The Reproach of Us All

I can imagine, from my human perspective, Jesus rising from the dead and saying:  I’m gonna get those guys!  (Who chose Barabbas over me, spat on me, beat me, mocked me, crucified me) Each one of them and boy will they be sorry,  But this isn’t Jesus.   Now see how we get to here from Joshua chapter 5.

The Reproach of us All  Joshua 5:1-12

INTRO:   I remember one day when we were living in Kenya and being at a Masai Manyatta.  A Manyatta is an encampment of two or three dung huts.  They are surrounded by a fence of thorn tree branches meant to keep the animals safe from predators, and they have predators, like lions and leopards.  On this day the young men of that area had been circumcised.   Masai young men are circumcised at age 16.  They become men that day.  It’s a traditional right of passage that many cultures practice.  When the men heal they go out into the bush and learn how to be Morans, learning how to live off of herbs and fight animals that may threaten their people’s  herds.  You feel safe out in the bush when they are around. But on that day they weren’t fighting any lions or any man!   I could have taken them on!

 

In our text this morning God’s people have crossed the Jordan.  They are in enemy territory.   So it seems like bad timing to circumcise your warriors at this point.  But God will provide victory for them.  Already the kings of the Amorites and Canaanites were full of fear.  Vs. 1 tells us that their hearts melted and they no longer had courage to face the Isralites because they had heard of the great things God had done for His people.  But this rite of circumcision is God’s reminder and confirmation of something even greater than the land.  God himself is their inheritance and they are his.

 

SO WHY CIRCUMCISE? 

 

God commanded it:  This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.  Genesis 17  And so Jesus as an infant was also circumcised.  He was born under the law that he might keep the law perfectly in our place.  Note: they had time to talk and think about the meaning of this act as knives were made.

 

God commands it in view of his promises which Abraham believed. 

 

“It is the rule of divine grace to give then to ask.”   Kiel and D.   God did not give the law until he gave redemption from the land of Egypt!  When a man ask a woman to marry him he gives her a ring.  God is not only giving the land, He gives Himself as husband and father to his people.  And that was seen most clearly in His Son who was given by the Father and who laid down his own life voluntarily for us.   He woos us with gentle and omnipotent grace.

 

So circumcision sets the people apart. 

 

When I go to an ECU football  game with Marty and Jerry I don’t wear red!   I wear purple, the right color!   It answers the question:  Who do you identify with?  To whom do you belong?   The people of Canaan who worshiped idols were called “uncircumcised.’   Consider this Biblical example:

 

When Samson wanted a Philistine woman as his wife:   His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”  Judges 14:3

 

Being a Christian means being set apart as to how we live!  Is it so?  What mark’s us out?  Jesus said it is to be love.  This is how all men will know that you are my disciples, that you have love for one another.   Being separate in how we live but not who we love and interact with.  It’s either the glory of Jesus or, from his enemies perspective a charge:  ‘Friend of sinners!”

 

Circumcision is an act of devotion  It’s painful.  Circumcised with stone knives.     If we follow Jesus as he says above, you will have pain.

God is worth it.  He promised Abraham the land and the people were about to inherit it, but God said to Abraham “I am your shield and great reward.”  The health and wealth gospel misses God.

Are you satisfied with God?

 

Then: Circumcision is not magic, the sacraments or sacred ceremonies that God gives us must be combined with faith.  They do not work in and of themselves. 

 

Note:  Those men of fighting age who died in the desert were circumcised.  Cf. Are you baptized?  Do you have faith?    A friend went to a church were baptism is by immersion.  She was immersed three times.  She told me that one of those times she thought about how good her tan looked while she was wearing that white baptismal robe!  Do you have faith?

 

1. Abraham believed first then was circumcised-faith was first.  This argument is made in the Bible so we know that justification is by faith not works.  So, why did God have all those eight day old boys circumcised?  Could they understand and believe the word of God?  No.  But they were part of that covenant community as God makes his covenant with all of his people.  The promise to Abraham included a family, a nation and the whole world!  And by faith we are part of that.

 

So: Circumcision is an issue of the heart.  Romans 2:   A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. ²⁹ No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.   

 

So we’ve crossed over into the NT.  Let’s think about circumcision as its seen in the light of the NT-

 

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,   having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.   Colossians 2:11

 

1.Here we see that the rite of circumcision deals with the inside not simply the outside.  Remember Jesus words about the inside and outside of the cup!  Which cup do you want to drink from?  One clean on the outside or on the inside?

 

2.Its not done by men, but Christ.  Text  Joshua 5:9…and “Today I have rolled away”  It is Jesus, our Greater Joshua, who does heart surgery.  He take away our old nature and gives us a new one controlled by his Spirit!

 

3.And thirdly circumcision is related with baptism.  Think about the Passover in the Old Testamant and the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament.  So what does our baptism mean?  It identifies us with Christ.  Whatever method we use or who the person is, baptism speaks of our belonging to/identifying with  Christ.  When an infant is baptized the parents, and all of us, recognize him or her as a member of this covenant community.

And when an adult or a child who understand the gospel is baptized to profess their faith he or she is identifying with Jesus!  And think about people who declare their faith in cultures that may be ignorant of or hostile to the gospel of Jesus!    They are declaring that they have a new Master, a new Brother, a new Father.  Last time I was in Kenya several people were baptized at a church service at which I spoke.  My Kenyan pastor friend, John, baptized them.  These folks lived up on a small mountain, their church meets under a  tree (they have come down to the village that morning where there was water to baptize them)  They grew up worshiping spirits in trees, now they worshiped the Lord of Heaven and Jesus His son.  They have a new allegiance.

 

Circumcision is a bloody sacrifice. 

Its speaks of the fact that the soul that sins shall die!  That without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins!

 

NOTE also those who were circumcised when they came out of Egypt died in the desert.   

 

But here are these uncircumcised who have entered the land!   Has God gotten things mixed up here?  No, it always of grace.  But don’t  think that those who were now circumcised by Joshua weren’t sinners too. We all have sinned and the wages of sin is death.  So the rite of circumcision continues  in Joshua’s day because either not enough blood or the right blood had been shed.

