John 7:37-44 Streams of Living Water

Last week we talked with the prophet Amos about his picture of justice rolling like a river. This river brings new life into communities, families and individuals, helping them see God in their lives. This week we’re stopping by the Feast of Tabernacles where Jesus offers a similar picture of a river of living water bringing new life and hope into our world and the lives of people that we know and live with. It’s not uncommon for people to tell me that they feel dry inside; a number of people have described their lives being like walking in a desert place. They’re looking for this living water that Jesus is talking about here.

Jesus picks up on the invitation found in Isaiah 55:1-2, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.” It’s part of our nature to try to provide for ourselves, to not rely on anyone else, even if that someone’s God. Yet life throws us so many curve balls, so many changes in the journeys we’re on; there are times when tiredness and discouragement creep in and take away our strength and energy. Talking with a few pastors this week online, a number of them mentioned how, now that in-person services are slowly starting again, that exhaustion and depression is settling in as they bring others back into the decision making and hand over responsibilities again to the various ministry leaders. They’ve been working on adrenaline for months now and now are crashing. They’re dry, they’re thirsty, even if they don’t realize it. What life events or times drain you? Where do you go to be refreshed?

In Matthew 11, Jesus offers a direct invitation to come and rest and be renewed, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” It’s the same message as Psalm 23 where the shepherd leads his sheep to quiet waters and lush meadows. Now, at this harvest feast, where the people are celebrating God’s generous and abundant providing, Jesus uses the symbols of the feast to reveal himself as the promised Messiah, the one who has come to save his people.

The priests pour water from an underground stream that fills the Pool of Siloam over the altar. This pointed to a number of Old Testament passages: Joel 3:18, “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley of acacias.”  Isaiah 44:3, ^“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” These verses point to the coming Messiah and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit over the people.

Pointing to the water and other symbols surrounding the feast, Jesus stands and declares in a loud voice so everyone can hear, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Mitch Glaser, in Jewish Voice Today writes that Jesus is saying, “I am the reality that the water in this ceremony symbolizes—the true life-giver through who the Holy Spirit is also given.” We hear echoes from Ezekiel 36, “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Jesus knows that the people at the feast know these passages from the prophets, that they get it, that’s what they’re looking for: hope, refreshed hearts and souls. They’ve been slaves under Babylon and now they’re under Rome’s power; they just want to be free.

Rivers flow. They stop being rivers when they start collecting in one spot, becoming ponds, lakes or seas. The water doesn’t go any further. Think of the rivers that Jesus’ listeners would be thinking about: the great Nile and Euphrates rivers that nourish the lands they flow through, the Jordan River that provides life to the land as it flows from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. The soil of the Nile River delta between Cairo and the Mediterranean Sea is rich in nutrients because of the large silt deposits the Nile leaves behind as it flows into the sea. The banks of the Nile all along its vast length contain rich soil, thanks to annual flooding that deposits silt. From space, the contrast between the Nile's lush green river banks and the barren desert makes it clear how important rivers are to the land and how much it impacts the people all along its length.

Jesus doesn’t say “pools of living water,” he says rivers of living water will flow from within us. Living waters are not meant to stay in us, it’s meant to flow into the world around us. It reminds me of the Samaritan woman Jesus meets at the well, the woman whose life was filled with questionable choices. When offered living water from Jesus, she rushes back to the village to tell them about Jesus, to allow the living water offered by Jesus to flow through her and into the village people so they can also experience the new life and hope that Jesus brings.

Jesus came to take the punishment for our sin on himself, but also to bring new life and reconciliation with God. In the resurrection we’re reassured of new life. We no longer are seen as sinners in the hand of an angry God, as the preacher Jonathan Edwards wrote, we can rest in knowing that we are created in the image of God: children of God, masterpieces created by God. Seeing ourselves through God’s eyes can bring soul healing knowing that God’s with us through the Holy Spirit, he’ll carry us through life, especially when life is hard and painful. His living water helps us accept that our past has made us who we are today, for better or worse, but that the living water of the Holy Spirit will also shape our future, allowing us to look forward with hope and peace.

Living water needs to keep flowing. It flows from Jesus through the Holy Spirit into us, and then out of us into the community we are a part of. The Samaritan woman is an example of how Jesus’ living water flowed through her into her village. But how does that story of a woman from a completely different time and place work here? It begins with something as simple as coming here to worship on Sunday. Why do you come? Is it to worship God because it strengthens your faith, makes you feel good, it fills you with joy, it’s the right thing to do, or do you come to worship so that you can take what you have learned and experienced in worship with your boss, your employees, your co-workers, fellow students, neighbours, and friends? Both and?

In Africa, when I preached there, people had their heads down because they were busy taking notes so they could share what they learned at work, with their neighbours and friends. A fellow pastor in Montreal connected with me a couple of weeks because of a joint ministry we were both involved with. 3 people we know have stepped up in really cool ways. One person, a nurse has started a small group ministry of compassion and listening for other nurses where she is able to speak Jesus and hope into their lives and jobs. Two other people. they both own their own businesses; one has begun a lunch time Bible study for his employees while the second has an evening Bible study for their employee’s whole families around a meal.

