Ram Tough and Billy Goat Gruff

Posted by Chris on August 5, 2007 under Sermons

Daniel 8: Four Scenes

1. The Ram with Two Horns
2. The Goat with One Horn
3. Four Horns Plus One More
4. A Little Help from the Angel

Where Is Daniel?

• Daniel’s location in time and space within his vision (8:1-2) gives us the starting point in understanding the directions and movements of the Ram and Goat.
• When: Third year of Belshazzar (546 B.C.). Seven years before Persian takeover
• Where: Susa facing the Ulai (in the vision). He is in Persia

The Ram – Persian Empire

• Two Horns = Medes and Persians
• Charges from east and goes west, north, and south. These directions are relative to Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire.
• This follows the expansion of the Persian Empire and includes its conquest of Babylon

The He-Goat

• One Horn = Alexander the Great. He moves without touching the ground shows the rapid progress of Alexander’s campaign.
• Battle of Gaugamela – 331 B.C. Alexander conquered Darius III and claimed the Persian Empire for the Greek Empire
• Attacks from the west – Macedon is west relative to Susa.

Four Horns

• Wars of Succession (323-301 B.C.) – Alexander did not have a stable heir. His generals engage in wars for the next 22 years (and beyond) and divide up the Greek Empire
• Alexander’s Generals:
  1. Ptolemy [Egypt, Palestine]
  2. Seleucus [Babylon]
  3. Antigonus [Syria, Turkey] – Seleucus eventually acquires Antigonus’ territory
  4. Cassander [Macedonia, Greece]
  5. Lysimachus [Thrace, Bythinia]
• The four horns represent the four major divisions following the Battle of Issus in 301 BC – Ptolemy in Egypt, Seleucus in Syria/Babylon/Persia, Cassander in Macedonia, and Lysimachus in Thrace/Bythinia

The “Fifth” Horn

• Antiochus IV Epiphanes is the Fifth Horn that grows up toward the south, west, and the beautiful land.
  • His movement toward the south involves his attempt to invade Egypt in 168 BC. His efforts are thwarted and on his return through Jerusalem he occupies Jerusalem with a vengeance. (See below)
• Ruled Seleucid Empire (175-164 BC)
• Epiphanes = “God Manifested”
• Hellenized Jerusalem

Culture Wars

1. 168 BC – Antiochus invades Egypt
2. 167 BC – Invades Jerusalem
   • Rebuilt Temple as fortress
   • Erected statue of Zeus (that looked a lot like Antiochus himself!)
   • Forbade Jewish religion
   • Abomination of Desolation – He sacrificed a pig on the altar to desecrate the temple. This is an event that lives in the Jewish mindset from this point to the time of Jesus and beyond. The vital connection for relationship and forgiveness between God and his people is violated and seemingly broken by Antiochus.

Faith Crisis

1. How can a ruler like Antiochus invade God’s turf?
2. How can the worship that represents relationship be set aside?
3. Are God and his order for creation reliable?

How Long Will the Desecration Last?

• 2,300 evening and mornings = two daily sacrifices in temple
• 2300/2 = 1150/30 (days in the lunar month) = 38.3/12 = 3.19 years
• 3 years and 70 days
• The temple was invaded in fall 167 (idol of Zeus was set up on Chislev 15, 168) and the temple was restored on Chislev 25, 164 BC. All of this is fairly close to 3 years and 70 days.

His Power At Work Within Us: Wait and Pray

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

Read Acts 1:1-14.

• A new hope and new wave of energy electrifies the 120 believers in Jerusalem. They thought Jesus was dead. They lost heart. But now he is with them.
• A resurrected Messiah is unstoppable, so Peter speaks for everyone when he asks if this is the time for action.
• Jesus reminds Peter that that is God’s call. Everything Jesus had been about was submitting himself to God: “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” So even now Jesus is going to ask his disciples to do what they seemed unable to do on the night he was betrayed – PRAY!

Jesus’ advice might be annoying or confusing to action-oriented Americans who live in an instant society. Our cultural wisdom urges us that … the early bird gets the worm, and we need to strike while the iron is hot, and opportunity only knocks once because time is of the essence and time is money, and we need to give 110% because we can’t just stand there, we’ve got to do something, so we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps with the sweat of our own brow just to get-r-done.