So we need a redeemer.  Someone who shed blood could cover all our sins whether  we are circumcised or uncircumcised!   So Paul says in Romans 3:

 

 ⁹ Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, ³⁰ since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. ³¹

 

Now the verses I just read don’t seem to speak about the redeemer, (the chapter does vey much so)  and so we know they speak about faith in Him.  The two things, faith and Jesus go together.  Cf. Faith is the verb for saying Jesus!   Jesus is the Bible’s object of our faith.

 

Here is the good news.  Belonging to God and being under his care as our husband and Father come by faith alone. 

 

CLOSE   Jesus alone is that redeemer we need.   He alone can take away our reproach and shame, our sin. 

Look at VS. 9 again:   Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.   

What was this reproach?  Being slaves?  Was their God reproached for not delivering them?   A god of slaves!  Was it their shameful wandering in the wilderness?  Maybe it was all of the above?  BUT WHAT DOES CIRCUMSICIONS MEAN?   Asking and answering that question can help us to understand what it means that God took away their reproach:  It means they don’t belong to Pharaoh, they belong to the LORD! 

And we belong to Him, Jesus who has borne our reproach:   ⁶ But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. ⁷  -Psalm 22

Cf.  Matthew 27:

²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.  They all answered, “Crucify him!”   ²³ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.  But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁶ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.  ²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.

Then they led him away to crucify him.  ³⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads  ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!

⁴⁴ In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

I can imagine, from my human perspective, Jesus rising from the dead and saying:  I’m gonna get those guys!  Each one of them and boy will they be sorry,  But this isn’t Jesus.  Even on the cross what does he say?  Father forgive them!   And Jesus says to everyone:  come!  Come to me…He is our father, our brother, our friend, He is our great reward.  Are you satisfied with him?

 

 

 

 

Oh No!! He (Jesus) Didn’t Say That!!

And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.   O no He didn’t say that!!

Joshua 1:10-2:24

As we get back into the story of Joshua and the conquest of the Promised Land God’s people are camped east of the Jordan River.  They are getting ready to cross it and enter the land and conquer it.  All that is, but the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh.  Their land is east of the Jordan.  They are home free!  But Joshua tells them that they also have to go into the land and fight and maybe die.  They have to do this until their brothers have their rest also.  They must go the second mile.  And more.

 

I could have entitled this sermon:  Oh no!  You didn’t’ say that!!  Our hearts tend to respond that way when we hear, really hear, God calling us to live in a way that only the Spirit can produce.  That may have been the first response from some of those from Reuben or Gad.  Consider Jesus words from Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount:

And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.   O no He didn’t say that!!

“Jesus’ words strike at the very core of human selfishness, summoning us to value others above ourselves in concrete and consistent ways.”

And so: 

FOLLOWING JESUS MEANS GOING THE EXTRA MILE WITH HIM TO SERVE OTHERS

 

READ: Vs. 12-15

 

These tribes are called to help their neighbors, their brothers, take possession of the land and enter into the rest God has for them.  This even though already they have their own. 

They had reached their portion of the promised land east of the Jordan.  They don’t need to cross the Jordan or fight to have their portion of the land.  They might die.  Why should they die to insure the blessing of others when they were already blessed?  Why should Jesus leave the blessedness of heaven to die and suffer our hell?  Isn’t this the principle in the Bible?  We go about taking up our crosses daily, we lay down our lives for others.

 

Do you remember Pat Tillman?   He was a football player with the St. Louis Cardinals.  He was a special player who made millions of dollars playing the game he loved.  But after 9/11 he joined the military and became a Ranger.  He did from friendly fire.  He did not have to go, there is no draft.  But he left his home, his family, the game he loved and the life it gave him.  He left to serve.  We cannot honor men like this enough, but that fight is for a temporal hope.  We are called to fight in an eternal struggle.

 

This was selfless service.    Jesus didn’t come to unself us, but to unselfish us.  Luke 12:

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  ¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  ¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ ¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’   ²¹ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

 

Don’t fool yourself by thinking you can make your own good life.  Don’t fool yourself by imaging you know what your good life is!  The motto of the USO: Until they all come home.  Jesus isn’t done calling all his sheep home.  And we join him in that conquest of hearts to submit and serve him.   

 

⁵ Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? James 2

 

These tribes could have said this, Go, I wish you well, but they were called to something higher and greater.  Are we called to less?

 

¹ If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Phil 2

 

Is there is anything good about being in Christ, then do we want that for others?

 

 These tribes went because they believed GOD was with Joshua!   So for us when Jesus speaks things to us like the 2^nd mile we don’t say, “Oh no he didn’t say that!”  Rather, we say, “My Lord and my God”.   THEREFORE: 

 

FOLLOWING JESUS MEANS GIVING OUR ALLEGIANCE TO HIM AS OUR SOVEREIGN 

 

 READ 2:1-6And the story of Rahab…

 

Faith isn’t just saying I believe in God, cf. the Devils believe!  It’s a change of allegiance.  We no longer say:  I will do such and such etc, but what is the Lord’s will.  He is mine yes, but I am His.  His in the deepest sense!  A full and unconditional surrender that only the Spirit can work in us!  I am his like a marriage, in fact the Bible says it exactly like that.  I have a relationship with Gail that I have with no other woman.  Its an exclusive thing.  Its an all the time thing.  I’m not hers Monday through Thursday with long weekends off.  Its 24/7/.

 

Saying the pledge of allegiance is OK for Christians.  We are not forbidden.   Those in the military take an oath of allegiance.    As Christians we have a dual citizenship, but our final and ultimate allegiance is to Jesus as our King, our Lord and God! 

 

Rahab in a real sense had to switch her allegiance from her city, her culture, to God. 

God had to be her greater, her true Lord.   Jesus doesn’t ask for part of us, but our lives!!

There is no part of my life Jesus doesn’t claim.

 

¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Consider the  Image of an altar and something put there to never take back!   It is God’s, you don’t take it back.  It is consumed by fire!

