For the Welfare of the City - Jeremiah 29:1-14

               

It’s a blessing to hear each of you publicly profess your faith in Jesus and take the faith step of accepting the responsibility of full membership in the church. It’s been a joy and honour to get to know you better over the past few months as we had faith and life-oriented conversations and discussions. Most of our conversations were shaped by the theme found in this passage, “to seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” This call comes from the Lord through Jeremiah, and in many ways, it's simple wisdom.

Israel’s in the early days of their exile to Babylon. God allowed Babylon to defeat Israel and take many of her people into exile, but prophets soon appeared, saying that they would soon be going home. Now the Lord moves through Jeremiah to send the exiles a hard wake-up call, “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.” This is their new reality, a long-term, new way of understanding their life now: exiles in a foreign land. They have to figure out how God wants them to live in Babylon. It may be a foreign city, but God is God of all cities, all nations, all peoples.

The apostle Peter picks up on this in his first letter, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.” Tiya Thomas-Alexander, in an article for the Gospel Coalition, writes, “Peter called them “God’s elect, exiles scattered” …. When these Christians chose to follow Christ, they were persecuted. By naming their identity as exiles, Peter was comforting them. Our Christian identity of exiles gives us a boldness to bear through harsh days of suffering. It gives us a glimpse of the horizon—a sign that this land ends somewhere, and gives way to another place…. In exile, we participate in mending work as God himself prepares a new city by redeeming old things.” We look forward to Jesus’ return and the coming of heaven to earth, but until that happens, we’re called to live lives of meaning as blessings as Abraham was called to be a blessing. We can fight against the culture, we can hide from the culture, we can embrace the culture, but God calls Israel and us to instead walk in his way to bless the culture through our presence; to be a gift.

Dr Stephen Grabill of the Acton Institute sees the church’s mission as being God’s blessing to the world. He defines the church as “the Body of Christ given as a gift for the life of the world.” We’re the hope of God scattered across the world, called to pray and work for the peace, shalom, and prosperity of the communities we’re a part of. We often believe that if we’re a blessing to our community, they should be really happy to have us here, yet that’s not always true. In the Babylonian empire there were a number of times its rulers saw the Jewish people as a threat and tried to get rid of them, or silence them. Paul addresses this in his first letter to the church in Corinth, “We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.” And yet, even when the empire saw the Jews as a threat, the Jews left an impact on the Babylonians and empires that followed them. The Magi who came to find Jesus at his birth come from this area, searching for a special king from God whose birth is revealed in the skies, traveling to Bethlehem in search of this king predicted by people like Daniel and other Jewish scholars and leaders. There’s something about Israel’s faith, something about how the Jews in positions of influence contributed to the empire and its culture that stayed with and impacted them.

As we talked about having a vision for living out our faith, we were challenged by Stephan Grabill, “Living faithfully in exile and seeking the shalom of our cities are two big ideas that the church needs to embrace in order to recover a robust “in-but-not-of” theology of culture…. At its core, it means living missionally and intentionally in light of God’s economy of all things…. We don’t just exist for ourselves; we exist to bring life to the world. But how does our gift-giving lead to flourishing? Living in the land according to God’s law leads to flourishing for everyone. When we live as God wants us to live—as a light to the nations—we flourish in every imaginable way, and that flourishing spreads around the communities to which we belong. In other words, living according to God’s big-picture, oikonomic purpose for the world illumines and applies shalom in all of the economies of life—family, work, governing institutions, education, the arts, and so on.” This is big-picture, kingdom of heaven ways of thinking and living. This is what Jesus is getting at in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

We’re each called to work in large or small ways to bless our city. We build houses, families, businesses. We plant gardens, we plant peace through hospitality, we plant seeds of the gospel of Jesus through faithful living and sharing our faith alongside living it out. We raise families, we have jobs, we create beauty and marvel at the beauty found all around us in both creation and the people we encounter, and we have opportunities to take on different roles in each of our communities to help make it a better place. One of fascinating things for me has been looking back and seeing the variety of roles the Lord has asked me to play to be a blessing; from being a son, a husband, a father, friend, sailor, baker, helping in a Christian community center, pastor, various roles in different communities, and more. My parents taught us that God calls us to serve each other, our church, and the community because God loves them with a deep love and so should we. We were taught to celebrate the achievements of others instead of being jealous, helping others become more who God calls them to be, even if they don’t believe in God.

