Monday, March 31, 2014

Mark 15:29-32 "The Chief Priests & the People"

                The concepts of public humiliation and degradation are not something that has only recently come to be with the explosion of social media.  They are concepts that go as far back as people disagreeing and fighting themselves.  Throughout history, it has always been the position of most soldiers that if they were going to die, then they would prefer it to be swift and in the midst of battle.  We’ve all read or heard stories about soldiers and warriors (both fictional and real) that say that they wanted to go on the field of battle.  The worst thing imaginable was/is to be taken as a prisoner.  If taken, then you were tortured, beaten, and in many ways killed, just much more slowly.  It was quite common for prisoners of battle, even as resent as some cases today, to be paraded through the streets wearing no clothing, further adding to the humiliation that they were experiencing.  Take for example the case of William Wallace (who for those of you who don’t know was actually a real person).  After being found guilty of his crimes against the crown of England, he was dragged naked through the street by a horse, hung, quartered, and eventually beheaded.  Now, if the point was to kill him, then that could have happened very quickly and without all the theatrics.  However, the point was not just to kill him, but to embarrass him, demean him, degrade him, and hopefully discourage any others from following in his footsteps.  No just kill the person, but kill the idea of him and his cause as well.

                Well, that’s what we have here when it comes to Jesus.  If the ultimate goal was to eliminate the threat and nuisance that was Jesus of Nazareth, then that would have been fairly simple.  He could have been slain in Garden of Gethsemane at the time of his arrest.  He could have been killed in an almost prison-like shanking during his time imprisoned.  No, the point wasn’t just to kill him, but to do so in such a manner that his ministry, his legacy, and his credibility would all be shattered.  The chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees were all trying to kill not just the person of Jesus, but his teachings as well.  They were trying to make his being put to death so memorable, that no one would ever forget it.  Well, they succeeded in that regard, but not in the way they intended. 

Over the next few weeks leading up to Easter, we’re going to look at several of those characters who were there at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.  We’re going to look at things like the role they played, how they fulfilled Scripture, and how we, in some cases, mirror their actions still today.  Today, as we first look to one of the accounts of the crucifixion, I want to pay special attention to the role and function that the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees, as well as the people of Jerusalem, all play in the events and efficacy of the cross.

                To back up for just a second, we have to remember that the humiliation of Jesus didn’t begin with his arrest.  The humiliation of Jesus began in his coming to earth.  It began when the “Word became flesh” (John 1:14).  That humiliation continued through Jesus being born of parents of no account.  Now, at the time of our text, he’s been arrested, found guilty, had a hardened murderer freed instead of him, sentenced to the most shameful of deaths, publicly beaten, carried his cross up the hill, and then crucified.  As if that were not enough, then we find the events of our text today.  Those gathered around the scene there are not sitting in disbelief or stunned silence, they’re mocking him.  Jesus is first mocked by the soldiers (a text we will look at next Sunday), and then he’s mocked by the chief priests, the scribes, and the people as well.

                We’re told in the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that those who see him ridicule him, saying to him something to the effect of “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!  If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”  Now, a couple of things of note in these words:  the first of which being that these folks obviously weren’t very good at math.  I say that in jest because, as they point out, Jesus said that the temple, after being destroyed, would be rebuilt in three days.  Well, the temple (i.e. Jesus) hasn’t even been fully destroyed.  Three days has not come; it hasn’t even been one.  Of this fact, John Calvin wrote, “Such is the daring presumption of wicked men, when, under the pretence of the cross, they endeavour to cut them off from the hope of the future life.”  Now, it’s also of note here that no one living at this time equated Jesus with the temple.  No one understood that when Jesus said that he would raise the temple, that he was really talking about himself.  The second thing of note is that they are telling Jesus that if he’s the Son of God, then he ought to come down from the cross.  Now, this is ironic, seeing as how the best thing that anyone could hope for was for Jesus to remain on that cross until he died.  It’s because of his remaining on that cross that the price was paid for our sins.  It’s because of his not stepping down that the wrath of God was once-for-all satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ.  It’s funny; those who looked to God then had no clue what was really best for them.  Just as those who look to God today so often still have no clue what is really best for us.

                Did you notice the comparison that could be made between the words of the people there at the cross and the words of Satan in his temptation of Jesus in the wilderness after the Holy Spirit had descended upon him at the time of his baptism?  “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” sounds an awful lot like “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” (John 4:3).  It sounds a lot like “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down [this temple so that the angels will bear you up on their hands], lest you strike your foot against a stone.”  If ever there was a question about Satan’s using of this fallen world against the kingdom of God, let those who raise such questions look no farther than the words of these seemingly insignificant people there at the cross. 

                In addition to the people, the chief priests and the scribes echo their sentiments by saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”  It often saddens me to think of the spiritual state of things during Jesus’ time when we see such mockery and vitriol coming from the religious leaders of the day.  However, I am quickly reminded that we’re not immune from such issues today.  After all, the Pharisees were men of great spiritual discipline and devotion.  They were evangelistic.  They were faithful givers and demanded all others tithe as well.  They were devoted men of prayer and dedicated to the regular reading of Scripture.  All of these are qualities that we would say would make fine Christian pastors and leaders in today’s world.  Let the callousness and blindness of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day serve as a great reminder to us all that our faith and guidance is not to be sought in anyone outside of the person of Jesus Christ.