We’ve begun live-streaming our worship services. What an opportunity to start a small house church in your home by inviting a couple of friends, a neighbour family, someone you’ve wanted to talk to about Jesus over to join you Sunday morning over brunch. As a church we need to look at how we can support you in being living water in a way like this. The thing is that we begin thinking like rivers instead of still ponds. Who can you flow into with the love of Jesus?

 

Amos 5:18-27 Let Justice Roll on Like a River

 

I appreciate the book of Amos; it challenges me as a person. Amos goes to a people who’ve drifted a long way from God and don’t even recognize it. God calls the shepherd Amos to go to the peoples of Israel and Judah and call them to repent and return to him, focusing mostly on Israel even though Amos comes from the southern country of Judah. As a shepherd, people are not likely to listen to Amos or respect him because he’s just a shepherd.

Amos calls down judgement against Israel and Judah’s enemies first. The Jewish people love this part, especially since many of their enemies are old family from the lines of Lot and Esau who have become nations too, the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites. Family fights are the worst, just look at our own church history. But then Amos gets personal and talks straight to Israel and Judah, one family that split after King Solomon’s death into two peoples who have a real love-hate relationship with each other; read the books of 1^st and 2^nd Kings for those stories.

Judah is charged with rejecting God’s law and following after other gods. It seems that Israel’s God isn’t very appealing to his own people. Then Amos lays into Israel and he’s not gentle with them. Amos 2:6–8, ^“This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.” They’ve become so involved with building their own kingdoms that they’ve forgotten God’s kingdom. The people, for the most part, have turned their back on God and on their most vulnerable members.

God’s angry because his law was given to protect the poor, the vulnerable and the needy and to shape the people’s hearts so that justice, compassion and humility and love for God and their neighbours would become the core of their character. That hasn’t happened, so now God calls them out on it. Instead of building God’s kingdom as his people, they’ve been building their own little kingdoms and stepping all over people to get what they want with no consideration for others. Instead of loving God and neighbour, they’re chasing after wealth, power, and pleasure at the expense of those who are weaker or poorer. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and everyone does what they want; kind of sounds familiar, doesn’t it. The people have forgotten that God’s a righteous and just God; he’s not going to stand for this.

Jesus comes to satisfy God’s justice. At the beginning before Adam and Eve sinned, they were told that the penalty for sin was death, but to cover all the sin in the world from Adam and Eve’s time until Jesus’ return, the only death that would satisfy God’s justice needed to be fully God, but also fully human, in other words, Jesus. Because God’s not only just, but also merciful, Jesus comes, and through Jesus’ death the penalty is paid, and through his resurrection we receive new life through repentance. Jesus comes not just for our sin, but to bring new life and establish a new kingdom; the kingdom of heaven.

Amos calls the people to repent and return to God, Amos 5:4–5, “This is what the Lord says to Israel: “Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” God wants us to return to him. But we’re so used to thinking that everything’s good between us and God and every once in while we need a wake-up call, like Israel, to take a closer look at our hearts and lives to see where our loyalties and worship really lie. Amos now points to the day of the Lord, the coming if the Messiah, telling them, don’t be so keen on the Lord coming, “Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light.” The people are looking for a powerful king to come and save them and allow them to continue to live their self-centered lives, not for someone like Jesus.

The people are doing the religious requirements outwardly, but their hearts are hard and their lives are about their wants and rights instead of caring and loving others. Not much different today where the constant call is to want to have things “my way” and never mind about the “other” person. People quickly cry about “my rights” instead of “my responsibilities” today over even small things like wearing a mask in a store to make others feel safe. Sacrificing a little for others is hard for some. God looks at our hearts; our religious acts aren’t so important to him. Amos’ statement that God “hates, despises your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for the. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” This freaks the people out! How can God be so harsh to them!

God wants justice and righteousness to be part of our character, part of who we are as his people. God’s ticked at his people for the injustice that has become so normal, he’s angry that there’s not more outrage at how their society has gone so wrong. Desmond Tutu writes, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” James, the brother of Jesus, explains it a little differently, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Injustice is still very much alive in our country and communities. This is why there are so many marches around racism, 3 of my children are First Nations and there’s little to no action on addressing the missing and murdered indigenous women cases. This could have been my daughters. Lots of fine sounding words, little done. Our Korean brothers and sisters in Red Deer who are joining the CRC have talked about how badly many of them have been treated because of the language around COVID. Words matter, lack of compassion and recognizing the image of God is others matters. Poverty, abortion, end of life, and so many other justice issues surround us.

God put his laws in place so that justice would roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream. If you’ve ever sat on the bank of a river or stream where it goes around a bend, you can see how the river slowly carves away at the land to find its way to the sea. It doesn’t do it quickly, but over time it shapes the landscape. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to do justice, to make it a natural part of who we are as a church and as individuals. Like a river, we slowly and consistently eat away at the banks of injustice and selfishness. We stand with those seeking justice, we work together to create places where people are supported by others who love them and are willing to invest their lives in helping them flourish and become who God has created them to be. We work to create places of healing and hope for our community, being a people of blessing who allow God’s blessings to flow through us into our community so it can gain a glimpse of God. This is why James emphasizes that how we live is an expression of what we believe.