Our lives glorify God as our roles and gifts point to the working out of his grace and blessing as we live faithfully in exile and seek the shalom of the cities because they’re God’s cities. Jesus came as a gift to the world, a gift who suffered greatly on our behalf; taking all our sin to the cross so that we can experience reconciliation with God and an outflow of his blessings. As Jesus came as a gift to the world to reveal God, so Jesus calls us to live as his gift to the world as his Body, giving the world a glimpse of what the kingdom of heaven looks like through our lives; the already not-yet kingdom that will be completely realised when Jesus returns to claim his bride. When we pour out our lives, using our gifts to bless others, we’re also blessed. When we invest in other people, we experience blessings as we see them become blessings to even more people, creating a spirit of abundance and health.

Our lives glorify God in how we carry out our roles, using our gifts to point to his grace and blessing as we live faithfully in exile, seeking the shalom of our cities. Just as Jesus came as a gift to the world to take our sin to the cross and reveal God’s amazing grace and faithfulness and forgiveness, so we come as gifts to reveal the already not-yet kingdom of God here. Stephan Grabill writes, “This faithful living is a leading issue of our time. And this point brings us back to the big picture. Things operate out of sense of purpose and toward a specific end in God’s economy. But we need eyes to see this new world picture and patience to take the long view.” As you journey through life, see the wonder of the world around us, look for the image of God in others, and explore how your gifts can bring peace and prosperity.

 

 

A House of Prayer for All Nations - Isaiah 56:1-8

                

Prayer’s a beautiful gift, an invitation to come to God and talk. There’s no need to wait for God to show up or come to us, he’s always here ready to talk about whatever’s on your heart or going on in your life. We’re invited to bring our joys and celebrations, our fears and our worries, our doubts, and our pain to him. Jesus made prayer a priority in his relationship with his Father, regularly taking time to get away by himself to talk with God. His disciples noticed it gave Jesus the strength to keep on going and asked him to teach them how to pray. There’s something about what Jesus got out of prayer that makes them want the same thing. Israel has a deep history of prayer and even has an entire book dedicated to prayer, the Psalms: 150 different prayers for almost every situation in life.

Our passage is a reminder that God calls all his people to make prayer a foundational part of their life and worship. Israel is back home again after 70 years in captivity. We’re reminded why they’d been in exile when God commands them, “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the one who does this—the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil.”

Our faith walk with God is shaped by two things: orthodoxy which is right thinking, or what we believe, and orthopraxy, which is right living. What we believe is revealed by how we live with God and others. Israel failed to live out their faith by failing to care for the poor, the widows, the orphans, or the foreigners among them, often taking advantage of them, revealing that they believed in a God who only cares about rituals and not who they are as his people. Part of right living is the keeping of the Sabbath, one day a week focused on coming to God, worshipping him, praying to remind ourselves that we’re not God; we’re creatures in God’s image and given great responsibility to image him to the world. Christine Caine, founder of the A21 Campaign that focuses on human trafficking around the world writes, “Prayer is a declaration of dependence. It’s our way of saying, “God, I want you. I need you.” When we bring something to God in prayer, we are saying, “God I want your rule. I want your reign. I want your direction. I want your will. I want your help in this. I want you in this.”

As the Lord keeps talking to his people through Isaiah, we get a bigger picture of what Abraham’s call to be a blessing to the nations looks like, “Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.” And let no eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.” Earlier in chapter 54, the Lord says, “Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” …. For your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.”

The barren woman, the foreigner, and the eunuch are all people on the fringes of society, considered disgraced. The foreigner and eunuch were banned from the temple except for the outer courts. The barren woman and eunuch were especially considered disgraced because they couldn’t have children. The Lord tells Israel that he sees them and invites them into his house, the temple, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever. And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The Sovereign Lord declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.” What a shock to the Jews! This isn’t how things work; they’re God’s special people and now he’s inviting all these foreigners and disgraced people into the temple to experience his presence. God’s moving from having Israel as his specially chosen people to inviting anyone who chooses to follow him to become his people. God’s breaking down all kinds of barriers to the temple and his presence that have been in place for generations; shocking many Jewish believers.

Israel saw the world as divided between “them and us,” yet the story of Scripture is God working to reconcile the world to himself. He chooses Abraham to be a blessing to all the nations, so that the nations will come to know God as their God. Twice the Lord refers to the temple as “his house of prayer,” the second time as “a house of prayer for all nations.” God is God to all people; he’s gathering people from all nations for himself. Jesus, the good shepherd, tells his disciples that he has sheep in other folds that he needs to gather so there will be only one flock instead of many. God created humanity in his image; our identity in God and Jesus is greater than any national or ethnic identity we may choose.

