed to keep God’s entire law, to find their life in His Word, they gave special attention to their marriage relationships, their rest and their resources. Facing the Word, it exposed them. Knowing what they know now about their covenant relationship and themselves, they underscore what they must have known was the root of their neglect of the house of God, their idolatry/captivity.
In the New Covenant that we have entered into in Christ, beautifully taught by Pamela, God no longer dwells in His Holy City, but in each of us that has placed our faith in His son. His Holy Spirit indwells us, making us the house of God-heart body and soul. And if we are honest, like the Israelites, our neglect of this house of God - has its roots in the marriage relationship, rest and resources. In order to move forward in our restored relationship (NEH11, we need to underscore these as well (Neh 10)
On a recent business trip with my husband, I had the chance to visit two friends from my past - I anticipated that my life would be considered worldly with one, freaky out of this world to the other. (We think people think about us far more than they do.)
The danger in my over-thinking, besides making unfair judgments about them judging me, is the assumption that if my life in Christ seems odd to both, I must have it right. -but still looking to man –me-, to determine what it means to be alive in Christ
God’s Word alone determines what it means to be alive in Christ. Looking to anyone or anything else causes me to miss abundant life. If I do not look to the Word to define life, I will look to others and eventually be enslaved to the cultures around me. Even “churchy” cultures can enslave if they do not line up with His Word. Thankfully, when I, by God’ grace, experience the presence of God through the Word of God I am exposed-like this weekend. I am challenged once again…
John Piper, "Will I find spiritual communion with God sweet enough, and hope in his promises deep enough, not just to cope, but to flourish and rejoice in him?"
This is the kind of communion with God we see in Neh 9. The communion with God in the midst of their choice foods, sweets and the celebration of the feast of booths must have been so beautiful that it caused them to recount the life had lost-many times- and are still, in some ways, still missing.
It must have been deep enough and sweet enough to cause them to dare to hope that they could be flourish once again. Looking to the Word of God, once again, for life, they knew repentance comes before flourishing.
Asked a few times recently about my “call” to teaching. Never thought of it as a “call”, blessed to have been led to the Lord by one who taught me that all in Christ are “called” to teach God’s Word. As a brand new believer, Toni-lee said I had been soaking it in long enough- time to start discipling. Invited gals from school over for a Bible study. “Prepared,” just about finished when a Jehovah witness came to the door. Tried it out on her. Gals came over next day. Opened my Bible, my “study” notes gone! Quickly prayed and flipped my Bible open, randomly, landed in Philippians. Read the passage, “expounded” it and one of the gals prayed to give her life to Christ. (don’t recommend this style of discipleship)
It was clear to me that day that the Word of God is…
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
It was clear to me that it was not about me, it was the Spirit of God, using the Word of God that brought new life to Laura.
In my journey I have unfortunately made things more complicated than need be. In what I believe to be an honest desire to “feed” I have been known to bring out way too many courses! (Firehose)
Tuesday praying about this message struggling with its simplicity and prayed to God. A leader had a dream-I was so complicated, I sang a song and you all followed a horse out.
As I teacher I live in the tension between being faithful to the Word of God, to handle it accurately, and yet never forget that the Scriptures don’t need me to change lives. I may get to come along for the ride, but it is God alone who changes lives.
Why I LOVE Neh 8. As we have studied this historical account of God restoring, rebuilding His people, it has been tempting to put Neh on a pedastal. We are told it is God’s work, but hearts long to follow a person and be distracted by Neh good and godly leadership. And then we come to what appears to be the climax of the book of Nehemiah, the revival of the people recorded in chapter 8. And now there is hardly any mention of Neh. In fact, written in 3rd person.
It is true that another, godly man, Ezra, a priest and a scribe is involved. And we can’t exactly say that Ezra just threw a bunch of scrolls and the ground to see where they would land (phil).
Ezr 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
Ezra had been sent about 14 years earlier to Jerusalem by Artaxerxes to teach the divine law and insure that worship was being carried out in the temple. But Ezra’s priestly heart, his intense study and stellar teaching are not center stage. God’s presence is,
J.I. Packer, “God now acted in a way that put His human agents in the shade. …He visited his people, preempting their attentions and making his presence felt among them in a way that had not been the case before.