Jesus’ advice is probably more frustrating to us than it was to Peter. There’s work to be done – kingdom business – and sitting around praying is something we can do on our own time.
What if Peter and the 120 had had the attitude we sometimes have? What if they had watched Jesus ascend to heaven and then say to themselves – “Well, Jesus gives good advice but he doesn’t really know what its like in the streets of Jerusalem. There’s a lot of work to be done and only a 120 of us.” What if they had got anxious instead of got down on their knees? I wonder if they had done that would there even be a chapter 2 and the day of Pentecost.

God’s power is at work within us. We don’t channel the power or command the power. We cannot bottle it or manage it to serve us. Even Jesus didn’t do that. His power works among us and our response is to be faithful and follow.
We understand that this power works among us to accomplish God’s mission. Reading the text, our first work should always be prayer – not a perfunctory opening prayer, but the humble recognition that the mission and evangelism is God’s power at work among us and not a do-it-yourself job on our part.

Prayer is vital and it might help us to be more active and devoted to prayer, but our cultural viewpoints may make it so that we have …

• We have a hard time believing that prayer actually gets anything done.
  • We want things that we can chart and measure and plan.
  • We want to meet needs and fix problems. We believe prayer is good for the soul, but little else.
  • We equate prayer with a ritual in worship. Certainly it is right to pray in worship, and our prayers in worship are not meaningless, but all of worship is prayer. And prayer is worship.
• Our values are upside down – we believe that prayer is the seasoning for the main course. In reality, prayer is the root, stem and leaves – our effort is just a blossom.

1. Prayer keeps us from apathy and anxiety
   • Sometimes we accept that things are the way they are – – And the way they have always been.
   • Sometimes we worry about things they may or may not ever happen.
   • Both ends of this spectrum – apathy and anxiety are due to an overemphasis on US. If it’s all up to us, things probably won’t change much. If it’s all up to us, then we aren’t doing enough or we aren’t good enough or we are going to do it all wrong.
   • But when we stop and pray we get centered on the power that is at work among us. We wait for God to work and then we simply have to be faithful and follow.
2. Prayer keeps us from arrogance
   • So you can see how prayer keeps us from arrogance. When we are arrogant, we put more faith in our own ability than in the ability of God.
   • We will spend months planning programs and budgets; we will spend thousands on new ideas, but we are skeptical or unconvinced of the value of a whole night in prayer. Why?
   • It runs against our “do-it-yourself” grain. Our individualism has made us less dependent on God.
   • Sometimes we go ahead of God. We continuously invent another program, another plan. We toil and labor and sweat, and like those apostles who worked and worked to cast out a measly little demon from a poor suffering child. Once they surrendered the effort to Jesus the demon was cast out and when they wanted to know why he could when they couldn’t he told them “That this kind only comes out with prayer.” (Mark 9:14-29) Let’s not think that prayer isn’t important.

Be Still and Know That I Am God
About eight years ago I attended an evangelism conference with an elder and fellow minister of the church I served in Texas. It was a good conference. We were inspired. We left the conference in Ft. Worth buzzing and enthusiastic about all that we could do back home. We were driving along I-45 talking and brainstorming about plans and about halfway home near Fairfield, Texas the van started losing power. I couldn’t understand it. And then I caught sight of the gas gauge. [In 26 years of driving, I have run out of gas twice. And the first time it was the car’s fault. The gas gauge lied to me.] But this time I was so caught up in plans and programs to do the work of the church I forgot something as simple as getting fuel.
The loss of power in our American-built van sort of made all of stop and re-focus. What were we skipping over in all of our high and mighty ideas? Who were we outrunning? We ran out of gas, but God has power that never quits. There was only one thing that we needed to do – and it wasn’t finding gasoline. As the world rushed on beside us at 70 mph, we sat and prayed. All of our talk about plans and programs and busy-ness were put aside. In a van with no gas on I-45 near Fairfield, TX we humbled ourselves before God in prayer. We prayed for the lost. We prayed for the church. We prayed for wisdom and patience and we prayed for power – all in God’s own time.