When we keep the Sabbaths, accepting God as our God, shaping our lives around worship, trusting in God, he gives us an eternal name that’s better than having sons and daughters. In a culture where your family was central to your identity, becoming part of God’s eternal family is huge; it means your name won’t be forgotten. Jesus offers this in Revelation, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.” and, “The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.” This is why Jesus gets so angry in the temple when he sees how the Gentiles are being treated because they’re family who’ve come to talk to their Father too. Luke writes, “When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

The invitation to prayer is for everyone. God listens to us all, inviting us to come closer to him, to come into his house and talk to him. Prayer keeps us connected to God; prayer moves God’s plans forward. Prayer’s a big part of our faith walk with God, but it’s not always easy. Praying can look really different from one day to the next. One day you’re talking quietly to God, the next day crying with tears pouring down your face, then the next day angrily yelling at God. Christine Caine: “Sometimes, when we feel he hasn’t come through for us or answered our prayers the way we hoped, it’s easy to want to quit talking to God, just like we naturally want to withdraw and quit talking to people who disappoint us, who don’t come through for us. It’s as though the same reasons we run to God in prayer can be the same reasons we drift away…. I don’t know why things we pray for so hard about don’t always work out.”

It can be tempting to simply stop praying when life gets disappointing. Maybe ask yourself, “Is there a reason why I’ve stopped believing that prayer can change things, a reason why I’m no longer running to God with the same faith I once had?” When you don’t feel like praying anymore, keep on praying. Keep coming to church on Sundays so we can pray for you and with you, and you can be surrounded by others who are praying in God’s house of prayer. God wants to hear you and to help you hear him in worship. Prayer reminds us that God loves us and that we love God. God is faithful to us. Prayer connects us to God and to each other; prayer brings unity and hope, prayer leads us back to a place of trust and faith in Jesus again.

 

 

Rise Up! Lessons from the Life of Esther - Isaiah 40:28-31

Good morning GEMS, thank you so much for leading us in worship this morning! It’s great to have you share about GEMS and some of the things you’ve done and learned about this year. I love your verses and them this year, “Rise Up!” and how you’ve learned about Esther. These verses from Isaiah really help us to understand how God was with Israel and Esther to build his kingdom, even though we never hear God’s name in Esther.

When I was reading these verses and listening to you read them, it’s like Isaiah’s whispering a secret to us, saying, “Hey, do you know who God is, he’s amazing! God is the creator of everything and he never gets tired, he’s always full of energy so he’s never too tired to help us out. God’s so wise that he knows when we’re really tired and need some energy to keep going, he knows when we start feeling like we’re not strong enough or good enough and he makes us strong enough to keep on going.” Then Isaiah gets really excited and his whisper gets really loud, “But you know what, if you trust and hope in the Lord, he’s going to fill you to overflowing with strength and energy again and you’ll be like eagles that fly so high in the sky and can see forever with Jesus at your side!”

Queen Esther understands what Isaiah’s sharing with us here about God. She didn’t understand it right away, but that’s why God puts really wise people in our lives. Esther lost her parents when she was young and her cousin Mordecai took her into his family and raised her. It must have been really hard on Esther to lose her parents as a child, and sometimes it’s hard to see how God is with us when things are hard. God was moving in her cousin Mordecai’s heart too; moving him to take Esther into his family and to raise her to know and trust in God. Mordecai taught Esther about who God is, that God is someone they can trust and put their hope in, even though they’re living in a foreign land and were often made slaves. Mordecai’s even connected to the palace and hears about a plot to kill the king and saves the king’s life.

So how does Esther, an orphaned Jewish girl, become queen in the most powerful empire? To make Esther queen, God works in the king’s heart when he gets so angry at Queen Vashti, that he makes a law that she can never be around him again, so they hold a competition for a new queen. If the king’s people choose a girl, they have to become part of the competition. God makes them notice Esther and choose her to become the new queen. God is in control and makes his plans happen. He knows what’s coming and who he wants to use to accomplish his plans for his kingdom. This is why we read the Bible, why we study stories like Esther’s, why we go to church and GEMS, so that we’re always ready for when God wants to use us for his plans for his kingdom. 

Mordecai knows that there’s a lot of people who don’t like the Jews, so he tells her to not tell anyone that she’s Jewish. Esther also listens to the advice that Hegai, who helps her get ready for the competition, and because her humbleness and wisdom, she wins the competition and becomes queen, even though Esther’s Jewish. We hear Isaiah saying, “Remember, God increases the power of the weak.” Our strength comes from God, our heart strength, our mind strength, and even our physical strength all comes from God. Esther must have been excited, scared, and wondering how this could happen to her. I’ve discovered when things change a lot, it’s a good time to ask God who he wants you to become because he’s always working in the background, getting you ready to show others who Jesus is and to build his kingdom here. Going to other people who love Jesus and follow him is always wise and helps us figure out what the Holy Spirit might be doing in your life right now. Remember, like we just said, God gave you wise people in your lives, amazing counsellors, teachers, parents, and other Christians to guide us.

