February 23, 2010

Exodus 6

In the midst of pain and hardship, it is hard to experience anything good. Once when I was a volunteer chaplain to a hospital a patient requested a chaplain visit. He had been shot in both legs shattering both shinbones. His younger brother had called all his friends to their house for a party while their parents were out of town. A young man was behaving badly, so the older brother instructed him to leave. He did leave, but he was a gang member. He came back a little later with his gang. Well, you get the picture. I met with the young man for a week or two at the hospital. Our church helped the family with some groceries. But the pain was constant and strong for the young man. He was not assured that he would ever walk normally again. Eventually, he came to a crisis point. In the midst of his pain, he could not see that God was real, or if he was real, that He cared about his pain. The young man told me to not come see him again. Pain is like that. It screams so loud in our minds that we can no longer see the glory of God even when it is about to be experienced.

God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord I was not known to them.” One of the things that the Name of the Lord tells us is that He cannot be fully known. He is. He can be known truly but not fully. He is. He can be experienced, but not completely. He is. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob experienced the Lord, but not completely. He is. He appeared to them but not completely. The name, “He is,” was unknown to them. They experienced “He is” in their pain but not completely. Now 400 years later their descendents are experiencing Him. However, their pain was great. Listen to what the text says,

‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8‘And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.’ ” 9So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.

They could not hear Moses because of their anguish. This God who spoke the universe into existence spoke and told them that He was about to act on their behalf and that they would know Him. Yet they would not hear it because of the anguish of their spirit and cruel bondage. I wonder how many times I have missed hearing the voice of God because I focused on my pain. I wonder how much of the Glory of God that I have missed because I was focused upon me. His glory is still there. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Mark 3:20-35

Have you ever been publicly accused of being something less than what you actually were? If you have, then you know a little bit about the pain of Jesus in this story. The scribes were obviously reasoning:

Only God and Satan are more powerful than demons.
Jesus overpowers demons.
Jesus cannot be using God’s power.
Therefore Jesus must do this by Satan’s power.
Wow! Talk about missing the mark! Talk about something less! Even Jesus’ family thought He had lost His mind. His own mother and siblings came to collect Him and quietly put Him away somewhere. Did Jesus rail against the accusations? No. But He did show the logical inconsistency of their reasoning, and He did reveal His love for anyone who would yield to His will.

It is interesting to note that Matthew’s Gospel, where the theme is Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of God, has Jesus’ statement, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God surely the kingdom of God has come upon you!” But Mark whose theme is Jesus is the Servant of God leaves the statement out. It matters not who the servant is, but what matters is whose servant He is. So Jesus gives a warning not about rejecting or blaspheming Him but about blaspheming the One by Whom He worked the power, the Holy Spirit.

Don’t miss the point about His glory here! Jesus, the Man, is the Powerful One because He does all that He does by the power of the Powerful One, God the Holy Spirit. This world was lying in the power of a strong man. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, Satan had made planet earth his house. Over the centuries and millennia, Satan and his hosts have enslaved men and women by enticing them into sin according to their own lusts. Satan has made this world to be his goods. He is a strong foe. We are unable to overcome Him. However, Jesus, the God-Man, came, and by His death and resurrection, He bound Satan, the strong man. Jesus is the Powerful One. Now, to His glory, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can plunder the house of Satan! What would we want from the house of Satan? People! People who are enslaved by the bondage of sin. People for whom Jesus died. It is for His glory that we proclaim liberty to them that they might be taken from the house of Satan to the house of the Father! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor