Christmas Day

CHRISTMAS DAY SERMON

December 25, 2015

“THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE”

A miracle took place in the midst of a great horror 101 years ago today. The event was unprecedented in the history of the world, and it is unlikely to ever happen again. But with God all things are possible.

            As men were often heard to say to their wives and sweethearts when marching off to war, “I’ll be home by Christmas,” the promise was always broken. “Home by Christmas” was the catchphrase of every war it seemed. They were never home by Christmas.

            The guns of August, 1914, crashed on for the next five months taking the lives of nearly one million men. What many thought would be “great fun” suddenly turned into a bewildering, disillusioning, killing nightmare.

            That Christmas, when the darkness of war seemed to envelop the whole world, a miracle broke into the trenches beginning at Ypres. Watch what happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM

            Historians everywhere called this “the Christmas Truce.” A truce is only a temporary peace, but this moment in history demonstrates the power of Christ to unhinge what we call normal.

            In the darkness of the battlefield on December 24^th, German soldiers began singing Christmas carols. In the middle of hell on earth, embattled hearts were reminded that there is hope. Encouraged by the enemy’s festive spirit, the British began singing too. German troops put up Christmas trees with candles on them. Before they knew it, they were exchanging gifts, playing football, and wishing each other a Merry Christmas. Only Christ can do this among people who are supposed to be enemies.

            I believe this event is but a foretaste, a snapshot, a thumbnail of the peace that broke into our world when Jesus was born. It may never happen again on a battlefield but there is reason to believe that when we allow Christ to rule our hearts, peace breaks in. And when Jesus comes as King of kings, His peace will reign for all time. This is our hope.

1. Hope dawns on a dark situation

Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year.” Or it’s advertised that way. You may not want to hear this, however: Christmas can really be a hard time for some people. Christmas can be the loneliest time of the year. Consider those who have lost loved ones and miss their presence at the holiday table. Consider the widows and widowers who must endure another “family” event without their partner. Consider those who are single and would like to have a spouse and a family. Consider those who cannot afford a “happy Christmas” and yet are bombarded by the retail industry to buy more stuff. Consider the seniors in the PCHs who wait for their families to visit and get a precious half-hour with them. When we consider Christmas from this perspective, those who enjoy a Merry Christmas really are a minority. The Christmas season can be a time of gloom.

            The prophet Isaiah painted a picture of his own time. He saw the gloom and depression that Israel faced as their enemies invaded the land and their hopes and dreams being crushed. Assyrian conquerors were being used by God to punish Israel’s unfaithfulness. They had sinned and forgotten God. Their gloom was somewhat self-inflicted.

            Some remained faithful to God, and to them Isaiah prophesied that into their darkness a light would shine. God had humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali – these are lands in the northern parts of Israel. But one day, in the future, God would honor those same lands, what Isaiah called the Galilee of the Gentiles. Same land, different name.

            Into the gloom a light will shine. Light is not merely a physical phenomenon. There is something about light that spiritually and emotionally lifts our spirits.

            It is probably no coincidence that Christmas follows the darkest day of the year. December 21^st has the shortest amount of daylight. For those who suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), depression, moodiness, or gloom that comes from the dark winter months, the promise of increased sunlight is welcome.

            Isaiah promised that Israel would see the light. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned” (2). Hope, like a tiny point of light in the distance, was given. Darkness cannot stop the light from spreading. Those who have endured the hiding of God’s face will see this light. Those who have not cursed in the darkness but have waited with expectancy will laugh again.

            Their joy, like the light, will grow large. Joy will increase (3). They will know joy like farmers at harvest. How great the feeling of a finished season of work, the joy of accomplishment, the joy of being done.

            Isaiah further paints this joy as comparable to dividing the plunder after a battle. Warriors were allowed to go through their enemies belongings and take little treasures: a shield, a knife, a bag of coins. A better analogy for us would be the dividing of plunder on Christmas Eve or morning when the presents are handed out. This joy will be greater.

            What is Isaiah talking about in real terms?

            First, the land that God humbled, the northern lands he called Galilee of the Gentiles, would be honored to have Jesus of Nazareth grow up among them. And when He was of age, Jesus would teach in the region of Galilee and proclaim that the kingdom of God was breaking into their world.

            Second, the kingdom of God is that light. More importantly, Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). Jesus is the light. When you have light you know where you are going. You don’t trip. You see the path. You can read the signs. With light you are not lost in the dark. We need light to live. Jesus is the light.

            No wonder then that the people would increase their joy. They were living in sin and sinful circumstances. People had ignored God and stumbled into darkness. With Jesus people can see and when they see…what a joy.

2. The reason for this hope

Isaiah described this hope in the first three verses; now he explains the reason for this hope.

            What happened? Human nature is such that we fail to understand what we have until we lose it. Israel had a relationship with Yahweh but failed to grasp what it meant to honor that relationship. God had to show them the disaster of sinful living in order to drive home God’s love for them.

            With sin comes bondage. We become slaves to sin. Sometimes we become slaves to others, literally and figuratively. We fall into the trap of caring what society thinks. We care too much about what our friends want from us. Or literally, we become slaves to our jobs, our lifestyles, our pleasures or addictions.

            Isaiah proclaims that God has shattered the yoke that burdens the people and removed the bar across their shoulders. The image is release from slavery. He is proclaiming Jubilee: “He (God) has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners” (61:1b). Like prisoners of war the people are set free to return home and learn to live again.

            The war is over! When that day comes there will be an end to struggle and fighting. That’s what Isaiah means with this imagery “Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire” (5). Military hardware will be burned because there is no use for it anymore. Other weapons will be turned into farm tools, as Isaiah earlier foretold, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (2:4).

            But why? How can Isaiah promise such an ideal future? What is the reason for this peace?
            A most amazing reason is given. “For to us a child is born…” Not a full-grown adult – a child is born. Isaiah does not focus on what the child will do when he is an adult but on the mere fact of his birth. His birth will have such an impact that the world will be transformed by his first breath. This child will not bring peace; this child IS peace.

            “…and the government will be on his shoulders” (6). Previously the burden was on the shoulders of the people (4), but now they are released from their burdens when he shoulders the burden of ruling. Your burdens fall on Jesus’ shoulders; your problems are His problems. He is not a King who adds to your burdens; He is a King who lightens your burden. “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”, Jesus says (Mt. 11:29-30).

            This child will be a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

            All this in a child?

            What child is this?

            This is the same child whose birthday caused 100,000 soldiers, British and German, to put down their guns and celebrate the hope of Christmas. A greater hope than what their leaders promised them in battle glory. But that was a long time ago. That was then, what about now?

            This is the same child whom the politically correct dare not speak His name, yet also dare not dismiss His holiday. And if those proponents of the Christmas season who set up their trees on November 1^st get their way, Christmas will rule the whole of the fall season. This child does that.

            And what breaks the cloud of gloom that shrouds the heart? I know that on some personally cloudy days, nothing breaks in on my cold heart like the smile of Ezekiel Toews. My heart warms to see his happy face. How much more the face of the Christ-child who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorned its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. We were His joy.

Christmas is dangerous. The birth of Jesus upsets the status quo.

