Telling Our Children God’s Story - Psalm 78

             

Baptisms are so special, a beautiful sign and seal of God’s grace, a symbol of belonging and acceptance. Baptism is a reminder of what Jesus accomplishes on the cross, a going down into death and rising up into new life, a sign that Alaric is part of our church family and that Jesus has gone to the cross for him even before he can choose Jesus. Adam and Heather chose Psalm 78 as their passage for today because it emphasizes the importance of telling the stories of God, the stories of faith to our children, a reminder to parents to lead their children into a relationship with Jesus, teaching them trust and faith in Jesus as they hear and learn the story of salvation.

Psalm 78 is written by Asaph, called a prophet by the Jews. In this psalm, Asaph tells us to tell the stories of God and the history of God’s people with God so that they may be faithful to the Lord. Asaph does a deep dive into Israel’s history, remembering the stories of God’s power and deliverance of his people, the slide of Israel time after time into unfaithfulness to God, and then God’s faithfulness, mercy, justice, and forgiveness, all leading to the gift of a faithful king in David, servant to the Lord, pointing to the hope of God’s people, a hope fully realized in the coming of Jesus.

Listening to the stories of faith reminds us of who we are and why we can trust in God. The stories also remind us of who we are not supposed to be, stubborn and rebellious, instead we are called to be loyal to God who is always loyal and faithful to us, an echo back to our series on the Judges of Israel. Dr. Cullen Story talks about how remembrance in terms of Psalm 78 means geographical and historical anchors such as Egypt, the fields of Zoan, the sea, the desert, Shiloh, and Jerusalem. Remembrance means persons as well, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, and David.

Asaph tells the stories of the Exodus when God freed his people from slavery to the Egyptians, even dividing the waters of the Red Sea so Israel could escape from their slave masters on dry ground, and then drowning the Egyptians by allowing the waters to return to their place once Israel was safe. In verse 42, Asaph laments that Israel doesn’t remember the Lord’s power and the amazing signs he did in leading them to freedom. He lists the 10 plagues in Egypt that God sent to show Egypt and Israel who the true God is. In the 10 plagues, God defeats 10 of the main Egyptian gods, culminating in the plague of death, showing that even Pharaoh is weak and unable to protect his people from Israel’s God. There’s no God like Israel’s God!

Asaph tells the stories of the wilderness, the stories of how God provided for his people. They asked for water, he gave them water. They asked for food and he gave them manna, bread from heaven. They asked for meat, he provided them with quail. Asaph writes, “They ate till they were gorged—he had given them what they craved.” For 40 years God provided for his people and still they whined and complained, even mourning at times that they had left slavery in Egypt because there they could eat melons. Not all of the stories of our relationships with God are happy stories because our hearts are full of sin. Like Israel, we often end up chasing God’s blessings and loving them more than God, looking to what we don’t have rather than what we do. Is it any wonder then that in the stories of God and his people that there are times that God acted out of anger, allowing them to experience the consequences of their ungratefulness, at times even death? And still, “in spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe. So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror.”

God is a God of justice, sin and rebellion have consequences, but we discover in the stories of God and his people that God is also a merciful God, a God of grace. Verses 34–39, “Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.” God remembers their weaknesses, and ours, and this stirs God’s mercy and forgiveness. This is part of the trademark of the Christian faith; God remains faithful to his covenants with his people even though we’re unfaithful over and over again. As Paul reminds us of this great hope in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Psalm 78 reminds us of a covenant of forgiveness and new beginnings; a covenant that calls God's people to faith and obedience. 

God brings Israel into the Promised Land. You would think that with everything God has done for his people that they would be the most faithful people ever, but history tells us differently, instead they keep testing God, testing his patience and faithfulness to them. We’ve just finished journeying through the judges in Israel where we saw how the people loved other gods, how they were disloyal and faithless towards God time after time, and unreliable in leading the nations to a greater knowledge of God. Yet God raised up judges to lead them out of slavery to the nations and their gods over and over again.

Asaph doesn’t hide the hard stories of his people, showing how they keep walking away from God, but showing just how merciful and loving God is to his people. Because God loves his people, he doesn’t ignore their sin; he punishes them in order to draw them back to himself and lead them into becoming the people he’s calling them to be. God turns his back on Israel at times, but he doesn’t abandon them, instead withdrawing his blessings from them when they chase after other gods. Like a parent who loves their child but hates something they’ve done, they punish their child so their child is reminded of the person their parents expect them to be.

The psalms are Hebrew poetry, using metaphors, similes, and hyperbole, meaning that the psalmist often uses extreme language and images to describe what they’re writing about. Here Asaph uses hyperbole to show us the hurt and pain our faithlessness causes God, “When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely. He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among humans. He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. He gave his people over to the sword; he was furious with his inheritance. Fire consumed their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs; their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.” In his faithfulness, God does not break his covenant with Israel, he does not abandon them, but he does allow them to know his anger and disappointment with them.

God doesn’t stay angry forever, Asaph describes God as waking up as from a sleep, beating back the enemies, choosing the tribe of Judah, building his sanctuary like the heights, and choosing David his servant to be the shepherd of God’s people. This is where knowing the stories of God helps. We know Judah is one of the sons of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, and God chooses Judah as the line through which the promised Messiah is going to come, even though he’s not the oldest son. God raises up a shepherd, faithful David, to lead his people as their king, pointing us to the Good Shepherd Jesus who comes and saves us from our sin by remaining faithful to God, taking on our sin and taking it to the cross where it’s washed away through Jesus’ faithful sacrifice and obedience to God.