                So, we ultimately come to point of asking ourselves what role the actions of the chief priests and scribes and the people gathered there at the cross really played in terms of what happened at Calvary.  Well, the first thing is that they fulfill Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah.  David, in his 22nd Psalm wrote that the Messiah would be surround by both Jews and Gentiles at the time of his death.  The prophet Zechariah spoke several times of the Messiah’s being rejected and despised.  So, Christ’s being rejected and despised is a fulfillment of Scripture.  His being surrounded by Jews and Gentile at the time of his crucifixion is a fulfillment of Scripture.  Neither of these prophecies would have reached their full fulfillment had the hatred of Christ not been so great.  Had Jesus been killed in one of those more stealthy manners that we mentioned a moment ago, then these Old Testament prophecies would not have been fulfilled.

                Now before we bring this look to a close, I want to make one more point or bring up one more observation.  We’ve seen that there was anger.  We’ve seen that there was hatred.  We’ve even seen that one could make the strong case that Satan was present and active through people there at the cross.  Yet, God still accomplished the greatest act of love through the cross.  Despite the greatest efforts of Satan and the strong hatred displayed, the will of the Father was done.  After all, as Jesus lay there nailed to the cross, his life slowly coming to an end, Satan felt as if he had won.  He felt as if victory was his.  Well, much like the crown of England who thought that he had crushed the ideas behind William Wallace, Satan had in no way won victory on that day.  We might be tempted to say that he had won the battle, but God would win the war.  However, Satan didn’t even win the battle.  Through the mockery and the hatred and anger there at the cross, Jesus was actually accomplishing every detail according to God’s will.  God was saving the very people who shouted in anger at Jesus as they mocked him.  He was saving them just as He is saving those of us who shout in anger at Him today.  We may not vocalize it like the chief priests or the scribes.  We may not openly taunt Him like the people of Jerusalem, but we do sin and we do disobey Him.  However, God, through the very events that we will spend the next month or so looking at, saved us from the sins of that day, the sins of this day, and the sins of days yet to come.  Thank God that He works even through our straying, falling, and sinning to accomplish His purposes.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

All this over a hiring policy change?

So I've been sitting here for the past few days reading about World Vision. It hasn't been an all-encompassing type of thing, but I've read various articles as they have come in through social media, email, and blogs that I typically follow. I've read reactions to the decision to change the employment policies and reactions to the change back because of the initial reaction. I've seen people "rally the troops" for both sides of the argument. I've seen applause and disappointment almost everywhere I went.

Now, I must admit that some of it made me a little upset. After all, World Vision is first and foremost a Christian organization. I know that someone is going to say that it's about the kids first, but I'm just telling you what World Vision says about themselves. I read posts and articles about people who were openly non-Christians or wouldn't give God a name (i.e. "a higher power") that were going around and applauding the decision, only to then cry foul after WV changed their policy back.

Then, I started to run across articles that played the sympathy card. Now I know that I'm not winning any friends with this statement, but I really don't care. If someone tells me that Christians ought to be ashamed of themselves because of their withdrawing sponsorships of children from WV because of doctrinal reasons, then that really gets under my skin. Statements that indicate (or even blatantly say) that Christians have forgotten Jesus' command to care for the children and poor are about a accurate as a teenagers view of what life will be like twenty years down the road.

There are numerous organizations out there just like WV. There are some that are Christian based and some that aren't. My wife and I happen to support one of them (Compassion International), and have for years. I can honestly say that if Compassion started using policies that did not align with our religious beliefs, then we would stop sponsoring our child (we're on our third child now).

But here's where everyone needs to listen and listen carefully. We would stop our sponsorship with Compassion, and WE WOULD FIND A NEW ORGANIZATION. We wouldn't feel that the decisions of the board at Compassion relieved us of our responsibility to care for the widowed, orphaned, and the poor. We would simply find another avenue for doing so. So, just because so many have stopped their sponsorship through WV doesn't mean that they don't care about children, it means that they have stopped sponsoring WV. Before anyone goes off talking about the children that will suffer because of the loss of money, let them first go and see how many other ministries along these lines have grown as a result of WV's decisions.

If it really is all about the children, then what does it matter if I choose to support an organization more aligned with my theological beliefs. But then again, we all know that much of the outrage has nothing to do with the children...or theological beliefs. I know that my words offend some, but I really just don't care any more. As faithful stewards of what God gives to each of us, we have a responsibility to use our "gifts" to glorify God's kingdom. And I for one, don't think that I (or anyone else) am bringing about great glory for His kingdom by funding an organization that is not willing to take a stand for the biblical definition of marriage.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Exodus 20:18-21 "The Need for a Mediator"

                Well, we’ve reached the end of our series on the Ten Commandments.  The people of Israel are at Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.  God has given the Ten Commandments to Moses and Moses has relayed them to the people of Israel.  Since escaping Egypt, the Israelites have seen seas part, manna fall from the sky, and water spring from a rock.  God has proven, as if He needed to, to all of Israel just how great and awesome He is.  What we finally see from Israel here is their complete recognition of God’s authority and their need for a covenant mediator, someone to stand between the people of Israel and God Almighty.  We have it unfolded for us in 4 stages:  the reaction of Israel, their request of Moses, the reassurance given by Moses to Israel, and finally Moses’ reproach.