There were so many interesting things that happened in the months that followed. Things we never would have imagined. Things that we certainly would not have been prepared for if we hadn’t prayed. And things we probably wouldn’t have chosen if we hadn’t prayed.

You and I may not be here today if those 120 folk in Jerusalem had decided to strike out on their own and do their own work instead of pray and wait for God’s work in them. But thank God they did and can you believe what happened next? Sure you can, for here we are today.

So let’s get busy – let’s get busy praying. And we may just be amazed at what happens next.

His Power at Work Within Us

Posted by Chris on July 29, 2007 under Sermons

Ephesians 3:20

This text is a word of praise from the apostle. He is praising God for all the amazing and astounding things that God has done, can do and is doing. God is able, he affirms, to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine.

I think our imaginations are large enough to accept that. We can accept that God is able to do anything, yes? We can accept that God is able to do more than we could ever ask, yes? We can accept that God’s power and ability is “off the scale,” yes? I don’t think we are the sort of people who would dare to limit God’s power or somehow believe that there was something just too difficult for God.

But can we accept that God’s power works within us? Think about that. The God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine is working among us, through us, within us. Will we accept that? It is part of the praise: “according to his power at work within us.” It’s one thing to sing out strongly that “God is so big, so great and so mighty, there’s nothing our God cannot do!” But to also contend that God is at work within me? That makes it personal and real.

We’ve been saying for some weeks now that God is doing great things among us. I, for one, have been telling you this. I believe it. I see it. I want you to see it as well. There are a couple of men I want you to hear from . . .

Lions, Leopards, and Bears, Oh My!

Posted by Chris on July 22, 2007 under Sermons

Features of the Apocalyptic Genre

1. Account of visionary, history on cosmic scale
2. Use of symbolism: animals, numbers, colors, metals, features (wings and horns)
3. Revelation of God’s involvement in history (re-interpretation of suffering)
4. Promise of divine intervention
5. Air of mystery

Themes of Apocalyptic

• The universe is divided into two forces: good and evil.
• These forces are engaged in a war. So choose sides!
• God will break into history and overthrow all evil. Even if the war seems lost!
• Faithful are encouraged to endure the struggle
• God’s victory is certain.
• Punishment of the wicked is assured.
• Appeal to the senses: sight & sound
• Not reasonable approach to truth, emotional & imaginative approach

Numbers in Apocalyptic

1. The numerical value is not always significant
2. The “mystique” of the number is what counts
3. Consider how we regard the number “13” or “7” – on 7/7/07 lottery ticket sales were at an all-time high. Why?

Apocalyptic Numerology

Daniel 7: Three Scenes

1. The History of the World: Four Beasts and Four Kingdoms
2. The Court of Heaven: The Throne of the Ancient of Days
3. The Son of Man Arrives!

The History of the World

1. Lion = Babylon
2. Bear = Media
3. Leopard = Persia
4. Terrible Beast = Greece
   1. Jaws and Horns = Seleucid Rulers
   2. Boasting Horn = Antiochus IV Epiphanes

The Son of Man

• Four Kingdoms come and go on earth
• The Ancient of Days holds court and judges the earth
• He invests eternal authority in the Son of Man

So What?

1. Imagine you are a suffering saint in the exile
2. Imagine you are a suffering saint in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes
3. The Son of Man is coming! Be faithful! Have hope!

Submitting Ourselves to One Another – part 2

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

Read Ephesians 6:1-4.

Any parent is going to have to contend with children asking “why?” It’s sort of cute when they are very little and they ask questions such as “Why do people have eyebrows?” However, as the child gets older the question can become sort of argumentative. So when a parent suggests that a child brush her teeth, she says “Why?”
Of course parents do the same thing. The child asks us to borrow $10 and we say, “WHY?”
In this game of asking why, parents have a trump card to play: “Because I said so!”

Maybe its because of this that I think preaching and instruction of God’s word should be much more than a divine “Because I said so.” Thankfully, God’s word specializes in giving good answers to “Why?” (And sometimes it even raises the question.) This Scripture read today does not disappoint. It makes a special effort to spell out why children ought to obey and honor their parents and why parents ought to raise their children right.