We get a glimpse here of what the doctrine of unconditional election looks like, the doctrine where we confess that God chooses his children, not based on how good or special they are, but because he chooses. This is a doctrine of comfort and hope because it’s all about pure grace. We don’t know who God has chosen, so we offer the good news of Jesus to everyone, inviting them all to follow Jesus with us, generously sowing the seeds of the good news wherever the Spirit leads us, especially in our children. These seeds are planted through telling the stories of who God is and his faithfulness to his people, what Jesus has done, and how Jesus offers us his Spirit to guide us and remind us of who he is, shaping our life stories into stories of redemption, renewal, and hope.

Samson—The Angry Warrior - Judges 15

                         

Two weeks ago, we looked at Samson’s wedding and the riddle about the lion he had killed which he had given his companions. They had turned his riddle back on him, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Today we’d say the answer to their riddle is love, and there’s a feeling in the story that Samson does love his Philistine wife. Samson, after his anger has cooled down, goes back to his father-in –law’s house to claim his wife. Imagine Samson’s surprise to find out his wife is now married to another man, to one of his companions at his wedding! Samson’s father-in-law then makes things worse by offering his younger daughter as a replacement wife for her sister. God, through Samson, now takes the next step in confronting the Philistines and delivering his people from the influence and power of foreign gods.

Samson reacts in anger. “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines;” admitting here that his killing thirty men before probably wasn’t right, but now he feels justified “to get even with the Philistines.” Samson wants revenge and decides to harm the Philistines by destroying their fields and harvests. This will hurt them all winter long. He catches three hundred foxes, ties them together in pairs, and ties flaming torches to their tails, terrifying them, and setting them loose in the fields, vineyards and olive groves, creating chaos and huge losses to the Philistines. This has religious overtones because the main god of the Philistines is Dagon, the god of the harvest and prosperity, and now an Israelite defies Dagon. The battle between Israel’s God and Philistine’s gods is on.

Samson’s difficult to punish, but his father-in-law and Samson’s wife are easy targets for the Philistine’s vengeance.  Since Samson had burned their fields and vineyards, they burn Samson’s in-laws, including his wife. Samson reacts viciously, attacking and slaughtered many of them. The Philistines can’t ignore Samson anymore, so God’s plan to confront the Philistines now begins in earnest. The Philistines gather 3,000 men and march into Judah where Samson has gone to take Samson captive and punish him.

Israel has given up and accepted their bondage to the Philistines. The men of Judah grovel before the Philistines, “Why have you come to fight us?” The answer likely doesn’t make the Israelites feel any better, “We want Samson so we can do to him what he’s done to us.” The men from Judah swallow their fear; gather the remnants of their courage and three thousand of them go to Samson. They go to the Nazirite, the man dedicated to God, to rebuke him for stirring up their masters and not respecting them. The Israelites who are bound in slavery bind Samson to hand him over to those who have control over their slave chains. God’s presence and hope seems to be pretty well gone in Israel.

It’s sad that Samson even has to ask his fellow Israelites not to kill him, but just to bind him. While they bind Samson in ropes, they don’t even realise that they’re bound in even stronger chains of slavery, hopelessness, and idolatry. They take Samson, bound in new ropes, to the Philistines. The Philistines come shouting, intimidating the men of Judah, but Samson isn’t intimidated and the Spirit of the Lord comes on him as the Spirit did when the lion attacked him. The ropes, while strong, when compared to the strength of Samson because of God, become as feeble as charred flax and fall from his body as if they aren’t even there. Samson stands before the Philistines as God’s man as God’s Spirit gives him the strength to show the Philistines that Israel belongs to God and their gods are nothing compared to Yahweh.

With nothing more that the jawbone of an ass which Samson picks up from the ground, again breaking his Nazirite vows, he strikes down one thousand Philistines. The Lord shows his power and his protection of his people through Samson. Israel may be hurt and enslaved, yet God doesn’t sit back and do nothing, he shows his people that his faithfulness to his covenant with them remains, even though they’re unfaithful to him.

Samson boasts after his victory over the Philistines, “With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys out of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.” It’s all about Samson, no mention of God anywhere. Samson’s a picture of Israel. Time and again, Israel is seduced by the gods of the nations around them, and time and again, Yahweh shows Israel that he’s the God of gods, King of Kings, and Lord of lords. After the battle, Samson cries out for water, and God provides water and refreshes him, even as his cry to the Lord sounds much like Israel’s complaining attitude in the wilderness, coupled with a sense of entitlement.

What’s struck me in reading through Samson’s story is how often the Spirit of the Lord comes on him and God gives him what he needs to defeat the Philistines in the moment. We see Samson as a powerful hero, someone we dream of becoming, at least if you’re a boy. Some of us might see Samson as a broken hero, yet in Samson’s stories, we when we look closely at Samson, we see a sinner that God remains faithful to, a reminder of how God remains faithful to us in our own sin. We’re able to see other people’s sins much more clearly than our own; the problem is that we see some people’s sins as more acceptable than others because we admire them. Because we want to see Samson as a hero, we accept his sins while rejecting other peoples’ sins because we see their sins as being much worst for many reasons.

