Swords Into Plowshares

Posted by Chris on December 16, 2007 under Sermons

One of the thoughts that is current at this time of year is the sentiment of “Peace on earth and goodwill toward men.” It’s an ancient idea … Read Isaiah 2:2-5

Verse 4A Vision of Peace – Nations No Longer At War
The imagery of Isaiah 2:1-5 has inspired nations to hope for an end to war and conflict:

sculpture by Vuchetich “Let Us Beat Our Swords Into Plowshares” is a bronze sculpture created by Soviet artist Evgeny Vuchetich and presented to the United Nations in December 1959 by the Government of the USSR. The sculpture depicts the figure of a man holding a hammer aloft in one hand, and a sword in the other, which he is making into a ploughshare. It is meant to symbolize man’s desire to put an end to war and to convert the means of destruction into creative tools for the benefit of mankind. The sculpture is located in the North Garden of UN Headquarters. Vuchetich imagined the sculpture, but the idea came from Isaiah. The inspiration for the sculpture is taken from Isaiah 2. Isaiah Wall

The words of Isaiah 2 are inscribed in a wall across the street from the U.N. building. It’s known as the Isaiah Wall in Ralph Bunche Park. For the last 32 years, visitors to and workers in the United Nations Building have walked in the presence of this word from the prophet. It enlightens them to the vision of a world without war. A time when all nations will be at peace …

The Christmas Truce of 1914
In the trenches on Christmas Eve of 1914, the soldiers of both sides became silent. In many locations throughout the no-man’s land, the soldier’s exchanged the sound of gunfire and shelling for Christmas carols. Soon they gave calls for a peace. And they emerged from their cold muddy ditches to greet one another. The men shared their provisions. They drank toasts and traded chocolates and cigars. They held communion services. In some places they even played a game of football.

Some accounts say that the soldier’s maintained the truce for over a week. But the politicians and high ranking officers viewed the truce as insubordination and threatened to shoot the soldier’s if they did not return to war. Well, the officers and politicians had “trained for war” after all.

Isaiah would say that the soldier’s were beating their swords into plowshares. He would say that the soldier’s were calling each other to go to the mountain of the Lord. They were learning to walk in the light of the Lord. The last chapter of Stanley Weintraub’s book Silent Night: The Story of the WWI Christmas Truce is entitled “What If – ?” He sets out what he believes the rest of the 20th century would have been like if the soldiers had been able to cause the Christmas Truce of 1914 to stop the war at that point. There may have been no Russian Revolution, no Communism, no Lenin, and no Stalin, thus, no Cold War and no fear of nuclear annihilation. Furthermore, there probably would have been no Versailles Treaty, and therefore, no Hitler, no Nazism, no World War II. The dominos of world history would have fallen out very differently – perhaps there would still be disputes, but a spirit of peace and unity would have brought into settling the disputes rather than a spirit of war. All this might have been if the soldier’s had been able to beat every single sword into a plowshare.

But it’s just What If – right? Sure. Why couldn’t it be What If for today? Do we believe that any of this is truly possible?

Verse 3Of all people, we ought to be the ones who truly believe that this vision may come to pass. In fact, we should be living now as if it were already here. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

The scale of the vision seems so large and grand. Nations are at peace. They are not going to war, but instead they are streaming into God’s house. The government and the Supreme Court are not in Washington, D.C. or New York City. No, in that day we are ruled from the spiritual Jerusalem, from Zion – in other words, the throne of God. Disputes are taken before God himself – and the judgment is good. Instead of learning new ways to kill and conquer, people are learning God’s ways. They are walking in God’s paths. It is a grand vision.

But it starts with people – just people like us – turning the swords and spears, the instruments of battle, into instruments of peace and prosperity. It starts with people like us, humbling ourselves enough that we will listen to what God has to teach us. It means that you and I will care about the things that Jesus taught us and treat it as a light that shows us the way.

It starts with people like us inviting one another to go up to God’s mountain. It starts with people like us inviting everyone to take a hike up God’s hill and sit down in God’s house and learn from him. It starts with people like us walking in God’s paths.

Verse 2Of all people, we ought to be the ones who truly believe that this vision will come to pass. In fact, we should be living now as if it were already here: because if we really believe God’s Word then we believe that a day is coming when this grand vision is a grand reality.