 

Rahab is mentioned by James and writer of Hebrews as a woman of faith.  Link between true faith and obedience.  Obedience when its not convenient or what I had planned! 

 

James 2:25
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? Faith produced works in her life.

 

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. Hebrews 11

 

Rahab did a couple of things that deomonstrated her faith: 

 

1. She hid the spies to save their lives:  Rahab and the “righteous lie”.   She told her countrymen that the men had left when in fact she was hiding them on her roof.  Remember  Corrie Ten Boom and her family hiding Jews from Nazi’s.  What should they have done?  Sometimes in a fallen world there may be two choices and both are sin.  But one may be the right choice in this fallen world.  It may be the right thing to do.  And so Rahab’s good works are this!   A true faith that produced good works saved her.  She believed that neither she nor her city could stand against God. 

 

2.She was hospitable to the spies…protected them by given them shelter. 

 

NOTE: God has prepared her before hand to believe.  READ JOSHUA 2:8-11!!

God prepares hearts beforehand, don’t waste that!

 

The spies themselves were moved to greater faith by this testimony!  Cf. vs. 23-24!!

Are we prepared to join King Jesus in seeing  people submit to him being captured by his love?  Are we prepared to take God’s word and deeds of love and mercy to hearts whom God has prepared?

HE IS A CONQUERING KING, DON’T MAKE HIM A WIMP.

 

READ 2:14FF  CLOSE:  THE COVENANT AND ITS SIGN  

 

Rahab is in the covenant of Grace:  She in mentioned in another place in the NT:  Jesus geneology!  She was his ancestor in the flesh.  This prostitute, like us, found grace, but not because of lineage, but faith, as we have seen in the New Testament quotations above.  And God’s grace is demonstrated in that he is not ashamed of Rahab.

 

Rahab and the spies made a covenant.  Her life for theirs.  And there was a sign for this covenant.  So Rahab used scarlet cord to let the men down from the wall and escape.  That same scarlet cord was to be hung in her window so that when the Israelites saw it they would spare, Passover, Rahab and her family.

 

Rahab and others had heard about what God did in Egypt:  There was a sign there in the final plague: That sign over the doorpost in Egypt, that sign of the covenant in which the angel of death passed over the Israelites was the blood of the Lamb.  And so Jesus, the Lamb of God has his blood shed that we might find grace with Rahab and others who can sing, the worthless may have it , it always comes free, the vilest may have it twas given to me!  

 

 

Jesus in Joshua

Joshua 1:1-9

INTRO:  When we look at something in a microscope what happens?  We don’t make the object bigger, but rather we are using an instrument to make it appear larger to our eyes.  The Bible tells us to magnify the Lord.  To look at him and have him be larger in our hearts and minds and our lives.  And it tells us that Jesus is Lord.  So, this morning looking into Joshua, God’s word, we want to see Jesus, our Yeshua, the greater Joshua, and magnify Him!      

 

BACKGROUND: JOSHUA-THE MAN AND THE BOOK

 

THE MAN: Fitting on Memorial Day weekend to remember Joshua as a leader of God’s people and primarily a military leader.  He led the Israelites in the conquest of the land God had first promised to Abraham hundreds of years before.

 

Joshua was born in Egypt,  2^nd to Moses in the leadership of Israel.   His name, Joshua, means the Lord is salvation or The Lord Saves.  Its called Yeshua in Hebrew and Yesus in Greek and we say Jesus.   That’s Joshua’s name, but it wasn’t always his name.  He was formerly called Hoshea.  We read in Numbers 13:16:  These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)

 

Godly leader, had faith.  Consider Joshua and Caleb vs. the other ten spies who were sent into the land.  The other spies said they could not fight these people, “we are like grasshopper in our own eyes and their eyes”. But Joshua magnified the Lord above their enemies!  His name reminded him of that.  He and Caleb the only two of that generation to enter the promised land! 

 

THE BOOK Events in the book of Joshua may have covered about a 30 year period beginning @ 1400BC or 1240BC?  We aren’t sure, but it was a long time ago!

We can divide the book evenly, 1-12 Conquest and 12-24 Dividing of the land among the tribes.

 

Our text today, 1:1-9, serves as an intro to the whole book. 

As the book opens the people of Israel are camped on the east side of the Jordan River just across from the land of Promise.  But they were not yet in it.  Moses had died and not been allowed to enter the land.  Joshua too would pass on, so we look for another, greater Joshua who would fulfill the meaning of his name:  Yeshua, Jesus: The Lord saves! 

 

THE GREATER JOSHUA:  HIS PROMISE AND HIS COMMAND  

 

HIS PROMISE vs. 2-7  

 

1. The Land Promised and God’s Grace

 

With God its always the promise of grace.  Consider how a mortgage works.   You pay the land is yours.  But with God and His people its: I pay the land is yours.  Vs. 2  the land I am about to give them…

Vs 3  I will give you every place you set your foot as I promised Moses….And that promise came to Abraham before.   God give the specific boundaries as before.

So its grace alone but the Israelites and we, have a part…I will give you is clear!!  But note:  where you set your foot.  The Bible says:  work out your own salvation with fear and trembling because it is God at work in you!  (Phillipians 2:12-23)  It does not say, work for your salvation, but it does say work it out and then why its possible, it is the Lord at work in you.

 

So:  Israel, claim the land that is yours.  When you move your foot it will be by grace but you must move your foot!  Its like faith is the gift of God the Bible tells us, but it tells us that we must believe.  The wise and sovereign God work in us to make us willing to embrace His will.  This is not something done in human wisdom.

 

What does it look like to take that step?  :Last week none of our artistic face-painting types were available for the Block Party.  Gail had said earlier in the week that it really wasn’t something she could do.  (Gail is also a bit of a perfectionist-so she really believed she could not do it)  I resisted the temptation to say anything.  Thank you Jesus!  But later in the week she said:  I’ll do it.  So she believed that she could take the step and she and Jesus could do it!   Its not a big thing unless you have some perfectionist tendencies and don’t think you can do it well.   God added to the mix by having a couple of ladies from the Townhomes jump in and help!   And we learned what we knew, that we ought to include the folks who live there!  Engage!!!!  