Al Wolters, one of my professors at Redeemer, wrote a book called Creation Regained where he lays out how sin taints every aspect and part of our lives and souls, making us all equally distasteful to God. When we look at someone else’s sin and fail to see how we are equal to them as sinners, often, subconsciously, we’re using their sin to make ourselves feel better about our own sin, justifying that we’re not as bad as they are. We fail to realize that even the best and most godly areas of our lives are still infected by sin; sin has a deeper hold in some parts of our lives than others, but it has a hold in every part. This is why Jesus comes and takes all our sin to the cross.

This is why we’re given the Holy Spirit, to guide, encourage, and even push us into becoming more Christlike as we work with the Spirit to grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. What does that look like? Paul writes in Galatians 5, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

 The gift of the Spirit is for the common good, in Samson’s case, the gift of the Spirit is to lead Israel into freedom, but we never see evidence that Israel finds freedom from the Philistines under Samson. It’s in the book of Ruth, set near the end of the judges, that we see that they’re free again. When Jesus appears among his disciples after his death on the cross for our sin and his resurrection from the grave, John tells us, “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Here the disciples are given the gift of the Spirit to equip them for the work of establishing the church and sharing the good news of Jesus. In order to do this, we also need to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our own lives because our lives are part of the gospel story, a testimony to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

The Lord remains faithful to his commitment to Samson and Israel all while Samson and Israel consistently reject the Lord. The question that kept popping up to me is, “If the Spirit of the Lord is coming on Samson so often, shouldn’t we see some evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in his life?” Jesus told his disciples that he’s going to send them the “spirit of truth, who will guide us into all truth”. The Spirit guides us, but we’re called to follow the Spirit’s leading, to listen and obey. It takes trust in God, a trust that Israel had lost because they’ve become so much like the nations around them. A friend, Peter, on his deathbed told me how thankful he was that Jesus had given him his Spirit to help him become more like Jesus, it gave him peace through the most difficult times. I had mentioned to him once that Jesus accepts us for who we are, but loves us too much to want us to stay who we are, which is why we’re given the Holy Spirit. Peter recognized just how amazing the gift of the Holy Spirit is, I pray you do too!

 

Amazing - Joshua 3:1-6

                                     

It’s great to see all of you cadets here this morning with your families here in Bethel. It’s Cadet Sunday, a special Sunday when we get to share some of the things we’re doing, learning, and thinking about God. We’re going to be talking about amazing things this morning and we’re going to look at a pretty amazing story this morning about the people of Israel crossing through the Jordan River without even getting their feet wet, but before they do that, Joshua has a special command for them, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."

Do you know what the word consecrate means? It’s part of our code, but it’s a word that we don’t hear used very often anymore. Consecrate means that you make yourselves ready to be used by God to do special things for God. The people would do this by washing themselves and their clothes so they were all clean and then they would pray to God to make their hearts clean too. They’re told to consecrate themselves because “The Lord is going to do amazing things among them.”

The next morning the people get up and get ready to cross the Jordan River, but the water is flowing by really fast and really deep. Joshua now tells the people that the priests are going to carry the ark of God and walk right into the fast-flowing river that’s too dangerous to cross at that time of year. What happens? As soon as the toes of the priests touch the river, it stops! Heaped up in a pile! The people of Israel simply walk across without even getting their shoes wet. Imagine that, if you can! That’s amazing!

Now everybody’s on the other side of the river with dry feet, but there’s another problem, there’s this city called Jericho surrounded by huge strong walls and they don’t want these new people in their land. How would you try to tear down the huge strong walls of a city? Use dynamite? Dig away at the foundations till they crumble? God has a better idea. Just walk around the city seven times, then blow trumpets and shout. The Israelites trust God so that’s what they do and those huge walls crumble and fall down, so the Israelite army can just walk right into the city. That only happens in video games, not in real life unless God’s involved! Amazing!

Consider the Monarch butterfly. Do you know that they migrate from our area all the way to Mexico for the winter. Now butterflies don’t look all that strong or tough, but if you’re going to fly all the way to Mexico without an airplane, you need to be strong and able to keep flying a long time! What an amazing creature, created by an amazing God! God’s created many amazing creatures!

God’s so amazing, he created everything, the whole universe was created by God, that’s amazing! From the furthest heavens above to the depths of the seas, God’s created some really amazing creatures and places that show everybody that there really is a God because there is no way all the different things in the universe could have happened by accident. I find space amazing, there are some amazing pictures that we’re now able to take because of our newest space telescopes. I love the NASA website, here are a few of the pictures I found amazing. In Isa 40:26 we read, "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." What an amazing God!

What are some things that you find amazing? Are there any people that you think are amazing?

There’s one person in history that I find totally amazing, that’s Jesus! He did some really amazing things. He healed people that nobody else could heal. There’s a lady who was bleeding and nobody could heal her for years and all she had to do was touch his clothes and she was healed! There’s a boy who kept throwing himself into the fire and even the disciples couldn’t heal him, but Jesus did! Jesus healed lepers by touching them, he healed people far away by just saying they were healed. Jesus raised a mother’s dead son back to life while they were on the way to the grave. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Jesus even raised up his friend Lazarus from the dead after being in the grave for 4 days!

God had told the people of Israel more than 1,000 years before that he was going to send us a saviour who will come and save his people, and he did, he sent Jesus. What God says, he does. God says he will be with you, and he is; he says he loves you, and he does. Amazing!