What makes the U.N. believe that peace is a possibility? What inspired Soviet Yevgeny Vucheitch’s sculpture? What is it that calls people to pray and protest in front of the Isaiah Wall? A simple answer is that they have a hope – an idea about a better future. Even if they cannot quite clarify it, they know that the future could be better than what we experience today.

That’s why we ought to be the people blazing the trail to that brighter tomorrow. Because we believe that the Day of the Lord is coming. Sadly, we are less able to express our hope than the people outside the house of God. Our expectation of the future is really quite thin and anemic. It’s like a game show – “Who wants to go to heaven?” Answer a few questions, and you win the prizes. And if that seems too self-serving we can simply say that we prefer heaven to the alternative. We are like Dante Allegheri – we can tell a good story about hell and the Inferno, but our portrait of heaven and paradise is sort of dull.

This is no one’s fault but our own. Scripture has given a vivid image of what we can expect. Here’s what Isaiah saw: In the last days … the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
And that’s just a sample, that’s just how it begins. Everyone is coming to God’s mountain. It is THE mountain. It is the place to be because God is there. Everyone is welcome. National borders, national economics, national heritage – these things do not separate us. We are all on the same path heading up God’s mountain. We all have an audience with the Creator of the Universe. And he welcomes us.
That’s just how it begins. Since we are all heading to the same place and devoted to the same God, there is peace. No bombing, no shooting, no crossing of swords, not even the shout of angry and bitter words.

What’s our vision of that day? Have we heard the prophets? Have we heard the apostles? The apostle Peter knew what to expect. He regarded the vision of the last days as a call. God was making a promise and calling us to anticipate that promise being kept: we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13) In the day when the mountain of the Lord is the center of the universe, we will be living in the place where righteousness is the norm. That’s heaven, that’s hope.

Verse 5So —- Come Let Us Walk in the Light of the Lord! Here’s the call for us. When the prophet Isaiah spoke these words to the family of God, the house of Jacob, was stumbling around in the dark. They were blinded by the gold and silver of their graven images. They had fashioned their own objects of worship. They trusted in themselves more than they trusted in God.

Are we stumbling in the dark? We are when we are blinded by silver and gold. When we worship fashion. When the object of our worship is not God, but the facts and logic of our study about God. We trust in what we know rather than trust in the God who knows us. Being so blind and arrogant, we do not climb the step to the house of God. But, we descend into the trenches of conflict, bitterness, and war. We beat our plowshares back into swords and we exchange wounds rather than gifts. That’s stumbling in the dark …

So listen up. If we’ve been blinded then listen for the sound of singing. Listen to the ring of the hammer on the anvil. We’re doing away with our weapons. We are working for peace. Let’s go to school. Let’s learn how to live with one another. Let’s go to Christ’s house, up on the mountain – everyone is going there. Disputes will be settled there. Conflicts will be resolved. Come on, we’re the house of Jesus Christ, so Come on – let’s walk in the light of the Lord!

Decalogue 2.0

Posted by Chris on December 9, 2007 under Sermons

Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 – A comparison

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20)

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Deuteronomy 5)

What are the different situations that may account for the change in order?

Ownership of land?
Social status of wife?

Deuteronomy

The second (giving of the) law
- Deuteros = second; Nomos = Law
  – Decalogue 2.0
Moses’ last words to Israel
Bridges the Past Tradition and Current Situation
Deuteronomy is for each generation (see Deuteronomy 6)

Deuteronomy 17:18
[The King] is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left.

Deuteronomy 5:1-3
Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.

Deuteronomy 29:12-15
You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, … that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.

Three Settings – One Book

Before entering the land
Living the good life on the land
After losing the land in exile

Living Interpretation – A Process

Don’t Covet

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

Read Ten Words [Exodus 20]

In his book, The Year of Living Biblically, writer A.J. Jacobs sets out to follow the teaching of the Bible as literally as possible. He will not pick and choose which instructions to follow, so he lets his hair and beard grow out and will not wear clothing of mixed fibers. Of course he observes the Ten Words, including the Tenth Commandment.

