Archive for November, 2009

The three-year lectionary of readings now begins its final Year C with the 1st Sunday in Advent and the following assigned readings: Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 and Luke 19:28-40 or Luke 21:25-36. Chosen as the text for this Sunday’s sermon is Jeremiah 33:16, “In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Does it not appear strange that the name for the chosen people of God is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”? Does this mean that the people of God will become gods? Of course not. What the title depicts is the source of the righteousness of the people of God; namely, the LORD and Him alone. A good question to ask the hearers is whether they think that they are righteous enough to get into heaven. Most of the members of a congregation will say “no” because they are thinking that they have to be righteous to get to heaven and they confess that they are not.

But then the second question is asked, “Oh, so when God gave you faith, He gave you imperfect faith?” It’s a problem of the head not having caught up to the heart. In other words, God has given us perfect faith in the heart (Create within me a clean heart) but unfortunately, our head uses its reason to dumb down the message of the Christian faith. For a mature Christian would answer the question with a sure “Yes, I am righteous enough to go to heaven,” because he is confident that the righteousness which saves is not his own but that free gift of righteousnessw he received from Jesus Christ.

The robe of Christ’s righteousness which we receive in baptism is not His intrinsic righteousness. Instead, it is that righteousness which He accomplished while here on earth in not sinning once by thought, word or deed! It is a glorious exchange when we receive His righteousness and we give Him our sin. For when He died He was our Substitute upon the accursed tree in that He took upon Himself the curse of the Law which should have been ours.

There is another piece of the puzzle which His righteousness solves in regard to the accusations of the Law. For the Law not only accuses us of sins of commission but also of sins of omission when we did not do the good works we should have done. But because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, each Christian receives that robe of righteousness from Christ Jesus. So if our heavenly Father were to ask us how we are to escape the punishment for the sins of omission, we can point to the robe which we wear which fulfills every command and will of the Father.

When verse 15 of Jeremiah 33 speaks of the Branch of righteousness executing judgment, God is referring to the execution of Judgment that came upon Jesus Himself on that accursed tree for our sakes. While the Law accuses us of both sins of commission and omission, the twin benefits we receive from the cross to counter those sins are the forgiveness of sins and the robe of righteousness. Or to put it another way, “Yes, you are sufficiently righteous in God’s sight to enter into His holy Kingdom of heaven forever and ever.”

For the last Sunday of the Church year in Series B, there are a choice of six assigned readings. The Old Testament reading is either Isaiah 51:4-6 or Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14. The Epistle reading is either Jude 20-25 or Revelation 1:4b-8. The Gospel reading is either Mark 13:24-37 or John 18:33-37. Chosen as the sermon text is Daniel 7:13, “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Day, and they brought Him near before Him.”

If you want to see these two Persons again, turn to the 4th and 5th chapter of Revelation. The Ancient of Days is seated on the throne and the Son of Man appears in chapter 5 as a slain Lamb returning from His mission accomplished on earth! For the Ancient of Days is none other than God the Father and the Son of Man is Jesus, the Christ. Chapter 5 of Revelation is another way of picturing the ascension of Jesus into heaven.

Daniel 7 is the commissioning ceremony of the Christ sent to earth by God the Father to save mankind. Revelation 5 is His return to heaven with the mission accomplished. Already in Daniel 7:14 we recognize that His kingdom is not only the people of Israel but the new Israel made up of “all peoples, nations, and languages.” Daniel 7:11 also provides the real purpose of the Messiah’s mission and that is to destroy the works of the devil as “the beast was slain.” And that event which slays the beast was the crucifixion of our LORD Who took upon Himself the punishment of the curse of the Law which was what really separated us from God.

Even more stupendous is to read the 1st chapter of Revelation in which Jesus Christ is described as the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7. This really underscores the words of Jesus that He and the Father are One and that when you see Him, you see the Father. It is also clear that the Son of Man is not sent to teach us how to save ourselves but is sent to save us without any cooperation or contribution on our part. Indeed, Daniel 7 reveals that the words of John 20 are indeed true that all this is written that you may know that Jesus is the Christ and that believing in His name, you might have life!