Life’s good in the palace, but then an evil man Haman, who hates the Jewish people because Mordecai won’t bow down to him, decides he wants to kill all the Jewish people. All of a sudden, we get a glimpse into how God has been working quietly to protect his people by working in different people’s hearts and lives to make Esther queen right when God’s people need someone to shape the king’s heart and mind to save God’s people. Haman comes to the king and says, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.” So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.” God’s people are in deadly danger here!

Esther isn’t perfect, but she’s a good example for you as GEMS, and for all of us on how to live when few people really follow Jesus. When Mordecai lets her know what has happened, Esther’s afraid to ask the king for help to stop Haman since he gave Haman the permission to kill her people. I’d be scared too! Esther tells Mordecai that she’s not sure if the king still likes her and if he gets angry when she goes to see him, the king might kill her. Then Mordecai reminds her, and us, that God’s plans will happen and to trust that he’s made us exactly the right people that he needs for his plans at this time, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” 

Isaiah reminds us, “God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Esther may feel weak, but God will give her what she needs. It’s like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking God if there can be a different way than the cross but then Jesus says, “Not my will, but your will be done.” Angels then come and minister to him, giving him the strength needed to save us from our sin by going to the cross and washing away our sins. Just like Jesus goes to God, Esther tells Mordecai, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” Esther goes to God and fasts and prays; praying for strength, wisdom, and courage to go to the king to save her people. When you’re in difficult times and need to act, go to God to pray and ask for strength and wisdom and trust that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” When you’re scared and you have something right and good to do, you can stand strong and courageous with God’s help.

Doug Bratt reminds us, “Through Isaiah 40 God reminds us that those who rely on the Lord find that help.  God doesn’t always take away our problems.  Yet God gives us the strength to deal with them.  God helps vulnerable people like us so that we can run and not tire out.  God lends us a hand so that we can walk and “not run out of gas.” When you read the rest of Esther’s story you see that God gives her what she needs to change the king’s mind, to show the king Haman’s evil plan, and receive protection for her people. Esther flies with the strength of an eagle because God is with her. God loves his people, hears our prayers, and gives us what we need when we follow him to show the world Jesus’ love and grace as he uses us to build his kingdom here.

I Will Sustain You - Isaiah 46

                          

Adam and Heather, you chose this passage for the baptism of Richard and Rosemary. It’s a passage of hope and comfort that challenges us to follow and honour God in everything, and to focus our hearts on God so that our lives glorify God, especially in times of trial. 

It's near the end of Israel’s exile in Babylon for not being faithful to God. They always did the rituals and festivals but didn’t allow God’s laws to shape them to love God and to love their neighbours, especially those who are going through difficult times. It’s been a long 70 years in exile, but it’s almost finished. It’s been filled with times of persecution and times of God showing his power in the center of Babylon’s empire. We remember how God saved Daniel from hungry lions, saving Daniel’s 3 friends from a fiery furnace, and used the orphaned Jewish girl Esther to save his people during a particularly dangerous time for God’s people. With all of this in mind, Isaiah calls the people to remember who God is and reject Babylon’s idols.

The scholar F Kidner shows how Babylon’s gods were similar to the gods that Israel had chased after earlier. Bel was Babylon’s national god of fertility and agriculture, whose son Nebo was the god of learning. Their names are found in king’s names such as Belshazzar, or Nebuchadnezzar. Both gods were regularly transported in processions, weighing down the pack-animals. God, through Isaiah, shows how great the difference is between these idols who are just burdens the people have to haul around, while Yahweh carries his people throughout their entire lives.

These idols are nothing but creations, created by the creatures the eternal God has created. God tells Israel, “Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” With all the history God has with Israel, with all the covenants and promises that God has made and kept with his people, Israel is still constantly tempted by the gods of the nations around them. Idols promise you the things you desire, all you have to do is give them your loyalty. Idols demand your devotion in return for temporary pleasure. In doing so, you take away from God’s glory, making him less in your heart. God calls for a response from his people here. God reminds them that he is the only God who is always with them, who cares for them, sustains them, and carries them from birth to death. There’s an especially powerful word of hope here as God reminds them that he’s also their rescuer, echoing back to Egypt, and ahead to their upcoming return back to the Promised Land.