Jacobs makes a list one day of all the things he covets … a PDA, his neighbor’s front lawn, the speaking fee of a fellow author, George Clooney’s fame. He even covets for his infant son. He wants his son to have the vocabulary of other kids. Jacob’s begins to notice that coveting leads him to compare himself to others, including his wife’s ex-boyfriend. Jacobs concludes that he tends to spend a lot of time and mental energy on breaking the tenth commandment – and it’s all the harder not to do that since our advertising age seems to run on coveting. But Jacobs finds a tactic that helps him overcome coveting: “If you’re intently focused on following the rules of the Bible, you don’t have time to covet. Not as much anyway.”

The tenth word to live by takes us back to the first. The first and tenth words to live by are bookends. Unlike the other eight that are focus on visible actions, the first and tenth have to do with our heart, or our state of mind.

What is our focus? Is it God, or it the goods of our neighbor? Is it the Lord, or is it self?

Remember that the last six of the Ten Words are aimed at how we ought to live in community with one another. What happens to us as a people when we covet? Coveting is desire. It is very much related to greed and jealousy. Describing it so harshly, none of us would think much of coveting. However, since coveting is an internal problem and not connected to any specific action, it is a subtle problem. As a people, we have ways of ignoring the detriments of coveting.
We center our economy too often on coveting. Many of us are overworked trying to earn more so that we can own more. We may be able to get more, but we lose the time to enjoy what we have. But instead of labeling this as coveting, we describe it as ambition, providing for the family, supporting a lifestyle, working for a better life, getting ahead.

Story of the fisherman and the business man – An exhausted businessman traveled to a faraway island for a vacation. Everyday he went to the beach to swim and relax and every day he noticed a man with a boat and fishing net. He was cleaning one, maybe two fish every day. The business man finally asked, “You’re a fisherman, right? I noticed that you catch just one or two fish a day.” The fisherman replied, “Yes, I usually find plenty of fish in the morning.” The businessman asks, “But what do you do with the rest of your day?” Fisherman: “Well, let’s see. I clean the fish to eat or sell. I go home and take a nap. I work on my house, I eat supper with my family, then I play guitar and sing with my friends.” The businessman with furrowed brow said to the man, “Well see here, if you were to fish all day you could probably triple your profit. You could use that to buy a bigger boat, hire workers, and maybe even expand your business by getting into distribution.” “Why would I do that?” the fisherman asks. “Why, you could eventually get to the point that you would be set of life. You could quit work, stay home most of the day, take vacations, relax and spend time with friends and family whenever you wanted.” “Well man, that’s what I am doing now but I only have to catch one fish a day to do it.”

On the other side of the economic equation we are consumers and not just overworked providers. The Christmas season is big business. [Do we ever stop to think at how natural it is for us to find Santa in a store? Santa and commerce go together.] Shopping has become an activity that pleases us rather than something we do out of necessity.

Woolworths was one of the first stores to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk. Earlier retailers kept all merchandise behind a counter, and customers presented the clerk with a list of items they wished to buy. We sell things for no other reason than the fact that someone will want it – or because our neighbor may want it!

When wants and desires come between us, we will all be unhappy. [A neighbor of Abraham Lincoln saw him carrying two of his sons, one under each arm. The little boys were crying. The neighbor asked Lincoln what was wrong. He replied, “Just what’s the matter with the whole world. I’ve got three pieces of candy, and each wants two.”] The tenth word is a a perfect sign-off to the ten words to live by. It reminds us that unchecked desire, jealousy, and discontent leads us to violate the other commandments. As a result we wound our neighbor and wreck our life together …

King David ignored God’s words to live by. He stole another man wife thus ignoring two of the words. He lied about it and had the other man murdered thus ignoring two more of those words. He invoked God’s name to justify his actions, thus he violated even another. But it all began by ignoring the tenth word to live by. He was coveting his neighbor’s wife. And he ignored the tenth because he ignored the first. David should have been doing what God called him to do – leading the armies of Israel – but instead he was at home.
Coveting is the attitude of heart that preceeds us not living according to God’s words.

The remedy is to go back to the first word that God spoke. He will be our God. He are to be his people.

Jesus is asking us to look inward and question what it most important. Where’s our treasure? Is it God? Is our treasure found in the kingdom of God? Or do we have our eyes and hearts set on our neighbor’s stuff?