The Spirit of God, gave the people of God all they needed through the Word of God. He desires to do this for us.
Dawn Treader -“It is quite beautiful…for make believe map of a make-believe world.” “There is the source of your trouble-dark island. A place where evil lurks. It can take any form. It can make your darkest dreams come true. It seeks to corrupt all goodness, to steal the light from this world.” “How do we stop it?” “You must break its spell.”
Third in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader begins with Lucy and Edmond and their obnoxious cousin Eustice, returning to Narnia. Narnia is a place where animals talk, where good battles evil. Each book features as its heroes children from our world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are called upon by the lion Aslan to help Narnia and restore the throne to the rightful line. This particular adventure is a bit of a break from the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. The previous two centered on battles against evil tyrants, “Voyage” offers a greater view of the Narian world by sailing further than any man, woman or mouse has sailed. It is also the darkest. Lewis explores the broader nature of evil with themes of greed-power, beauty, money. This scene explores both the source of evil as well as how to break its power.
Reminds me of where we are in our journey through Neh. Neh and the Israelites, in their return to God have had to battle over and over against evil tyrants as they are being restored as a people. And now as people being rebuilt, about to finish the rebuilding of the wall, the historical account gets a bit darker. Like the pull of Lewis’ Dark Island that seeks to corrupts all that is good, we see evil lurking to do the same. It takes many forms in its attempt to make darkest dreams come true.
But we also see what it takes to break the spell, to resist the evil seductions of both the secular and spiritual world.
America has a fascination with peaking into other’s lives-we are entertained by other people’s challenges and tragedies. The danger is calling it real.
What’s real is Neh 4 & 5. It is so real, alive, it not entertaining to their enemies, it is threatening. The people of Israel are coming alive by God’s hand- a people, once distant, dry, and damaged due to their rebellion and sin, being restored, rebuilt and revived in response to their repentance. In Neh 4 & 5, the rebuilding of their lives, their community, they are building something that is intended to come alive, something truly authentic.
Their enemies are not fascinated, they are angered because they are uncertain of what to expect or what to do about it (not predicable who will get the roses/voted off the Island). They cannot complain to the king of Persia, Neh has the king’s permission and authority for this living project. They are helpless spectators of events they hate -can’t vote for idol
Neh 4:2.."What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?"
In hateful frustration they name-call. They state what is currently real, but ironically prophecy to what is coming alive. Feeble- “miserable” fading or withering plant- Calling them “good for nothing.” Used in Scripture of people who have no hope. Will they sacrifice, finish in a day? Offer praise to their “gods” in a day? They were attacking their faith. Someone saying sarcastically- –“Go home a pray about it.”
And the people do. And as they do, they remember that they are engaged in something so real, it is alive. They themselves become the revived stones-they, as a nation come alive.
Phillips Brooks, “And whenever, in any place, a soul by free-willed obedience, catches the fire of God's likeness, it is set into the growing walls, a living stone.” I call that real.
When you think of wizard of oz (besides childhood nightmares about flying monkies) we think of Dorothy’s line when her house lands in Oz “I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore.” But her more profound line is when she is back home. –What she learned about home.
Well, I... I think that it... that it wasn't enough to just want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em... and it's that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard; because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with. (our heart’s desire is to be “home”)
Craig Barnes, Searching For Home, “It doesn’t matter where you move, how fast you run, or how many new identities you try on along the way, you can’t escape the longing for home.
The Israelites went looking for their heart’s desire and looked beyond their own backyard. Moving away from the presence of God they abandoned the principles of God. The Israelites were swept away by a hurricane called “captivity”. Another “desert wandering.” A wandering that has left them longing for the home –a longing that was a grace gift from God to bring them home.
Craig Barnes, “Whether we want to admit it or not, the longing for home is welling up from the soul. This may even be the most enduring trace of God upon our lives.”
God set into motion the historical events that freed them from captivity and gave them the opportunity and resources to go home, go to Jerusalem. The Israelites built the temple, reinstated sacrifices for the covering of sin, but the city of Jerusalem, the city of God, their home, is a mess…
Neh 1:3 And they said to me, "The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire."