Jesus did something even more amazing, something so amazing that he’s the only one who could do it, Jesus loves us so much that he took all our sin and washed it away on the cross. It’s like coming back from the snow derby and you’re all smelly from the campfires and when you got home your mom told you to take a shower or bath to get clean because you smelt. Our sin makes us stink and Jesus washes the stink of our sin away because we can’t. To me, that’s the most amazing thing ever because sin keeps us far away from God, but God wants to be close with us because he loves us so much. He even created us in his image, amazing!

Amazing fact: we live on a miniature dot in a huge universe, and being micro-mini dots on that planet, God knows each one of you cadets. He made you; he knows you; he loves you. He sees you and watches over you. Now that's amazing! And he has plans for you and will do amazing things not only among you, but through you. Commit yourself to Jesus, follow him, and who knows how many scientists, doctors, nurses, long-haul truck drivers, caregivers, teachers, artists, musicians, missionaries, farmers, mechanics, or software and video game creators, or other amazing things will come from our cadre. God is in the business of doing amazing things, even in and through you.

Samson-Doing it His Way - Judges 14

                         

Samson’s a person of contrasts and it’s sometimes hard to believe that God uses him to deliver Israel, or would use someone like Samson who seems to deliberately turn his back on who he’s supposed to be; a Nazirite, dedicated completely to the Lord, as we learn in the previous chapter.

Samson’s a young man with all the desires of a young man. He goes to Timnah, a Philistine city where a young Philistine girl catches his eye. Samson goes to his parents and tells them, “I’ve seen a Philistine girl in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” His parents try to talk Samson out of this because God had forbidden the Israelites to marry those who worship other gods. God knows that when we marry someone who doesn’t believe, it’s easier for the follower of God to drift away from God. But how often don’t we act on our feelings or wants before considering what Jesus wants?

The author of Judges writes, “His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel”. God’s provoking a confrontation with the Philistines through Samson’s desire; beginning the work of delivering his people.  It’s not unusual for God to accomplish his plans using our rebellious nature, knowing us better than we often know ourselves. God simply uses Samson’s rebellion to accomplish his will, also allowing him to experience the pain that will come from his actions. God uses Samson’s wrong desire to fulfill his promise to Samson’s parents to save Israel. Even though God uses Samson’s wrong desires, God wishes to accomplish his plans through our obedience. There’s less pain and hurt in God’s way.

Samson and his parents go to Timnah to do some wife arranging. On the way to negotiate for his bride, a young lion jumps out of a thicket and attacks Samson. We wonder at Samson’s strength as he grabs the lion and tears it apart with his bare hands. But it’s because the Spirit of the Lord comes on Samson; this is all about God working, not about what Samson can accomplish; even his extraordinary strength is a gift, a blessing from God. Samson and his parents continue on to Timnah where they arrange for the young woman to marry Samson.

When Samson goes back to marry his wife, they walk by the place where Samson killed the lion. Samson slips away to check out what happened to the body of the lion. When he comes to the place he left the carcass, Samson finds that bees have made the body of the dead lion their hive and there’s even honey inside the lion’s carcass. In Israel, especially the really dry areas, the heat and dry air dry out a body extremely quickly without decomposing, so that they become like mummies. This is likely what happened since bees normally avoid dead bodies.

But Samson now acts without thinking. Samson scoops up a handful of honey from the lion’s body and eats it, giving some to his parents too. The problem is that according to the rules God gave to the Nazirites, touching a dead body made them unclean. This is a violation of the vow his mother had made for him. A Nazirite also could not cut his hair or drink from the fruit of the vine to show he was in training, while the call to not touch something dead was about being set apart for God. For Samson, God is there for his use, not to be followed or obeyed, an attitude all too common still today.

Samson has been dedicated to God, but his life isn’t reflecting this. Samson acts and lives just like everyone else, just like Israel is doing. God chose them to be a blessing to the nations, to be set apart and different, with different values and a different way of living. Samson has chosen to be like everyone else. He wrestles with relationships and his walk with God just as we do.

Are we much different from Samson. We may not have his strength, or experience the opportunities and adventures Samson does, yet our daily lives are filled with hundreds of practical choices that show others where our hearts are, whose values we embrace. How many opportunities to allow God to use us to bless others do we let pass by? How often do we allow our decisions to be shaped by what we want, or what others say we should want, instead of what God says is best for us? How different are we really from Samson, from the people of Israel that Samson represents?

Samson and his parents reach Timnah and the marriage celebrations begin. Samson holds a feast there and is given thirty companions, showing that this is a wealthy Philistine family he’s marrying into. Samson plays a game with the 30 companions assigned him, telling them a riddle about the lion he killed and the honey he later found in it. This was a normal part of the entertainment at a feast. Samson raises the stakes as he adds a challenge, a new set of clothing for each of them if they win; otherwise, they each need to buy him a set of clothing. The young men are confident that they can figure out any riddle a Jew can think up, but they get a surprise and have no idea what the answer could be, so they pressure Samson’s wife with threats to her and her family if she doesn’t co-operate, so she pleads with Samson for the answer. Finally, Samson tells his wife the answer and she tells the companions. With smirks on their faces, the companions approach Samson and give him the answer.

 Samson’s furious and he stalks off. Samson honours the bet by going to the city of Ashkelon and kills thirty men for their clothes and gives the clothes to the men who figured out his riddle. Samson gets his super-human strength from the Spirit of the Lord who comes on him in power. Samson goes home without his wife and the father offers Samson’s wife to one of his companions. Samson’s betrayed by both his wife and his father-in-law and the Philistines now realise Samson’s a threat, a powerful man capable of great destruction. Samson’s filled with anger, but it’s directed towards the Philistines and not his wife.