Recall that this is the second part of the household codes we discussed last week. Verse 21 establishes all the relationships in the household. We all submit to one another out of respect for Christ. People who are filled with the Holy Spirit (v. 18) are going to be submissive to one another. That submission takes on different characteristics and in the case of children and parents there is a way each submits to the other.

Children are to obey their parents. Why? It is the proper way of things. It is natural. The family is designed in such a way that parents, who are supposed to be the mature ones, care for and develop the ones who are not yet mature, the children. So, the child needs to obey the parent. [Now if that’s not the natural, proper order of things we wouldn’t have Supernanny!]

Children should obey their parents in the Lord. Why? “That it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Some translation say, so that you will live long and prosper. [This isn’t parenting by Dr. Spock, this is parenting by Mr. Spock!] The logic behind this promise is that good parents have a child’s best interest at heart and if you obey them then it is for your own good.

Parent’s also submit to their children. We might ask “How?” rather than why. The contrast in verse 4 spells out what parenting is and isn’t. Parents are not to exasperate their children or provoke their children to anger. Does this mean parents shouldn’t tell their children anything that will set off a fit? No, it doesn’t because this isn’t about the child’s reaction, rather it is about the manner of parenting and the development of a child’s character. Provoking a child to anger means instilling a legacy of rage and bitterness in a child. The same word used here is the one used back in 4:26 for the sort of anger that can control us. Abusive parents embed anger into the soul of a child. Adult children of abusive parents still harbor this anger. Abusive parents are also those who will take advantage of the instruction to children to obey their parents. They will use it like a hammer to force their will onto a child or in the worst of cases influence a child to do something ungodly. We could point out that children are to obey their parents “in the Lord” but we could also point out that the objective of parenting is not to develop cruel and broken character in children by instill anger and rage in them.

Rather, a parent has the God-given responsibility to develop and shape the character of a growing human soul. Parents should raise children in the nurture and instruction that comes from the Lord. I came across a statement in a book saying that we shouldn’t “count” the baptisms of our children as true evangelism. I strongly disagree with that on the basis of Ephesians 6:4. Godly parenting is a form of evangelism. When we raise our children in the teaching and instruction that comes from the Lord that means we raise them to have the character of Christ. It means we raise them to be Christian.

Whether someone is baptized at age 15 or 55, the goal of their life is the same. The character we want to develop in all of Christ’s people is described in the last three chapters of Ephesians. This is the godly character and holy manners that describe God’s household, and so it ought to be the same in our households.

What is parenting really? It is the passing on of the character, virtues, and manners that we’ve discussed in this series from Ephesians.

Into the Lion’s Den

Posted by Chris on July 15, 2007 under Sermons

Daniel 6: Four Moves

1. The Trap Set (1-9)
2. The Trap Sprung (10-15)
3. Into the Lion’s Den (16-24)
4. Darius Praises God (25-28)

The New Administration

• Oct. 29, 539 B.C. – Cyrus the Great assumes rule of Babylon – Babylon is no longer in control. The line of Nebuchadnezzar is over.
• Captivity of Judah ends
• Darius the Mede is either …
  1. Cyrus II (559 – 529 BC) – It could be Cyrus the Persian (the Great) who conquered the Median empire during his rule. He might have taken the name Darius as his Median title.
  2. Darius I (522 – 485 BC) – It could be Darius I who did organize the kingdom into provinces (satraps) ruled by officials. He was also a worshipper of Ahura Mazda, a Zoroastrian.

President Daniel

• The Persian rulers recognize Daniel’s wisdom
• He rises to high position
• This is good for all – except Daniel’s rivals
• They conspire to do away with Daniel

Law of the Medes and Persians

• The trick of the irrevocable law
• Darius is duped
• Daniel’s civil disobedience
• The Law of the Mede’s and Persians is now in a contest with God’s Law.

Hope and Prayer

• Why does Daniel have to pray?
• He is praying toward Jerusalem – Now that the Jews are free to return home he is praying for the restoration of Jerusalem and the homeland. Allowing the Jews to return is simple. Actually working to make it happen will be a massive undertaking.
• Jerusalem represents hope and the future – When the scheming counselors take away Daniel’s time of prayer, they are robbing him of his hope and future. Daniel will not allow them to take it away.