In our modern society, we are too familiar and even dismissive of the concept of authority.  Even the greatest of human authority figures in our own time don’t quite get shown the respect that they once did.  Take for example, a meeting between the first family and the Queen of England that happened several years back.  Imagine the complete shock that the Queen must have felt when the first lady gave her a nice pat on the back to go along with that iPod.  Even someone as unfamiliar with foreign customs as myself knows that you just don’t touch the Queen of England without her permission.  Or if you will, during a trip to Washington D.C., Shaquille O’Neal decided that he was going to just stop by the White House for a quick visit with the president.  He had no appointment and had no idea that no matter who you are, you cannot meet with the president without an appointment.  Authority is not seen in the same light today as it has been in the past.  And that makes it difficult for us to appreciate the reverence and awe with which we ought to approach the living God. 

As we turn to our text to see the response of Israel following the Ten Commandments, the first thing that we notice is the Reaction to God shown by Israel.  “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off.”  So the people of Israel were afraid.  The presence of the Lord was upon them and they were afraid.  Not just afraid, they were scared to death.  There was complete and total terror amongst this group of people.  This fear displayed by Israel is true of us today.  God’s nearness can be a terrifying thing for sinners.  If we were to look back at 19:16, we would see almost the exact same thing that we have here in 20:18.  We find that after the thunder, the lightning, the trumpet sounds, and the smoking mountain that the people feared, trembled, and stood far off in the distance.

                I know we began this series several months ago, but do you remember when this story at Mount Sinai started how the people of Israel were crowding in around it so closely?  They wanted to look and try and catch a glimpse of God.  Exodus 19:12 speaks of when the Lord instructs Moses to tell the people of Israel to “Take care not to go up the mountain or touch the edge of it.  Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.”  Now we have gone from God having the people kept off of the mountain only by the threat of death to having them willingly move far away from the mountain out of fear.  What happened during this timeframe?  The Ten Commandments.   God came and met with Israel and they ran away.

                As I mentioned a second ago, the reaction of the people of Israel tells us one thing, God’s nearness can be terrifying for sinners.  The people of Israel realized their guilt and unholiness before the awesome God, and they knew they were deserving of his condemnation.  Just like the Israelites, we too long for closeness and intimacy with God.  The problem is that we do not give the respect, awe, and admiration that are due to God in such intimacy.  If you are like me you have prayed many times for God to “show you” what He would have you do.  And if you are anything like me when that answer has come to you and you didn’t like it, then you have tried to ignore God’s will.  Notice that the important word there is tried.

As we continue in this text, we see the Request made by Israel of Moses.  Verse 19 says, “[Israel] said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”  Now we may quickly want to look down upon Israel for wanting to place someone between themselves and God.  But think about how brilliant this request is on behalf of the Israelites.  They could not bear God speaking directly to them.  They knew that they were in need of a covenant mediator, someone who would stand between God and the people.  In this particular case, they wanted Moses to be the one who stood between them and God.  They wanted Moses to speak God’s word to them instead of hearing it directly from God himself. 

                Think with me for a just a moment on how gracious this was of God as well.  What had the people of Israel been doing time and time again in Moses’ tenure as their leader?  They had been questioning his roll and complaining every chance they got.  Now, with God having spoken to them directly, the people can't wait to hear Moses.  Think of someone in your life who has always stood there and said about a boss or a superior, “I know I could do a better job than he does” or “Why should I have to listen to him anyway?”  Well, many times when people making those statements are promoted or given more responsibility, how quickly do they eat those words?  Here, the people of Israel are going from questioning Moses to saying, “Um, Moses, yeah we are afraid of hearing directly from God anymore so if we could just hear everything from you from now on that would be great.”  God stopped all qualms about Moses’ position as a leader and covenant mediator.  The people of Israel realized now more than any other time up to that point that they were in need of such a mediator.

                I want you to look at what the people of Israel say to Moses in their request.  They don’t just ask him to stand in as a mediator between them and God.  They assure him that they will listen.  Back in 19:8 the elders of the people of Israel had already said to Moses, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”  They had already committed to follow everything that God chooses to tell them.  In asking Moses to speak to them, the people of Israel were not trying to get out of the deal they had previously made.  They were simply realizing their need for a mediator and were asking for it to be Moses.  The Israelites were still going to keep their commitment to God for obedience.

                Notice the Israelites reaction to what would happen if Moses didn’t accept this request, “do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”  The entire purpose of the exodus from Egypt was so that Israel would be saved to worship God.  Continuously God saved His people so that they might worship Him.  Now that they were at the foot of God’s mountain and He had come to meet them, what did they have to say?  “Um, Moses, sorry to ask this of you, but is there any way that you could ask him to never speak to us again.”  They didn’t want to hear the voice of God speaking directly to them anymore.  They wanted Moses to be the one to speak on God’s behalf to them.  The Israelites recognized their need for a mediator.  They were completely aware of the fact that they could not endure the unmediated presence of the one true God.  To fill this role of mediator, who better to ask than Moses, the one whom God had already appointed to fill it?

