Stiff Necked

Stiff-necked.  It is a Biblical term used for the people of Israel in the Book of Exodus.  The term means stubborn, prone to error and obstinate.  It is highlighted in our story of the golden calf from Exodus 32 and appears eighteen times in Exodus.

The story of the golden calf is a tale we tend to view as one of those "we would never do that" events.  We marvel at how quickly the Hebrews turned away from God's plan.  We recoil at how people dismissed God's servant Moses.  We scoff at how faithless these people were when they substituted the golden calf for the God that "led the people out of Egypt."  But as I look around, I see a lot of golden calves, gladly embraced by people who should know better.  So ... let's see what we can learn from Exodus 32.

The first problems happen quickly.  "When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron ... "Come on" they said "make us some gods who can lead us.  We don't know what happened to that fellow Moses who brought us here from the land of Egypt (Exodus 32:1)."  One verse, several decisions, total calamity!

Impatience set in quickly.  The Hebrews saw Moses was taking some time to return.  They 'gathered around' Aaron.  Have you ever had one of those meetings?  Impatient people want to make a decision, take matters into their hands.  They feed upon each other's anxiety, and ill-conceived ideas are born.  There's a lot of that happening today.  People on all sides of our collective problems are filled with angry, knee-jerk solutions which take us down some hard roads.  Is it an accident that God's word says ... "the fruit of the Spirit is patience?" God and God's plan isn't in the plans of the Hebrews of Exodus 32.

Fear grips people who dismiss God's leadership.  They fear Moses won't return.  Some may want to take over, and they may fear Moses' return.  We have lots of fear going around today.  Some fear the virus.  Some fear being told what to do.  Some fear our leadership.  Some fear the past leadership.  Some fear loss of control.  Some fear lack of guidance.  I have never seen such fears grip people, especially people who claim they aren't fearful.  I wonder if we have forgotten that fear is driven out by perfect love ... love of God's plan, love of God's people, love of the world God loved and love as our main motive (if we are true to our Wesleyan roots)?  Again, love is Spirit-fruit in a world that seems fruitless.

Idolatry is the third problem in Exodus 32:1.  They want a new god.  They want a god they can control.  They even (in verse 4) acknowledge that their golden calf is "the god who brought them out of Egypt!"  WOW!  How quickly they fell.  How quickly their mantra went from "I Surrender All" to "I Did It My Way!"

But before we look down on these wayward Hebrews, I would like you to consider two things.  The first is this.  We live in a time of golden calves.  God willingly and ably offers to lead us, but people tell me ... "That doesn't work in the real world."  God doesn't move quickly enough.  God is somewhere on the mountain and we need a leader now.  So we make golden calves, fashioned out of our biases, our petty definitions of strength and our desire to control things.  We build our gods big and strong, arrogant and haughty, not taking anything off anyone and never compromising!  Money, politics, power, stuff, people and fear all become our golden calves.  They are fashioned by us, so we love them, follow them and hold tightly to them when we are impatient and fearful.  The old song said, "All the people bowed and prayed ... to the neon god they made."

The second thing is to examine the term "stiff-necked."  It relates to a heavy yoke placed on an ox to control it.  The ox's neck must become rigid and stiff to carry the weight of the yoke.  The irony here is that the heavy yoke is placed by the people for failing to follow God and choosing to go their own way.  Being in charge of the world is a heavy yoke to bear.  It is why, I believe, that Jesus told these same "stiff-necked" folks 1,450 or so years later ... "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29)."

Which of these yokes do you want to bear?  Randy

Waiting

There are some things we are, as a society, not good at.  Waiting is one of those things.  We want it now, fresh and all-laid-out for our consumption, for we are a consumer society.

It is such a stark contrast to be looking at Scripture and see how long people back then had to wait.  Abraham is given a promise that he will become the father of great nations.  Sixteen years after this promise Ishmael is born to Haggar (fathered by Abraham).  But this was not the child of God's promise, so ... more waiting!  Fourteen more years pass and Sarah bears a son named Isaac.  Abraham is now 100 years old!  We, our entire society, would have lost patience and given up on God's promise!  We hate to wait.

In Luke 2 a man named Simeon is waiting.  He is old, but God's Spirit has revealed to him "he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Messiah (Luke 2:26)."  So Simeon waits as he serves in the Temple, and he is not disappointed.  Mary and Joseph come to present Jesus at the temple, 40 days after Jesus' birth.  Simeon is there and his waiting pays off as he receives and blesses Jesus.  In fact, the name means, in one translation, "God is listening."