Rather than compete with our neighbor, let’s be content with what God gives us. A few weeks ago we spoke about greed and materialism, but let’s go a step further. Let’s listen to Jesus: He recognizes the bookends to these Ten Words and gives us Two Words to Live By …

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matt. 22:37-40

Special Note:

The following is a bibliography of resources used throughout this series on the Ten Words to Live By. I am grateful to the authors of these books for being my “conversation partners” in this series. In both agreement and disagreement, these resources have proven to be useful aids in the writing of the sermons and classes.

J. John, Ten: Living the Ten Commandments in the 21st Century, (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor Publishing), 2000.
Anne Robertson, God’s Top Ten: Blowing the Lid Off the Commandments, (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing), 2006.
J. Ellsworth Kalas, The Ten Commandments from the Back Side, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press), 1998.
Rich Atchley, Sinai Summit: Meeting God With Our Character Crisis, (Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood Publishing), 2003.
S. Hauerwas and W. Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press), 1999.
Carl E. Braaten and Christopher R. Seitz (eds.), I Am the Lord Your God: Christian Reflections on the Ten Commandments, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans), 2005.
William P. Brown (ed.), The Ten Commandments: The Reciprocity of Faithfulness, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press), 2004.
Lewis B. Smedes, Mere Morality: What God Expects from Ordinary People, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans), 1983.
Joan Chittister, The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), 2006.

Bringing It Together

Posted by Chris on December 2, 2007 under Sermons

James 4:1-3
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 3

The responsibility of words (1-2)
The tongue (3-8)
1. Small and powerful
2. Small and dangerous
Consistency (9-12)
Wisdom and peace vs. Bitterness and disorder (13-18)

Truth or Lying?

Telling the truth respects others as important persons.
Lying demeans and dehumanizes others.

Glue or Acid?

Truth is a glue that bonds us to one another
Lying is an acid that corrodes our life together

Don’t Lie

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

The Power of Words
God created the world with words. Of all the creatures he made, only humanity is given the ability to use words. All animals can communicate, but only humans can use words. Words can contain meaning as hold that meaning forever. Words have power. They exist outside of us in some sense.

A single word or sentence can set off conflict — or end it. When a word is spoken, it cannot be unspoken. When heard, it cannot be unheard.

The Ninth Word to Live By (Exodus 20:16) recognizes the power of words and the way that words can create trust and community. It is critical that we speak the truth to one another and about one another. Telling lies about others, or giving false testimony about others, uses words for evil rather than good. It tears apart relationships and breaks down community.

The one graduation speech I can remember was based on Prov. 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” Words used rightly are precious things. And word used rightly is truth, because God is truth. And it is good, for God is good. And it is constructive, for God is life and God is love.

Let us pay attention to what we say …
- Is it true? Even the media misses this. We are so used to accepting as true what is spoken in the media. “Did the president lie?” It doesn’t matter which president, the question hints at the importance of truth. We are unfortunately jaded because we’ve been lied to by government and media. It has eroded trust. So, it is important that we speak truth, but even so there are other responsibilities …
- Is it good? Afternoon scandal shows and gossip magazines at the check out aisle feed our fascination with shocking truth. The stories may be true, but is the telling of it any good? Just because something is truth doesn’t mean we have to speak it or tell it. Sometimes “bad truths” have a way of being circulated. If no good comes from hearing it, why would we tell another? Ben Sirach 19:13-17 …
Let us pay attention to how we say it …
- We should only speak the truth – and only if it is good to speak that truth. Even still, we have a responsibility for HOW we speak.
- In our age of Talk Radio we tend to think that dialogue only counts if it is arguing. The proliferation of argumentative, combative talk shows is what George Will has called the coarsening of public conversation. This is where we need to be more mature as the people of Christ …
- If we have to speak a difficult truth with someone we should approach the matter humbly. Respect the other by asking for the opportunity to speak and be heard. Don’t be tricky or coy (So, have you stopped beating your wife?). Jesus teaches us that the goal of approaching others is to build community. Winning someone back means that you have fellowship with him or her again. Where 2 or 3 are in agreement, Jesus is with them.
- Let us pay attention to HOW we say the truth for speaking words “unfitly” cause more pain rather than change.
Let us pay attention to what we hear …
- The thief can steal all the items he wants, but he depends on the “fence” to sell the ill-gotten gains. Without the fence, there would be no market for stolen goods. Likewise, without an willing audience, there’s no market for lies and gossip.
- Just as the fence cannot justify his participation by saying, “I didn’t steal it.” So also, we cannot justify the distribution of half-truths, lies, and gossip by saying, “This didn’t come from me.”
- The doctor told a man that he had a condition that would result in rapid hearing loss and he would have to have hearing aids. The doctor was rather stunned when the man smiled at this news. Doctor: “Most patients are disappointed by this news, why are you smiling?” Man: “Well, my wife is the town gossip and she always tells me stuff I don’t want to hear, now your are installing an ‘off ‘ switch in my ears.”
- Most of the literature on office and school gossip is aimed at the “listener.” The message is clear: Don’t listen to it and it will not continue.
- God’s people have had this literature for ages – the ninth word to live by.

