June 13

DEUTERONOMY 18
Do you remember these words from Exodus 20:18–19?

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

The event happened right after the giving of the basic stipulations (the ten commandments) of the Law. They apparently have not yet even heard the ten commandments; they have only seen the manifestations of the glory of God, and they change their minds. In Exodus 19:6 God was calling them to be a kingdom of Priests. Initially they agreed and said, “Whatever the Lord says, we will do!” But now after experiencing first hand His glory, they weren’t so sure. True Glory is frightening. So instead of everybody being priests, only one family line and one tribe served.
Additionally, the Lord would send prophets to correct and restore the Word of God. Isaiah, for example, is one of those upon whom God came to speak His word to the nation, “I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ” Is. 51:16. All of the true Old Testament prophets were in a line of succession from this promise. But ultimately this promise is fulfilled only in Jesus. Peter says in Acts 3:22, “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.” Jesus is simultaneously the living Word of God and speaks the words which God has given Him. The result is that He has restored the priesthood of the believer to His people. His church, His people now are the ones who receive and distribute the word of God as He said in John 17:8, “For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.” He in turn has sent us to speak His word and glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PROVERBS 13
Woody Guthrie of Okemah, Oklahoma, is well known for his folk ballads and social activism. One of his best known songs was “This Land Is Your Land.” I remember being in school viewing an old film of him leading social protests for workers’ rights and unions. He was definitely presented as a socialist. One of his more scathing protests was against organized religion. He certainly was an influence on Pete Seeger’s “You’ll have pie in the sky when you die.” I guess it was a commentary on the action of the fundamentalist church of the 30’s, which distanced itself from the social gospel and capitulated the ministry to the poor to the liberal church and eventually the government. He envisioned Jesus as preaching a gospel of mandatory giving up of all earthly material goods. You can hear his song at this site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDS00Pnhkqk. (Woody might have been an acclaimed song writer, but I don’t know how anybody could stand his voice. Must be why he and Bob Dylan got along so well.)
“There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.” At least that is how the NKJV & the Authorized put it. All the others say “pretend to be.” It is an interesting nuance, but an important one. Which is correct? I don’t know. But ultimately there is one example that applies to the principle of this proverb. Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” What riches He had in heaven before He became flesh! He was constantly adored by the hosts of heaven. His praise literally shook the heavens. Then He left that throne room to add the nature of a man to his person. Born in the place where people kept animals, he was despised. His parents were put there because they were thought unclean, and therefore there was no room for them in the kataluma (Inn or guestroom). While He ministered, He had no home or bed of His own. He was literally homeless. He really was poor in the world’s wealth and reputation. He was not just pretending.
He did it to purchase with His own blood His bride. In so doing He became wealthy in true wealth, not silver, gold, land, or power. He bought a beautiful bride. It is to be the marriage of the human to the divine. We are His bride, His riches. Somehow when I look at us, I think He got the short end of the stick. Yet I must remind myself that He is not finished cleansing and transforming us yet. It is indeed a process, and when He is done, it will mean great riches for Himself I’ll take it by faith. But we can come alongside Him in building His riches. We do it by becoming poor, just like He did. We let go of everything. When we do, He makes us rich. Lest I am misunderstood, it is not the riches of this life. I am infinitely richer than Bill Gates because I have Jesus, and to my knowledge, Bill Gates does not have Jesus. I am rich because of the great glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The most economically poor person on this planet, who has Jesus, is as rich as I am. That is because of His great glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JEREMIAH 8
We often refer to them as our finest. I speak of course of our military personnel. Why do we call them that? I have a friend who told me that when he was in the Navy, and anyone asked him what he did for a living, he said, “I’m a professional killer.” Well, that is true, and it is not. His actual job in the Navy was related to nuclear power on a nuclear aircraft carrier. He did not personally kill anyone, but his unit was hired to defend our nation, and that defense always involved being ready to destroy things and kill people. In a real sense our finest are professional killers. Now granted, when we were in Iraq, after our initial tumbling of the Saddam regime, our finest did their best to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq. They sought to rebuild water, sewer, electrical systems and rebuild schools. But never-the-less our finest were professional killers as well. Why do we call them our finest?
We call them our finest because there is by necessity a need for a hero to protect us. They laid their lives on the line for us. The ones who lay their lives on the line for us should be called our finest, even if they are professional killers; after all, that is what we send them to do. Is there anything wrong with slaying the evil doer? I would say, “No, as long as the evil doer is truly evil, and the one who does the slaying truly has the authority to slay. If the one slain is not truly evil, and the one slaying does not have the authority, then it is an unrighteous and evil act.”
So what does that have to do with today’s passage? There are times when the justice of God is terribly beautiful. For justice to exist it must be terrible toward evil. It is just that we never want to think that we are evil because we do not want terrible justice to happen to us. Such was the case with Israel. Were they truly evil? They had sacrificed their children to other gods. They had worshipped other gods with a passion. Their sincerity and passion for the other gods reached a climax when they sacrificed their children to those gods! Yes, they were truly evil! If no justice were carried out, we would say that it was intolerable! Does God have the authority to dispense justice? Authority originates in Him, and He is not subservient to it. Certainly if He does not have authority, then no one does. So in a sense there is beauty in His dispensation of justice.
That is His glory! He is our hero! He comes to destroy the evil one and to dispense justice! If He did not, we would cry out against Him! Yes, His description is gross, but all taking of life is gross. Does He take pleasure in the death of the wicked? Well in the sense that justice is served, yes. However, He would much prefer that the wicked repent so that He might forgive them. Consider that we are the wicked. We are truly evil apart from Him. He became a man and took our place so that He could carry out His justice upon a perfect man, Himself. If he does that to provide a way of escape for the wicked, and they still refuse Him, what else is there to be done but let the wicked have their way? What else is there, but to let the non-repentant receive what they have chosen, eternal separation, eternal death. It is gross and beautiful at the same time. He would not have it any other way; neither would we.
Now to those who will receive Him, He does not stop there! He rebuilds our infrastructure. Where we once could not help but sin, now He sends His Holy Spirit to enable us to live holy lives! When we cooperate, He flushes out the sewer of sin in us. He causes the flow of the water of the Spirit of life to flow out of our inner-most being! He enables us to renew our minds! He makes us clean so that we may know Him. He makes us clean so that we can love others! He makes us new so that we can lay down our lives for others as He did for us. How can I know that I have entered into such a life? I know when I can truly love not only my brother but also my enemy. Now that is glory! He is our finest! Yes, He kills the evil one, but He would prefer to rebuild their infrastructure. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JOHN 21