For the second last Sunday of the Church year, the Series B readings are Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-25 and Mark 13:1-13. The text of the sermon chosen to preach about is Hebrews 10:17, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Here again is a text that can lead to the conclusion that the Bible again contradicts itself. For how can God say that He will no longer remember our lawless deeds and yet still be omnisicent (all knowing)? This is not a god I would want to follow if He forgets things. Oh, we certainly appreciate Him forgetting our sins but how about forgetting His promises? Obviously, we are not thinking like God which is the purpose of every sermon and Bible study; namely, to get us to begin to think like God.

The problematic word is “remember.” We imagine that it is always referring to our memory. But even in English we use the word in another sense. Two brothers are wrestling with each other and the one hits the other in the nose and causes bleeding. The one who is bleeding says, “I’m going to remember this.” What does he mean? Is he going to put it into his memory banks and never forget it? No. What he is saying is that he is going to get even someday in the future.

The reverse is what God is saying when He says that He will no longer remember our sins. He is giving us a promise that He will no longer get even with us for our sins. In other words, He is not a god of justice in giving us what we deserve. Instead, He is the God of mercy in not giving us what we deserve and the God of grace in giving us what we do not deserve. Yet, how can He do that in light of His promise that “in the day you sin, death is the result”? And that death Adam and Eve experienced as they separated themselves from God by trying to hide where He was.

This is where the cross of Christ is so critical. For when Jesus died He did not take away our sins in the sense that we no longer sin. Just look into the mirror of the Law and you will see that did not happen. Then just what did Jesus take away? He took away the curse of the Law. As our Substitute, He took upon Himself the punishment of eternal damnation in the words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.” God answered, “Because you have on your shoulders the sins of Tom Baker and in fact, the sins of the entire world.”

Forgiveness is the Good News of the Gospel because it means that God no longer holds you accountable for your sin. It is a message that the world needs to hear because it is for everyone. Unlike some who say, “If you believe in Jesus Christ, then your sins will be forgiven” the real message is, “Your sins have been forgiven, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Thus, when God says He will no longer remember our sins it is because He held His own Son accountable for your sins and will never hold you accountable for your sins. That’s Good News. That’s the essence of the Gospel of the Christian faith. And that is what needs to be in every sermon because it is the reason why God instituted the holy Christian Church.

The 23rd Sunday after Pentecost is the third last Sunday of the Church year with assigned readings of 1 Kings 17:8-16; Hebrews 9:24-28 and Mark 12:38-44. The sermon text chosen for this Sunday is Mark 12:43, “So He called His disciples to Him and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury.’”

While there are many parables that appear to be talking about our stewardship of money (eg., the parable of the talents), the fact is that whatever a parable is talking about is not what it is talking about. That is, if it’s about tending sheep or fishing or use of money, the primary point of the parable is NOT about sheep, fishing or money. Instead each of these parables would be about how the holy Trinity is working within the kingdom of God on earth; that is, the holy Christian Church.

However, this real event of Jesus remarking about the offering of the widow is one of the few places in Scripture that can answer the question as to how much should we give to the Church. First, a few details about the incident. The “treasury” spoken of here is the money collected for both the service of the temple and for the poor. A mite is worth less than a penny and two mites making a quadrans would be about 5/8 of a cent. But how do we understand that such a small offering can be characterized as having put in more than anyone else at that time?

The normal answer is that unlike the rich who might have given a tithe or 10% of their income, this widow put in 100% (”she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”) Notwithstanding the fact that at the end of Leviticus a tithe in regard to cash is actually 30%, it just doesn’t make sense that Jesus here is urging the principle that we give 100% of our income. Rich believers like Abraham certainly did not do that. So how can we understand the compliment from Jesus?

It’s really a Law/Gospel principle. If God ever criticizes someone, it is never for the sin alone–it always includes the unbelief behind that sin. And conversely, if God ever commends someone, it is never for the good work alone–it is always for the faith behind that work. For God does not judge outwardly by the act but inwardly by the motivation of the heart. And it is here that we find the diamond in the rough.