            You see, when the Christmas Truce was called in 1914, generals on both sides grew alarmed. As Germans, Brits, Canucks, Belgians, and Frenchman reached across no-man’s land to share Christmas, they stopped fighting. And as they celebrated the birth of Christ together, they found out that they were brothers.

            How do you then kill a man you shared “Jesus” with? From then on, the Generals forbade their men to “cross the line” and fraternize with the enemy. If you like the enemy you are less inclined to kill him.

            Let’s call a Christmas truce today. Put aside your grievances with those who have offended you, the in-laws who annoy you, the family members who take advantage of you, and celebrate our common Savior. Let there be peace in your hearts and in your homes. Leave the burden of your hurt with Jesus who died for that hurt. Rest in His rule of the situation.

            Now as you go forward, live out that temporary truce every day, until the Lord comes and establishes a permanent peace. That peace is coming; let’s practice living that peace in our hearts and with those in the opposite trench.

                                                                        AMEN

            

Missional #9

GOD’S WORD: AN INSTRUMENT OF GOD’S MISSION

Anyone who lives in Kleefeld knows that to plant a garden there will be challenges. We live in what used to be a swamp, so there are trees and underbrush to contend with. Then there are the rocks that seem to float upwards in the soil whenever you remove the top layer of rocks. Not to mention the beloved oak trees that suck up most of the moisture: you have to fell a few of those. When you finally get around to tilling you may find a layer of gravel only inches beneath the topsoil.

            Reading and studying the Bible today resembles planting a Kleefeld garden. Our view of the Word has become overgrown with assumptions and practices that make it difficult to see the bigger picture of God’s mission. Many of us read the Bible looking for personal encouragement and inspiration for the day ahead. And that’s fine until we read the parts that don’t apply to “me” directly. Then the Bible becomes irrelevant to the individual seeking comfort. While the Bible is about “you,” it’s not all about you. We need to clear the ground if we are going to read the Bible missionally.

            David Bosch asked, “Did the NT give rise to mission or did mission give rise to the NT?” We might say it was the first, but Bosch rightly says it is the second. After the Holy Spirit filled the believers at Pentecost, the church had no NT but it moved out to do mission – from Jerusalem onwards. So where did the NT come from? In what context did it arise? It arose in the context of mission – mission to the nations. The first Christians did not automatically possess a NT, study it in their homes for personal devotion, and then discover that its main theme was the mission of God. Instead, they went out with the gospel to many places and thought out loud about that mission. One form of that thinking out loud was the NT.[i]

            But what was the root of their missional thinking? Where did it come from? The first Christians found their motivation for mission in the rediscovery of God’s mission in the OT. A small piece of that discovery is found in Deut. 31.

1. God’s Word is a Sacred Trust handed down

Moses has neared the end of his sermons for the people of Israel. He confesses that he is 120 years old and about to die. So he takes time to appoint a successor, Joshua, and to offer one last encouragement: Read the Word.

            Israel does not have an OT at this point. All the communication from God to the people came through Moses. God met with Moses in the tent of meeting and gave His instructions; Moses told the people what God said. But Moses also wrote it down. And as he wrote he was conscious of the fact that this was God’s law, not his own invention.

            What makes the Scripture sacred? The source. God. Moses warned the people “…carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book…” (28:58). This book we call Deuteronomy was part of the five-book collection titled the Books of Moses or the Pentateuch. To Israel it was the very words of God. Moses was just the scribe.

            The sacred value of this book was emphasized by where it was kept. Moses told the Levites, “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you” (31:26). In plain language, this book was placed beside the most holy place. It was not put in the ark but beside it. This underlined two things: how special the book was, and that it was to be accessible.

            What Moses passed on to Joshua and to the priests and to the elders (community leaders) was a sacred trust. This book was the key to honoring the God who delivered them from bondage, who rescued them from their enemies, who was their salvation. This book taught them how to participate in God’s mission for the world.

            The context of Moses’ last words before his death and the passing on of this sacred trust sound familiar. The Apostle Paul knew his death was imminent as well, and before he died he wanted to pass on encouragement to another leader, Timothy. “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim 2:2). Paul was speaking of the gospel of the crucified Lord.

            This sacred trust in both cases was meant to be handed down to others. It was meant to be protected as sacred truth but not hoarded. We are called to make it accessible and visible. We are the recipients of this book. And unlike any generation before us, we have access to God’s Word. Do we read it? Do we study it? Do we give it a sacred space in life?

2. God’s Word provides the Foundation for Worship

Moses commanded the priests and elders to read this book every seven years. The occasion was the Feast of Tabernacles, when debts were cancelled and slaves set free. All Israel would gather at the Tabernacle before God during this feast. On that occasion the whole book of Deuteronomy would be read to all the people (10-11).

            You might be thinking “We only need to do church once every seven years.” Forget it. Or we only need to read the Bible together every seven years. NO! Then we misunderstand what’s going on.

            The public reading of the law as a nation was intended to be a renewal or reminder of what the people agreed to do for God. It was a national worship service. The book was the basis of their identity in Yahweh; it was a reminder that Yahweh was their God and the responsibilities involved in that. The Word in this sense had a central place in worship.

            That does not mean they only read it or thought about every seven years. In this same book Moses taught the people to meditate constantly, daily, persistently on these words (Read Deut. 6:6-9). So the Word had a central place in the family too. If the nation was going to be dedicated to God and His law, communities, tribes, and yes, families needed to meditate on the Word of God.

            What place does the Word, the Bible have in our church? Is reading the text for the sermon enough? Why do we not read whole chapters together? Are we hearing God speak? Do we realize that when someone reads the Scripture that we are hearing God’s own voice? Somewhere in the course of events we developed the feeling that we need to shoot through the scripture reading so we can get to the sermon.

            When Layton Friesen and I were pastoring together at Crestview, he challenged me on one occasion. He said that I read my Scripture references too fast, as if I was in a rush to get to my own words, as if God’s Word were not important. From that time on I slowed myself down and put more feeling into my Scripture reading. It was a good challenge.

            The Word of God speaks on its own when we read it. The Word is cause for worship when we realize what kind of God we serve, that He loves me (yes) and He loves you and He sends us to others to tell them He loves them too.

3. God’s Word shapes His people to be Missional

Moses believed that the words he wrote down, the very words that God gave to him, would shape the people into a community that God could use. He said, “Assemble the people – men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns – so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law” (12).

            I see four important purposes for God’s Word emerging from this verse:

a) Corporate reminders – The people gathered together to be reminded of their purpose. What are we here for? Why are we called by God’s name? For this reason they recited the covenant.

            Over the past several weeks we have studied the content of this book. We know that it contains the Ten Words (Commandments). We know that it tells the people what God wants for a community called by His name (laws). And we know that this covenant, as it was called, was never meant to be solely for God and Israel, irrespective of the rest of the world (4:6-8). Israel was chosen by God to be a light to the world. To forget this missional aim of the covenant was to forget what it was about. It is as though the postman were to imagine that all the letters in his bag were intended for him.

b) To Fear the LORD – It strikes me how inclusive this command is: men, women, children and foreigners are invited to hear the Word. This Word of God is for everyone who will stop and hear it. But its purpose is to teach the listener why and what it means to fear the LORD.