 

So where is God calling you to set your foot?  Where is he calling us to set our feet and its looks like too much!! (Like the spies?  Look like grasshoppers?)   Think about crossing the Jordan, even that first step, its daunting with the spring floods! 

 

Then what does it look like for us to take the land, every place we set our feet? 

For the Israelites it was war!  We’ll have to address that issue as we look at the book.

But what does it look like for the Church today?  I thought of the hymn Lead on O King Eternal and the line:  With deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes…

 

Cf. Our mission:  To provide meaningful opportunities to love God and our neighbor thru Worship, Community and Service!  This area is hot bed of worship!!   We worship  bicycles, sports, OUR Sunday mornings with brunch and the  newspaper.  Evangelism is a call to give up our very lives.  It’s a battle when seen that way, the way it is, rather than punching a ticked to heaven.  It’s a call to worship Jesus and all that means.    Give that up to worship Jesus!  Its nothing less that calling someone to die!!

We can provide the opportunity, but if we are not setting our feet into new lives then we aren’t putting our feet anywhere.

 

Three things here:  1. The church today is not a political entity with those kinds of powers.  The weapons of our warfare are spiritual!     2.  The NT tells us that the things that happened to Israel are examples to us.  Yes, it’s a war, a spiritual warfare.  3.  This is a great place to think about how we not only interpret but apply the Bible.   Just because something God’s people did or he even called them to do at one time does not mean we are called to do the same thing now.  The Church is the US isn’t called on to invade Canada!  And more to the point, we are not called on to sell all our good and bring them to the Church and have it distributed.  The early Church did that and it wasn’t a bad thing, its highlighted.  But there is not command to do so!  And we aren’t sinning by not doing what was done then. It also ended pretty badly for one family!

 

Jesus calls us to do greater things.  Compare vs. 4 and the boundaries of the Land of Promise with Jesus command: Go into all the world!!  Go to every nation!!   

 

Joshua led the people into battle.  So Jesus goes with us.  And our weapons are powerful, powerful to bless.  No one will be able to stand against you.  People may reject us, but Jesus everlastingly has us.  He has conquered sin and death.  They are our enemies, we are to love our neighbor.

 

2. Promise of his presence

 

Vs. 5 …as I was with Moses, so I will be with you;  I will never leave you nor forsake you. 

Does this sound like Jesus?  Yes.  Great Commission:  I am with you always… Then Heb.13:   “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.  I recently watched Jurassic Park, a guy night for me when Gail was out.  At one point one of the adults leaves the kids when the T-Rex is coming.  The little girl says:  He left us!  Jesus will not leave us.  Jesus will not leave you.

Brings us to the thought:  Do I live like an orphan?  Am I all alone?  What comes with this:  Fear, Resentment!

So when Jesus sends his people into the promise land to conquer it, he says I will be with you.  And when Jesus sends His church, and us in it, into all the world, and your neighbor, he says:  I am with you!

Those words from Hebrews 13:  Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you, are followed by these words in the very next verse:   ⁶ So we say with confidence,  “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”   Believing the promise creates the confidence.

 

3. God’s Command:  vs. 6 be strong and very courageous…vs.7 be strong and very courageous vs. 9 have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.!!

 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me

 

Get the idea.  Believing the promise fulfills the command.  And God knows we can be afraid, terrified!  Cf. “You don’t grow weary with the weary”   God can put courage in you, in us.  He is with you/us!

When we believe we are enabled to do what God calls us to do.  Consider Jesus words in John 6:28-29:

 

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”   Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

 

Then:  Be careful to obey my law…don’t turn from it…don’t let it depart from mouth, meditate on it day and night…etc. 

 

Believing God’s promise leads to obeying Him.  The indicative precedes the imperative and the order is not reversible.   God fulfills his promises and commands in us.  We take the step, he gets the glory for it is all due him.  We magnify the LORD!!  Was not Joshua called on right then and there to believe God’s word coming to Him?

CLOSE:  Exodus 17:8-13

 

⁸ The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. ⁹ Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

 ¹⁰ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ¹² When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. ¹³ So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

Isn’t God incredibly gracious in giving credit considering vs. 13!  Joshua overcame??  Yes, He overcame by His greater Joshua and our greater Joshua.  He gathered an army and went into battle.  And Jesus won and wins the victory, all the victories for His people.  So we magnify Him.

PRAY 

REPENT-GET READY:  VS. 2  GET READY TO CROSS THE JORDAN!  We repent of thinking we can do what you want us to do apart from you.  We repent of thinking we can’t do even though we have your powerful grace to work in and through us. 

 

 

 

 

Pilgrim’s Regress and Lot

Pilgrim’s Regress

Genesis 19

This past week the trial of Ryan Hare was completed.  He was found guilty of murdering Matt Silliman and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.  And Matt Silliman has been taken from those who love him to return no more in this life.  What a sad waste, a squandering of the awesome gift of life.  As believers God has given us a new life.  He’s written his law on our hearts.  We now have power to please him, to obey him by the power faith.  But we can also squander these gifts, at least to some extent, can’t we?   Aren’t there periods in our live as believers when we take God and his grace for granted?  So this morning I’d like to call you, and call myself, to joyfully take our Christian lives seriously.  And I want to talk about that by looking at Lot this morning.  Jesus said:  Remember Lot’s wife.  Cf. Do you remember what Jesus says immediately after he says, Remember Lot’s wife?  (I wouldn’t either if I didn’t have it down here!)  He said this:  Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Lot’s wife is always an example of thinking maybe things are really better back there.  Like the children of Israel wanting to return to Egypt with a faulty memory (fueled by a complaining spirit) thinking it was such a great place!  I think we can not only remember Lot’s wife, but also Lot.  Lot in too many instances sought to keep his life, and he ended up, to some degree, losing it.  In his failure to be serious in his walk with God, he lost his joy.  So let’s think about joyfully and seriously pursing God and his salvation in all its aspects.