Justice is about grace and mercy for those who have suffered from injustice. When someone who has suffered from injustice sees someone who cares about the injustice they are living in, when they experience the love of neighbour that comes from our fighting for justice in our society, they see Jesus’ heart, they see a people shaped by Jesus. Jesus says that how we live out our faith is important, ^“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’… “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

May our hearts be shaped by Jesus and the Spirit as God uses us to shape our community for his kingdom.

 

 

Psalm 137 Weeping by the River

The psalms are the songs of the people of Israel; songs to God from the heart during good times and hard times. Songs give us the words that we often don’t have otherwise, the words our hearts want to say but our mouths and minds can’t find, so we turn to the psalms to express what’s on our hearts and souls.

When we read Psalm 137, it’s important to ask ourselves, “What’s happened here to cause them such pain, such a deep desire for vengeance?” The Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the temple that King Solomon had built so many years beforehand. The Babylonians were violent and used violence to terrorize their victims. The Babylonian soldiers murdered, abused the women and children, looted Jerusalem and took the best educated and wealthiest Jews with them to Babylon to be slaves and use their skills to help the Babylonian empire become even more powerful.

These Jews are in Babylon and now being told to sing the songs of Zion: songs of praise to God. They’re being mocked, the Babylonians are telling them, “Sing your songs to your powerful God who couldn’t defend you from our gods who would love to hear your songs.” The Jews are in exile because they had turned their backs on God, had not cared for the orphans, the widows, the poor and oppressed in Israel; often oppressing their own people for their own profit. Now they find themselves in a place where they are being oppressed and the only one to turn to now is God, Yahweh; the God they had spent so much time ignoring or only doing the bare minimum faith duties they thought would keep God off their backs. They had miscalculated badly. It is important to remember that not all persecution is punishment, Jesus warned us that if we follow him, people will persecute us.

Question: is it unfair for God to punish us so harshly when we do something wrong?

But now the exiles turn back to God and pour out their grief, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” They’re unable to sit by the waters of the rivers of Israel, the mountain streams, the river Jordan. “There on the poplars we hung our harps,” unable to play the music of the Zion, “for there our captors asked up for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy,” however their tears and tight throats make it impossible for them to sing songs of joy. Yet even in their grief, the people of God know that God is always ready to welcome us back like the father in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. God is ready to hear their prayers, the sobs of their hearts, reassuring them that he is always with them; even in a foreign land living among their enemies.

The prophet Ezekiel gives us a wonderful image of how God goes into exile with his people; Ezekiel 10:18–19, “Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.  While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them”… 11:22–24 “Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia in the vision given by the Spirit of God.”

These are themes and situations that we here in North America honestly find hard to relate to. We don’t really understand exile, the deep loss that comes from violence, at least for the most part, or the feelings of hopelessness and grief expressed in this psalm. In Montreal, we had members of the church there who had fled from Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the violence and persecution they experienced there. Most of them left family behind, experienced horrible violence against themselves and their families. They all carried soul and heart scars which are only made deeper and more painful every time they hear news from family who are unable to leave for many reasons, including a flawed Canadian Immigration system.

I heard stories I can’t share here because of how disturbing they are; just because they’re Christians. As a church, we supported a Congolese pastor’s sister in the Congo who was so badly abused that she required multiple surgeries to survive. She’s still there and committed to helping other women in the same situation. She told her brother that she’s grateful for Jesus and knows Jesus is the only answer to her country’s violence. We talked with our local MP and Immigration Canada. We connected with the Congolese community to offer support and encouragement and help them get their stories out into the wider community.

Those who live where there’s real persecution understand this psalms’ cry for justice. We hear these verses and many of us don’t quite understand the deep cry for vengeance, though I’ve walked with people who’ve been abused who do understand, especially since our justice system doesn’t always work the way it should. This is why we’re in the middle of a serious conversation about race and racism today. These are hard heart cries to God, “Remember Lord… don’t let them get away with what they’ve done against us,” Happy is the one who repays you (Babylon) according to what you have done to us,” and the comes the anger and pain out of the hearts, “happy is the one who dashed them against the rocks.” It’s easy for us to remind people that “Vengeance is mine says the Lord” but when you sit down with them and hear the horrific stories and experiences, they’ve lived through, you start to get an understanding of where this verse is coming from. God wants to hear our cries; he is a God of justice!

Question: does knowing God is a God of justice give you hope?