I have been revived.
For the first time in my life I am alive.
Since I looked into Jesus,
I found me a friend
And I'll never go back to that old way of life ever again.

So went the chorus of a song sung at a Dawson McAllister Student Conference back in the late 80's or early 90's. I tried to find the author, but I couldn't locate it on Song Select. So it must not be registered with CCLI. I've always liked the sentiment/declaration of the song. It represents a decision we all need to make. But truthfully, it doesn't happen. Even the best of us sometimes turn back to the old way of life. That certainly was true of Simon Peter, who was thought to be the boldest and most out spoken of the 12 who accompanied Jesus.
Peter had a particularly difficult time understanding the death and resurrection. He denied Jesus three times at the trial. Paul says Jesus appeared first to Peter. Now I assume that means first in time. Although, it could mean first in priority of importance. Anyway, Peter was having difficulty believing the resurrection. He disobeyed the Lord's command about going to Galilee after the crucifixion to meet Jesus there--even though it seems Jesus appeared to Peter before anyone else. The Lord had to appear to the apostles several times before they got up the gumption to leave Jerusalem for Galilee. Finally, it appears that Peter went more out of going back to the old way of living than anything else. He told the others, "I am going fishing." It was his old occupation.
Jesus had told him, "Follow me and I will make you a fisher of men." Peter left everything and followed Jesus. Where did it lead him? It led to a cross and a tomb. Even now, that the tomb was empty, Peter was having a difficult time believing that Jesus wanted him to be a fisher of men. Peter had denied Him. How could Jesus use him to catch men? Perhaps in Peter's mind there was probably no longer a call upon his life. How could Jesus love him after this? The best thing to do was to go back to the old way of life. He went fishing.
We all know the old saying, "You can't go home again." Peter went fishing all night long and caught nothing. This was the design of Jesus to remind Peter of Jesus' call upon his life. Jesus showed up after a fishless night. Suddenly they caught more fish than they could handle. He brought them back to the shore. At breakfast Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me more than these?" He was probably pointing to the fish. At least Peter was honest. He said, "Lord, you know I am your friend." Jesus explored that and for each time that Peter had denied Him, Jesus asked concerning Peter's love and then affirmed His call upon Peter's life. The first two times Jesus uses a word that means ‘do you love me supremely?’ Peter answers with a word that means I love you like a friend. The third time Jesus uses Peter’s word, ‘do you love me like a friend?’ Appealing to the omniscience of Jesus, Peter says, ‘You know that I love you like a friend.’
Peter went away a changed man. And on the day of Pentecost after the coming of the Holy Spirit, Peter stood in the midst of the crowd that had asked for Jesus' crucifixion and preached Jesus. That day three thousand souls trusted Jesus. Peter had become a fisher of men. Oh we know from the Apostle Paul that Peter still blew it on one occasion. But Jesus always brings us back. The old way of living can never keep its hold upon us when we have truly met Him. Because of us? No! It is all because of Him. That is part of His glory. He draws us back to Himself. Indeed our King is a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john