Twice already, the author has written, “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him...’ and both times Samson’s given great physical strength. The Lord’s beginning to deliver Israel from the Philistines through Samson. We hear an echo to the “Spirit of the Lord” coming down in the baptism accounts of Jesus. The Spirit of God comes on Jesus and leads him into the wilderness to be tested, and giving him the strength to resist Satan and to stay true to his Father’s will. Jesus stays true to his calling to save his people from sin through training himself in the wilderness.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean we don’t struggle. It isn’t easy for Samson living under the Philistines. It isn’t easy for Jesus being tempted by Satan. Jesus saves us from our sins and is with us in whatever’s going on and gives us the strength to follow his way through his Spirit. We’re responsibility for who we’re becoming and our relationships with Jesus and each other. Spiritual training is key to becoming who we are as followers of Jesus. Looking at Jesus, we see that quiet times talking to God the Father are important. We’re part of a community of faith, so learning together, sharing with each other what the Spirit is doing in our lives, helps us to recognize how the Spirit is working in us and our community. Looking for ways to serve and be generous reminds us that Jesus came to serve rather than be served and how generous God is to us. Creating beauty gives us a glimpse of our creator God who created us in his image. Even how we work and play is shaped by the Spirit’s leading and work in us.

Jesus delivers us from slavery to sin, but we still need to train like the Nazirites to be God’s people; we need to do our part too. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:25, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever,” and Peter writes, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.”

If we become complacent, we’re in danger of being more like Samson. The Spirit of the Lord is in us; this is the promise of Pentecost. We’re dedicated to God, claimed by Jesus, and this is the source of our strength. Listen to the Spirit who lives in your heart; training us, trusting that Jesus gives us the strength we need to be true to him and be his kingdom builders here.

 

Jephthah—The Foolish Vow - Judges 11: 1-6; 14-40; 12:7

Jephthah’s story begins in chapter 10, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines.” God allows the Ammonites to conquer Israel and make life miserable for them. It helps to know a little something about these gods that may help us understand Jephthah’s vow a bit better.

Baal’s the most powerful of the Canaanite gods. Baal defeated the other gods, such as the god of the sea and the god of storms, and the Canaanites believed he even defeated death. This was repeated each year when he returned from the underworld and brought rain to renew the earth’s fertility. Asherah is Baal’s mistress and was worshiped near trees and poles. Baal worshipers tried to satisfy him by offering sacrifices, usually sheep and bulls. During times of crisis, however, Baal’s followers sacrificed their children, usually the firstborn. Another important god is Chemosh, a war god who demanded child sacrifice. These are the gods Israel’s now worshipping.

Jephthah’s introduced as a mighty warrior, echoing back to the first judge, Othniel, a mighty warrior and faithful follower of God. Jephthah’s father is Gilead but his mother’s a prostitute. His brothers want nothing to do with him and throw him out, echoes now of Abimelek. Jephthah gathers a gang of scoundrels and becomes so good at fighting that the elders of Gilead ask Jephthah to save them from the Ammonites. They ask him to be their commander and tell Jephthah that if they win, they’ll make him head over them all. Jephthah agrees, but makes them repeat this promise at Mizpah before the Lord.

Jephthah’s smart. He realises that diplomacy’s a lot safer than fighting and he sends the Ammonite king a message, asking why they attacked Israel. The reply comes back saying that it used to be the Ammonites’ land 300 years ago and they want it back. Jephthah gives the king a history lesson. Israel never fought Ammon for the land; they stayed out of their land when they were wandering through the desert. But the Amorite King Sihon fought Israel and the Lord gave Israel their land. Jephthah makes this a god-level fight. God gave us the land, he says. If you think the land should be yours, let Chemosh give it back. The king of Ammon ignores Jephthah; the nations aren’t afraid of Israel’s God like they were in the time of Rahab. 

“The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah.” God never gives up on Israel and gives Jephthah his Spirit to go up against Israel’s enemies; God remains faithful to his covenant with his people even if his people keep turning back to idols. Jephthah doesn’t quite trust the Lord’s Spirit to stay with him, so he makes a deal with God. “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” Jephthah tries to buy God’s favour, he doesn’t trust that God’s love is unconditional, he doesn’t trust God’s commitment to his covenants with Israel to be their God with Israel his people. He doesn’t realize that he doesn’t have to buy the Lord’s favour. Israel’s forgotten that God desires a relationship rooted in trust and faith; not in fear or manipulation.

God blesses Jephthah and the Ammonites are chased from Israel back into their own country to lick their wounds and reflect on the power of Israel’s God. There’s no doubt about whose God is the God of gods! Jephthah and the army head home to enjoy peace with family and friends. As they travel down the road to Jephthah’s home, there’s singing, laughter, and likely loud boasting. Our only question is, “What’s going to be the first thing to greet Jephthah as he returns home?”

Now the story takes a horrible twist. They approach Jephthah’s home and “who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her, Jephthah had neither son nor daughter.” Immediately Jephthah remembers his rash impulsive vow to manipulate the Lord into helping him. He’s heartbroken as he tells his daughter what he’s done. Jephthah’s daughter’s sacrificial faith shines through, “My father, you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me now as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request, give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.” How can her father say no to her request? After the two months, she returns and Jephthah did to her as he had vowed.