So how does this psalm fit today? It reminds us that we’re part of a world wide church where many of our brothers and sisters are experiencing violence and persecution. Karina Kreminski suggests that Psalm 137 calls us to respond by: 1. rejecting sentimentality: don’t simply feel bad for a few moments and then change the channel in your brain. Allow the uncomfortableness of this psalm sit in your heart; ask God how to pray and support our persecuted brothers and sisters. 2. Be a “wise one” on the edge of the outside: we need to look at our own culture and offer helpful critiques as well as learn from people and groups very different from ourselves about what injustice and violence may be happening right here. This makes us bigger and stronger, giving us a voice and presence against injustice.

3. We need to present the alternative vision of the new creation. What we see in this world is not the entire story. We need to speak the vision of the Bible into our world as an alternative to the violence, hate, bigotry, racism, greed, sexism, and narcissism we see all around us. We need to be able to confess our own sin and the sin around us, to tell of Jesus, who calls us back to God, and teaches us the way to walk in our world and be who Jesus calls us to be. Jesus, fully God and human, took our sin and brokenness to the cross in order to usher in a new world shaped by peace, righteousness, justice, forgiveness, grace and possibility. Jesus gives us his Spirit to equip us to live out his values and to call others to follow him with us.

Lastly, Karina calls us to be a voice for the marginalized and the weak, to be willing to take risks to speak up for the oppressed and those exposed to violence and persecution. This is prophet language, Jesus language of loving our neighbours as ourselves, of sitting by the rivers to weep with them, and listen to their stories. Through their stories and weeping we hear Jesus, Matthew 5:6, ^“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,” and verses 10–12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

We look ahead to when we can sit on the banks of the river of God, singing his songs with all our brothers and sisters in the faith. We do need to grow our imagination of who the church is and remember that we’re part of a much larger church than what we experience here in Lacombe. We have brothers and sisters who are living out Psalm 137 even today who can use our prayers and our voices to speak out for them.

Psalm 46 River of Gladness

I grew up with 2 rivers close by; Slate River and the larger Kaministiquia River and I have great memories of spending time on both of them. Water and rivers keep coming up in the Bible in all kinds of ways and places. Water’s often connected to life and cleansing and punishment, sometimes all these themes together in the same story; think of the flood. Most of the important events in Israel’s history are shaped by water and point to important changes in Israel’s relationship with God. The Belgic Confession reminds us that one of the ways God reveals himself to us is through creation. Water often points us to God and what kind of God He is; so this summer we’ll be looking at rivers in the Bible.

Psalm 46 is best known for verse 10, “Be still and know that I am God.” This verse is a good reminder for many of us who have a tendency to get way too busy; so busy we sometimes put God second or third in our lives. One of the best things about this COVID time is that life has slowed down a bit and many of us have gotten to spend more time together as families. Yet there’s so much more to this psalm then a call to “be still,” that we miss if we only read the first part of verse 10.

The psalm starts off by reminding us who God is, “our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” You have to suspect with a beginning like this that this had to have been written during a time when things aren’t going so well and the people are worried and afraid. Verses 2 and 3 strikes fear in our hearts, “the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its water roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” I’m picturing a tsunami, a giant wave that shakes mountains; this is end of the world, flood over all the earth kind of pictures; this is huge landslide into the sea kind of imagery where the very ground under our feet can’t be relied on. Everything’s chaotic and everyone’s wondering, “Who can we turn too, who can protect us, keep us safe?”

Question: who or what do you turn to when you’re afraid?

As I listen to the news and to politicians, I hear fear: the economy’s going south, oil prices may not recover for years, the COVID keeps hanging around. Students and young adults are worried about finding work and what school is going to look like next fall, seniors are worried about their health and what happens if they do get sick. Everything seems to be coming together into a perfect storm of events to devastate our province, country and world. Everything’s going wrong, the world’s upside down, things are never going to be as good again as they are now and it appears no real help is coming. I hear a lot of fear and worry from many people, perhaps not as much in our beautiful area, but even here, there are threads of fear and worry that creep into our hearts and minds.

Then come these words of hope, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her; she will not fall; God will help her at the break of day.” Life may not be going the way we had prayed for or hoped, and yet the city of God, Jerusalem is filled with gladness due to a river whose streams make glad the city of God! According to the psalmist, the reason why we don’t fear, why when everything’s a mess and filled with chaos and the world can’t seem to get their act together, when injustice, violence and fear is all too normal, we still live with confidence and hope because there’s a river flowing through the city bringing life and hope.

If you know the geography of Jerusalem, you know that there’s no river flowing in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is located on top of a small mountain and while there are a few springs in the city that fill a number of pools, there is no river, so what is the psalmist talking about here, what is this river that the writer is talking about? The psalms are poetry creating word pictures and this is a picture of God’s grace and the life-giving influence of worship and service flowing out of the temple of God. The poet echoes Ezekiel 47 where Ezekiel sees a river flowing from the temple through Jerusalem; the river is lined on both sides by trees full of fruit. The river flows down the mountain into the Dead Sea, a sea so salty that nothing’s able to live in it, and where the river flows into the Dead Sea and “swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea.”