Israel, and we today, too easily fail to give God the glory he deserves and instead focus our hearts on our desires instead. We have our own idols. We allow ourselves to fool ourselves in believing that if we give God some, or even most of our devotion, we’re good and he’ll accept whatever we’re willing to give him. We forget that God is a jealous God and demands all our devotion, something God told Israel in Leviticus, and as Jesus later reminds his followers. Loving God with our entire heart, soul, mind, and strength is the foundation of our relationship with him; anything less takes away from God’s glory and we place ourselves in charge instead of God. God doesn’t like playing games with us when it comes to our relationship with him. It’s important to glorify God and not focus on our own pleasures and wants. God promises to sustain his people, willing to carry us through our difficult times, trusting in his way over the world’s ways. How we respond to God in the difficult times is important; showing our trust in following his way over our own, shows our faith in God, even if it’s really hard. In fact, the harder the situation, the more glory we give God. In hard times, our faith can grow stronger when we choose to trust God’s way.

God calls for a response here. God challenges them, “With whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?” God mocks the idols here and the people who worship the idols, “Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer; it cannot save them from their troubles.” We shouldn’t fool ourselves about who God is, he’s the only God, there is no other God like him. God has full knowledge of the past, the present, and the future. He’s in control, even in the heart of the greatest empire of that time. God saves, not our idols.

God reminds them, “Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” Israel is still in exile in Babylon. They’re still a conquered people and often oppressed. They’re at the mercy of the king and nobles, and it’s often hard for Israel as they’re different, having a God who claims them as his own and demands total allegiance. This, as Daniel, Esther, and others discovered, put them at odds with the powerful and often led to the Jewish people needing to make faith choices that would often have harsh repercussions, and yet bring glory to God.

People, and the world notice when we don’t complain or whine when times are difficult, and instead talk to God, read his Word, and seek his guidance, asking what his purpose is during the times of struggle. I’ve stopped being surprised at how powerful our witness to the world is of who Jesus is, when they see the peace and strength followers of Jesus can show during really hard times, seeing how faith gives us the ability to trust in God’s purposes and laws. Paul’s encouragement in Romans 8 is powerful, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all…. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword…. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul reminds us that we can count on God sustaining us through the hard times, pointing us to the strength and love we find in Jesus and his way.

To fulfill his purposes, “God summons a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.” From Isaiah 44 and 45 we know that this man is Cyrus. God says, “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt, and of the temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.’” If you want to read how God uses this foreign emperor to accomplish his purposes to return Israel to their land and rebuild the temple, you can read about it in the book of Nehemiah. God tells Israel, “What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do. Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are now far from my righteousness. I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.”

The fulfillment of these verse occurs when Israel returns to their land through Cyrus, but the ultimate fulfillment of these verse is found in Jesus who came to take all our sin, to bring salvation through the cross, revealing God’s splendor in Jesus, fulfilling God’s promise in Genesis 3 to send a saviour who will crush the serpent’s head. Isaiah 46 is a reminder that God’s purposes are always fulfilled, that God gives us the strength to remain faithful during the difficult times, and bring him glory. May the Lord bless you as your raise your children to trust God in all situations and bring him glory.  

 

 

 

 

 

The Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25-26; John 20:20:1-9 - Easter message

Today is the highest day of the church year. Just over 2,000 years ago history took a sharp turn towards hope and restoration. On the Friday, Jesus took the sins of the world on himself onto the cross, and by doing so, he took the punishment for all of our sin on himself; reconciling his people with his Father. That first Easter, God raised Jesus from the dead as a sign that Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf was accepted and all our sins are forgiven. Hallelujah!

John sets up the resurrection story of Jesus with the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead shortly before his own death. In Lazarus’ death and resurrection, questions come up, like how Jesus responds to the news that Lazarus is sick, “When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Instead of leaving right away to be with Lazarus and offering healing, Jesus waits for 2 days before leaving. As they get ready to leave, “Jesus goes on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” When his disciples don’t understand what he’s just said, “he tells them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Jesus’ goal in Lazarus’ death is to help them believe, but the question is, “Believe what?” When you read the Bible, listen for echoes: where do we hear something similar, see something similar. When we listen for these, we begin to get a bigger picture of what’s happening. The idea of believing but not understanding comes up again and again in John’s gospel; from the woman at the well, to Thomas, Martha, Mary Magdalene, and at Jesus’ tomb, Peter and John. They all recognize in their encounters with Jesus that there’s more going on than they understand. In John’s gospel, this isn’t a mark of shame. Jesus doesn’t get frustrated, instead it gives Jesus the opportunity to teach them and help them believe.