God has never desired human sacrifice; he speaks strongly against human sacrifice in Deuteronomy 12, “You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.” Israel’s becoming more like the nations around them then they realize, embracing their values and ways over the ways God gave them to shape them into his people with his values and ethics. Would God allow Jephthah to go through with such a gruesome sacrifice after all the times God told Israel never to do such repulsive nauseating things. This is something pagans do, not followers of God.

God’s the giver and protector of life, which is why we so strongly support the Pregnancy Center and want to help women and families to have their children instead of an abortion. Yet even Jephthah’s daughter urges her father to honour his vow to God because God has saved Israel. She has a twisted picture of who God is; she doesn’t understand God’s grace. How can she when her father doesn’t. She’s worried about God’s wrath against her father, not understanding that God has no desire to see her sacrificed to him.

Jephthah’s daughter is willing to be sacrificed to save her father. Jephthah’s daughter dies because her father doesn’t understand his own God. Jephthah’s been so influenced by the cultures of the nations around him, that he doesn’t understand grace anymore. It’s a sad commentary on Israel at that time about how much they’ve been influenced by the cultures and nations around them. Trusting in God alone was too big a step for them to make.

Jesus died on the cross to show us just how great God’s grace is, how committed Jesus is to each of you. We get God’s wrath at sin because he’s a just and righteous God. His unconditional love and grace feel harder to understand because we live in a world where sin and brokenness is all around us, a world where many of us have experienced betrayals and hurt from friends and loved ones, a world where we’re told that we’re only accepted for what we bring to a relationship, not simply because of who we are. You’re precious simply because you’re created in the image of God who gave us life through his own breath.

This is why Jesus spends so much time teaching about and showing grace to the people he walked with during his time here on earth. People need to see grace in action before they can trust Jesus’ words. This is why the stories of the Samaritan woman at the well and Jesus’ willingness to treat her as someone with value, the story of the woman caught in adultery and Jesus’ question asking “Who here is without sin” and then protecting her before telling her to leave her life of sin because he cares about her, and then of when Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house, a hated tax collector and thief, are so important for us to know. Jesus shows us that God is a God of grace, a God we can trust in, a God we don’t have to make deals with. Jesus isn’t forced to go to the cross, he chooses to go for us simply because he chooses us for his own.

In spite of Jephthah’s failings and weaknesses, he shows up in the list of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 as one whose weakness was turned into strength; and who became powerful and routed foreign armies, another sign of God’s grace. Jephthah, raised in a culture that has moved far from God, still looks to God for his blessing. His faith may have been only the size of a mustard seed, yet God sends his Spirit on Jephthah to help him save his people. God uses him to save Israel. God accepts him, weaknesses and all. We can trust that God is a God of grace who has chosen us and never gives up on us, even in our times of doubt, even in our sin. Jesus loves us so much that he calls us to leave our lives of sin, to leave our other gods behind; to trust in his way, trust in him, giving us his Spirit to help us become more like him.

 

Abimelek—The Thornbush - Judges 9:1-15; 42-57

We’re back into the book of Judges and we’ve entered the second half of the time Israel spent under the judges. Gideon is a turning point in Israel’s history at this time. As we journey further into the book of Judges, Israel is beginning to look more, and act more like the nations around her. The account of Abimelek is a particularly ugly story of power, greed, and revenge; it’s a brutal story of blood lust. Gideon dies after 40 years of being a judge. Israel offers him the throne as a king, but he turns them down, telling them, “The Lord will rule over you.” We also see how Gideon is influenced by his times and uses gold given to him in gratitude to create a gold ephod. This ephod becomes an idol to Gideon and his family, and even Israel as they begin to worship it. Gideon has created something new to worship alongside the Lord, a common temptation for all of us.

Gideon has 70 sons through his wives, and 1 son through a slave concubine from Shechem. After his death, Israel returns to worshipping idols, but they also forget Gideon’s family and fail to show them any kindness after their father’s service. Abimelek, Gideon’s son through the concubine, a disgraced son, goes to the leaders of Shechem and makes a plan to put him on the throne instead of one of Gideon’s legitimate sons; after-all, he’s from Shechem, not an outsider. They agree and give him silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to make it happen. Abimelek uses the money to hire reckless scoundrels to follow him and they murder 69 of his half-brothers on a stone at his father’s home in Ophrah. Only the youngest son Jotham escapes Abimelek’s murderous spree. Abimelek’s crowned king and Israel is looking like, and acting like the nations around them instead of the people God wants them to be; a people shaped by his laws and festivals. The pattern in Judges of the people being drawn to idol worship continues. Our hearts keep searching out new idols to worship.

Jotham comes out of hiding to challenge the people of Shechem on their odious choice to help Abimelek become king through murdering his 69 brothers. Rev. Dave Warnock writes, “Verses 7-15 are a parable told by Jotham to highlight the worthlessness of King Abimelech. In the parable, the trees are looking for a king and start by asking the most valuable, most productive, most important tree, which in that culture was the olive. Each tree that is asked refuses to become king because what they produce is too valuable to be abandoned for kingship. After the olive, fig and vine have all refused the kingship they go to the thornbush…. The thornbush offers shade, just as a king ought to offer protection to his subjects, but then concludes with the threat of destruction by fire.”

I wonder if Isaiah had Jotham’s parable in mind in chapter 9, “For wickedness burned like a fire, consuming briers and thorns; it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upwards in a column of smoke.” Jotham curses them, if they have not treated Gideon and his family honourably and in good faith, “may fire come out from Abimelek and consume you… and let fire come out of you… and consume Abimelek.” Jotham then flees, knowing that there’s no place left for him among the people his father had fought and risked his life for.