God’s river of blessing pours into Jerusalem and then streams branch off of it to flow into every neighbourhood, every nook and cranny of the city, to reach all God’s people to help them worship Him and live out their worship in service to God and each other. While the entire world shakes, God’s city stands firm and secure on a solid foundation. There’s nothing to fear. God is within her, she’s not going to fall because He’s our fortress, He’s our security!

Question: when has God’s presence given you a sense of safety and hope?

God’s not content to stay in His city, God’s on the move, His river flows out from the city and into the world bringing life, bringing an end to war, to bring His peace and rule into the world that is broken and tired of rulers who are focused on their own agendas rather than protecting and providing for their people. “Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.” This is why God sends Jesus; to be the king of peace and establish the kingdom of heaven here on earth.

The world has been in rebellion against God ever since sin entered into the world, bringing chaos and we’re part of it. Now God is righteous and just and our rebellion means death, but God is also a merciful God and He never gives up on us. He sends Jesus, who is both fully God and human to enter into the battle against Satan. Jesus takes our sin on Himself and becomes sin for us, going to the cross because the punishment for sin is death. God is also merciful, so Jesus takes our place so that we can experience peace with God, forgiveness, and new life. Jesus defeats sin and death on the cross and rises from the grave as a sign of his victory, giving us his Spirit so we can serve Him and build His kingdom here on earth until He returns and establishes His kingdom of peace over all creation.

God’s voice breaks into the peace, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” We’re able to be still because God steps in to protect us, to take away the threats that take our attention away from God, so that we can refocus our lives and hearts back on God again. Psalm 46 is about God’s protection and power, and it’s His protection and power that allow us the opportunities to “be still and know that God is God.” It’s not our power and strength that makes us feel safe enough to just be with God, it’s all God.

When we read, “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth,” we hear the echo forward to Paul’s confession in Philippians 2, ^“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Jesus is bringing peace and hope, and he calls us to be his messengers, inviting others to join us in trusting him and letting go of the fears that many of us carry inside us. We bring hope through acts of service as part of our worship through loving and serving our community; letting God’s blessings flow through us into the community we belong to. We carry hope with us and can show others how to let go of their fear and worry by inviting them to join us as followers of Jesus, the King of Peace.

1 Kings 11:1-13 Solomon: Tempted by Other Gods

When I was praying over, and putting this series on Jars of Clay together, I knew from the beginning that this story of King Solomon needed to be part of it, but because it’s such a hard story, I left it to the end of the series. There are such deep cracks here in Solomon’s soul, and it seems so hard to understand how these cracks were able to become so deep. The great King Solomon ends up bowing down to gods made of wood and stone, how can that be?

King Solomon becomes known for his wisdom around the world. He received this wisdom from God when he first became king. When God tells Solomon to ask for whatever he wants, Solomon replies, “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” Solomon chooses wisdom to help him lead Israel well and becomes so wise that people like the Queen of Sheba travels a long way to come see this incredibly wise king. God also gives Solomon wealth and power because he’s so pleased with Solomon’s choice.

Solomon begins as a wise king, caring deeply for his people, working hard to make wise decisions to complicated disputes that leads to the people marveling at his wisdom and compassion. An example of Solomon’s wisdom is shown when 2 mothers are fighting over the same child. Solomon proposes to cut the child in half, but then chooses the woman willing to give the child to the other woman in order to save its life even though she had to give the child away. People are struck by Solomon’s wisdom. Things are going well in Solomon’s life and kingship.

Question: what impresses you most about Solomon’s wisdom?

The historian who wrote 1 Kings describes how Solomon slowly turned away from God, from being a young king fiercely committed to following God’s will and being a good wise king, to becoming a foolish king worshipping idols made of stone and wood who demanded Solomon’s loyalty and worship even though they weren’t even alive. Rabbi Telushkin describes how Solomon declined in his faith. Solomon enters into a number of ‘diplomatic marriages’ with the daughters of other kings and princes, beginning with Pharaoh’s daughter. The world’s wisdom says these are wise marriages but God’s wisdom says different, Deuteronomy 17:17, “He, the king, must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.” Paul approaches it slightly differently, 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”

Marriage is a key relationship in our lives and shapes us deeply. Too many Christians approach marriage too lightly, believing that “true love conquers all” and if the person you love doesn’t follow Jesus, it will work out in the end because of love. These marriages more often end up with both of them not belonging to a church drifting further and further away from Jesus.

The world’s wisdom says to gain lots of wealth for security. God’s wisdom says that the king is not to accumulate large amounts of silver and gold; Jesus teaches us to be aware of where we put our trust in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Solomon grows in love with wealth; his goblets and utensils all made of gold to show off his wealth. Solomon begins raising taxes and institutes forced labour even though Israel’s history is rooted in being slaves in Egypt. This does not make Solomon a beloved king. Solomon begins to trust in the same things other kings did; large armies, lots of horses, wealth and strategic marriages, all against what God’s wisdom says is wise.

Rabbi Telushkin describes this part of Solomon’s life as the “unwisdom” of Solomon. Solomon “loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not marry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” God knows our hearts, how quickly we can turn away from him. Solomon’s wives lead him away from serving and loving God alone.