At Lazarus’ tomb, Martha hears that Jesus is there and she goes and meets him. Martha goes in the hope that nothing’s beyond Jesus’ power, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus’ response isn’t necessarily what she hoped for, “Your brother will rise again.” These are words that we often offer to each other when a loved one dies, but Martha’s hoping for something more, but she’s hesitant to push Jesus to directly use his power. Martha answers Jesus with some resignation in her voice, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Her last hope that Jesus might perform a miracle for Lazarus evaporates away. Now Jesus goes on, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” He follows this up with asking, “Do you believe this?” Another reference to believing, but believe what exactly?

We find it easy to believe this side of Jesus’ resurrection, but for Martha and the early disciples, believing in resurrection was harder, even though they had seen Jesus perform miracles and heard his teachings the past 3 years. As I reflect on these stories, I hear doubt and questions, coupled with a desire to believe, and an openness to being open to having our worldview shaped by who Jesus is. I’ve learned that it’s easier to believe our theology as simple knowledge and harder to actually shape our hearts and lives and allow it to shape us in its hope, comfort, and faith. Good theology is rooted in the good news of Jesus and builds up and encourages. In Jesus’ words to Martha, Jesus says he is the resurrection and life, that we have life even though we die, and that we have eternal life through believing in Jesus. But death is still a reality that can shake us and leave us with all kinds of questions even as we live in faith and trust in the resurrection.

Martha responds with a beautiful statement of faith, “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” She doesn’t say she understands exactly what Jesus has just said, but she trusts in who Jesus is. And even though Jesus is the Son of God with power over life and death, he still weeps over Lazarus’ death, over the pain sin has brought into the world before he raises Lazarus into life again. It reminds me that it’s good to weep when death touches us, but because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, we weep with hope. Lazarus’ resurrection points us to Easter morning.

Mary Magdalene traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was there at his crucifixion. Magdalene shows that she came from the town of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The death of Jesus affects her deeply. Luke tells us that Jesus freed her from 7 demons that had possessed her. Jesus gave Mary new life, freeing her from those demons, filling her with hope and peace. Mary’s one of the group of women who supported Jesus and his disciples, so Jesus’ death is a huge blow to her. While it’s still dark, Mary heads to Jesus’ tomb. On Friday, she was with the group of women who had followed Joseph of Arimathea and saw the tomb he placed Jesus’ body in. They made plans to come to anoint Jesus’ body with spices and perfumes.

Mary goes earlier than the other women to spend some time alone before the other women show up. Mary sees the stone rolled away and the empty tomb and runs to tell Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Peter and John book it for the tomb. John gets there first, looks inside, sees the linens Jesus was wrapped in, then Peter arrives and goes inside. John then writes, “He saw and believed.” I love his honesty in what he writes next, “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” So much about God is hard to understand. This is why the gift of faith is so precious, a gift that relies on trust and the Holy Spirit’s assurance as the Spirit keeps pointing us to Jesus and the hope we find in him.

It's an emotional day coming after an emotional weekend for everyone. There’s the fear, guilt, and shame that the disciples are going through; there’s Jesus’ death and the death of Judas after he’s unable to deal with his guilt. There’s lost hope. Yet at the same time, God and Jesus are doing something that’s life and history changing, but so much of it’s happening behind the scenes where people aren’t able to see it. This is where faith comes in, just like Job discovered, just like Joseph told his brothers centuries earlier that what they had done was all part of God’s plan to save them. As we look at how God worked in the past, we’re better able to understand how Jesus’ death is part of God’s plan to save us.

People react to death differently. Many people fear death today. After almost 25 years in ministry, I’ve seen how people deal with death. For some, there’s utter devastation from those without faith and who believe there’s nothing left of the person they’ve just said good-bye to; there are those who go to all kinds of lengths to flee from the pain of loss; then there are those who wonder if there is anything to live for and stick their pain deep down inside and try to deny it because then they need to deal with the reality of death.

Compare this to the funerals we’ve had in lately; funerals where there’s sorrow, but it’s sorrow with hope because of Jesus’ resurrection. Easter resurrection is especially meaningful at times like this, but it can come with questions. We don’t always understand God’s timing or plans. We mourn because of our love for the person who died, but we also live in hope because we know that death has been conquered by Jesus and is now a doorway to eternal life in God’s presence! In a world that assumes death is the last word, there’s something amazing when someone discovers that tombs are temporary, that for those who believe in Jesus, there’s eternal life! After that first Easter, we start to understand what Jesus means with “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” What we call death in the end is not death for the follower of Jesus, but a doorway to be with him forever. We possess eternal life! Hallelujah!

Join me in celebrating this joy with the words from the Heidelberg Catechism… Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 22

Q &A 57 How does “the resurrection of the body” comfort you?