Jerusalem is not yet the city of God that Jeremiah and Ezekiel the prophets had foretold- the evidence of God’s dwelling among His people. God burdens, equips, and sends Nehemiah to go rally His people to finish “home”.
And so we enter Nehemiah 3, where the word “repair” dominates the chapter (30x)- to make strong or firm. Looking particularly at the gates, we see the plan God has given to Nehemiah (2:18) to make strong and firm His dwelling place - Jerusalem. And while the accounts of Nehemiah are historical, the realities they “mirror” and the truths they point to are very real and significant. These truths go beyond the rock walls of an ancient city.
I was recently drawn to some ducks in Disneyland. What would it be like to be a duck in The Magic Kingdom? The water is always clear, at a wonderful temperature and there is never a dry season. Plant life is perfectly manicured to create perfect spaces of rest in the shade. There is continual music in the air, constantly lifting your little duck spirit. Human beings are in a perpetually happy mood…. except those under 3 feet of height during the hours of 1-4. Food is always drifting your way-popcorn, churros, pretzels and even an occasional chimichanga. You are never bored for you can waddle your way from Frontierland, to Adventure land, from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland, and back again. And each day ends with predictable hours of quiet rest before the next perfectly sunny day begins. No concept of what it really means to be a duck in THIS world.
My giggling turned serious when I realized that this is how I am often tempted to view Christianity. Many of us, like me, came into the church because “God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives.” Although this is based in truth, our western mindset defines “wonderful plan” to mean that entering the family of God is like entering the magic Kingdom, where “a happy day was had by all”. We expect the water to be clear, the food to be tasty and entertainment varied, like ducks in Disneyland. In the areas of our life where we admittedly see distance, damage and dryness, we want restoration to just float our way like a piece of popcorn. We want rebuilding to happen in an atmosphere of music and with all onlookers to be happy. We want revival to happen while we rest in shade on a sunny day.
But we are not ducks in Disneyland. We are children of the God of Heaven, once lost and brought back to God through His Son’s blood shed on the Cross. As His covenant children, we have entered into a process of restoration, rebuilding and revival intended to invade this earthly Kingdom –to greatly impact this kingdom.
In Nehemiah 2 we see this reality played out. Where the rebuilding of a wall represents the restoration, rebuilding and eventual revival of God’s community for His glory on earth. The Israelites cannot afford to act like ducks in Disneyland. God is calling them to an intensely spiritual work where supplies are not going to just float their way, where onlookers are not going to be happy, where they are going to sweat. It is an intensely spiritual thing-evidencing the glory of God--it is going to met with all kinds of opposition.
G. McConville, “Underlying the action in this chapter… is a conflict between good and evil. Everything that serves the interests of the returned exiles—the king’s decision, the rebuilding of the walls—is good; all that tends towards, or is the product of, their loss—the broken walls, Nehemiah’s grief, the aspirations of Sanballat, Tobia, and Geshem—is evil. The clear implication of verse 10 is that the opposition to Judah from these powerful leaders is a spiritual thing.”
In our lives, this is being played out also. Our restoration, rebuilding and revival is a spiritual thing. To reveal His glory in this earthly kingdom we will have to let go our desire to be ducks in Disneyland. We have to walk out of the perfectly painted, rust-free gates without “getting our hand stamped”. We will have to face opposition –pain, problems and persecution.
Neh 1:1-3 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the capital,
that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, "The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire."
As a result of their rebellion, God’s people were in serious trouble and shame.
Trouble also translated affliction, calamity, distress, evil, wretchedness. With its ruined walls and burned gates, Jerusalem was still a city lying waste, exposed to attacks of all kinds. A less than desirable zip-code.
Shame is also translated reproach, disgrace, rebuke. The walls were not only the safety, but also the dignity of a city. Jerusalem was loaded with contempt by their neighbors. Although the Temple was in use, sacrifices for sin was being made, Jerusalem was not yet a community. This is huge! For the very purpose of Jerusalem was a community of God’s people where God Himself dwelt. The promise that God would make Himself real to His repentant people as “their God” was not yet fulfilled. Light on a hill.
Key: Hearing about the condition of Jerusalem, Nehemiah appeals to God’s covenant love, His promise to be “my God” to His people. Uses term “my God” 10x, 6x in prayer. Continually uses personal pronouns-“our God, Your people, etc.