Question: what are some things that pull you from God?

Solomon has no excuses; God has met him twice in his life time. Most of us can say we’ve experienced God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit at some time or another, but God actually met with Solomon twice. God is angry! God wants what’s best for us; to be the people he’s created us to be. This is why he gives us his commands, this is why Jesus came to teach us how to live: love God and our neighbour, showing us his love by taking our place on the cross for our sin and rising from the grave three days later to give us new life washed clean of our sin. So often we think that Jesus’ way of living is for others; that we don’t really need them. We get so easily distracted from God; worshipping the blessings he’s given us, making them the center of our lives instead of him. We’re just setting ourselves up to fail and fall.

Solomon puts God’s wisdom aside and builds pagan temples so his wives can worship their own gods and then, over time, Solomon actually begins to worship and bow down before his wives’ gods. Idolatry is the worst kind of foolishness! Solomon joins his wives in following some of the cruelest gods at that time, gods that demanded human and child worship, gods that reveled in all kinds of immoral behaviour. “Solomon did ‘the evil’ in the eyes of the Lord.” Solomon doesn’t just do evil, the writer calls it “the evil,” which is lost in the NIV. Solomon does the worst kind of evil, the worst foolishness; he turns his back on God for idols.

Solomon no longer believes he needs God. Solomon has become so used to doing his own thing, relying on his own wisdom, that he no longer feels like he needs God any more. Solomon no longer uses the wisdom God has given him to distinguish between good and evil. Solomon made me think all week about the things in my life, the blessings and gifts God’s given me. I read through Ecclesiastes and heard Solomon’s lament that everything is meaningless; he has everything and yet life has become dull. Solomon’s biggest problem is that he let all the good stuff of life disconnect him from God. Over the past three weeks I took a course called Embodied Discipleship in a World That Has Gone Virtual. I’ve discovered how easily we can become disconnected from each other and God, especially when technology is our main means of connecting with each other. The main thing I’ve learned is that it takes effort to keep connection, and discipline to keep healthy relationships and not fall into the trap of mindlessly scrolling through my phone or tablet. God demands more from us, an intentional worship of him.

Question: how much work do you think you need to put into a healthy friendship or relationship? Is it worth it to you?

Solomon’s problem was that he stopped putting effort into his relationship with God and got drawn into the sin of worshipping his wives’ gods because it’s easier. We have so much and sometimes it becomes a barrier to God. Our days are so filled with God’s blessings that life is easy and we don’t see God anymore or how much we need him. We begin to worship the blessings instead of the one who blesses us, commit the evil Solomon did, though we would never call it that.

Life’s not meaningless. God wants our entire hearts and lives. Jesus has called us to build his kingdom here, to help our world catch a glimpse of what Jesus’ kingdom is like, shaped by healthy relationships, justice, peace and grace, forgiveness, of blessing others so that everyone is able to develop the potential God has placed in them.

Giving yourself totally to God as he demands means we need to stay connected to God and we have the ability right at our fingertips. I was introduced to the Pray as You Go app this week, it helps me to slow down and simply spend 5-10 minutes a day to pray, the Bridge app has an audio Bible that you can have reading the Bible to you while you are in your craft room, in your workshop, while sitting on the deck or while walking. As we enter into summer, take time to reconnect with God, with members of our Bethel church family, and with yourself after a stressful ever-changing time: connect to our God who never changes his commitment to us.

Matthew 26:69-75 Cowardly Peter

Brave, broken Peter; strong and weak, bold and cowardly all at the same time. Mathew’s telling of Peter’s story is a hard one, a story where Peter is left broken and weak, weeping bitterly. Earlier in the evening, Jesus told Peter that he would disown him three times, and we know Peter’s answer, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.” But Peter can’t live up to his bold words, just a couple of hours later, Peter can’t even stay awake while Jesus prays, even though Jesus asked him and James and John to stand watch for him. Then Peter cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest when Jesus is arrested in the garden. Now, in this morning’s passage, Peter disowns Jesus three times, just as Jesus had said.

There are so many questions in this story, how did Peter turn from being so bold and brave to being so cowardly so quickly? Was he afraid that once they know he is one of Jesus’ followers that they would also remember that he was the one who cut off the servant’s ear? Is Peter afraid that he will be tried alongside Jesus, does seeing Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin, the religious court suddenly make all Jesus’ predictions of his death real to Peter? There’s so much we don’t know about what is going on inside Peter’s head. In Matthew’s telling of the story, this is the last time in his gospel that Peter’s name is mentioned; we don’t hear any words of forgiveness, we’re left hanging about Peter’s standing with Jesus.

The last we hear of Peter by name in Matthew’s gospel is, “Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.” Let’s sit with the rejection of Jesus by Peter for a moment. It became so much more than just, “I don’t what you’re talking about,” Peter even called down curses to emphasize that he’s not connected to Jesus at all. Now Peter’s devastated; it’s sinking in exactly what he’s done. To emphasize Peter’s disowning of Jesus, Matthew follows Peter’s story with Judas hanging himself out of his sense of deep guilt and sorrow.