            To fear the LORD, as you know, is not to hide or run away in terror. Yes, we tremble before the living God when we realize how awesome He truly is, but we run towards Him in obedience. A healthy fear of God leads to obedience. Moses makes this clear in Deut. 10:12-13 (read). This obedience includes the Ten Words and the laws, but more importantly it includes loving God and loving your neighbor.

c) To be a model community – A model community is certainly the result of obedience. This book of Moses didn’t just happen. God didn’t redeem the people of Israel and then whip out a book saying, “Hey, I just happen to have a book that might be useful for devotional purposes.” The books of Moses arose out of the context of God redeeming a people for a missional purpose. “This,” He says, “is who you are and this is what you are called to do.”[ii] As Moses said, “These are not just idle words for you – they are your life” (32:47).

            Jesus echoed this same mission of God for His followers when He told them, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden” (Mat. 5:14). Just as Israel was fashioned to be a model community, the Church has been chosen to be the community that is the sign, instrument, and foretasted of God’s in-breaking kingdom, a kingdom that reveals the old order of things making way for the new order under the King of kings, Jesus Christ, who makes all things new. In this model we are not merely saved for heaven; we are saved to be examples of the transforming power of Jesus Christ in the lives of those who believe. We are different.

d) To join God’s mission – Israel failed to be the model community; they failed to be covenant-keepers. But upon Israel’s failure Jesus takes their calling to be the light of the world and lays it on His own shoulders. And through His teaching and the cross, He calls a community to be with Him and shows them how to truly be the light of the world. In His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus deals with the sin of the world, including the sin of Israel, so that they can fulfill their calling. The new covenant people of God are “humanity renewed in Christ.” And Jesus sends them to continue His own mission begun in Deuteronomy.[iii]

            This is how Jesus saw the Scriptures. Remember the Road to Emmaus story? Jesus comes upon two sorrowful disciples walking away from Jerusalem. He begins talking with them and when they confess their unbelief of the resurrection, Jesus gives them an OT lesson. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Lk 24:27). You can believe that Jesus went to Deuteronomy to reveal Himself and God’s mission to these two disciples. Luke then records that Jesus surprises the Eleven with His resurrected self. He eats a piece of fish to show He is no ghost and then says, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (44b). Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.

            If we take Jesus seriously in Luke, it is not only the NT that is to be read in light of the mission of God but the OT as well. The Church is not given a new mission but the same mission that Moses preached in Deuteronomy, if we read the Bible as one whole story and not in pieces.

If the Word of God is the instrument of God’s mission, then we must begin anew to read it from the beginning. I am not saying we have read it wrong per se all these years. But then again, perhaps we have read the Bible from the wrong perspective.

            Christopher Wright illustrates the heart of the matter when we read the Bible without missional lenses. We ask, “Where does God fit into the story of my life?” But the Bible asks a different question, “Where does my life fit into the story of God’s mission?” We wonder, “Does God have a purpose tailored just for me?” when we should be asking, “What would it mean for my life to be wrapped up in the great mission of God?” Or again, we say, “How does the Bible apply to my life?” Isn’t the missional question, “How does my life apply to the Bible?” And “What kind of mission does God have for me?” should be “What kind of me does God want for His mission?” Finally, in the age of church vision statements, we ask, “What kind of mission does God have for our church?” But we ought to ask, “What kind of church does God expect for His mission?”[iv]

            Reading the Bible missionally is not something we force on the Scriptures. It has been there all along. We just might not have seen it. But if we read the Bible like Jesus did in Luke 24:25 we should begin to see what God’s purposes really were from Genesis to Revelation. We have our favorite passages that encourage us – what if we read those same texts in the light of God’s mission for the world? Would they read differently?

            Reading the Bible missionally is not simply a cool new idea to replace your tired old study habits. Rather, Jesus in Luke 24 demands that we read Deuteronomy this way. If we do, we will find that God’s Word is an instrument for God’s mission. It is a sacred trust handed down to us to know God and to shape us into a people for God.

                                                            AMEN

           

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[i] David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1998) as quoted by Robert Lynn in his blog “In all the Scriptures: Reading the Bible Missionally.

[ii] Robert Lynn

[iii] Michael Goheen, A Dialogue with N.T. Wright – Jesus: A Public Figure Making a Public Announcement. (email me for further info)

[iv] Christopher Wright in Robert Lynn’s blog. (see above)

Missional 8

HOW OUR “FAITH-WALK” MAKES US MISSIONAL

Apparently the term “faith-walk” is unique to Christian language (Christianese). So I need to explain what I mean by “faith-walk.” My understanding of “faith-walk” is that it refers to living out one’s faith in obedience to God’s commands. Some folks believe or have faith in Jesus but don’t act on what they believe. When someone asks “How’s your faith-walk?” it may sound cliché. What they are asking is whether you are growing in your relationship with Jesus. What I would add is that your “faith-walk” is your Christian life expressed in obedience.

            Why is this important? We have been talking for several weeks about the Missional church in contrast to the Attractional church (If you build it…). A drawback of the Attractional model of doing church is that it tends to drop the standard of discipleship in order to attract seekers to the church. This leads to the “seeker-sensitive” approach. While we desire to welcome seekers to our church (those seeking relationship with God), the grace of God is emphasized to the extent that the demands of discipleship become fuzzy (We don’t want to scare them away).

            The Attractional model also tends to use the “sinners prayer” as victory points, the climax of their vision, rather than a beginning point of the journey with Christ.

            With the Missional approach to being the church, the call to obedience for all believers, including seekers, is paramount. We do not see conversion as the goal but as the first step in a long journey of coming to know Jesus. And we see obedience to the commands of the Bible as a witness of the presence of God.

            Moses emphasizes precisely these truths in Deuteronomy 29. Entering into a covenant with Yahweh, Israel was agreeing to be a people of God. That meant obedience to God’s commands. If the church finds its roots in being a covenantal people in the OT, we will find parallels in this text that call for an obedient “faith-walk” with God.

1. Be aware of your own “faith-walk”

Beginning with verses 19-21 (we will come back to 18), we find that Moses earnestly charges the individual Israelite to be obedient. Deut. 29 as a whole is a reaffirmation of the covenant agreement with God: God will continue to be their God and Israel will honor God by keeping His laws. By doing so, Israel ensures that life in the Promised Land will be prosperous. But, if you read ch. 28, you will also find that if Israel is not obedient to God, they will experience God’s curses.

            Moses addresses the individual Israelite then and warns them: You cannot rest on mere lip-service saying “I agreed to the covenant so God will be with me.” Moses says, “When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, ‘I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,’ they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. The LORD will never forgive them…” (19-20a).

            There is a growing understanding among evangelicals that altars calls are ineffective. Back in the evangelistic crusade heyday it was found that a very small percentage of “conversions” resulted in committed believers. The sinner’s prayer paradigm gave the impression that once this prayer was said, the person was “in” or “safe” or “eternally secure.” So discipleship was optional.

            Jesus echoed the covenantal requirements of Deut. in His Sermon on the Mount. Committing to a relationship with God is a serious venture, which is why Jesus said we must “count the cost.” Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matt. 7:21-23).