                Often I hear people who either do not regularly attend church or are only physically present while their mind drifts off to a more “entertaining” place have the wrong idea about God.  They think that God’s “job” is to forgive their sins and to grant their wishes.  They think that they can just walk right into the presence of God and ask for anything they want.  I can tell you for sure that the Israelites that were present on that day at Sinai did not share the attitudes of the uninformed Christian.  They saw the holiness and glory of God.  They also saw their sin.  They saw it in all of its ugly and dirty shame.  They knew that they were in need of a mediator.  We would do well to keep in mind that we too, are in constant need of a mediator.  Our mediator is one far greater than any other could ever hope to be, even greater than Moses.  Our one true mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Next I want us to look at the Reassurance given to the people of Israel by Moses in verse 20, “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”  The people of Israel seemed to have misunderstood God’s intentions at Sinai.  They were afraid that God was going to crush and destroy them.  But Moses, as covenant mediator, stepped in and reassured the people that that was not God’s desire.  Moses was informing the people of Israel that God’s reasons for coming to them were not bad, but were indeed something that was good.  God had not come to scare them or discourage them and beat them down; he had come to encourage them.  In fact, the first words out of Moses’ mouth are, “Do not fear.”  He was telling the people of Israel that they should not be afraid of this coming of God.

Moses goes on to explain why Israel is not to fear this visitation, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you.”  I want to clarify something here that might seem a bit confusing.  The first words say that Israel should not fear, but later on Moses says that the reasoning for the visitation was so that the fear of God may be before Israel.  Is this a contradiction of Scripture?  Of God?  Of Moses?  Of course not!  In saying do not fear, he came that you would fear Him, God, through Moses, was telling the people of Israel of the vast difference that exists between being frightened by God and appropriately fearing God.  Moses wanted the Israelites to fear God and not just be afraid of the pyrotechnics that had just occurred before their very eyes.  How many times are we guilty of simply being frightened by God instead of fearing him as we should?  I can remember when I was a teenager, I went to go see a play called Heavens Gates and Hell’s Flames.  It was at a local Baptist church in Meridian.  The play was a series of scene at the gates of heaven, and the characters were told that they either got in or got out.  It wasn’t the most theologically sound play, but there were people walking down front and committing their lives to Christ like you would believe.  However, they weren’t doing it out of a reverence for God, but because the scenes from the play scared the mess out of them.

Moses goes on to explain here that Israel should not fear because God has drawn near to them.  He had given them the Ten Commandments and drawn near to them so that they would always fear Him.  But the fear that He’s speaking of here at the end of verse 20 is not the fear of terror or dread; but reverence that leads to obedience and awe of the gracious and sovereign God.  Moses was explaining that the reasoning for God’s actions was not only to instill fear in Israel, but also to test them.  His test was not a test of obedience though, but more along the lines of showing the need for a mediator.  After all, there wasn’t hardly any time between the giving of the Ten Commandments and Moses’ speaking again to the Israelites.  Read the last part of verse 20, “That you may not sin.”  You see, the people of God in the presence of God were to experience two things at the same time.  On the one hand, they were to realize that God was an awesome God, and they ought to be judged.  And at the same time, that God was a good and a merciful God, and He had provided for them a mediator, and He had redeemed them out of Egypt, and He was for them.

The last thing that I want to briefly look at in this passage is the Reproach made by Moses to God.  Now obviously I cannot stand here and tell you that Moses reprimanded God.  All we are given in the text is, “The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”  Notice the reversal of polarity between the people of Israel and Moses.  The people stood afar while Moses drew nearer to God.  Like the Israelites, we, as sinners, are not capable of drawing ourselves nearer to God.  For that task, we must rely upon a mediator.  We are fortunate enough to have received an understanding of the one true mediator that even Moses was unaware of.  Moses was a sinner just like us; he too was in need of a mediator.  His mediator, just like ours, is the Lord Jesus Christ. 

So as we look back on this passage and all the rest of our series on the Ten Commandments, we see that like the Israelites, and even Moses, are in need of a covenant mediator.  We have seen the need played out for us.  Was there any doubt about the need for a mediator then?  Is there any doubt about the need for a mediator today?  Only God can make it safe to come near to God.  Your own righteousness cannot make God safe, only the righteousness of Christ can do so.  We’ve seen how miserably short we fall of the standard that God has set for us.  God is the only one with the power to make Himself safe.  And that is exactly what He did in His Son Jesus Christ.  Thank God for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Exodus 20:17 "When Wanting Goes Bad"

                Well we’ve finally made our way to the 10th and final commandment.  We’ve spent every Sunday this year looking at the Ten Commandments that God gave to Israel there at Mount Sinai.  After next Sunday, we will have spent a total of 12 weeks looking at God’s Law and the condition of Israel both before and after receiving it.  We’ve talked about commandments that deal specifically with God and some that deal more with our earthly relationships.  We’ve seen commandments that are pretty straight forward and some that are more confusing.  However, there has typically been within each of the previous nine commandments an external action that is commanded of us.  There has been some type of outward behavior that should come about as a result of our keeping of the Law.  Well, in that regard, the final commandment is a little bit different than the previous nine.  The tenth commandment is almost entirely an inward commandment.  We could say that it is a commandment of the heart.  The tenth commandment says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”   This is the commandment against coveting.  You see, coveting is not an external action.  We’ve never witnessed someone covet something.  Sure we’ve heard sayings like “he’s green with envy” or “you can see the jealously in her eyes”, but these are just phrases.  None of us have actually seen coveting and jealously like we can observe theft or murder.  So, if somehow we were to get this far in our look at the commandments without thinking that God is concerned just as much with our emotions and our inward keeping of the Law (which I hope isn’t the case), then we’ve finally come to a place where that truth is inescapable.  God’s commanding us to not covet isn’t a command that has to do with our outward actions, but with our thoughts and our hearts as well.

                I want to take just a moment before dealing with the application of this commandment and point out some observations from the wording of this commandment that might help us to better hone in on the scope of this commandment.  First, notice the repetition of the directive “You shall not covet.”  It’s there twice.  None of the other commandments have this specific repeating of the directive within them.  This is unique to only the tenth commandment.  Remember, when something is repeated in Scripture, it means that we are to listen very closely and that what is being said is of the utmost importance.  So, obviously it’s very important that we understand that we are not to covet according to God’s Law.  Also, if we add up the things that are mentioned specifically here for us not to covet (house, wife, male and female servants, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to our neighbor), we would find seven things.  Well, seven is the number of completion in the Hebrew culture.  In essence, this list says to us that not just these things mentioned are we not to covet, but we are not to covet anything else that is our neighbors.  You see, we are to refrain from coveting entirely.  There is not one thing that it is acceptable to covet.  Why?  Well, much like a few weeks ago in our look at stealing, coveting shows a denial of God’s providence.  Following that line of thought, a denial of God’s providence is a denial of God’s fulfilling every promise that He makes in His Word.  So it’s no wonder why God takes the issue of coveting so seriously.

                Now I feel like I have to say something before I go any further into what is referred to here by the word covet.  As all of you know, I have kids in my house.  Amy and I want nothing more than to raise them up to be good, Christian adults.  We want them to make good choices; not to please us, but because it is the right thing to do.  We want others to know that we have taught them to be polite and respectful, not so that they praise our parenting, but so that they know that our children were raised properly.  We want our future son and daughters in law to be thankful for the job that we did raising them.  As such, we are constantly teaching them right from wrong, how to be polite, and how they are to act properly (a challenge that sometimes seems like Amy and I are fighting a losing battle).  One of the never-ending struggles on this front is fighting the two dreaded words “I want.”  Whether it’s the walk through Target where Ashby proceeds to tell us that she wants every toy we pass, or when  Thomas lets us know he’s thirsty simply by telling us “I want some juice”, we fight the “I want”.  Well, this “I want” isn’t coveting.  Coveting is not simply wanting something.  There’s nothing wrong with having wants and desires in this world.  Our wanting for things can be a good thing and a driving force in our lives.  I want to see God’s kingdom grown.  I want to see every church, every Bible study, and every mission organization full and bursting at the seams.  I want the best for my family and friends.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting things.

                Where “I want” turns into coveting is when it becomes a matter of consummation; it becomes idolatry.  Paul, in Colossians 3:5, says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:  sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”  There it is, covetousness is equal to idolatry.  You see, when we want something, we work hard in order to achieve it, that’s the American dream.  As a matter of fact, Cadillac has just release a new ad campaign built upon that very premise.  If you haven’t seen it, I’ll give you the premise as concise as I can.  It basically states that as Americans, we work harder than most other countries (or at least work more hours) in order to afford the finer things in life, like a new Cadillac.  Work ethic questions aside, their ad is based upon the fact that in order for us to get the things we want, we have to work for them.  Wanting these things and working for them is not covetous by nature.  However, it’s when our wanting of these things becomes what is most important to us that we slip into the realm of covetousness and idolatry.  When we neglect our families because we’re putting in more time at the office to get stuff (which many times we tell ourselves that we’re neglecting them for their benefit), when we shun our friends because they aren’t of a status that will elevate us to where we really want to be in the social pecking order, when we neglect our faith because that’s time that could be spent chasing the almighty dollar, that’s when the coveting starts to come in.  That’s when “I want” turns into coveting and idolatry.

                Have you ever found yourself looking at someone else’s life and thinking, “Man, if I could just have that then I would be set.  They sure are lucky.”  Well, they might be lucky, but there’s a pretty good chance that you’re lucky too.  There’s a good chance that you’re blessed so far beyond what you see.  I know that I’ve made statements like that in my life before when seeing the success and condition of someone else’s life, and I’m willing to bet that you have too.  I also know that I have been told by dear friends just how lucky I am when it comes to the ways in which God has blessed me.  The sad fact is that so often it takes someone pointing out my luck and my blessings before I even realize just how numerous they are.  I thank God for friends, family, and colleagues in ministry who constantly remind me that my outlook ought to be one of thanks for what I have than jealously over the things that I want and don’t have.

                You see, this sin (perhaps more than any of the other commandments) isn’t a matter of “if” you violate the commandment, but “when, how often, and in what ways” we violate it.  The questions then become, what can we do about it and what ought we do about it?  Well, the answers, much like every other week (and I hope that by now you’re getting the point if you haven’t already) is to thank God.  We need to thank Him that despite our falling so miserably short of the standard that He has set for us, that the blood of Christ fills that gap.  The blood of the slain Lamb fills the vast canyon that exists between where we are and where we ought to be.  Our salvation isn’t based on our keeping of the Law, but on the One who has fulfilled it on our behalf.  Secondly, we must pray that the Holy Spirit will work in our hearts and help us to overcome the feelings of covetousness and jealously that so commonly plague us.  It’s only when we have the power of God working through us that we can ever hope to have a chance to overcome the effects of sin and the havoc that it wreaks on our souls.  Pray for a sense of contentment.  Pray for an appreciation of the blessings that you have already been given.  Pray for and strive to keep God as your number one priority.  Keep God as the center of your life that all things revolve around.  For as long as God is kept at the center of who we are, then our wanting of all lesser things will never become what drives us.  Let us be driven by our love for God and our desire to see His kingdom spread and His gospel proclaimed across this earth.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Exodus 20:16 "No False Witness"