It is a great responsibility to use words. There is a great responsibility in telling the truth, how we tell it, and what we will and will not listen to. If it seems hard, then know this: It is hard. But if words are going to mean anything at all, then we should thank God for the responsibility. And if words and truth mean anything to us then we will pay attention to what we say and how we say it – and we will pay attention to what we choose to listen to …

When someone asked us if we believed “Jesus Christ is the Son of God” and we said yes – and if we were baptized into the name of Christ on the basis of that confession – then we very much must honor the sacredness and preciousness of truth and the responsibility of using words to bring life and build up.

[Sources consulted: The illustration of the thief and the “fence” is taken from Kalas, The Ten Commandments from the Back Side.]

A Reflection on James 4

Posted by Chris on November 25, 2007 under Sermons

The best New Testament companions of the Ten Commandments are the Sermon on the Mount and James.
Read James 4:1-10
Friendship with the world and Friendship with God
1. Greed as a force that leads to anxiety
2. Desire for things
3. Murder and Coveting

Two Reflections

1991 – On the streets of London.
1. The homeless poor.
2. The two I met were would steal and cheat in order to survive.
3. Christian witness
4. They had never met someone who was a friend of God
5. All they knew was friendship with the world
1992 – Mexico
1. My co-worker and brother in Christ in Mexico
2. My age, married with three children.
3. Karen and I were invited to a meal in his house.
4. A small place. Rice, beans and tortillas.
5. They shared a feast with us. Hospitality.
6. They were friends with God.

Don’t Steal

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

If you went shopping on Black Friday or Green Saturday (and even if you have shopped on-line in advance of Cyber Monday) it is likely that you went about your purchases and business unconsciously aware of the many security devices that are now a common feature of our public life.

Consider the fact that we move past security cameras regularly in banks, stores, and public spaces. The items we buy are protected against tampering and shoplifting with plastic seals, magnetic strips, ink packets, and strapped-on sirens. When we check out check out or shop on-line our transactions are locked up in 128-bit encryption and initiated with PIN codes and passwords. All of these layers of security, and we are rarely conscious of them!

These facts of life indicate that our culture is conditioned to assume that someone is always stealing something. Doesn’t that strike us as a natural outlook? It’s not only the suburban teenager stuffing a sweater in her oversized bag that we imagine stealing from us. We have also learned the hard way that some of the richest and most powerful people in big business and government are also thieves. The image of the robber in a striped shirt and domino-mask with a dollar-sign bag has been replaced by a man in a $5,000 dollar suit and tie.

There are a few other facts we might draw from the reality of our high-security world:

First, stealing costs us all. Who pays for all the cameras, metal detectors, and encryption? We all do. And it doesn’t only cost us in cash, there is an erosion of public trust that is costing us dearly.
Second, not only is public trust eroding, but the environment we live in is highly toxic to personal integrity. If there is theft going on everywhere, then who really notices our efforts to be completely honest – does it really matter?
Third, stealing in America is not typically motivated by material needs. Only in the rarest cases or in disasters do we hear of people stealing for food and water. When we consider that statistically, theft was less of a problem in the Great Depression than it is today, we might conclude that theft today is not based on need, but it is motivated by greed.

Greed

Greed is a problem for all classes. The wealthiest and poorest may be influenced by greed. Related to the greediness of our culture is the rampant materialism and consumerism of our age.