            What’s wrong with these people? They sound like tremendous Christians: they preach, they cast out demons, they do miracles. But Jesus rejects them. Why? The answer rests in the phrase “only he who does the will of my Father.” To be clear, “works” don’t earn you God’s favor. But obedience to God’s commands indicates that you take your relationship with God seriously.

            Consider the daughter whose father tells her to clean her room, do the dishes, and walk the dog. These tasks are a natural part of the responsibility of membership in one’s family. But the father finds the daughter on the couch with her iPod and the TV blaring. “You didn’t do I what asked,” he says. “I love you Daddy. I’m so glad you’re my Dad. You rock,” she replies. Does a profession of love substitute for obedience? Love includes obedience.

            So Moses challenges the individual that if they truly love God, they will be aware of the dangers of disobedience. The curses for Israel were terrible. Jesus’ rejection of the pretender is terrible. Watch your faith-walk. Are you living in obedience to Christ’s commands?

2. Be aware of each other’s faith-walk

It is one thing to examine yourself. In age of egocentrism we are very aware of ourselves and how we are doing. It is quite another thing to challenge each other in matters of faith. Even the preacher must be careful how he exhorts from the pulpit that he does not offend.

            But in a covenantal community, it is imperative that its members are aware of sin and the wandering heart. God wants the whole community to care for itself and to guard against sin.

            Aware of the temptations and influences of the society into which the Israelites were entering, Moses charged the people to be responsible for each other. He said, “Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison” (18).

            Some translations say “beware” instead of “make sure” showing that there is a real danger with slipping away. The danger is twofold: a) there can be a turning of hearts towards idols or things that detract from a focus on God as the source of all blessing. It may begin with an individual, a man or a woman, who finds satisfaction in some distraction. But then it seeps into whole clans, families, and then the tribe. Before it gets that far, the Israelite must identify it and address it. b) the danger has a root in the community. Perhaps something needs to be eradicated from the village or the nation. In this case, an idol fetish (rabbit’s foot, horoscopes, mediums) that represents a foreign cult needs to be rooted out. If not, it becomes a poison that seeps into the community eventually infecting all.

            Be aware of each other’s faith-walk. Jesus teaches that the believer is responsible for his brother or sister’s walk also. If we see sin in each other’s lives we are obligated by our covenant with God to address it. We do this for the sake of the brother/sister; we do this for our own sakes as well.

            But the problem we face is one of judgment. We are afraid to address sin because we don’t want to judge, nor do we want to be judged. We hold up the shield of protection, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matt. 7:1) when we fear our actions may be sketchy. I hear this so often. Christians are not supposed to judge. We don’t want to seem holier than thou, or that we are looking down on people. Fair enough.

            We do however ignore then, the rest of what Jesus says in Matthew: “Do not give to dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs” (7:6) and “Watch out for false prophets” (7:15). Do you know that those dogs and pigs Jesus refers to are people? How are we to watch out for false prophets unless we “judge” them?

            No, we are not to judge, that is, condemn those who are still in sin keeping them from Christ’s grace. But we are to judge, that is, discern what sin is and identify it so that it does not take root in our community. Paul taught the Galatians, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1).

3. Be aware of the community’s testimony

Why does it matter? How does the obedience of the one or the whole affect the testimony of the church?

            Moses explains the devastating effects of sin on the entire community in verses 22-24. Calamities, diseases, fields becoming wasteland and utter destruction awaits Israel if they fall away from the LORD. If they rest on their faith without obeying God, they betray their end of the covenant. And God has no choice but to show them the results of unfaithfulness.

            The worst part is that this affects God too. “All the nations will ask: ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land” Why this fierce, burning anger?’ And the answer will be: ‘It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt’” (24-25).

            These are the same nations that would be in awe of the success of Israel in 4:6. The nations were watching to see what difference it made to have Yahweh as God. God must show the world then, that disobeying Him testifies that God is just.

            Sin has a devastating affect on a faith community. This could also describe a fruitless church. If there is no obedience, no discipleship training in how to follow Jesus, if the church does not discipline erring members or heretical ideas, it will become a wasteland. For example, if I mention “the United Church of Canada” what comes to mind? Maybe nothing. But I will guess that many of you have a less than complimentary thought in your minds when I mention that denomination. I believe that is due in large part to the lowering of standards to meet social pressures. In short, culture trumped obedience to God’s commands. And the testimony is telling.

            Our community’s testimony needs to be one of obedience to God’s truth. The church thrives and is alive when it is obedient to Scriptural teaching, when it lives what it believes. The world responds when it sees this testimony negatively or positively – but it responds. If it does not respond then we are not doing what God has commanded.

Eugene Peterson in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction writes, “It is not difficult in our world to get a person interested in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier Christians called holiness.”

            Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). What we lack in our attempts to be obedient is complete in Christ – that’s grace. How we respond to this amazing grace in our lives is called our faith-walk. Obeying God’s commands tells God we love Him. A vibrant faith-walk tells the world that God can be known.

                                                            AMEN

Missional 6

CELEBRATION!

THE MISSIONAL CHURCH AT WORSHIP

Let’s celebrate! We have many occasions to rejoice in and remember God with dancing and singing. We celebrate the birth of children; we celebrate the wedding of young couples; we celebrate the anniversaries of men and women who have been happily married for 60 years. These are occasions to mark on the calendar and rejoice annually in our God who gives us such wonderful gifts.

            The church is called to be a community of celebration in a world that delights in shallow thrills. Someone once said, “What you celebrate you become.” If we place great value on human life, we strive to be godly parents; if we place great value on longevity in marriage, we will all want to celebrate 60 years of marriage and more. By celebrating these occasions we bear witness that we rejoice in what God calls “good.”

            To celebrate is to worship God. Worship is the central act by which the community corporately celebrates with joy and thanksgiving both God’s presence and promised future.

            Our passage today (Deut. 16) tells us about the three most important celebrations in the Israelite calendar. They are both extremely earthy (dealing with harvests, etc.) and deeply theological. That’s good because we can see how God takes the “everyday” stuff we know and makes it profound. These three feasts were established to remind Israel of what was worth celebrating. They acted as a North Star giving direction to life like a compass pointing out the way to journey in life. And as they celebrated these occasions, Israel declared to the nations that Yahweh was God.

            We are not going to institute the Passover Feast, the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Tabernacles. These would have little meaning for us without the Jewish context. But we are going to unpack these feasts and discover that we have much to celebrate as a community of faith. And as we celebrate these truths we begin to act missionally.

1. A Celebration of Our Deliverance

The first festival was the Feast of Passover. It was usually held in March or April each year, according to our calendar (Abib).  This coincided with the beginning of the harvest and reminded them of their escape from Egypt under Moses. You remember the tenth and final plague in Egypt – the firstborn of every family would die unless a perfect lamb was butchered, eaten, and the blood applied to the doorposts. This last plague was the final straw that caused Pharaoh to let Israel go.