Answer: Not only will my soul be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head, but also my very flesh will be raised by the power of Christ, reunited with my soul, and made like Christ’s glorious body.

Q & A 58

How does the article concerning “life everlasting” comfort you?

Answer: Even as I already now experience in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, so after this life I will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise God forever.

 

The Lamb - John 1:29; 10:11, 14-18

     

Good Friday really begins the evening before with Jesus gathering with his disciples over their last meal. It’s not clear in the Gospels if this was meant to be the Passover meal, but there are a number of connections made to the Passover meal. Jesus is in Jerusalem during this Passover week and it’s a very noisy place. Not only were crowds of pilgrims in town milling around in the temple courts, but large numbers of animals were being slaughtered for the sacrifices that the people had come to make. Because the Passover was a pilgrimage feast, the streets and homes were extra crowded and the lambs for the sacrifices were being brought into the city from the fields around places like Bethlehem, creating an ear-hurting clamour wherever you went, especially in the area around the temple.

People were busy on the Thursday slaughtering the lambs, many then putting some of the blood on the doorposts in memory of the first Passover. In a typical Hebrew home, the mother is busy preparing for the celebration, there is food to cook, a specific meal with many symbolic foods reminding everyone of the taste of slavery and freedom, of the journey Israel went through due to unfaithfulness, but then there are the tastes of the Promised Land and blessing. To begin the meal, the father leads the family around the table. As they sit around the table the youngest child is prompted to ask “What does this ceremony mean to you?” The family and guests then hear the father or grandfather tell the story of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, the plagues, the meaning of the Passover lamb with blood on the doorposts of the house, and of God’s great deliverance.

With all of this history and meaning in the Passover meal, we’re able to better understand what John the Baptist is saying when he sees Jesus at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. In John 1 we read, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The Passover lamb points us to God’s protection and deliverance from slavery, not only physical slavery, but also our slavery to sin. This lamb reminds us that God remembers us, he hears our cries for help, he responds with salvation, and guides us on our way through life, providing us with what we need. This is a sacrificial lamb, a lamb whose blood protects the people from the anger and punishment of God, just as Jesus’ blood protects us from the anger of God towards our sin by washing our sin away.

This is what we see at Calvary as Jesus hangs on the cross. Jesus has willingly, out of his love for us, become the sacrificial lamb for our sin, protecting us from the penalty for our sin. We see the people’s cruelty toward Jesus, the intensity of his suffering, his willingness to endure it, and the sacrifice it involved. Sin brings pain and suffering and this is all reflected on the cross. But on the cross we see another image, there is the lamb sacrificed for sin on the Day of Atonement, and this takes us back to the temple again. But there is another animal that is part of the Day of Atonement. After the sacrifices had been made, the priests laid their hands on the scapegoat and sent him out into the wilderness, carrying the sins of the people. Jesus was taken outside the city, like the scapegoat with the sin of the people on himself, taking our sin out of God’s sight and presence. Jesus does this all to wash all our sin away so we can be right with our Father one again!

The King - John 12:12-19

                  

We’re entering Holy Week when the church reflects on Jesus’ journey to the cross, grave, and resurrection. It begins with the celebration of Jesus as Israel’s true king. It’s the week of Passover and the day Jesus rides into Jerusalem is the day the Passover lamb is set aside until it’s sacrificed on the Thursday for the Passover. It’s only a few days after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. There are so many elements coming together that will shape how this week will play out.

Jesus has arrived on the outskirts of Jerusalem. His fame after raising Lazarus from the dead has gone ahead of him. Crowds of people are starting to arrive in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, one of the three pilgrimage festivals that God gave Israel, festivals when Israel was called to attend as a people, even though many couldn’t come every year. I can imagine the scene as someone recognizes Jesus and his disciples travelling up the road from Jericho and starts spreading the news. John tells us that they took palm branches and went out to meet Jesus. There’s not a whole lot of doubt about what’s going on in their minds as they greet Jesus, lining the road shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed in he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!”  

They’re echoing Psalm 118, “Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.” The psalm goes on, “with boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.” Hosanna means “save us” and the palm branches are symbols of victory, as we also see in Revelation 7, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands,” echoing back to Psalm 118.

Palm branches were stamped on Jewish coins in that day and became one of the symbols of a free Israel. In both Psalm 118 and Revelation 7, we also see a connection to the temple, showing the king is from God. As we put it all together, it’s easier for us to see how Jesus fulfills all these prophecies of the coming Messiah, the king of Israel from David’s line, a king blessed by God. The people are putting these things together and recognizing that there’s something special about Jesus and they cheer his arrival in Jerusalem, hoping he’ll claim the throne of David.