Jesus points out that the rich gave “out of their abundance” which means they first made sure they had sufficient money to take care of themselves and thus gave from the leftovers. In contrast, the widow gave from what she needed. Thus, the rich needed no faith or trust in God because they had sufficiently covered their personal needs first. She gave all of what she needed which demonstrated a trust in the promises of God that He will never leave us nor forsake us and take care of us better than He takes care of the birds in the air and the flowers in the field.

What is the application for our giving? One application is the following. Figure out what you can afford to give to the Church and then just go over that amount so that trust in God’s promises to take care of you is necessary. For some that might mean $10.00 a week; for others it might mean $500.00 a week. What God is looking for is not the amount of money but the faith in His promises which only the believer through the power of the Holy Spirit has.

The 22nd Sunday after Pentecost in Series B provides us with three readings: Isaiah 1:10-18; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 and Luke 19:1-10. The passage selected as the sermon text is Isaiah 1:13, “Bring no more futiles sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me.”

What a reversal of God’s will, is it not? During the days of Moses, the Lord God delighted in the sacrifices and the smell of incense. Now it appears that He has changed His mind and no longer appreciates either sacrifices or incense. What change in God took place leading to such a statement? But the Bible is clear that God never changes. We need to look elsewhere to find the reason of this apparent change of attitude on the part of God. Of course, there is only one place to look and that is to human beings.

Perhaps this will be helpful. A neighbor of yours brings you a cake as a token of friendship and respect. You accept the cake with appreciation and wonder why he owuld do such a thing. But before he leaves, he asks whether you would loan him your second car for about a week or two because his needs repairs. Your attitude toward him now changes because you see more clearly the ulterior motive he had to bring you a cake. It was not that he liked you so much; rather, he wanted your car and this was a way of motivating you to loan him the vehicle. He was being manipulative.

In the same way, the people of Israel had lost their first love. They no longer offered sacrifices and burned incense with the proper understanding why God had established such a ceremonial law. Instead, they now did sacrifices and burned incense to placate or appease what they considered to be an angry god. But the true God of Scripture is not a god of justice giving you what you deserve but rather the God of mercy (not giving you what you deserve) and the God of grace (giving you what you don’t deserve).

As an act of self-righteousness many of God’s people had left hope of a Messiah Who would shower them with salvation and instead turned to sacrifices and burning of incense as a means to merit one’s way into God’s favor. The only hope of salvation is once again found when the will of God is followed by a willing heart that is not motivated by self-salvation but by a response of having been totally saved by God Himself. As God says in verse 18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

For the 21st Sunday after Pentecost, the three readings are Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 7:23-28 and Mark 10:46-52. Chosen to interpret and apply is Mark 10:52, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way, your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.”

“Your faith has made you well”??? Would it not be better to say, “Jesus has made you well”? This is also a problem for some Christians when asking the question as to whether they would go to heaven now if they were to die today. Some will answer, “Yes, because I believe.” But does that not sound like the correct answer in light of Jesus’ own conclusion that the faith of blind Bartimaeus cured him of blindness?

That it is his faith that healed him is clear from the rest of the verse that “he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.” The verb “received” is a passive while the verb “followed” is an active verb. While it is true that when he could see Bartimaeus made a decision to follow Jesus, it is also true that receiving his sight was not because of something he had done but rather was a a gift which he received passively. But then, how can Jesus refer to his faith as that which healed him?

Faith can either be understood as a decision on our part or a gift from God on His part. It’s similar to your name given to you at birth. While you had no involvement in naming you when you were born, that name can be used at the death of your parents to provide you with an inheritance. It would not be incorrect to say to a child that his name is what will provide him with the inheritance even though it is a gift from parents who have died.

In fact, try this. Everytime you read the word “faith” in the Bible, substitute it with “Jesus.” For example, Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith (Jesus), and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Yes, the faith given to blind Bartimaeus through the Holy Spirit grasped on to the promises of Jesus of being the promised Messiah. For, according to the Old Testament, one of the signs He had finally arrived was that the blind would see. Indeed, no one is saved by the Law in either cooperating or contributing to one’s salvation. Instead, salvation freely comes from the Lord Jesus Christ Who died so that we will never really die and Who lives so that we live eternally.