            Now as Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, Moses commanded the people to remember this great event. Note three things:

a) The people are commanded to “celebrate the Passover of LORD your God” (1). With each feast there is a command to celebrate, to remember, to observe, to worship God (1, 10, 13); b) This celebration involves eating. What’s a celebration without eating? What’s a Grey Cup party without wings and nachos? We celebrate by eating. The Israelites were to eat bread made without yeast (mozza – like a cracker) to remember that they had to eat in a hurry. Yeast also had spiritual overtones: sometimes it was likened to “sin” as something that permeates a whole person or an entire community. So the Israelites were to “Let no yeast be found in your possession…” (4). They were to purify themselves symbolically by removing all yeast from their communities.

c) God would choose the place for celebrating. During the exodus, every family unit would butcher a lamb and eat it behind closed doors. This celebration of the exodus was to be communal, to be celebrated together. There was no longer a need to hide; the celebration would be public, communal, and in a location that God would choose.

            This is how the people were to celebrate God’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Passover was to be a remembrance of God’s saving work in their lives. As they ate their bread without yeast and their lamb, they remembered “God saves.” Taste is a great reminder. When I taste broccoli casserole I remember my mom. When Israel ate mozza they remembered their escape from Egypt; and when they ate bitter herbs they remembered the slavery they escaped from.

            It was this Passover meal that Jesus ate with his disciples on the last night of His life before the cross. For Jesus, Passover was pregnant with personal application. Jesus told His disciples, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat of it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:15-16). Then He shared the bread and the wine with them as a new remembrance of the Passover Lamb.

            The Apostle Paul picked up the Passover theme when he challenged the Corinthians to deal with sinfulness in their midst. Paul wrote, “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7). Get rid of sin; purify yourselves because Christ has bled for you and you are actually clean.

            God is a missionary God. He sent His Son into the world. We celebrate the incarnation of Christ and the shedding of His blood for our deliverance from sin. Just as Israel was freed from slavery in Egypt, we are freed from our slavery to sin. Celebrate!

2. A Celebration of God’s Blessings

The second festival was the Feast of Weeks, where the Jews gave thanks to God for their crop. This festival occurred at the end of the barley harvest and was celebrated 50 days after the Passover.

            Again, Moses commands the people to celebrate, to remember that God is the true giver of the harvest. Growing crops are a gift; the strength to harvest is a gift; the wisdom to grind and bake and produce bread is a gift.

            How does God want Israel to celebrate this gift? Moses instructed them, “Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you” (10).

            The freewill offering was likely a “firstfruits” gift that meant taking the best of the best of your produce and offering it to God. While we often think of ten percent of our gross earnings as a good gift, Moses’ instructions actually say that we are to give in proportion to what God has given us. So an Israelite who felt particularly blessed by God might give up to 30 percent of his produce. Moses really declares that those who genuinely grateful for the grace of God in the harvest will be liberal in their offerings.

            This time, Moses is more inclusive in his invitation to celebrate “…you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you” (11). This is a party and everyone is invited. Remember, celebration means food. Celebrating the abundance that God has given means including everyone, even strangers, in the party. All who want to come are invited to celebrate our generous God.

            Many centuries later, Greek-speaking Jews would rename the Feast of Weeks “Pentecost.” Fifty days after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the disciples of Jesus met in an upper room in Jerusalem and waited for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

            On the day of Pentecost a mighty wind swept through the place where the disciples were staying and they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-4). Is this a coincidence?

            I believe that there are parallels worth noting. Because it was the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) many God-fearing Jews from “every nation under heaven” (2:5) were present when the disciples emerged from the upper room speaking in many languages. Every known language group seems to have been present. This corresponds to Moses’ inclusion of every person in the Feast of Weeks in Deuteronomy when he invited sons and daughters, male and female servants, foreigners, and so on, to be part of the festivities.

            Then when accused of being drunk, Peter explains using the prophet Joel that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on many. “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy” (Acts 2:17-18).

            Pentecost was meant to be a celebration of the harvest of barley. Jesus, the firstfruits of God’s act of salvation, has turned Pentecost into a different kind of harvest festival. As we read the book of Acts we see that on this first day of the empowered church, 3000 were added to the church that day, a great harvest (2:41). The book of Acts continues on to describe the beginning of God’s harvest, bringing into the kingdom of God the believers who receive Christ.

            God is a missionary God. As God sent His Son, so now Jesus sends us. As the sent people of God, the church is the instrument of God’s mission in the world. Pentecost celebrates the beginning of the mission, the harvest.

3. A Celebration of the Final Harvest

One more festival remains. The third festival was the Feast of Tabernacles, which occurred after the grape and grain harvest was over. Also called the Feast of Booths, the name probably came from the temporary shelters (tents) that the harvesters set up near the fields at that time of the year. This was the last of the harvests – a climax, if you will – celebrated by feast. It was said that this was the happiest of all festivals.

            Like the other festivals, the participants are told to celebrate, to remember, to worship God for all His blessings. And like the Feast of Weeks, their sons and daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners and the widows who live in their towns are to be included (14). And again this festival must be held in the place that God chooses.

            What is different about this festival is the command “Be joyful.” More than a spontaneous emotion, rejoicing, like love, is not based on how one feels. To rejoice is an act of the will, a decision to turn to God and say “you are the source of my plenty and my pleasure. You fill me up, Lord.”

            This is the final harvest of the season and it is cause for celebration. When God provides us with grain and wine, we have enough for the coming winter. We will be satisfied with the good things of God.

            Now “harvest” is a theme that Jesus uses in the gospels to describe His work. (See Matthew 9:35-38). He came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God and to invite everyone who would come to be a participant in the heavenly feast at the end of the age (Luke 14:15-24).

            After talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus and the disciples had a conversation about food and harvests. Jesus quotes a common phrase, “Do you not say, ‘Four months and then the harvest’?” But then Jesus turns this common experience into a theological lesson, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together” (John 4:35-36).
            Then John writes that many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus. Open your eyes…the fields are ripe for harvest.

            I am no farmer, but I think I can tell when wheat is ready to harvest. Or when corn is due. Many of you are very good at eyeing a crop and seeing its readiness. But what about people? How can we tell when people are ready to hear the gospel and respond to it?

            Jesus said two thousand years ago, “Open your eyes…the fields are ripe for harvest!” The crop has been ready for a long time. Jesus wants to harvest those who believe into His kingdom.

            God is a missionary God. As God included us in His missionary program to participate in the final harvest, He works through us to invite others to celebrate God’s glory. As Pentecost celebrates the beginning of the church’s mission in the world, we recognize that we are living in temporary tents while we work at harvesting those who would believe in Him.

I may have just created a major exegetical fallacy. Taking the feasts of Deuteronomy and applying them to these NT events may have been a leap, but it is what I saw.

            Consider the chronology of what I have just shared with you: Passover celebrates the salvation of God’s people from their slavery; Jesus is the perfect Passover lamb that was slain for us and His blood has delivered us from the bondage of sin. The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) celebrates the many physical blessings of God upon His people; In the NT Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Christ’s church and the many spiritual blessings that we have received through Him. And the Feast of Tabernacles celebrates the final harvest of the agricultural season; we look with hope to the future when we will celebrate with Jesus at the Final harvest when all who will believe are gathered to Him at His banqueting table.

            The more I ponder on church celebrations, be they weddings or anniversaries or any kind of major event, I see how the Bible teaches that these occasions are to be communal. That is, every Christian occasion must be inclusive. Every Christian-based event declares the gospel of Christ; if it does not, why are we a part of it? And if it is a gospel event, it must certainly include the disenfranchised (the widow, the single, the stranger, the immigrant, etc) so that they may taste the goodness of God.