                Last Sunday, we looked at the eighth commandment, the one against stealing, and we said that ultimately it is a commandment that requires our respecting of our neighbor’s person and property.  We said that it was rooted in the principle of the providence of God.  If we really believe that God is who He says He is, then the desire to steal should never even be considered.  In this regard, the eighth commandment directly correlates to the first (the one forbidding other gods) which primarily is an establishment of God’s authority.  Well, our commandment for today, the commandment against false witness against our neighbor shows a similar correlation to the third commandment (the one against taking the Lord’s name in vain), which we said was ultimately against lessening the name of God.  You see, we said during our look at the third commandment, that when we call ourselves Christians and don’t live as such, then we are taking God’s name in vain.  We said that the directive within this commandment goes much deeper than simply forbidding our using God’s name in the midst of profanity or profane statements.  Well, for us to give false witness and testimony against our neighbor is to conduct ourselves in a manner that is unbecoming of a Christian.  Not to mention the way in which it seeks in no way the good of our neighbor, a principle in which we have said over and over again throughout the past few weeks ought to be at the top of our priorities and a principle in which the final six commandments is really built around. 

                Before we deal with the application of this commandment, I want to first build a little better understanding of this commandment than may exist amongst us right now.  I don’t know if you’re like me, but you like to boil things down to as simple of an idea or statement as you can.  For me, it helps me remember things much better when I don’t have all the minutia of details floating around in my mind.  However, this does cause problems at times, such as in case like the one before us.  You see, there’s a good chance that many of us here today have remembered this commandment simply as a command against lying.  When your mama or daddy or Sunday school teacher caught you in a lie, they reminded you that one of the Ten Commandments is that you shouldn’t lie.  Well, that’s true, but it’s not the full scope of this commandment.   As we dive further into this commandment, we will see that this commandment has to do with much more than simply not lying, but it has to do with speaking in a manner that is positive and uplifting as well.

As we’ve said, all of the commandments dealing with our horizontal relationships (how we relate to and deal with those around us) are about loving our neighbor and a building up of our community.  Well, it’s impossible for a community to be strengthened and built up if there is rampant dishonesty.  Dishonesty leads to a lack of trust, and ultimately to a mindset that seeks preservation of self above everything else.  So it’s not just enough for us to seek only personal integrity, but a community that is built on such integrity.  Integrity comes primarily from being truthful and completely owning the words that we say in our speaking.  We have to be concerned with speech as a whole.  We have to conduct ourselves in a manner that is devoid of gossip and slander.  Our speech is a measure of our loyalty to God.  And the way we love our neighbors in speech is a more accurate gauge to our real piety and love of God than any claim that we can make.

I want to take a moment and do just as we’ve done throughout this look at the Ten Commandments; let’s look at what Christ said as he expounded upon this commandment and gave the fuller meaning.  Matthew 5:33-37 says, “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’  But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.  Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”  Now, I want to take some time and expound upon Jesus’ expounding of this commandment.  You see, Jesus was criticizing the Pharisees with his words here.  He was doing so because of two things that the Pharisees were prone to do in their interpreting and applying of God’s Law.  The first problem was that they Pharisees took for themselves, as well as making others take, multiple oaths.  There would be an oath for this and an oath for that until everything in someone’s life was part of some legally binding contract.  However, the Pharisees were also very prone to create loopholes in every single one of these oaths.  They would swear on different things (body parts, possessions, family members, etc.) depending on the perceived importance of the agreement.  The lesser the vow, the lower the object in which they swore upon.  Well, what good is an oath if there’s a loophole?  In my life, I have taken vows of both ordination and marriage.  There aren’t any loopholes in either of these vows.  There are no clauses in either vows where I have the right to excuse myself of all of my responsibilities and all the duties and obligations I swore to carry out.  I have a friend of mine who after getting married asked the preacher why his wife’s vows seemed a lot less strict than his.  He said that he felt like he had to swear to a lot more than his new bride during their wedding ceremony.  Well, they were actually the same exact vows; his just seemed stricter to him because he was the one who had to live in accordance with his.  It’s a very different feeling when we’re the ones promising before God that we will live a certain way as opposed to watching someone else take such vows.

So what’s the point of Jesus’ words here as he’s expounding upon the ninth commandment.  Well, he’s saying that our words mean something.  He’s saying that it shouldn’t take an oath for us to do something, but that if we say we are going to do it then we are to do it.  Notice that in his words that we read just a moment ago that Jesus places a high emphasis on yes meaning yes and no meaning no.  There are no loopholes in yes and no.  You see, that’s the main point of Jesus’ words here.  It isn’t that Jesus is against oaths, which is usually what gets taken away from this passage.  After all, Paul made oaths, and I don’t think there is anyone who would say that Paul didn’t understand the Law.