Do we really need to go shopping at 3 AM on the day after Thanksgiving? I always wonder what the hot item of the year is when I see people lined up and camped out in front of a store. Deck the Halls takes on new meaning at this time of year ever since people started throwing fists at each other trying to grab a limited supply of Cabbage Patch Dolls and Tickle-Me Elmos.

The long-lines, the early-bird shoppers, and the huge profits are often reported on the news with a wink and nod, but do we ever stop and realize how upside-down it may truly be? In our country we wait in lines for high-priced Playstations and Nintendos, but in many other nations the people wait in lines for food that may not be available. What we spend on our one purchase may be as much or more than what people in other nations make in a single year.

Overcoming Greed

Concept of Ownership –
- God owns all things. “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.” -Psalm 24:1. Do we own anything that hasn’t been given to us?
- Stealing is the false idea that you can take something and make it your own. That goes beyond legal and illegal. Even if you acquire something “legally” it may not be your own. Stealing can be more that theft.
Giving counters Greed.
- Do we really think that God has no interest in how we spend all of our money as long as we give him a tenth? Stop and think about it: God doesn’t care if we lose large sums of money at the casino as long as we paid our tithe? Money that could have been given to help others? Stop and think about it: God doesn’t care that we have more houses, cars, and clothes than we need as long as we put our offering in the plate? Stop and think about it: God doesn’t care that we have bought high-end tech gadgets which are marked up by 1000% as long as we pay him his cut?
- The 10% is not all that God owns or cares about. God has an opinion with the 90% too. In his parable of the seed and the sower, Jesus taught that the deceitfulness of wealth and desire for things chokes out the growth of the gospel in our lives (Mark 4). James issues a serious warning to those who live in self-indulgence (James 5). The message is clear that we should use all of our wealth to honor God.
- Giving counters greed and every act of giving is a rebellion against the desires and powers that makes us materialistic. How we give should lead how we spend.
Today is Always Thanksgiving. We have our holidays backwards. We gather around to give thanks for what we have on one day – the fourth Thursday in November, then for the next month we are consumed with materialism. It seems like we should start the shopping season and have Christmas and then after we open all the presents the next day ought to be Thanksgiving. If we did that we might not scurry and scamper for so much stuff. We might realize that we are really just children over-doing it on too much Halloween Candy.
- If we realize that all we have comes from God then we give thanks. Cultivating an attitude of thanksgiving transforms our attitude about things and ownership. It overcomes greed and it allows us to be more content. We learn to trust God by giving thanks. And it just might change our whole society starting with us …

Acts 4:32-37 –

There’s something different about the community of believers that live with Christ among them. There’s no stealing among them. There are no PIN Codes or passwords. There are no metal detectors or magnetic sensors. There are no food lines or forgers. Why? Because they have overcome greed and need. Why? Because they don’t own anything they will not share.

This could be us, if we have the spirit of Christ rather than the spirit of the age.
This could be us, if we devote ourselves to the apostle’s teaching, worship, and prayer.
This could be us, if we will truly meet together and eat together with glad and sincere hearts.

And if this could be us, we just might be filled with awe and wonder at what God can do through us!

Keeping Covenants

Posted by Chris on November 18, 2007 under Sermons

Covenants

Foundational oaths and agreements
Antecedent to Law
1. Noah (Genesis 9)
2. Abraham (Genesis 12)
3. Jacob (Genesis 28)
Jew-Gentile Controversy (Acts 15)

Covenant-Keeper vs. Self-Maximizer
[This dichotomy is taken from Lewis B. Smedes, Mere Morality: What God Expects From Ordinary People.]

Self-Maximizer is …

The virtues of the covenant-Keeper are what we want in all other people. But they can be personally demanding.
The virtues of the self-maximizer are not all bad, but if everyone felt that way society would collapse.
When staying committed is drudgery and self-mortification, why? Why keep covenants?

Why Keep a Vow?

We give ourselves over to a permanent identity in the face of an unpredictable future
Covenants and name-changes go together
Breaking a vow is murder and stealing.
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Parson’s Tale – Understand also that adultery is fitly placed in the ten commandments between theft and homicide; for it is the greatest theft that can be, being theft of’ body and of soul. And it is like homicide, for it cuts in twain and breaks asunder those that were made one flesh, and therefore, by the old law of God, adulterers should be slain. But nevertheless, by the law of Jesus Christ, which is a law of pity, He said to the woman who was taken in adultery and should have been slain with stones, according to the will of the Jews, as was their law: “Go,” said Jesus Christ, “and have no more will to sin,” or “will no more to do sin.”