There are things we can learn about waiting from Simeon and this story.  The first is, God has a time ... and God's timing is perfect.  The Holy Spirit had told Simeon that the Messiah would come and that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah.  This statement from God's Spirit implies an important truth about God's timing ... God has a plan.  God had a plan for the Jews of Simeon's time, sending them the Messiah in the form of a little child.  God was (and is ) listening to our hurts, our longings and our hearts.  God has a plan.

The second thing we learn from Simeon's story is that God has a place.  During COVID many people have become content or complacent, being satisfied with online church or some other substitute for God's place to which people are called.  Simeon was called 'devout' and he was focused on being in the Temple ... and his devotion was rewarded with God's fulfilled promise.  God has a place where He is calling you to serve, experience the liturgy of life in the Church and live in the cycle of the Church.  Your 'comfortable' place is not a substitute for this.  So, as things become closer to normal and you can safely get back to your congregation, please respond and be devout like Simeon.  Come to the discomfort and beauty of corporate worship with other folks ... and you will be blessed!

God also has a person.  I was watching the news last week and reflected on several people who were interviewed by news media.  Some people were looking to the president for 'guidance' on the issues at hand.  Others were looking to opposition leaders for 'guidance' about "what to do next."  As I read this I was drawn to 3 words in the story of Simeon ... "the Lord's Messiah."  There will always be other messiahs.  We will (and do) have false prophets, teachers selling snake oil (marketing their lines of proprietary products), speakers stirring up folks using proof-texted words pulled out of their Biblical context and just people who have something to say and want to draw a crowd.  But there is only one "Lord's Messiah."  His name is Jesus.  He is the one promised.  He has given guidance in His life, His teachings, His resurrection story and His gift of total forgiveness for all who believe.  Simeon said, "He has been sent as a sign from God (Luke 2:34)!"

He was Simeon's Messiah.  He is our Messiah.  He is your Messiah.  Look to Him.  Listen to Him.  Follow Him!  Randy

Likewise?

I was trying to describe the meaning of Biblical love to a child once.  The child immediately gave me their 'love proverb' saying, "Love everybody you like."  She didn't know how close she came to what Jesus was criticizing in the parable of the Good Samaritan!

Over the rest of 2021 we will be doing something challenging, at least to me.  Our children are following a specific and structured process to learn and apply Scripture.  The process is a three-year plan that uses stories, principles and applications to build a bridge between God's living word and the lives of God's people.  I will use the same passages as I preach to our adults, and I hope for some family discussions over meals, car rides and other times these discussions are appropriate.

Back to our parable.  Jesus uses a story to illustrate God's wise and perfect view of people ... a view we seem to miss more than we grasp.  Jesus spends some time defining exactly what a neighbor is.  The Jews viewed neighbor as part of the Hebrew national clan.  It was the little girl's "love everybody you like," or maybe "love everybody like you."  Jesus seems to define neighbor differently, and He starts with a person clearly different than his audience.  Jesus' example of a neighbor is a hated Samaritan.  An injured man is neglected by the people who call themselves his neighbors.  They have their reasons for the neglect.  But in the end, even the audience of Jews must admit that the Samaritan is the one who is neighborly to the injured man.  Jesus ends the story with one of His annoyingly-perfect statements ... "Go thou and do likewise."  What does He mean by that?

Does he mean for us to act like the Samaritan?  Definitely!  But ... does He also call us to view the Samaritan (and those we place in the "they" category) as our neighbor?  That would mean "they" have value!  It would mean "they" are more like us than we would like to think.  It would mean we should love "them" rather than just loving everybody "like me."

These lessons that we and Jesus are teaching our children are just plain difficult.  Personally, I think Jesus is meddling!  What do you think?  Randy

The Extra Mile

Going beyond.  It really is what the entire Sermon on the Mount is all about.  Jesus repeatedly uses this phrase "The law says ___ but I say ___ ."  What do you think this means?  I meet people every day that say things like "I'm an Old Testament Christian!"  It is difficult to even find a jumping off point to appeal to theological logic when I hear this!  Jesus came to fulfill and complete the law (also from the Sermon on the Mount).  But I will just leave my argument on this point here ... do you think that if you want to know the true application of the law, you might ask the Son of God who was present when the law was handed down and present with the crowd gathered to hear his preaching.  Are WE gathered to hear and follow His preaching?  I hope so!