As we begin to wrap this entire thing up, I want to simply ask a series of questions.  I want you to think about your speech.  I want you to think about how you speak with and about your neighbor.  When you speak, do you have in mind that you stand as a witness to the work of God in your life?  Do you speak in a manner that shows submission to His Lordship?  Or do you speak more as a witness to Satan?  Is your speech filled with insults, gossip, and demeaning comments.  Does your speech help or hurt the community in which you live.  Remember, there is no such thing as having no impact.  All of our actions, including of speech, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has some impact on the community in which they live.  Not only does your speech have an impact on the emotions and feelings of those around you, but it affects the level and type of witness you have for God’s kingdom.  Jesus makes it clear that all of our speech is said in the sight of God, and therefore all of speech – especially speech about our neighbor – must be truthful and designed to build up our neighbor.

We’ve all had those people in our lives who are either constantly talking negatively about other people or who are always in a foul mood.  We don’t want to surround ourselves with those types of people.  We want to surround ourselves with people who encourage us and uplift us.  However, we ought to not only want to be around those people, but we ought to strive to be those people.  Words are a powerful thing.  They are perhaps our most dangerous weapons.  We can destroy or we can build with our words.  The question become which one we will do.  Will you build up God kingdom by encouraging those around you, being faithful witnesses, and speaking only in truth?  Or will you destroy His kingdom with your words?  Will your talk be only of hatred, gossip, slander, dishonesty, and seek only to promote yourself? 

No matter which speech you choose (and believe me there are moments when your speech will destroy rather than build); remember that this table before us atones for both.  It atones for the inadequacy of our positive speech just as much as it atones for the negative filth that so often comes out of our mouths.  And that my friends, is the truth that ought to fill our speech this day and every other day.  That is the only truth that is really worthy of our dominating our speech with one another.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Exodus 20:15 "Is It Even Stealing?"

                Before we get into what this commandment that says “You shall not steal” really means, I want to caution you against something.  I want to caution you against hearing these words and thinking that since you have never committed the crimes of theft or robbery that you have nothing to worry about here.  You see, we, both Christians and most anyone else, are very prone to think that this commandment, which literally says “no taking anything by stealth” refers only to the taking of someone else’s property illegally.  Well, much as we have seen with all of the other commandments thus far, especially those dealing with how we relate to one another, there is something much greater that is actually commanded of us here.  Now, I want to preface all that I’m going to say here by stating that I have been blessed throughout my life.  I have never wanted for anything that I absolutely had to have.  I have never wanted for food to the point where I had to eat or I would die and I had no means of obtaining food.  I have never wanted for money to the point where I had no means by which to secure the basic necessities of life.  I have never had the mindset of the person who steals just to provide for themselves or their family.  I acknowledge those things.  I acknowledge that I have never been in that type of situation.  However, even though I do have the deepest sympathy for those situations, I do not condone them.  You see, if we are going to live according to God’s word, then we must take His word at what it says.  Notice that this commandment just says no stealing (or no taking anything by stealth).  It doesn’t give a from whom, when, or what you may not steal.  It doesn’t provide loopholes for things that are permissible to steal.  It doesn’t state any circumstance where it is alright to take something from someone else.  It states, very matter-of-factly, that stealing is wrong; stealing is a sin. 

                We may want to ask ourselves why stealing is such a big deal.  After all, especially during Jesus’ time, with all of the corrupt civil authorities and the exorbitant taxes, the only way some folks could survive was stealing.  Well, I would like to point out a few things to show the severity of stealing.  One, from an Old Testament perspective, stealing wasn’t just a crime between one individual and another, but a crime against a whole community.  If one person to stole something, it hurt the entire community.  It’s basic economics, providers of goods and services have to recoup their losses from stolen items, so they pass the burden on to the person who acquires goods honestly.  The second, and more important reason why stealing is so severe is that it shows a distrust in God, specifically in His providence.  It shows that the person who steals does not trust that God will provide for their every need.  Thus, they are saying that God does not fulfill the promise that He has made to care for our every need.

                Now, there are many specific examples of stealing that are listed throughout the rest of the Pentateuch.  Unfortunately, we don’t have time to look at each of them fully this morning.  So, I’ll just briefly say that kidnapping, stealing of animals, failure to return borrowed items, extortion, paying for goods later than agreed upon, unfairly withholding payments, and even overly taxing someone are all considered to be violations of this commandment according to Scripture.  So, it’s not just burglary, but it’s a whole host of other things, including not dealing honestly and in a timely manner with someone when it comes to a financial transaction.  We are to respect our neighbor’s life, liberty, and property, because they are, like us, made in the image of God.  Do you see how many of these earthly relationships that we’ve talked about before (honoring parents, no murder, and no adultery) are all connected to one another?  We’re called to have such a high standard of caring for, respecting, and loving one another, because we are image bearers of God Himself.