            Every church event we encounter then will be one of joy. We will leave here feeling that we were glad we came and wished we hadn’t had to leave.

            And as we have received so fully from the Lord, celebrations of this kind will encourage us to give generously of our plenty. This may be dreaming, but it is good to dream.

                                                            AMEN

Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert’s definition of the mission of the church includes this essential relationship of mission to worship:

The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship the Lord and obey his commands now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father

Charles Spurgeon: “There is no good preacher who is not moved almost to the point of tears at the end of every sermon at how poor was the message he just delivered.”

Missional 5

A MISSIONAL APPROACH TO PROSPERITY

“Prosperity” may rank as one of several “dirty” words among evangelical Christians. We know of the “Prosperity Gospel” and its focus on the success of every Christian, if they have enough faith. We know that “health and wealth” are very attractive goals in themselves but we can lose focus if they become all that our faith is about.

            We live in a time and place where we are enjoying prosperity like no other. This is the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. We are extremely blessed. And let’s face it; we enjoy the benefits of living in a prosperous nation.

            Well over a hundred years ago, a German philosopher by the name of Friedrich Nietzsche foresaw a shift in culture that would engulf the West. Nietzsche saw that with the absence of God growing in Western culture, we would replace God with money or prosperity. He wrote:

            “What induces one man to use false weights, another to set his house on fire after having insured it for more than its value, while three-fourths of our upper classes indulge in legalized fraud…what gives rise to all this? It is not real want – for their existence is by no means precarious…but they are urged on day and night by a terrible impatience at seeing their wealth pile up slowly, and by an equally terrible longing and love for these heaps of gold…What once was done ‘for the love of God’ is now done for the love of money, i.e., for the love of that which at present affords us the highest feeling of power and a good conscience.”[i]

            In short, Nietzsche foretold that the accumulation of wealth would become the main idol of the West. He was not wrong.

            Does God want us to be poor? Is there something spiritual about being materially destitute? Prosperity is not in and of itself a bad thing; the problem is forgetting where it came from. Prosperity is a good thing if we remember that it comes from God but a curse if we forget where it came from.

1. God’s People get tested

a) Testing our resolve to be faithful – Moses continues to prepare the Israelites to enter the Promised Land through these sermons known as Deuteronomy. In ch. 8 he prophetically warns them to be aware of the contrast of where they have been and where they are going.

            “Be careful…” Moses says, and he repeats this warning in v. 11, “Be careful.” Leaving the barren wilderness for a rich land of potential has its challenges. Be careful to do what? “Be careful to follow every command that I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors,” (1).

            We can see that God’s plan was to prosper His people and to do well in the Land. God’s mission would be spotlighted by the success of His chosen people IF…and this is the caveat…IF they followed His every command. The LORD was not trying to be restrictive and limiting; He was giving them a plan for life that would sustain their success. Obeying the LORD was the primary key to this prosperity.

            God tests His people. He wants to see who regards Him seriously by keeping His commands.

b) Looking back on tough times – Moses recalls the great test of Israel’s faith in the wilderness. The people well remember how God led them out of Israel by bringing ten plagues on the Egyptians, how they crossed the Red Sea and so on. But Israel was still getting to know Yahweh; they didn’t know how faithful Yahweh would be in future situations. So they put Him to the test in the wilderness.

            The irony is that in that very classroom, the wilderness, the Israelites thought they were testing God, whereas in fact it was the other way around; God was testing them. We must understand that “test” does not mean to tempt someone into doing something they would not otherwise do. This is not the kind of test Satan issued Jesus when he urged him to jump off the temple roof. To test God in this way is foolish. To “test” in this context means to “prove” a person’s word and intentions. Israel wanted to know if God could really do what He promised after the exodus; Yahweh wanted to know if the people would do what they promised when they made a covenant with Him.[ii]

            God does not need to prove anything to Israel. Moses said, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart…” (2). God took care of them and they could see it. When they came out of the wilderness, Israel was not a shabby, starving rabble. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. More than that, there was no place to plant a crop or garden – the wilderness was not a place to settle down - but they had food to eat. Manna! Bread from heaven!

            Here’s the test: God allowed them to become hungry, shrinking any shred of self-sufficiency, and then gave them manna. What God was proving to them was that the key to life is not in the food one eats, but in the nourishment that comes from the mouth of God – His Word. This is why Moses says, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (3b).

            Bread is a staple on our tables; human life needs more than bread, however. We need the mouth of God that first breathed breath into our nostrils. We can eat bread but, like the wandering Hebrews, we will die eventually. But the Word of God gives life meaning, shape, purpose, value.

            Crowds followed Jesus after He fed the 5000 (John 6). They were caught up in the provision of bread so that they did not see the bigger picture. Jesus had led them into a wilderness of sorts where there was no food; they grew hungry. Jesus fed them miraculously. Jesus tells them of a better bread that would satisfy them even more. Give it to us, they said. Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (6:35).

c) Looking ahead to the greater test – Wilderness experiences teach us to depend on God. You will easily recall your wilderness experiences where you grew hungry for God. The LORD tests us in those moments, He proves us, to see if we will run to Him, seek Him out in our pain and longing. God does not do this to torture us but to show us that He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do. God will not fail you in your wilderness.

            I find that my darkest days cause me to pray more passionately. The greater test is to rely on God when all is well. That is what Moses is concerned about. Moses describes the land they are going to enter as practically a Garden of Eden: brooks, streams, crops, and minerals aplenty. There will be limitless opportunity and prosperity for all.

            When times are good, human nature dictates that we grow careless. We become fuzzy about the commands of God. It is easier to bend the rules. Moses underlines the problem: “When you have eaten and are satisfied…” (10). When we are satisfied we tend to forget the lessons of the wilderness.

2. How God’s people respond to the “Prosperity” test

a) Recognizing the dangers of self-sufficiency – For the second time, Moses warns his flock to be careful. “Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God…” as they enter into this period of prosperity (11). This is the heart of the passage. We are a forgetful race. We forget where we came from and that other than by the grace of God we would still be there. We are so forgetful; we must admit it.

            Victor Borge told about a couple going on vacation, standing in line waiting to check their bags at the airline counter. The man said to the wife, "I wish we had brought the piano." She said, "Why? We’ve got sixteen suitcases already!" He said, "Yes, I know-- but the airline tickets are on the piano!"

            Moses outlines the progression to self-sufficiency (see list vv. 12-13). As these good things build up, we forget the tough times we had in the past. The danger of self-sufficiency is pride. Moses warns, “…then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…” (14).

            This is a problem that does not go away. Centuries later, Israel still suffered from spiritual dementia. Hosea wrote, “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me (says the LORD)” (13:6).

            Success can be more dangerous than failure. “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me’” (17). Farmers might be very pragmatic about their success: I cleared the land, I cultivated, planted, weeded, sprayed and harvested the crop – what did God do? Some of you have a mind for making money, you know where to invest, what to build and when – what part does God play? We can all view our accomplishments as the work of our own hands.

b) Responding to God’s gifts with gratitude – Yet every service we render has its roots in the gracious gifting of God. He is the One who called us to be farmers, engineers, real estate moguls, teachers, and pastors. Every achievement is possible only because the LORD God has graciously given us the abilities to think, plan, and work. You are NOT the source of your own success. It is irrational to think that way.