That brings us to a simple passage.  Matthew 5:41, "If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles!"  Counter intuitive, isn't it?  Contra to our human reaction, isn't it?  Different than what you want to do, isn't it?

Here are some truths from this troubling passage:

1.  Make good out of bad -  God has been doing this for a long time.  God took the persecution and hurtfulness of Joseph's brothers, and made it into a great good!  Joseph saved his people, his brothers included.  Joseph forgave.  Joseph saw past his oppression and allowed God to do something great!

2.  Submit to authority - We really hate this phrase right now.  Jeremiah told his people to fight, complain and draw swords if they wanted to ... but they would not have any success opposing what God was allowing to take place.  The soldier's demand was unfair and unreasonable.  We (and I am sure the people of Jesus' time) hate to be told what to do.  We hate to lose our right to choose.  We get bent out of shape when we are told anything!  But ... here is that passage, clear as a bell!  Paul said, in Romans 12:21 "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."  Maybe overcoming evil with good entails putting our pride and our self-righteousness on the shelf and doing something good, in spite of whether it is appreciated or not.  I have had to learn this as I have helped (personally and through the church) people who discard the church with a wave of their hand, even when that help was both significant and life-changing.  But, we help anyway because it is who we are and who God is.

3.  Jesus' way is right, even if it rubs us the wrong way - I have had many friends complain that our society is all caught up in conditional truth, situational ethics and a non-Biblical worldview.  The same people argue over this passage and other non-reactionary things said by Jesus (especially in the Sermon on the Mount).  But I am sticking with my point above ... Jesus is right and we (me included) are wrong.  If we followed my "Old Testament Christians" who say "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" we would (as Gandhi said) all be one-eyed and toothless.  So I will try to grit my teeth and carry those bags that extra mile.

In the end (and God is totally in control of that end), God is right.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the way to life.  If you believe that I have some advice ... listen to Him.  Nuff said!  Randy

Pursuit

 I love the story of Ruth and Boaz.  It is a beautiful love story, appropriate for today (Valentine's Day), but as I read the story I thought of another word ... the word pursuit.

I hear people talk about God.  They say things like "be all in!" ... "love God with all your heart!" These are both really good things.  But when we say those things we are often singing Sunday songs but forgetting the words during the week.  I am so guilty of this!  Maybe you are too?  It is easy to say the cliché' and sing the words, but it is much harder to really follow God.

In the story of Ruth, Boaz teaches us some useful things about how to pursue something you really want.  It is clear that Boaz is quickly smitten with Ruth.  But his actions go far beyond mere infatuation.  Boaz realizes that if you desire a relationship with someone it involves intentionality, especially in knocking down walls.  In Ruth's case, there were many walls.  She was a foreigner.  She was poor and needy.  She was a widow.  She wasn't a youngster, having been married to one of Naomi's sons for 10 years.  And there were cultural barriers regarding a possible relationship with Boaz, including age and family obligations.  Boaz had obstacles too.  He was an older man.  He was a leader to his clan.  There was another with the right to claim Ruth.  But Boaz knew something about pursuit.

Boaz, after seeing Ruth and realizing her beauty and the quality of her character, started tearing down walls.  1) Boaz saw Ruth for the amazing person she was and he found out everything about her, 2) He helped her but allowed her the dignity of working for the help, 3)  He protected her from other workers in the field, 4)  He made sure she was successful in her work.  In short, Boaz' pursuit of Ruth built her up, gave her dignity and offered her the hope of a better life.

When I think of Boaz, I realize something about my pursuit of God.  1) I want to know all I can about God and see God as worthy of love and worship, 2) I want to help in God's work in the world, even if I realize my work is meager and flawed, 3) I realize that any good thing I do is really God working through me, and 4) I want to do what I can to help God's plan happen in this world.  For if I love God, I pursue him by my actions.  I allow the walls between me and God to be torn down.

   And in the Bible, we see what God can do with pursuit and love.  From the Gospel of Matthew 1:5-6, we find these words ... "Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz the father of Obed whose mother was Ruth.  Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse, the father of King David."   This amazing family tree (just one family in Hebrew history) shows how God can do a lot with love, obedience and pursuit!  Randy

Getting Dressed

There's something we do every day.  Most of us, even if we are staying at home, get up and put on some semblance of clothing.  Some of us take longer than others.  Some of us are more picky about what we wear.  But we get dressed.