Submit to One Another

Ephesians 5:21
- The Bride of Christ
- Christ takes care of the Bride as if she is part of his own body
Fidelity
- More than not committing adultery
Covenant-keepers seek the growth, enrichment, pleasure, and freedom of the other -(1 Corinthians 7)

Bad Marriage
According to the prophets, God himself suffered the pain of a bad marriage – a marriage hurt by adultery.

Ezekiel 16
Hosea
Isaiah 57

John 8 – There is grace and renewal for all broken covenants in Jesus Christ.

Don’t Commit Adultery

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

When God says, “You will not commit adultery” he is giving us a word to live by. Not just those of us who are married. Not just those who have problems in marriage. It is a word for all of us to live by. This word to live by affirms that all of us are stakeholders in certain covenants and boundaries. And when those covenants and boundaries are broken, we are all affected.

See 2 Samuel 11 – King David and Uriah’s Wife

But even though we know that boundaries and covenants such as sexual purity and marital fidelity ought to be respected, they are constantly ignored. Why is that? It may be that we have bought into some really bad ideas about sex . . .

1. Sex as a commodity. Sex sells. Why does the poster for welding equipment feature a woman in a bikini? That’s not proper attire for welding. We know why. We have been taught that sex sells. The sports car does not come with the beautiful girl, but men buy the sports car anyway. We have been taught that sex sells. Sex has become a commodity. The buying and selling of sexuality is not limited to prostitution. Victoria’s Secret does not sell underwear. It sells sexuality.

When the store opened up in the Lake Jackson mall you couldn’t walk through the mall because blocking the aisles was a gang of 14 year old boys standing in awe of the 7 foot poster of the woman in her skivvies. They were not there to buy gifts for their sisters.

We are always pressured to buy the lie. The cosmetic surgery industry is growing at an astonishing rate. The goal is to enhance features of the human anatomy to make one sexy and youthful. Sex sells. It is good business. Pharmaceuticals to enhance and effect sexual ability are also a growing industry. It is just good business.

Sex and scandals involving sex make for good ratings. And if a few boundaries have to be crossed to make a dollar, well what’s the harm? If people don’t like it, they wouldn’t buy it. X-Mart and the other “Adult” stores in our area perpetuate the bad idea that sex is something with a price tag.

God didn’t intend for sex to be merchandise. Sex and sexuality are powerful forces, much more powerful than capitalism and consumerism. When sex is regarded as a commodity, people just might break the rules to “get it.”

2. Sex as an idol. God has already given us a word to live by regarding idolatry. Throughout history, people have carved images of sex gods. Sex has been worshipped and humans have submitted to sex as a power for ages. But that mythological nonsense is all in the past yes? We don’t have temples to sex gods and goddesses anymore, do we? Not with bricks and mortar, no. But we do build shrines of electronic lights and pixels. Pornography is a real power that can work its “magic” in someone’s life as effectively as any force. We like to think that we can control our idols, but in the end they tend to dominate us.
God made sex as something good. It is part of who we are, but like all things in the creation, it is not something to be worshipped. Sex and human sexuality do have power – that’s why certain boundaries will be crossed; the power compels it. All such powers are not necessarily evil, but they (like us) need to be redeemed for God’s purposes.

3. Sex as (nothing more than) a personal choice. Even if we aren’t gratuitous or shocking, talking about sex publicly can be uncomfortable. That’s part of our problem. Although sex is a very intimate subject and does have something to do with our private world, we can go to the extreme of making it so private and personal that we no longer have anything to say about it publicly. And yet, that’s what this word from God is all about. God is affirming that there are certain societal covenants and boundaries that must be respected by all of us when it comes to sex.

This is what the marriage ceremony is all about. We are affirming as a people (single and married) a public statement about human sexuality. This is why the arguments about the definition of marriage are so fierce. It isn’t merely personal choice. If I go into my neighbor’s back yard and move the fence simply because I wanted it moved I am going to have a fight on my hands. Likewise, the ancient boundaries and covenants are not casually tampered with.