Neh 1:5 And I said, "O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, (Nehemiah is grabbing God’s leg-you are ‘my God’ to my bros-we have turned back, complete our restoration, rebuildiing, reviving! Deu. 29-30, lev 26)
If we have entered into a covenant relationship with Him, if we have jumped out of the arms of rebellion/idols then we can confidently, figuratively grab His leg-count on Him to restore, rebuild and revive us.
In this chapter we gain a greater understanding of how real this covenant is and how committed our God is to it. Of what it means that the great and awesome God keeps His covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep His commands, those who call Him “My God.”
One step away…
The love of God is greater far, than tongue or pen can ever tell; It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell; The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win; His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure—The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.
We need not faint-The love of God is greater far, than tongue or pen can ever tell; Thankfully, we get glimpses in the pages of Scripture. Not just “stories”, but historical accounts that reveal how rich and pure and measureless and strong is the love of God. Nehemiah is an account of “His erring child, he reconciled.”
It appeared that the nation promised to Abraham had collapsed and were no longer God’s holy possession, His treasure. They were now stranded on the beach of idolatry.
But grace was just one step away. While in exile, God raised up prophets that foretold of Babylon’s destruction and the restoring, rebuilding and revival of Israel –(Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah). Cyrus, king of Persian would defeat Babylon and be used by God to restore His nation- as he had promised thru his prophets.
Jer 29:10-14 "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
God is and was faithful.
Ezr 1:2-3 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel--he is the God who is in Jerusalem.
Because God’s love goes beyond the nearest star and reaches to the lowest hell, a remnant returned to Jerusalem and the temple was rebuilt (Ezra). Nehemiah, a cub-bearer to the King of Persia is living in the capital of the Persian Empire, Susa. He hears that the Temple is rebuilt but also knows that the walls of the city of Jerusalem are in ruin leaving the people vulnerable (unsafe-dignity). God uses Nehemiah to fully restore, rebuild and revive His people.
Nehemiah considered a man of God and example of godly leadership. Nehemiah is often used to teach on good leadership-rightly so. The focus of our study of Nehemiah, like all Scripture, will be God. I identify not primarily with Nehemiah, but with the people of Israel. I am in desperate need of God’s grace. I need to be restored, rebuilt and revived. For I am distant, damaged and dry-and so you. I need to see and experience His grace that is just one step away-His love that is greater than any tongue or pen can ever tell.
“So… How’s that working for you?”
“Every last one of us has a “kingdom”—or a “queendom,” …a realm that is uniquely our own, where our choice determines what happens.”-Dallas Willard
I don’t know about you, but this quote from Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy, has me pegged! My life is my “queendom", where I make attentive decisions that serve the needs of my highness, my queen, me. As promising and satisfying as “queendom” may sound, it really hasn’t delivered. I must admit that I am a dismal queen, ruling a desperately dysfunctional land. “Queendom” is not working for me, and based on my observations, it also does not appear to be working for those around me! And if I were to ask you the same question about your “queendom”, I imagine it is not exactly thriving either. Thankfully, there is good news, the Good News: the Kingdom of God is at hand. It is here, it is now, and it will gloriously overthrow the kingdoms of “you” and “me”.
1John 2:27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things….
A.W. Tozer, “The widest thing in the universe is not space; it is the potential capacity of the human heart. Being made in the image of God, it is capable of almost unlimited extension in all directions. And one of the world's greatest tragedies is that we allow our hearts to shrink until there is room in them for little beside ourselves.”
No worries if this not us today-not me. Although all of us are at different stages none of us are done. For some the horn has blown and the shout have been heard, but we are just now coming out of the shock of being chosen. Many of us are in the demolishing stage. Things are being uncovered and we are a bit anxious about how long this process will take. The rest of us are in the design stage. The new walls are in place and the paint has been chosen. Although it is unsettling and scary, we are already seeing the incredible beauty of living in light and learning to love. We are beginning to experience the life He had in mind when He created us-but there is still much more to come. The furniture has not arrived yet!
We are all at different places none of us are ready to say “Move That Bus!” So let’s journey together for the takeover of our lives!