LET’S LOOK AT LOT-HIS LIFE WAS A MIXTURE AS IS OURS

He seems to have a had a good start

Lot left the Ur of the Chaldeans with his grandfather Terah, and Abraham and Sarah who were his Uncle and Aunt.  They started out for the land of Canaan.  We aren’t given much information about Terah’s motivation for leaving Ur, but the NT sheds light on Abraham’s:

We read in Acts 7 where Stephen defends the faith before is stoning: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. ³‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ ⁴“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. ⁵He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child…

So he Abraham left with his father, but it was Abraham who had received the call to go.  Abraham is on pilgrimage!  He is seeking a better country.  He is following God and his promise! But his father stopped in Haran, which was a place of idol worship as was Ur where they had left.  But Abraham later moved on toward Canaan, the promised land, and Lot went with him.  Lot may not have had much spiritual insight, I’m not sure, but Jesus disciples didn’t have much when they began to follow him.

Lot had a good start, but stumbled along the way.

He stumbled by not loving his neighbor, and his uncle Abraham was his neighbor.  In Genesis 13 the servants of Abraham and Lot are arguing over the land.  It isn’t able to support all their flocks.  So Abraham says let’s spread out, and Lot chooses the best part for himself.  We read in Genesis 13:  Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD…So Lot choose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan… Lot choose “for himself” seeking, as it were, to keep his life rather than lay it down and find it.

But by faith Abraham was given grace not to pull rank on his thoughtless and spiritually immature nephew.

You see the righteous will LIVE by faith. We not only are justified by faith, but we are sanctified, grow to be like Jesus, by faith also.  It’s the same faith that saves us from the judicial penalty of sin that saves us from the continuing power of sin in our daily living.  And isn’t just not stealing, but not sharing.  Lot saw with his eyes more than he believed in his heart.  He chose the temporal over the eternal.  Ease over God’s glory and his neighbors good.  What was the distinction?  Faith:  Hebrews 11: ⁹By faith he(Abraham)  made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Abraham lived in tents, but Lot had a house in Sodom. I guess he was living the American dream!  But not God’s vision and call.

Think about Lot losing his joy: When the Christians in the Galatian Churches were seeking to turn away from the principle of faith and add circumcision and works to “complete” their salvation, Paul ask them:  What happened to all your joy? I can’t know Lot’s heart.  We can see that his life was mixed, often a mess and it didn’t end well.  But the NT says something about him.  Peter, in II Peter 2, describes Lot as a righteous man. He was certainly more righteous than those he chose to live among in Sodom.  And apparently this designating him as a righteous man describes him as a man of faith, that is, the righteousness that comes by faith.  He surely wasn’t a perfect man.  But he had many benefits, and he had an uncle, Abraham, who prayed for him!   Consider vs. 29 in our text this morning: So when God destroyed the cities of the plain he remembered Abraham and he brought Lot out… Isn’t that amazing!  God remembered Abraham…and saved Lot, brought him out of the city of destruction.  Pray for your children!

The Bible says how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.  While that verse may be a warning about missing salvation completely, I think it can also refer to a neglect of something so that you don’t enjoy its benefits!  Think about marriage!  If you neglect it don’t expect much joy in it! Don’t expect deep meaning and blessing in it!  And so if you aren’t joyfully serious about your Christian life don’t expect much from it!   II Peter 2 not only calls Lot a righteous man, it calls him a miserable man!  Jesus prayed that we would be left in the world, but not be of the world.  Lot was more righteous than his neighbors, but he loved this world too much and it can’t give you the joy that Jesus can.

Lot’s finish. He ended up living in a cave with his two daughters.  The men they were engaged to were destroyed with Sodom.  Evidently Lot had little influence for good or for God with them.  Lot’s two daughters got him drunk and slept with him so they could have children.  They each had a son:  Moab who is father of the Moabites and Ben-Ammi the father of the Ammonites. And as God remembered Lot for Abraham’s sake, he was gracious to his posterity, conceived so wickedly.  We see this in Deut. 2:9

⁹ Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.”

In 400 years God did not forget Lot and his family!

When I read this verse yesterday it almost brought tears to my eyes!  Maybe it didn’t for you the first time, but think about it!  How gracious God is to sinners.  Drunken incestuous sinners.  Sinners like you and me, who are at bottom no better.  Yes, the gospel is insulting!  But if is isn’t insulting its of little value to you.

Then consider:

Ruth 1-  Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth.

Then in Matthew we read about Ruth, she’s in the genealogy of Jesus.  What grace!!!

Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers…and sisters!  He stands with the worst of sinners and died for the worst of sins.

Lot’s bad was pretty bad at times and his best wasn’t good enough-as someone put it.  Consider vss. 9-11 He wants to protect his visitors.  Again, someone comes to a beouins tent (or house) they must be protected.  Lot even faces the mob at great risk to himself.  Yet he offers his daughters to the men and he himself has to be rescued by those he’s seeking to protect!

Do you remember the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus?”  His goal was to write an Opus, but he had to feed his family.  So he worked as a High School band teacher for years.  His wife, disappointed with their life in general, complains to him.   His response was: “ I’ve tried my best” to which  his wife answers, “your best isn’t good enough!”   But Jesus best is all we need.

GOD’S CALL TO WHOLEHEARTEDNESS COMES WITH GRACE AND THE POWER OF GRACE

GRACE THAT RECOGNIZES WHO WE ARE AND GRACE THAT CAN MAKE US MORE THAN WE WERE.

Lot and his family were shown grace because they needed nothing less.  And so it is with us.

And do we see and value that great salvation which is ours in Christ above all things?  Even life itself as we read in Psalm 63 this morning?   “Your loving kindness is better than life.”

Polycarp knew this.  He was one of the early church fathers martyred

in 168 AD. He was brought before the court and was told that unless he swore allegiance to Caesar he would burned at the stake.  Polycarp replied:  Eighty and six years have I now served Christ, and he has never done me the least wrong: how can I then blaspheme my King and my Savior? The judge then enraged said don’t you know that I have wild beasts that I can release upon you!   Again Polycarp replied:  Call for them then, for we Christians are fixed in our minds not to change from good to evil; But for me it will be good to be changed from evil to good!