Question: have there been times when you denied knowing someone because you were embarrassed of them? How did that make you feel?

Is there forgiveness for Peter, is God’s grace and the forgiveness that Jesus prays to the Father for on the cross when he asks, “Forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing,” for Peter too? There are so many people, so many followers of Jesus who live with this kind of question still today. We know the cross, we know Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sin, we sing about amazing grace, we know Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is about new life for us, but still our hearts ask, “Can I really be forgiven, is God’s grace for me too, why would Jesus forgiven me, does he really know me, do I deserve it?” These are heart breaking questions that come out of hurt and doubt, out of brokenness, which is why they are so hard.

Most people don’t plan to fail, they don’t set out to fail or fall, to hurt others, God or themselves, and yet it happens so often. Often it happens because we think we’re stronger, wiser or cleverer than we really are. Many of us don’t have a good sense of our own weaknesses in some of these areas of our lives, or we may not have a willingness to admit any weaknesses. It’s amazing to me how easily we find excuses for our sins or failings, or how quickly we minimize our sin until it rises up and slaps us in the face with its seriousness and consequences.

Jesus is about to be executed. Plans are being made to make sure that there’s no way for Jesus to escape the cross. People are even willing to lie to make sure Jesus is convicted. Peter’s disowning of Jesus adds to the weight and pain of Jesus’ journey to the cross for our sin. Peter is a reminder of how quickly we can find ourselves in a position where we might turn our back on Jesus for any number of reasons. This often happens even after hearing Jesus’ warning in Matthew 10, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”

Question: have you ever lost a friendship because you said something cruel and hurtful? Did you try to make it right again?

These are hard words, words that are likely echoing through Peter’s heart right now. But Jesus isn’t done with Peter yet, Jesus’ love and grace shine through. In the cross we find forgiveness, we find hope. It’s a costly hope and grace, forgiveness comes at a huge cost to Jesus. on the cross he faces Satan’s power while carrying the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders. The cross is filled with physical, emotional and spiritual pain as our brokenness is taken with Jesus into the grace so that new life might rise up in Jesus’ resurrection!

We move from Matthew’s Gospel to John’s Gospel and John’s account of how Peter is shown forgiveness and grace. “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Peter is given the opportunity to offer three ‘yeses’ to Jesus as a contrast to his three ‘no’s’ the night of Jesus’ trial. Jesus has cooked them all breakfast, they’re eating together, a good feeling. In this moment of hospitality on Jesus’ part, he turns to Peter and offers grace and restoration. Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, using the Greek word for love “agape” the first two times, which is a higher, deeper kind of love and Peter responds by saying that he does love Jesus, but uses the Greek word for love that is “philos,” brotherly love. The third time Jesus also uses “philos” love when he asks Peter if he loves him and Peter tells Jesus, “Of course I philos love you.” Jesus adjusts to who we are and our capabilities and cracks, and then continues to work in us, to go deeper with us and in us to grow our love from philos brotherly love to the deeper committed agape love.

Question: how hard is it to say “I was wrong, I’m sorry” when someone asks you to apologize?

Peter was broken, a cracked jar of clay; now Peter’s restored by Jesus, renewed and forgiven! His cracks are still visible, still there, but they now add to the beauty of his ministry, giving him the strength to be bold for Jesus, filled with Jesus’ strength and boldness rather than his own. It’s no accident that it’s Peter on Pentecost who stands up to the crowd and preaches Jesus Christ, who explains the coming of the Holy Spirit. We’re reminded that Jesus gave Peter his name, “The Rock” before Dwayne Johnson claimed the name, and told Peter that on the rock of his confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the church will be built and the gates of Hades will not over come it! Jesus uses Peter to lead the disciples to begin the church, to change the world with his bold message that Jesus is Lord!

If you’re wrestling with feeling like you don’t love Jesus enough, if you’re wondering if you can be forgiven, if your sin is feeling too large to ever be forgiven, know that Jesus gets it, his grace is big enough for you and your past, his desire is to restore you and have you experience his forgiveness and with it comes the challenge to allow him to use you, cracks and all to grow his kingdom here. Jesus isn’t done with you yet, he loves you with a deep agape love, and he loves you right into forgiveness.

Exodus 4 Moses: Uncertain

Moses is a powerful person in the Bible and called the greatest prophet. Even Moses himself realized that God used him in a powerful way in the history of Israel and the world. In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses points to the coming of Jesus, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.” Israel eagerly waited for this great prophet, this Messiah and they thought they found him in John the Baptist, “They asked him, “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” John instead points to Jesus as the great prophet, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

Moses points ahead to Jesus in many ways: he’s a prophet and law-giver, like Jesus; Moses leads Israel out of slavery into freedom, Jesus leads out of slavery to sin into freedom; Moses performed miracles such as manna while Jesus feeds 5,000 people and the people right away connect Jesus with Moses, John 6, “After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Yet this amazing prophet started off filled with uncertainty and self-doubt, unsure he could do what God was calling him to do. This same uncertainty filled me this past week as I looked at the world around us with all its brokenness, injustice and violence. As a pastor, as a husband and father of a family with both white and First Nations children who have experienced racism, I asked God, “What do you need from me, who do you want me to be right now, I can’t let this simply go by, but I feel so inadequate right now.”

Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s palace to lead. But Moses led in his own strength when he killed an Egyptian soldier for beating an Israelite and he ends up running away and herding sheep for 40 years. Now God meets him in a burning bush, calling him back to Egypt to lead his people out of oppression and injustice into freedom. God’s calling Moses to stand up against the most powerful nation in the world. Is it any wonder that Moses has doubts?

Question: when have you had times when you have been asked to do something and you thought you did not have the skills required? How did you feel?

Moses’ doubt comes out in his first 4 excuses for not being able to go to the elders of Israel and then the king of Egypt with the message to let God’s people go free. Moses basically says, “I’m nobody really, what if they ask hard questions, nobody will listen to me anyway, and I’m a lousy public speaker.” Moses sees all his faults, all his weaknesses and inabilities to be able to do what God is asking him to do. In Moses’ eyes, his weaknesses are bigger than God’s greatness. God gently and patiently responds, giving Moses powerful signs to show the elders, promising to give Moses the words that he needs to convince the elders and Pharaoh. God gives us what we need to accomplish the call he makes to us to be his witnesses in our communities. “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” He’s not going to send us into these situations and opportunities on our own and without his help. We’re called to join God in his exciting plan of redemption, renewal, and restoration of our world.

But then comes Moses’ fifth excuse, “Please send someone else.” Does this all sound familiar? Have you even used some of these same excuses to give yourself permission to not be God’s servant and embrace Jesus’ call on our lives and his commands to love and to make disciples, to not share your faith with others, or maybe you’ve come up with your own, “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t already know Jesus,” or “I’m so busy, I don’t have time.” Moses moves from uncertainty and being unsure of his ability to plain refusal. There seems to be something in many of us that, even though our self-doubts and feelings of inadequacy are addressed, we still refuse to accept that we are capable.

Question: what are some excuses you’ve used to get out of doing something you we being asked to do? Have you ever given excuses to God to not do something the Bible tells us to do?

I’ve sometimes wondered if that’s because our self-image is often based on what we can’t do rather than what we can do, and this gives us permission to not engage the world as Jesus calls us to. Why are so many Christians so uncertain and filled with so many doubts when it comes to giving Jesus our whole heart and lives, of embracing who Jesus calls us to be, of accepting the challenges of living out God’s kingdom here on earth. In times like this, do you feel a call to stand up and speak out Jesus’ words calling for love, for justice, for healing? What holds you back from speaking out against injustice and standing up alongside those who are oppressed, silenced, rejected and ignored. This past week I heard of some of our young adults wanted to attend the rally in Edmonton or Red Deer to add their voices against the injustice of racism, and I was proud of them because our faith calls us to stand up against injustice. In unity with others, we find what we need to respond to God’s call. Ecclesiastes talks about 2 being better than 1 and 3 being even stronger; talking about how community gives us strength.

It’s not a sin to feel inadequate or have doubts. Jesus told us to count the cost of following him before committing to do so because he knows it will be the biggest commitment of our lives. We’re called to carry our crosses and we look to the cross of Jesus to recognize that this is no small thing. Jesus gave up his life for our sin and he calls us to now give him our entire life in return. Our hope lies in the resurrection, knowing that Jesus is powerful enough to give us whatever we need in any circumstances to follow his call and be the persons and church he has created us to be. Our strength lies in Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit to give us what we need to accomplish Jesus’ call to love God with everything we are, to love our neighbours and to make disciples.

Question: do you really believe that God will give, or has given you what you need to be his church here in Lacombe to follow his call to love our neighbours as ourselves and to make disciples? What do you feel you need?

When Jesus and the Holy Spirit call us, it’s not because we’re so special or have special gifts; what Jesus is looking for is faithfulness and trust that he will give us what we need to do what he’s asking us to. It’s important that Jesus calls us to be part of a community, that we are never called alone. God tells Moses “Your brother Aaron is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to se you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you to speak and will teach you what to do.” Healthy Christians consistently reflect on themselves and look at who they are, their lives and actions, and their relationship with Jesus. You will never be perfect; what Jesus is looking for is a willingness to allow the Spirit to lead you and shape you. Jesus is looking for your openness to keep growing and maturing, to anchor yourself in Jesus. When you look at Jesus’ disciples, none of them were special in any way, but they were willing to trust and obey and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading.

All week I’ve been thinking, reading and praying about how to respond to the unrest and injustice of the time we’re in. I don’t have a lot of answers, I’ve felt Moses’ uncertainty, and yet, as followers of Jesus, we cannot remain silent, nor can we refuse to act. How, I don’t know yet, but this is when we need to really start listening to understand the experiences of our black, First Nations, Korean and other minorities, and then humbly ask how to work towards a just, righteous society that reflects the kingdom of God.