            Moses preached, “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today” (18).

            The incorrect response to God’s test of prosperity was revealed as pride. The correct response to the test comes in three parts:

First, “Remember the LORD your God.” More than merely acknowledging God as the source of your giftedness and prosperity, we are to take seriously the presence of God and what He is doing all around us all the time. Remembering God means observing and obeying His commands. If you read on in Deuteronomy 15 you will find that God’s commands include using prosperity in His service: forgiving debts (3), providing for the poor “there should be no poor among you” (4), if there are poor among you “do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother (7), and be openhanded to the poor and needy (11).

Second, Remember “it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” You work really hard. Even so, you and I must recognize that the skill and energy to work are a gift from God.

Third, Remember his covenant. Yahweh gives strength not only for our good and prosperity, but also to confirm what He said in His covenant to Israel. Israel’s prosperity, and now ours, is actually supposed to be a witness of His presence. We are a light to the nations in how we respond to the wealth around us – with gratitude to God and generosity to people. God’s honor is at stake in how we handle these good gifts.

c) What happens when we ignore God – What if we forget? I am loathe to conclude with 19-20. But there it is in God’s Word. If we forget God as the source of our prosperity, if we make an idol out of wealth and luxury, we will be destroyed. Now this was said to Israel thousands of years ago and I have jumped from the context to application (very bad hermeneutics).

            As a historian I can testify that no nation in the history of the world was ever able to maintain their dominance economically or militarily. Canada will not always enjoy prosperity as it does today. In large part, I believe that our two nations, the U.S. and Canada, have forgotten where its present glory came from. As Christians, we cannot afford to forget from whom all blessing flow.

How does our approach to prosperity make us a missional church?

            David Fitch writes, “The question is, how do we make sense of the Christian claim that ‘Jesus is Lord’ in a postmodern world where old ways to truth have broken down? The answer is we display what these words mean in the way we live and worship so that its reality, once displayed, cannot be denied, only rejected or entered into. We will persuade through living displays of truth, not rational one-on-one arguments.”[iii]

            Displaying our gratitude to God for all that we possess is a powerful witness. Allow me to share an attitude of prayer and a practice of prayer to illustrate one way of applying this truth:

            The attitude in prayer comes from the sage in Proverbs: “…give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God” (Prov. 30:8b-9). Striking a balance rests with us. Generosity in light of how much God has given to us helps to achieve balance in the midst of prosperity.

            The practice of prayer will appear simple to you. Someone shared a story with me of how they had bowed their heads at a restaurant and thanked God for their food. Another patron had taken note and commented how touched they were by that act. That patron was a Christian but had given up the practice of praying over the meal for frivolous reasons. How can we ignore such a powerful discipline and witness of thankfulness by omitting prayer, even at the restaurant table?

            When my family visited Quebec City, I was tickled to hear a lady comment on our table prayer when we were done asking God’s blessing. She said, “Oh, those must be born-agains.” We do not want to make a spectacle of ourselves or pray so loudly that the whole restaurant hears us, but we do want to honor our God in public. If we can do this one act of gratitude of thanking the Lord for our gifts, we are being a witness; we are being missional, in regards to our approach to prosperity. We are confessing that we know the One from whom all blessings flow.

                                                            AMEN

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[i] As quoted by Timothy Keller in his book Counterfeit Gods, p. 51.

[ii] Christopher Wright, Deuteronomy, p. 122.

[iii] In Gary V. Nelson’s book Borderland Churches, p. 50.

Missional 4

GOD’S ECONOMIC PLAN FOR HIS PEOPLE

Tomorrow, we vote. The longest campaign in recent Canadian history will finally be over when we go to the polls. We have had enough of the mud-slinging and political rhetoric. Let’s end this and see what comes.

            One of the big issues of this campaign has been the economy. Canada has slipped into a recession this year and so the big questions revolve around reviving the economy, creating jobs, managing resources, and taxing the right people. Whatever government is formed tomorrow, blue, red, or orange, their agenda will determine what values Canada will lean toward. Their plan will shape our future, what our society will look like for the next few years. Your vote impacts that outcome in a relatively significant way.

            While the word “economy” makes us think of the effective management of a community or system, it also has a theological meaning. In theology, “economy” is a method of divine government of the world. No matter which party rules Canada after tomorrow, God rules overall. He is sovereign and His economy for His people is the only economy that is the most effective and takes into account the wellbeing of every person.

            What we know as the Ten Commandments, what the Bible rightly calls “the Ten Words” or Decalogue, are the fundamentals of God’s economy. You may wonder at that. How does “You shall not murder” apply to you who has not murdered? Few Christians realize that the Ten Words clearly address some of the most pressing problems of our generation: inequality of wealth, growing refugee issues, consumerism and more. They are a platform for justice, yet society considers the Ten Words as irrelevant.

            In their original context, God’s economic plan for His people, the Ten Words, are a pattern for life in which every person can experience the fullness of life. To show you how this is so, I would like to unpack Deut. 5:6 for you.

1. Acknowledge the LORD who is God

Moses calls the people together to remind them of the laws of God in Deut. 5. Even though the mass of people standing before Moses were not alive when God gave the Ten Words, Moses insists in v.3 that God made this covenant “not with our fathers…but with us.” He emphasizes the ongoing nature of this covenant which God made with Israel.

            With this in mind, Moses recites the Ten Words beginning with this introduction: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (6).

            The first phrase is an introduction. Israel did not know the Lord God as intimately as they could have. So it truly is an introduction. A person might say, “Let me introduce myself, I am ….” God does the same. This was the custom of the person offering the covenant. These covenants were common at that time in the world and were never given by those of equal status. It was always the greater offering the covenant to the lesser, usually the one who lost the battle.

            Here, God introduces Himself as Yahweh (LORD). It was Yahweh who met Moses on Mt. Horeb in the burning bush. It was Yahweh who said to Moses when asked his name, “I am who I am,” that most holy name (Ex. 3:14). It is this Yahweh who says to Moses that He has seen the misery of His people and heard their cries and will rescue them (Ex. 3:7). So even though Israel was not intimately acquainted with Yahweh, He knew them and cared for them.

            Back in Egypt, Israel had slaved for a Pharaoh who claimed to be a god. Not only did he claim to be a god, Pharaoh refused to recognize Yahweh as God (Ex. 5:2). So the bulk of the first chapters in Exodus features a contest between Pharaoh and the true God, Yahweh. Not only does Pharaoh submit to God, all Egypt and Israel see that Yahweh is God of the whole earth.

            The first three commandments, or Words, underline what Yahweh has proven without a shadow of a doubt. “You shall have no other gods before me” (7). Israel came out of a land of many gods; they were about to enter a land with many gods; but their God has shown His superiority over all so-called gods. Why would they want other gods? “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything…” (8). Egypt was known to create images of their gods, so the second “commandment was to prevent such foolishness. To make an image of Yahweh was to rob God of His glorious person. How can you capture the majesty of God in a statue? And “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God…” (11). The Exodus story provided a fresh revelation of divine name and demonstrated its power. No one was permitted to use the power of that name without God’s permission.[i]

            Yahweh is God. To begin to build a community on any other foundation ignores the Creator of life and community. To be a people where fairness and equality and harmony reign begins with acknowledging that the LORD is God.