Abimelek rules like a middle eastern tyrant, using power and force to make the people obey him. Life is all about satisfying the king’s lust for power; treating him like a demi-god. Abimelek creates a ton of hatred between himself and the people of Shechem; hatred stirred up by God because of Abimelek’s murderous spree to gain the throne and Shechem’s part in helping him; God’s avenging the crime against Gideon’s sons. Both Abimelek and the people of Shechem are going to suffer the consequences of their horrendous actions.

The people of Shechem begin fighting back against Abimelek and Abimelek responds by taking his men, the reckless scoundrels, and goes to war against Shechem, destroying the city and scattering salt over the land to make it worthless. He then goes up against the citizens who have taken refuge in the temple of El-Berith and murders them by burning them out, about a 1,000 people die this way. More brutality from a brutal king. How can these be God’s people? Jotham’s curse against the people of Shechem has come true; how’s the curse against Abimelek going to play out?

Abimelek isn’t satisfied with destroying the people of Shechem, he now moves against the city of Thebez, besieges it, and captures it. Inside the city is a strong tower where the people of Thebez have now barricaded themselves in. Burning the people of Shechem to death worked well for Abimelek, so he uses the same approach here, approaching the tower to set it on fire. As Abimelek approached the tower, a woman drops an upper millstone on his head and cracks his skull. Abimelek, worried about his reputation, calls his armourbearer to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’” We hear an echo here back to the foreign general Sisera and how Jael killed him with a tent peg.

Abimelek is dead, Jotham’s curse is fulfilled, and Israel learns that you don’t mess with God. God’s judgement comes unseen through various people’s actions, but God is at the root of Abimelek and Shechem’s destruction. The judgement doesn’t come right away, God allows the evil to fester long enough to become so bad that the only outcome are horrendous acts of vengeance, greed, and pride. As we read though and reflect on this story, it’s hard to see anything positive in such an horrific bloody story of betrayal and vengeance. Why put such a horrible story in the Bible?

I’m thankful for a couple of theologians and a rabbi who gave me some insight into where to find some hope in the story of Abimelek. We see God’s wrath towards evil in the destruction of Shechem and the death of Abimelek, but it’s what comes afterwards where we see God’s grace at work. The writer of Judges tells us about the two judges that come after Abimelek: Tola and Jair. We learn very little about them except for how long they led Israel, Tola led Israel 23 years and Jair followed after Tola and led Israel 22 years. After the chaotic and horrific time of Abimelek, God gives Israel 45 years of order and peace under these two judges; a time when Israel returns to following the Lord again.

Abimelek brings evil and chaos into Israel, this what the people of Shechem enabled. Those who are filled with broken pride and ambition bring brokenness and chaos into other people’s lives. Abimelek, an outsider in his own family, is filled with bitterness and anger, and combined with pride and arrogance and ambition, he acts quickly in the leadership vacuum in Israel after Gideon’s death. He’s a broken king who creates an evil environment that brings horror and brokenness. It’s a hard time during Abimelek’s rule.

It can be hard for many people today. Chaos can so often and quickly come into our lives due to the effects of sin. The brokenness it brings is always hard. In such times, we look for healing, hope, or peace while simply trying to get through each day as best we can. Having walked with victims of abuse, with refugees, and others hurt deeply through hate and anger, sometimes all they hope for is to make it through the day.

For them, Jesus comes as a good king, as we’re reminded in this time of Epiphany when we remember the Magi’s journey to see the king that the heavens themselves revealed to those wise enough to understand God’s heavenly message. Jesus comes as the King of kings, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah who has come to save his people. Jesus comes to a world of chaos and darkness, to people shaped and hurt by sin, to a world where evil exists, even within our own communities. Jesus comes to bring order out of chaos, to bring light into the darkness, to offer us the grace and healing our hearts are yearning for, to offer a community of hope and acceptance.

Jesus comes with the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” a kingdom of shalom, a kingdom where creation flourishes and reconciliation between God and humanity, and between people brings healing and hope. In the kingdom of heaven, Jesus summarizes the law as, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is like it, love your neighbour as yourself.” This is followed up with one more law that, because we love God and our neighbour, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Our king is with us, never abandons us and brings salvation from the chaos created by sin. Jesus invites you to come to him and experience his peace and to go and be people of reconciliation and healing.

Following the Spirit into Uncertain Places - Matthew 4:1-17

                  

Welcome to 2023, a new year filled with potential and hope, with the unknown, and perhaps even a bit of uncertainty; a new chapter with potential for new beginnings, new dreams, and the opportunity to explore who you are, who we are, and what might lie ahead. But no matter what 2023 holds, it’s wise to think about how we can prepare ourselves for what this new year holds rather than simply drifting through the next 365 days.

Jesus is at the beginning of a new chapter in his life that’s kicked off by his baptism. In his baptism, God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to Jesus and now the Spirit brings Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Alisa Childers, in her reflections on Hosea 2 writes, “the wilderness is often a harsh and dangerous place God uses to test and refine his people. It is also a place where he provides sanctuary and allows his people to encounter him in powerful ways.”