GOD’S CALL TO WHOLE HEARTEDNESS IS:

Call to love Him with our all! When I was trying to date Gail and she was interested in another guy.  I didn’t like him!  Of course I knew I was better for her!  In one sense, if I really loved her, and didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be loving her well.  If I thought I was a bad choice then I should have left her to the other guy.  If I wasn’t willing to fight for her I wasn’t fit to have her!  But, I’m a little more humble now, I hope.  I am apparently the one God wanted her to end up with.  Maybe she can take comfort in “all things working for good.”   That’s how it is with us and God.  He knows He is best for us.  God isn’t needy, but he know our true need. His commands are invitations to our highest good!  And he knows that he is our highest good and he wants nothing less for us.

Affection for God has as an acid test in loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Let’s go back to the trail of Ryan Hare in the murder of Matt Silliman.  When the trail was over and people were moving around in the courtroom Matt’s was seen  going to and hugging the mom of Ryan Hare.

Then when the family was asked if they wanted to say anything, Ben Silliman, Matt’s dad, said this to Ryan Hare:  At times like this it is difficult to know what to say, Ryan, but I can tell you this:  As God gives us the power, we forgive you for what you did to Matt.

And so the very death of God’s son is the basis that we are forgiven and given this great salvation.  Let’s ask for grace not to neglect it.

godly an old man.

Circumcision, I give my heart, completely.

INTRO

Have you ever had an encounter, maybe with a friend or loved, or maybe at work, when you hoped a certain topic would not come up?  You knew it would be awkward at best.  After Jesus was raised from the dead he met with Peter.   I imagine that Peter was hoping that Jesus would not bring up that you will deny me three times thing in this encounter.   Jesus did not, well not in so many words.  But this is the conversation they had, we find it John 21:

¹⁵When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”  ¹⁶Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” ¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Note the passion, pathos here.  Peter is hurt!  The Holy Spirit chose to tell us through John the emotions that Peter was experiencing.  You can almost hear his voice, not in a monotone, but in full feeling (and probably deep humility and repentance) as he tells Jesus..Lord you know all things; you know I love you.

There is a motion in parliamentary procedure that settles all matter before the court.  Jesus seems to be doing that with Peter.  If you love me, keep that at the top of your list, then all matters are settled.

This morning we are going to talk about the covenant of circumcision given to Abraham and his house, as well as the generations to follow him.   In the covenant ceremony in Gen. 15 Abraham was asleep and God promised him great things and said he would take on all the stipulation of that covenant himself.  Sheer and amazing grace!  Not only will the LORD Himself keep all its provisions perfectly, but on the cross will pay the debt of Abraham’s failures and ours.  So now Abraham in this covenant of circumcision Abraham is awake in the renewed expression of the covenant of grace.  And Abraham will have a part.  It will not save him.  Righteousness was credited to Abraham by faith alone.  And God, who cannot lie, has already taken the full obligations of the covenant upon himself.  But he gives Abraham an opportunity to love and obey Him in this act of circumcision.  This is of grace and is grace too.

So can we can hear Jesus ask us this morning:  Do you love me? Do we see his worth?  And that is only done by faith through grace.  By Faith we hear the new music of the gospel!!

“Faith is a precondition for enjoying the symphony of God’s glory not in the sense of getting a ticket, but in the sense of getting an ear for heaven’s music. The real precondition of enjoying the music of heaven throughout eternity is a new heart which delights in the things of God, not a decision card which you carry in your pocket to ease your conscience while your mind is captivated by the delights of this world.” Piper

In other words…do you love me?

As we think about circumcision think about these verses from Paul in Galatians, a letter in which he deals extensively with this issue:

Cf. Neither circumcision nor uncicumcision has any value, the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love! Gal.5

By faith Abraham was able to express his love to God.

Gal. 6  Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.

SO THIS COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISON, WHAT IS IT? :

(Drum roll here?)

A COVENANT!

Remember covenant means to cut, and here we have cutting!   As animals were cut and passed through by God in the previous covenant ceremony in Gen. 15 now Abraham is cut and he bleeds.

So there are stipulations, or one stipulation.

Circumcision is that stipulation.  VS 9-10

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

Simple, single, but meaningful and a little painful.

I remember being at a Masai encampment in Kenya where the young men who had reached age 16 had been circumcised earlier that day.  Needless to say, they weren’t very active.  No anesthesia or surgical instruments.  And you can’t flinch, you are becoming a man.  Abraham is now 99 and Ishmael is 13.  Yes, 13 more years have passed.

Then…VS. 4 and God said to him, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ No longer will you be called Abram ^[ ; your name will be Abraham,  for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

Note:  God says, Vs. 4  “as for me…”  then..Vs. 9  “ as for “you”

The covenant of circumcision is: A SIGN AND A SEAL

Sign of the righteousness of faith…Romans “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.”

This seal of circumcision was the mark showing that Abraham belonged to God by faith, before he was circumcised.  Faith came first and then the sign and seal of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Sign on I 40 just outside of Raleigh that says Wilmington, 120 miles.  That sign is not Wilmington!  Can’t stop there and get your surfboard out!

But the sign isn’t an empty thing!  It’s a reminder of the grace of God and calls us to be devoted to God, to love him.

Cf. Phrase:  improve your baptism. Meaning??  Cf. Look at your ring as married person and say I belong to her, to him. I don’t want to do anything stupid!  I belong to another.   It’s like God saying: “I pledge thee my troth” as used to be said, and sometimes still is, in a wedding ceremony.  Troth means truth, faithfulness.  I’m am telling you the truth that I am yours and you and mine.  When Gail and I were married she gave me a ring and I gave her a ring.  God gives to Abraham the covenant of circumcision like a ring given, a promise of everlasting, never-ending love.  I pledge thee my troth!!

IT IS INCLUSIVE

VS. 12-13  for the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. ¹³ Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised.

Corporate not only Abraham, and includes folks like the outsiders we talked about last week, servants, aliens dwelling with you.