2. Why we obey God’s Law

When we acknowledge that the LORD is God, we consequently confess that His ways are right and that by living according to His Word we do exceedingly well.

            Yahweh has introduced Himself; now we will look at the context for obeying His laws. We find this in the second phrase of v. 6 “…who brought you out of Egypt…”

            Yahweh delivered Israel out of Egypt. He went down and got His people out of there. “Deliverance” is the motivating theme for the response of obedience.

            How many of us don’t look at the OT as a covenant of legalism? Don’t we sometimes think that the only way to be saved in the OT was to obey laws? We thank Jesus for coming in the NT and saving us from the law, giving us salvation by grace through faith. But that is too simplistic actually.

            Consider again v. 6, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt…” The commandments were given to Israel, not so they could perhaps gain salvation by keeping them, but because God had already redeemed them. These laws were given to live in the light of that deliverance.

            If you read Exodus with this mind, the majority of the narrative displays the saving acts of God despite the obedience or disobedience of the people. The God of grace is very much evident in the story of Israel, saving them from trial after trial, and then asking them to live a life of gratitude by obeying His laws. And His laws were ultimately and realistically for their own benefit. First God saves; then He gives the Law. Grace is the foundation for obedience, as opposed to obeying the law to be saved.

            Like the Israelites who became slaves of the Egyptians, we became slaves to sin. Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (Jn. 8:34). Jesus saves us by His grace and then calls us to discipleship immediately. That means obeying His words. Jesus told the Jews, “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:31b-32). In this same conversation with the Jews, Jesus reveals the most awesome truth, that He is the Son of God. They say “no way;” Jesus replies “Yahweh” (Jn. 8:58).

            Grace without obedience is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace,” getting by on being saved but not living as one who has been saved.

            Why do we obey God’s laws, including these Ten Words? Because Yahweh has delivered us out of Egypt. Egypt represents the land of sin in the Bible, and we are headed for the Promised Land. To live in that Land, God has given us laws so that we can represent Him and be a light to the nations.

3. Laws that create a counter-culture

Israel had been delivered out of Egypt, “out of the land of slavery.” And for Israel, when they came to Mt. Horeb to receive these Ten Words, they had only been out of Egypt for three months. They still felt the scars and wounds on their backs from the whips and rods of their oppressors. The Egyptians had been trying to systematically annihilate the Israelites through forced labor. At one point Pharaoh took away the straw with which to make bricks but ordered the people to make more bricks. He was trying to work them to death. And you know he tried to kill all the male Hebrew babies, which led to Moses’ river journey. This was the context that they knew for so long.

            Now they were free. And how were they to live in community? How do free people live? By doing their own thing? Is freedom a “live and let live” experience? No, God gives them a kind of “Bill of Rights” for free people to live by.

            Consider the context and contrast of Egypt now when you read these “commandments.”

            “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy…” The fourth commandment to rest on the seventh day, as God did when creating the world, stands in stark contrast to life in Egypt when Israelites never rested. Now God institutes a weekly day of rest for a nation of slaves. What a relief! As part of God’s plan in the Garden of Eden, there was to be a rhythm of work-rest-work-rest. Two reasons are given: 1) To rest everyone including livestock; 2) to worship (see v.15).

            We have slipped out of this holy and healthy rhythm these days. Our worldview values productivity over the need for rest and reflection. Working a 60 hour week hails you as a hero in our culture. Work hard or your fired. Sunday shopping is convenient for some but not if you are the one working.

            With the fifth and seventh commandments, a free society was to be structured around the family household. These laws protected the authority of family (honor father and mother) and sexual integrity.                    

            The sixth commandment “You shall not murder,” though taken individualistically, are spoken to restrain the excesses of powerful people, like Pharaoh. Remember how easy it was for an Egyptian task master to kill a slave whenever he felt like it. The same was true in the South before (and even after) the U.S. Civil War. A slave’s life meant nothing. Now, Yahweh institutes a law that values human life. Where in Egypt, economic productivity was valued higher than human life, God flips the scale.

            The eighth commandment “You shall not steal,” might make us think of the poor man who is tempted to steal a loaf of bread to feed his family, or perhaps the criminal who steals rather than work. But in actuality the command was given to restrain the rich. In Egypt, Israelites were robbed of the benefit of owning land; now, every Israelite was promised a piece of land to produce wealth. Under Jubilee law it could not be permanently taken away (Lev 25:23). Ultimately God owns the land and He gave everyone a piece of it. So the command “you shall not steal” was meant to keep the rich from exploiting the poor, as they had been in Egypt.

            One more example: the tenth commandment “You shall not covet,” shows us that the OT was not about rules, but about the heart. To covet is to want something, even if it disadvantages the other person. In practical terms it looked like this: say my neighbor has fallen into hard times and say he wants to sell me his ox, his only ox, so that he can buy some grain. The point of the 10^th commandment is this: I don’t suck him for all he’s worth. I don’t covet his ox or his money, rather I trade in a way that is helpful to him and generous. If he doesn’t have an ox to sell, maybe I give him grain anyways. The attitude we strive for is mutual care.[ii]

            What the Ten Words point to is God’s priorities for human moral attention: God, society, family, life, sex, and property. Dare we point to our modern society and see that modern culture has almost precisely turned this order upside-down? Our culture has built up its industries and worldview for the sole purpose of breaking the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet.” Every commercial we see on TV or on the web begs us to trade our perfectly good cars to buy better ones so that we can drive to various restaurants at midnight to eat very fatty burgers, wake up early to workout, or barring that, to try the next fat-burning method because we lust after bodies that we cannot and should not have. Is it any wonder that when we call on people to worship no other god, most would claim to really have no God to worship at all?

As I said earlier, the Ten Words function as an Israelite bill of rights. However, unlike modern bills of rights, the document does not protect one’s own rights but the rights of the next person. Each of the terms may be recast as a statement of another person’s rights. We first guard the rights of our covenant Lord, and secondly each other’s rights.[iii]

            What does this sound like? Jesus replied to the Pharisees’ and Sadducees’ question about the greatest commandment. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God…and love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Mt. 22:37-40).

            So love God and love your neighbor. Don’t worry about the rest, we say. But hold on a minute, how do we love God and love our neighbor? That’s where we return to the Ten Words of Deut. 5 and we understand that God has a carefully thought out program for a new society. Jesus does not negate this program but supports it, because he cannot contradict Himself. Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (Jn 13:34-35). The command to love was not new; what was new was loving sacrificially as demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.

            We have been called out of Egypt (slavery to sin) to be a new society (the church) where each person can be built up and loved and encouraged and protected so that we can thrive. To be a missional church in this fashion, we become a light to the world displaying the glory of God’s economic plan.

                                                                        AMEN

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[i] Christopher Wright (prominent commentator throughout this sermon)

[ii] Mark Glanville, The Ten Commandments – God’s Economics

[iii] Dan Block