The wilderness is seen as a place to meet with God, to be shaped and refined by God. Jesus follows the Spirit’s guidance into the wilderness. Jesus spends 40 days and nights fasting. Fasting isn’t as common today, but the discipline of fasting is about developing self-control and growing in your trust in God to provide you with whatever you might need. Fasting is a time to open up your mind, heart, and soul to the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is why fasting is always accompanied by reflection on the Word of God, which for Jesus is what we call the Old Testament. Prayer is also part of fasting and reflection on Scripture. We see the results of Jesus’ time spent in fasting, reflection, and prayer in his encounter with the devil.

Spiritual disciplines are practiced to guide us in growing in the fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22–25, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” In growing the fruit of the Spirit in ourselves, we grow in the strength and courage needed to live as Jesus followers in our culture today, and we grow in knowing Jesus better.

After 40 days and nights of fasting, reflecting on Scripture and talking with his Father, when Jesus is physically weaker and hungry, the tempter arrives. It’s fascinating to see how the devil uses the same tactics with Jesus that he used on Eve. The devil uses doubt and innuendo to try to get Jesus to stray off the path laid out for himself to accomplish the task given to him by his Father and the Spirit to counter what the devil accomplished in the Garden of Eden. There he got Eve and Adam to listen to his voice instead of the voice of God, something that still haunts us today, something we still fall for today, every day. Jack Kingsbury writes, “the substance of each test has to do with Jesus’ devotion, or obedience to God. The intent of Satan in each test is to entice Jesus to break faith with God, his Father, and thus avow his divine sonship.”

The devil comes with those dreaded ‘if’ questions designed to get you to doubt yourself or what you believe, or to get you frustrated and act in ways you normally wouldn’t or shouldn’t. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Knowing Jesus is hungry, the Devil suggests that he really isn’t the Son of God, for why would the Son of God go hungry? The Father created bread in the wilderness for all of Israel, so why not create bread for yourself. The sly devil knows that if Jesus does create bread for himself now it will be to only prove himself to the devil out of weakness or frustration, making Jesus do something he has not intended to do, taking the easy path instead of the path of self-discipline and trust in his Father.

This is where we see why fasting and reflecting on Scripture go hand-in-hand, Jesus responds with words from Scripture to put the devil in his place and deny his influence, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Instead of making Jesus weak, the disciplines of fasting, reflection on Scripture, and prayer have focused Jesus on trusting God to provide for him instead of his physical hunger.

The devil isn’t finished with Jesus yet, he’s persistent. He now tempts Jesus from a different angle, taking Jesus to Jerusalem and the highest point of the temple. The devil offers another ‘if’ question, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” That sneaky devil is trying to get Jesus to prove himself and get him to force God to prove himself by sending angels to protect Jesus from doing something really dumb. The devil does it by quoting Scripture at Jesus! Does Jesus really trust that God is with him?

We hear echoes to Israel’s time on the wilderness, as soon as things became hard and they were getting thirsty, the people begin to complain, asking if God really with them. Moses writes in Exodus 17, “The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people…. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Have you ever wondered if Jesus is with you? He can seem so quiet just when it feels like we need him the most. When Joyce and I were on our journey into ministry, there were times we wondered where God was when there was no money in the bank. Our kids were teens and pre-teens, and the foodbank could only help so much. Often, these times were coupled with difficult family news of sickness or hard times and we felt far away from our circles of support. I’ll be honest, there were complaints at times and temptations to put God to the test. Yet we also learned deep trust and humility during those times as we turned to Scripture and prayer for strength and guidance. We learned that Jesus is never far away and that he’ll provide. Jesus replies with words from Scripture, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus chooses trust and faith over putting God to the test, trusting his Father will take care of his son in his need.

The devil has one more temptation. He takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows him the kingdoms of the world and makes Jesus this offer, “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.” The devil straight out shows Jesus what he’s after, to get Jesus to worship him instead of his father, a bold move. Jesus rejects Satan, “Away from me, Satan!” The scholar L. O. Richards writes, “The Man born to be King was shown the kingdoms that would be His, and was reminded that they could become His now. All the suffering would be avoided—all the anguish, all the rejection, all the pain of a death in which the weight of the world’s sins would bear down on the sinless One. And again Jesus chose. “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” Complete commitment to the will of God was Jesus’ pathway to the throne. There could be no shortcuts. There could be no other way. Before Jesus could rule, He had to learn by experience the fullest meaning of submission to the Father’s will. The crown lay beyond the Cross.” Now the Father sends angels to take care of Jesus, showing Jesus’ trust in his Father is the right thing.

Jesus prepared himself before the devil arrived through fasting, reflection on Scripture, and prayer. In his responses to the devil, Jesus shows himself ready for the path before him. Jesus moves into the area of Capernaum and begins his preaching ministry with this simple message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Today is the beginning of a new year, 2023. There’s so much that lies ahead of us. Part of what we’re planning to journey through this year is an Appreciative Inquiry to share our stories in Bethel with each other, both those who have been members for a long time and those who are newer to Bethel. The goal is to listen and learn from each other how God has been working in or lives and leading us into this church family. This is part of learning and seeking out who the Spirit is shaping us and where the Spirit is leading us.

This is where we look to Jesus and his preparation and openness to the Spirit’s leading. We need to prepare ourselves to be open to hearing God, to discerning the Spirit’s leading. This will take all of us to prepare ourselves as Jesus did, engaging in the spiritual disciplines such as reflection on Scripture, prayer, worship, solitude, fasting, and other disciplines that help you listen to, and hear the guidance of the Spirit as individuals and as a church as we move forward into 2023 and a year of listening to each other and the Spirit. May the Lord be with us on this journey through 2023.