So all the men, but what about the women?

Consider how that expression is widened in the NT as Jesus is the one who circumcises and its linked with our baptism.   This includes male and female.

Colossians 2:11  In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, …having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

Consider: Passover in the OT linked with Communion in the NT and Circumcision in the OT and Baptism in the NT.

And Sarah is part of this covenant!! VS. 15  “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”  (both mean princess, but she is a new person)

Sarah is not simply a bystander but a partner with Abraham in the grace of God.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

A CALL TO DEVOTION

Gail and I watched a movie titled Stardust The line I remember is when the love interest of the protagonist tells him: “I give you my heart completely”  That settles it!!

Here is the heart of the covenant:  VS. s. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

I pledge thee my troth.

Abraham offered himself to God in this very personal way. God has Abraham’s heart and in this very personal covenant ceremony.   We don’t have anything that God needs that we could give it to him.  But we can give him what he desires.

Here is my heart, I give it to you completely.

Abraham’s faith leads him to grace

INTRO Friday night was the start of High School football in N.C.  You never hear anyone say, my football team won last night.  We had 14 points and they had 35.  Maybe that works in golf, but not in football!   We worry a lot about the score in life, but Jesus said if we are to find our lives we must first lose them.  Do we believe Him?   Do we live in fear of the loss or in faith holding on to the promises that are ours in Christ?   That it is in him alone that we find life to the full.

ABRAHAM’S FEAR

Abraham left Canaan where God had led him, and by God’s providence went to  Egypt Famine came on the land so Abraham went down to Egypt watered by the Nile and its floods!  Cf. Black dirt in eastern NC.

He went in fear-not faith. There is nothing in the text about him seeking God until he returns to Canaan.   Genesis 12:11-13   As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

“…My life will be spared because of you”..or..my plan!”   vs.  God’s promises to us Sarai!! Abraham considers his plan, to have Sarah lie, will by his salvation!

So Abraham lied and asked his wife to lie. So not walking by faith meant a walking by his flesh, his fallen nature, trusting in his own wisdom and this led to sin.

Romans 8:6-8   The mind set on the sinful nature is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God!

Abraham lost his vision-God’s promises were still there but Abraham was not believing them.  If God was to make him a great nation and give him the land of Canaan neither Pharaoh nor famine was going to invalidate those promises!

So Abraham faced rebuke from Pharaoh for lying! 1. Cf. Someone who doesn’t believe does what is right, and you as a professed follower of Jesus fail to do so.  Cf. You talk to employees about family but you are a workaholic!   We feel really ashamed.   2. God’s providence was at work again-Abraham, who was to be a blessing to all nations, became a momentary curse to Egypt!  “But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.” So Abraham was deported!   Again, God is at work in the midst of Abraham’s failures, giving Abraham what he needs even if it wasn’t pleasant.  But the Bible tells us that discipline doesn’t seem pleasant, isn’t pleasant, but yields that peaceable fruit of righteousness!

ABRAHAM’S FAITH

We said Abraham left the land of Canaan not by prayer but in God’s providence.  When he returned to Canaan he called on the name of the LORD, He worshiped God.

Genesis 13:3-4   ³ From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier ⁴ and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.

And in faith and worship Abraham became more like God in his character and life

And now everything was great in Abraham’s life!  NO!  The next test of his faith came to build his faith so that he would not rely on himself but God!!

Cf. Genesis 13: 5-9  ⁵ Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. ⁷ And quarreling arose between Abram’s herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.  ⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

Note:  Abraham’s walking in faith impacted his relationships with others.  Cf. Vs. 8  Let’s not quarrel, we are brothers!!  Cf.  God hates dissension among brothers and Abraham is acting like his Father in Heaven.   Cf. When older children aren’t getting along…painful for parent.

And this test of faith was intense because… Cf.  Gen. 13:10-11 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:

Abraham’s faith led him to grace!!   Note:  Abraham had received grace thru faith  Romans 4: ³What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^{[a] 4}Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. ⁵However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness

Abraham is following Jesus in laying down his life. Its hard to lay down your life, its costly!  Cf. Forgiveness = forgiving a debt, you take the costs and don’t demand justice!!  Acronym : GRACE=God’s riches at Christ’ expense!   Giving grace is not about sentimentality but more like a kick in the shins!  Abraham had every right to choose first what part of the land he would take!  He was the leader, the one to whom God’s special promises had come, he was the older man.  Cf. Mzee in Kenya, Mzee means “old man” and that is a great compliment!

He had incentive to choose first based on what could be seen. He could see, as did Lot, what land was the better looking land to the human eye!  But He trusted God and his promises.  Those promises were real to Abraham, greater than what he could see!!!  Better than what he could see: Heb. 11:16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Abraham did not have the plain of the Jordan, but He had righteousness of God imputed to him by faith, he was right with God, he was the friend of God, he had the promises of God!  So he could give up all and not lose anything.

Are you in a situation where you have the right? Are you willing to die to that?  Will you choose Jesus and lay down your life with him?  Abraham was temped, tested, in regard to asserting his rights.  How rare it is to see a Christian lay down his or her rights.  How often we hear, “but…”   What a sign of God’s grace that he not only puts up with us stubborn folks, but loves us so much.

Does this mean I should let someone cheat me in business? No, but it could.  Mostly this call to lay down our lives, give up our rights comes in terms of our relationships with others.  And it probably means that the scoreboard will not appear in your favor.   Can you live with that!  So we are not talking about being a doormat, but someone who trust and feeds upon Christ for her/his significance.