So it is doesn’t really work when we trample on marital fidelity and dismiss the breaking of covenants as a matter of personal choice. God intended sex to be something that everyone respects and when everyone doesn’t respect it the way God does, it is cheapened.

God cares a lot more about sex than we do. Wait, that doesn’t seem right, does it? Isn’t God really sort of testy and prudish? Doesn’t God intend to ultimately do away with sex? Isn’t sex just a necessary evil so that we can have babies who will grow up and worship God?

No. God considers sex to be something very valuable and good – after all it is his idea. It is a fundamental part of the created order. He made male and female in his image.

Often, God has much more respect and concern about sex than we do. If we really claim that we regard sex so highly then why do we tend to regard sex as casual and recreational? Why do we cheapen it by labeling it as “hooking up or a quick romp?” A man and a woman might have a one-time sexual encounter and just to make sure there’s no misunderstanding, they check with other to make sure that “it didn’t mean anything.” That’s not a very high view of sex, is it?

God also cares about our bodies. He isn’t simply interested in saving our souls – he treats us as total beings and the fact that Jesus was risen from the dead in a new body teaches us that God cares about the sort of things we do with our bodies.

According to God, sex unites two people with bodies and makes them one (Genesis 2). That’s a high view of sex. Adultery is just one activity that doesn’t fit into that view of sex. If two people are one flesh, there are problems when a third is involved.

So if we respect the physical boundaries, then there’s no problem right? Not quite. God respects sex so much that he made it a matter than involves our hearts as well as our bodies. Jesus understood this. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)

Jesus is teaching us that sex is related to our character. It has something to do with the purity of our heart. This applies to married and single people. We all have a stake in keeping the boundaries.

A Matter of Life and Death

Posted by Chris on November 11, 2007 under Sermons

Do Not Kill

Kill or Murder?
- Ratsach – Translated as kill and murder
- Numbers 35:27 – Kill and murder in English translations are the same word in Hebrew
Is this absolute or generic?
- The law seems to forbid and condone killing

The Value of Life

Only God can give life, only he can take it away
Humans are the only creatures made in God’s image
Killing ruins culture and community by making life disposable
Genesis 9:6 – Image of God

Matters of Life and Death

War
Punishment
Abortion
Euthanasia

War

What is it Good For? – Edwin Starr song
Is there a “Just War?”
Criteria for Just War:
- Justice
- Redemption
- Civil Authority
Neglect is lack of compassion

Capital Punishment

The value of human life justifies the death penalty (Life for Life)
The value of human life condemns the death penalty (dehumanizes society)
Three approaches to capital punishment
1. Capital punishment as humiliation and retribution [clearly unacceptable]
2. Capital punishment as justice and deterrent [debatable]
3. Capital punishment as legal maneuver (sentence of death but converted to life imprisonment) – [potentially meaningless]

Abortion

This is not only a woman’s issue – If men will take responsibility for their sexual ethics then there would be fewer unwanted pregnancies.
Discussion of abortion needs to respect the guilt and regret of those who have aborted a pregnancy
Abortion is a medical procedure; respect of life is a spiritual, ethical, and political matter

Reasons Given for Abortion

Risk of Life
to Mother

Rape and
Incest

Abnormal
Development

Retroactive
Birth Control

Euthanasia

It means “dying well.” – But it avoids discussion of what it means to live well in light of suffering.
Kevorkian’s machine was auto-suicide – this is a euphemism
What happens to our respect of life as a people?
- The beginnings at first were merely a subtle shift in emphasis in the basic attitudes of the physicians. It started with the attitude, basic in the Euthanasia Movement, that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived. This attitude in its early stages concerned itself merely with the severely and chronically sick. Gradually the sphere of those to be included in the category was enlarged to encompass the socially unproductive, the ideologically unwanted, the racially unwanted and finally all non-Germans. – Testimony of a psychiatrist at the Nuremburg Tribunal explaining how the Nazi government was capable of atrocities.
What is a life worthy to be lived?

J. John, Ten: Living the Ten Commandments in the 21st Century, was an important resource in the development of this lesson. His outlook focuses on the application of the Ten Commandments in the UK. It is interesting to apply his observations to the U.S.

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