                Now it’s not as if the Old Testament, specifically the first five books of it, is the only place where we find anything that condemns stealing.  As I said earlier, the issue of stealing was very much a reality during the time of Jesus as well.  There are some folks out there who when thinking of Jesus, all they think of is his giving to the needy and his compassion.  Now, I certainly think of giving and compassion when I think of Jesus, but when those two things are so overly magnified and then taken into consideration along with what some perceive (wrongly I might add) as Jesus’ distain for civil authorities, they end up with a theology or a worldview that somehow works out to see that taking something required to survive from someone who has more than enough is alright.  There are people out there who view theft in order to provide for family and children as acceptable; God-fearing, Bible-believing people who say that situational stealing is okay.  However, I want us to hear what Jesus has to say about it in Matthew 19.  This is after he is asked by the rich young ruler what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus says, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 19:18-19 ESV).  That doesn’t sound to me like Jesus has a lax view of stealing.  That sounds like Jesus has a very high view of the Law, which he does.  The words of Jesus here sound to me like there are no exceptions to violating any commandments, which there aren’t.  For an even more definitive proof of this view of the Law, and specifically this eighth commandment, we could look at Paul’s words in Romans 13 or John the Baptist’s words in Luke 3.  Both of these statements are made with the mindset that if someone says they are converted and have repented, yet continue to steal, then it is questionable whether they are truly converted.  You see, when we become Christians, then the focus should be aimed less at us, and more at fulfilling the Great Commandment and loving our neighbors as ourselves.  If our hearts are truly changed, then the result should be that we long for a keeping of God’s Law instead of looking for every loophole we can find for violating it.

                Now, all of this biblical evidence against stealing is well and good, but you may still be sitting there asking yourself how this applies to you.  You haven’t kidnapped anyone.  You haven’t extorted anyone.  You’ve been on time with all your payments your entire life.  You’ve never even charged someone more for something than you should have.  Maybe you’re even one of those people that if you’re undercharged for something then you alert someone so that you can rectify the mistake.  Well, how does this commandment apply to you?  Let me first offer up some simple examples of modern-day or contemporary stealing.  You see, stealing today can range anywhere from cheating in school to the robbery that we first think of when we hear the word steal.  So, let’s work our way through some of these examples shall we.  Cheating in school is stealing the labor of someone else or another student.  This could come in the form of copying or plagiarizing (taking credit for something that you didn’t do).  I know this is a simple one, but don’t get comfortable yet, you’re about to feel a little less at ease the further we get.  After all, cheating (taking credit for the work of others) probably happens just as much in the business world as it does in the education system.

Defrauding others in business is a very common example of stealing.  This can take the form of not paying bills on time that we’ve talked about already, but it is much more than that.  Did you know that the IRS estimates that 17% of federal taxes went unpaid due to either not filing or underreporting?  That comes out to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 billion per year; a cost that is then passed along to those who actually do pay their taxes.  It’s also estimated that some $40 billion is stolen from employers every year, and not by outside persons, but by employees.  This comes from when you add up company equipment, utilities, time, and personnel used for personal tasks.  Also, it’s estimated that some $350 billion is lost per year due to sick days taken dishonestly.  Now, you may want to know what this has to do with stealing.  Well, according to these numbers, American businesses are forced to charge somewhere in the neighborhood of 15% more for goods and services because of this stealing done by employees.  Like I said, stealing is a crime against the whole community.

Now, there are several more areas or examples of stealing depending how strictly you interpret this commandment, some of which are quite controversial, that I could get into as to modern examples of stealing, but I want to talk about the most chilling of them all:  Christian giving.  By this, I mean man robbing God (or attempting to at least).  We’ve looked at Malachi 3 before, and we’ve seen that when a man withholds his full tithe from God that he is seen as having robbed God.  We’re supposed to give to God out of our firstfruits and our best or else we are stealing from Him.  Not only are we guilty of violating this commandment, but the offended party is God, the very one who wrote this commandment.

Have you ever dealt unfairly with someone either in business, finances, or in any type of transaction?  Have you ever sold a house or a car and made sure to do something to hide that imperfection in the wall or the dashboard?  Now, I know that these are the seemingly negligible examples of violating this commandment.  We would never in a million years put covering up a leaky pipe on the same level as kidnapping.  We would never consider embezzlement the same as covering up a hole in the carpet with a couch.  However, we have to remember that when it comes to God, sin is sin.  There is no such thing as degrees or levels of sin.  God doesn’t look at one sin and compare its severity to another.  In the eyes of the Lord all violations of His Law, no matter how minute and seemingly minuscule, are sin in His eyes.

When we really get down to it, what this commandment ultimately is is a command that requires our respecting of our neighbor’s person and property.  It is a commandment, a directive from God as to how we are to act, which is rooted in the principle of the providence of God.  If we really believe that God is who He says He is, then the desire to steal should never even be considered.  We should trust that the Lord is going to provide for us, even in those moments where we don’t see any way out of it.  We all have those stories about how we were down and feeling like we were soon to be out, when God provided.  If our conviction and our belief in God’s Word is such that we fully believe in the fulfillment of all of God’s promises, then the desire to deal unjustly with others ought to make us sick even thinking about it. 

I want to close by reading to you what I think is a brilliant way to sum up this commandment.  It comes from Dr. Ligon Duncan and it says:  “The problem of stealing, the problem of a violation of the eighth commandment, is a matter of the heart and so the solution is found in the heart with Jesus Christ.  If you, in thinking through some of the applications of this sin today, realize that you are a thief, that there is a pattern of stealing in your life, it may be respectable stealing, it may be secret stealing, it may never have been uncovered by anybody else, but there's a pattern in your life, then there's only one solution.  That solution is the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  You know, it's interesting, isn't it, that there were two thieves once, one on each side of the savior, and one of them, one of them saw his sin and when he saw his sin, he ran to the Savior and he said to Him, ‘Don't forget me when You come into Your kingdom’ and to that changed thief Jesus said, ‘Today you will be with Me in paradise’.”  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.