June 20, 2010

June 20, 2010 Deuteronomy 25
It was unfair, unjust. I had just received my first six week report card for the second reporting period of the semester. I had an “F”. I had moved to the school system at the beginning of the second reporting period. I was certain that the 7th grade library science teacher had told me that I was not liable for the first six weeks material. Apparently I heard her wrong. While I had done “A” work for the second reporting period, any seventh grade math student knows that 100% averaged with 0% equals 50%. But it wasn’t fair. How could I be held responsible for class work assigned when I was not enrolled, and what is more; I was certain that she told me I did not have to make up the first six weeks class work. It wasn’t beyond my ability. Most of the work was just busy work. It was the first time that I ever challenged a teacher with such emotion. I am fortunate that I was not sent to the office. My volume level was way too high for the proper manner to address one in authority. Fortunately, for me I brought myself under control before I used the words that had come to mind to describe her to her face. But she had mercy and a little grace. She told me that I could still complete the work, and if I handed it in by Monday, she would not penalize me for being late. I had gone a full six weeks without handing in any of the first six weeks assignments. Nor had she ever given me the handouts that were required in order to finish the assignments. You would think she would have said something before this point. I was unfair, unjust. But she was the one in authority, and I could do nothing about it. I did the work during the weekend, handed it in on Monday, and eventually received an “A” on the semester report. (I had some tough explaining to do to my parents, especially since the teacher was an acquaintance of my mother in the Business and Professional Women’s club.)
There is something in everyone that cries out for justice. Perhaps it is part of what Solomon was talking about when he said that God had set “eternity in their hearts.” That life is not fair is the theme of many works of literature and many movies. One of my favorite movies is Labyrinth. A recurring line of the heroine is, “Its not fair!” In today’s passage we have a number of situations where God is teaching that His people should be just in all their dealings. The court system was provided so that justice would prevail. The ox was not to be muzzled while it ground the grain; the laborer is worthy of his wage. Weights and measurements were to be perfect and just. Even Amalek who unjustly attacked the nation of Israel was to be dealt with severely in justice. Our God is indeed a just God and demands that we live our affairs in a just manner.
But wait; He is also merciful. If divine justice were immediately carried out in each of us, we would all be immediately slain. Look at a couple of items of mercy within this passage that temper the justice of God. When a man is guilty of a crime so that in the execution of justice he is truly worthy of being beaten, he was not to be beaten in such a way that his value as a human is diminished in the eyes of others. (Now there is a difficult balancing act.)
But right in the middle of this talk of justice is instruction that is hard to handle for the western mind. It is the law of levirate marriage. What does this have to do with justice and mercy. This is one of those Scriptural pictures of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. In their culture, the land (and hence, the ability to succeed economically) traveled through the male’s side of the family. If a woman married and had no sons, and her husband died, there would be no heir to the land and there would be no one to care for the woman economically. The unmarried brother, Kinsman Redeemer, needed to marry the dead brother’s wife for the continuance of the family name and for the economic security of the woman. The requirement for the Kinsman Redeemer was to be the closest relative and to have the ability to provide and the desire to provide. Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer. Justice demanded that in Adam we all died. As God, He became man. As man, He is our closest relative. As God and man, he had the ability to pay the penalty of our sin for only as a man could He die; only as God could He be pure and able to pay the penalty of our sin. Finally, He had the desire to pay the penalty. What a picture of mercy! His justice demands our death. His mercy pays the penalty Himself. What glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Acts 5:1-16
The glory of Jesus in the Jerusalem church was reaching a crescendo. Satan hates that. He is always looking for a place in the church to destroy the glory of Christ. He found it in Ananias & Sapphira. A&S were not focused on the glory of Christ but on what others thought of them--upon their own glory. They saw the esteem with which others held Joses called Barnabas. They wanted that same esteem from others.
They compulsively hung on to their glory rather than the glory of Christ. Jesus had already made it clear that those who wish to follow Him must give up all--especially their own glory. God will not share His glory with another. When the people of God are consumed with the glory of Christ, then His blessing is upon the church in power. When the people of God are consumed with their own glory, death is down the road.
Indeed our King is a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John