Paul talked a lot about getting dressed.  In Ephesians 6:10-18 Paul says to put on the full armor of God.  In Galatians 3:27 Paul says, "Put on Christ."  But my favorite passage is this one (Colossians 3:12-15) ... "So chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.  Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.  And regardless of what else you put on, wear love.  It is your basic, all purpose garment.  Never be without it!"  I read this passage at weddings.  I read this passage when I am about to say something I shouldn't.  I think about this passage often, because it reminds me that if I wear love (and God is love) I am allowing myself to represent the image of God in a world that doesn't seem to know much about love.

This passage is the memory passage for our children this February.  The concept for the children is  ... "Be kind to others because God has been kind to you."  I guess that part of love is simple, like everything else Christian ... follow Jesus and you will end up in the right place!  But all of you know love is fleeting, complex, puzzling and lot's of other descriptive words.  There's an old Conway Twitty song that is about a conversation with the Man In The Moon.  The moon says, "I can move oceans when I get the notion, or make mountains tremble and rivers run dry, but in all matters human, remember there's someone, in charge of those things way above you and I."  Wise words I think!

So Colossians 3 gives us some wisdom about love.  1) We are chosen to love ... chosen by God "for this new life of love."  2) Our wardrobe (what we wear) has been laid out for us by God, 3) The wardrobe has some difficult things to wear ... kindness, compassion, quiet-strength, humility, discipline, 4) The wardrobe always includes forgiveness (the kind that mirrors Jesus), 5) The wardrobe should always be worn, 6) The wardrobe works for everything.  Now me ... I don't know much about love ... but God knows everything there is to know!  And if Jesus is your Master (the word is right there in the passage) and (in the song) is in charge of those things "way above you and I", then maybe we should appropriate God's wisdom here.

Put on love ... it is your all purpose garment ... NEVER be without it!  Randy

The Great Chasm

There is a harrowing parable from Luke 16 that is often preached by those "hellfire" orators that want to scare all of us into heaven.  While that isn't my cup of tea, I will acknowledge that if a message brings someone to repentance and salvation, I am all for it.  So, I don't preach from this passage to focus our attention on the subjects of heaven and hell, one obvious point of this parable.  My focus will be on the ending of the parable ... the real thing that separates us from God, paradise and a close relationship with our loving heavenly father.

We've all heard the parable.  Lazarus was poor and essentially had nothing.  He died outside of a rich man's gate and is carried to 'the bosom' (close proximity) of Abraham at God's banquet table.  God makes sure Lazarus was fed and comforted in eternity, unlike his poverty in temporary life.  The rich man, who ignored the plight of Lazarus, dies and was in eternal torment.  The parable recounts the conversation between the rich man and Abraham.  The rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus on errands, including bringing him some cold water and warning his brothers about the reality/horror of eternal hell.  Abraham tells Lazarus several things.

Lazarus is reminded of the great, impassable chasm that exists between paradise and hell.  Abraham says it cannot be crossed by anyone.  Then Abraham tells Lazarus about another chasm.

The point of the parable is brought out in the punchline. In this parable, Abraham describes how God has endeavored to inform and enlighten us about who He is, the realities of life and God's truth that has been offered to all of us (including Lazarus' brothers).  God has sent His truth through Moses (the Pentateuch) and the Prophets.  Abraham says, "Your brothers can read them!"  Abraham also reminds Lazarus that his brothers shouldn't hold their breath looking for someone to come back from the dead to warn them ... he says, "if they won't listen to Moses, they won't listen even if someone rises from the dead."  That statement should lead us to see clearly the third point.  Jesus, who has told us what the prophets said and who has completed (fulfilled) the law, is telling us this parable.  Jesus will be tortured, crucified and will rise from the dead on the third day, continuing to proclaim the truth of the law, the prophets and God's true word.  Jesus is the third part of this warning.  He is the last and only way that this great chasm can be crossed.

In a world filled with lies, half-truths, false teachers and politicized religion, Jesus cuts to the chase.  Know the Scriptures and read them.  And if someone returns from the dead to warn us to care for the poor, know God's word and stop worshiping our lifestyles, we had better listen!  What say you?  Randy