When you hear all this going on as a Pharisee or a Roman, all kinds of alarm bells start going off. For the Pharisees, who supported King Herod who was appointed by Rome, Jesus’ claim to be king would upset the delicate balance between the Jewish leaders and the Roman governor to maintain a certain level of peace and safety. This was their concern in John 11:48 right after Lazarus’ resurrection, “If we let him, Jesus, go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” For the Romans, especially the soldiers, when they hear what’s going on, their thoughts are, “Not another Jewish rebel Messiah! Shall we just kill him right now.” Roman soldiers were tired of all these Messiahs who popped up regularly, stirring up the people with dreams of freedom.

Jesus adds to the excitement of the day, adding to the speculation of being Israel’s true king by taking a young donkey and riding it into Jerusalem, fulfilling another prophet’s prediction, “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt,” a take on Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Excitement is beginning to reach a fever pitch. What a time for God’s king to arrive, right at the festival celebrating God’s delivering his people out of slavery to bring them to the Promised Land to establish his presence in the world through his people and the temple. Memories of Moses, King David, and King Solomon, and the original temple only add fuel to the fire.

In the Middle East warrior kings rode stallions while kings of peace rode donkeys or mules. God warned Israel’s future kings in Deuteronomy to not acquire many horses, “The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” Israel’s kings are supposed to be different from the kings around them. The horses were a military resource, so gathering more and more horses showed they were beginning to think of territorial expansion, revealing a war-like attitude and a dependence on their own strength rather than depending on God; showing a lack of trust in God and more trust in armies or earthly allies. Reading through Israel’s history, we see this played out over and over again; even wise King Solomon gathered huge numbers of horses, wives, and wealth.

God alone is to be Israel’s king. Jesus comes as a king of peace, a king of humility who looks to God first and always. We see this when Satan tries to tempt Jesus with kingship over all the nations of the world, all Jesus has to do is worship Satan. Jesus can become king without the cross, but Jesus trusts in his Father, turning down Satan’s offer, trusting in his Father’s plan to become the Messiah king.

The crowd’s divided. There are those who support Jesus. Some of them saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, while others have heard and believe the story, and the other stories of the miracles Jesus has performed. Many believe what Jesus has been teaching about the kingdom of heaven and who God’s calling them to be as his people. Most of these people come from outside Jerusalem, many from the north from Galilee. Then there are those who are against Jesus and most of these come from Jerusalem, the center of Judah’s religious and political power. Yet none of them really understand who Jesus is as king.

Jesus is arrested for blasphemy and given over to the Romans with the claim that Jesus claims to be king. Pilate asks Jesus straight out, “Are you king of the Jews?” Now we get a glimpse of what Jesus’ kingdom is, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” When Pilate hands Jesus over to his soldiers to crucify him, the soldiers take Jesus and flog him, taking a crown of thorns and putting it on Jesus, clothing him in a purple robe, mocking him, “Hail, king of the Jews,” and striking him in the face to humiliate Jesus. Pilate places a sign above Jesus on the cross that reads “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” mocking the Jews because nothing good comes out of Nazareth, echoing what Nathanael once said.

Jesus threatens people as king. Herod understood this, which is why he had the boys murdered in Bethlehem at Jesus’ birth. Pilate knows Jesus has the potential to create untold problems for himself and Rome. The Pharisees knows Jesus has the potential to take away their influence, but also to the potential to force Rome to destroy the Jewish people. Yet Jesus talked constantly about the kingdom of heaven, comparing it to the kingdoms of this world. The king gives you your identity, the king demands absolute allegiance and either you give the king your complete loyalty and allegiance or you’re considered a traitor or rebel. The king doesn’t operate under the rules of a democracy where you get to determine how much allegiance you give to your government. But don’t fool yourself, there are many political and thought leaders today that demand complete allegiance from you, and it’s only getting worse, creating all kinds of polarization among people today. Either you belong and align yourself fully with them or you’re out. They, in their own ways, understand the call Jesus puts on our lives as king; Jesus demands total allegiance from us and either you accept Jesus as your king and submit completely to him, or you reject him; there’s no middle ground.

What kind of king is Jesus? Jonathan Edwards, the American theologian and pastor in the 1700s describes Jesus’ kingship this way: Jesus combines infinite majesty and humility, perfect justice and boundless grace, absolute sovereignty and utter submission, all sufficiency and yet utter dependency on God. Jesus is a king like no other king, an all-powerful and yet compassionate king who is willing to sacrifice himself to save his people so they can be part of his forever kingdom. Is Jesus your king?