Couple of illustrations of why its so hard for us to lay down our rights, our lives, and how it robs us of more of Jesus when we fail to do so…

Galatians 5:6 as a paradigm… (see in bulletin)    

1. Radiator righteousness Wanting to say, I know…A friend was having Sunday lunch at his father-in-law’s home.  He mentioned to “dad” that his car was running hot.  To which dad replied that it might be his thermostat which would be a lot cheaper than a radiator replacement.  My friend replied, “I know.”  A simple response, sound innocuous, but what is behind it?  My friend said later that he didn’t want to be know as a man who didn’t understand radiators and thermostats!  He was, in a sense, declaring his own righteousness-that he didn’t need dad!  HE KNEW!  We feel offended an attacked because we really aren’t trusting in Christ but ourselves.  “I know” is a bondage.  It causes folks to lose their jobs, and maybe their friends.  My friend said that his response should have been, “Thanks dad, I’ll have that checked out.”  That way he would not have tried to prove himself, but loved dad!
2. 2. Credit for project! I remember an occasion when I had an idea for a project at another church.  We did it and it worked well.  Later I was standing with two other folks and someone came up and thanked the other folks for the project.  My flesh wanted to shout out: I helped!!  So, amazingly, I was quiet.  I fed on Jesus rather than my “awesome’ accomplishments!!   When we let other things feed out souls we are saying we don’t need Jesus.   Again, this is a great bondage that keeps us from living in the freedom that Christ has for us!!   So the feel of faith is hard at first, not pleasant…How do you think Abraham initially felt when Lot chose the good land??  Abraham was very much a real man like us!

3.And when we feed our souls on these things love is blocked!

4.  I am a thief seeking to gain the glory that is God’s.  Let him who boast boast in the LORD!

Consider Galatians 5:6  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value, the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.

Use this verse as a paradigm to think about these two illustrations:  For in Christ Jesus neither whether I  have “radiator righteousness” or not have any value, the only thing that counts is faith (believing that I am whole in Jesus) expressing itself in love (saying “Thanks dad”)    Plug this in to your own situations.  Like, whether I’m recognized in the project or not isn’t the point, but whether folks are blessed by it!  And yes, that is hard, at first!!   But Jesus taste better than the praise of men!  And you become a giver of grace.  Gloriously kicked in the shins!

How God put Paisley and paisley together

Its amazing how God put Paisley and the paisley bag together.  Paisley is a young girl of around nine who recently had a kidney transplant.  She was staying with her family at the Ronald McDonald House in Chapel Hill the same Saturday we from COR were there to serve a special meal on a special day.   A paisley bag had been brought from our house to carry some of the food.

We had met Paisley’s parents in an earlier visit to the House, but not Paisley.  But on this trip we saw her as she was going home the next day.  Her mom came into the kitchen and saw the bag and commented on how pretty it was and how Paisley loves paisley and the bag was also her colors.  My wife then told the mom:  “Please take the bag!”  But the mom said, “No, no its your bag.”

Later we encouraged the mom to simply take the bag, or at least let Paisley come in and look at it and see if she wanted it.  She loved it and her mom agreed.   When you’ve visited the house many times and talked with and prayed with people who are living in fear over their child’s health, or have lost a child, they become very special to you.  We had prayed with and cried with Paisley’s parent before this visit.  What a great thing that we just happened to bring this big, bulky bag that did!  What a great thing that it didn’t just happen, but was arranged by a loving Sovereign God!   I love J.B Phillips paraphrase of I Peter 5:7, It matters to Him about you. Does it matter to us?

Hope for you and guarding Michael Jordan

Imagine its 15 years ago and watching the Bulls and the Celtics.   Front row seats.  The Celtics coach comes over and says he taking Bird out and wants you to suit up and guard Jordan.  Pretty hopeless?  Well, God asked the prophet Ezekiel to preach to a pile of bones.  So old they were dry.  Not much hope there.  But God said that He would speak to these bones and give them life.  The bones represented God’s people who had lost hope.  Where do you lack hope?  Maybe in your own life.  You may feel dried up spiritually and sense no hope for yourself in that regard.  Maybe in your marriage or other relationships?  Work?  God is bigger than those things and His words give us hope.  Jesus is in the resurrection business.  In fact, Jesus is the resurrection and the life!

Love one another

I remember an episode of the Twilight Zone when a guy who got along with no one wanted everyone to be like him.  Then the world would surely be a better place.   He got his wish.  And the world was a pretty miserable place.  We tend to think the same way.  If only everyone was like me I’d be great at loving.  No.  The problem is inside me, and you if I may say so!  God puts all us annoying people together in the Church so that we will learn to love.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8

Do all dogs go to heaven?

A hard weekend, but all this too is God’s gift to us, strange but beautiful, sad but underlined with joy that cannot be taken away.   Given by a Father who gives us bread and not a stone when we ask. Can you believe this? This past Sunday at COR I spoke about us having to put our daughter’s (Katie) dog down Saturday night.  Barkley was his name. Pretty sudden and unexpected.  May have had distemper?  But it appeared that his neuro system was shot somehow.  He wasn’t “at home.”   It was a very sad Saturday with Katie crying off and on.  We cried a lot. That dog was her baby.  She was good to him and he to her.  So, I’m kinda exhausted, but feeling encouraged otherwise. And we didn’t get much rest Friday night or Saturday with Katie calling about three times late night Friday and into the very early morning Saturday.  But we were glad to be able to take each call. Then going to Greeneville early Saturday afternoon to be with her.  My wife, Gail, and I were with Barkley when they tranquilized him then put him down.  It was fast.  Katie didn’t want him to be alone-but she didn’t want to be in the room at the end.  Gail had left room saying she’d rather “volunteer” me to stay.  But she came back, I think to be with “strong” me.  She was a comfort to Barkley and me.  Jessie, Katie’s boyfriend, didn’t want to be there either.  He was crying too.  Gail, of course, was the strong one.   Dad, not so much. It was so hard to see Katie kiss her dog good-bye and then leave him.  I loved Barkley, but I really love Katie. He was 10 months old, but big and gentle.  And was with Katie for six months.  Jessie, gave him to Katie.  Barkley used to go to Starbucks with Katie and demand to sit on a chair and drink water. Katie had earlier in the day told Barkley that if he had to take a long nap that Gram and Pop, Gail’s folks now deceased, would take care of him in heaven.  A hard weekend, but all this too is God’s gift to us, strange but beautiful, sad but underlined with joy that cannot be taken away.   Given by a Father who gives us bread and not a stone when we ask. Can you believe this?  Blessings, Eddie