Into the Lion’s Den

1. Darius prays for God to save Daniel
2. The den is sealed with a stone
3. We are not allowed “in the den”
4. The story follows the anxious king from night to morning – King Darius is the dramatic figure in this story, not Daniel. Daniel is fine. He is content. Darius is conflicted and anxious.

We have no indication of what happened in the lion’s den except for Daniel’s comment afterward. Nevertheless, artists have tried to depict the interior of the den with varying views …

I’m not sure from where this picture came. It looks like a petting zoo. The lions seem friendly.

This is straight from Sunday School of yesteryear. Notice the lovely, feminine angel. Daniel is so young.

This is a well known portrait by Rubens from the early 17th century. This is as much a study in anatomy as it is anything else. Notice the musculature painted on the lions and Daniel.

This portrait has very Christological themes. See the skull at the bottom border and the blood red cloth.

Daniel looks scared and begging.

The artist for these next two paintings is Briton Rivi?re (1840-1920). What I like about Rivi?re’s painting: Daniel is old. The lion’s are kept at bay by an invisible force.
Daniel turns his back on the lions. He is at peace. Either God will spare him, or he will die. Daniel looks up into the light. It demonstrates hope.

Darius Pays Attention

1. He gets Daniel out – By drawing Daniel out he is changing the law of the Medes and Persians. He is acknowledging a higher law
2. He punishes the conspirators (and their families)
3. He issues a decree calling his kingdom to reverence God
4. He praises God!

So What?

1. God can change and challenge what we consider unchanging – We often don’t give God enough credit. We have to be bold enough to accept that God can do what he wills. We tend to think that the “Law of the Medes and Persians” is the way it always must be. We let people suffer because we are too afraid to follow God rather than “the way it has always been done.”
2. Civil disobedience – Civil disobedience doesn’t make much sense if you are the group in power. But when you are persecuted it is all you have. Daniel is the best public servant. He has done no wrong by honoring God. He is persecuted for it. The law is organized against him. He proceeds faithfully and without anxiety. How useful is that to us in a day and age when we grow anxious because Christian faith seems to be losing privilege. Let them change the laws. It shouldn’t sweat us. We don’t have to fight. (Daniel did nothing wrong or disruptive) We can protest and exercise our rights within the law – but above all else LET’S KEEP OUR FAITH. For instance, they can take the 10 commandments out of the courthouse and school, but they cannot take it out of our hearts!
3. The power to kill vs. the power to save/give life. Darius and the irrevocable law of the Medes and Persians has the illusion of final authority because it has the power to kill and destroy. That seems so final. But God alone has the power to preserve and make life. No king on earth has that power. No power or authority on earth can claim that.

Submitting Ourselves to One Another – part 1

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

Read Ephesians 5:21-33. – I have read these words at dozens of weddings. It’s more than a habit or stock sermon. It’s a conviction that these words call us to live as a people filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s a conviction that walking worthy of our calling in Christ involves relationships.

I will always remember the first wedding service in which I used this Scripture. In a meeting with the bride and groom before the wedding I mentioned that I intended to use this Scripture. I asked them to read it and get back with me. A few days later she called me. She let me know that she had a problem with the language of wives being in subjection. She wanted me to know that she had felt that way for a long time and not just because of my request to use this text. For years she had heard the statement that a woman ought to be in subjection. She had a problem with the way that tended to be abusive and the way people used this Scripture as a “biblical law” to get their own way and to “put a woman in her place.”

I was surprised at this reaction. This young woman did not have an agenda by any means. She wasn’t trying to be difficult. She was simply being honest with me. I was stunned at that moment, but I will forever be grateful to her for making me go back and read the Scripture carefully.

I considered her experience with the language of “subjection” and “submission” and I could now see that what she heard from that language was the language of being a second-class person or a doormat. For a wife to submit meant she should shut up and behave.

The attitude she encountered is like that of a cartoon someone recently sent me. It depicts a very happy looking 1950’s era couple. The husband is standing by the fireplace with his pipe in his hand. He is addressing his wife and says: “I’ve been thinking … I’m the man of this house, so starting tomorrow I want you to have a hot, delicious meal ready for me the second I walk through that door … afterwards while watching ESPN and relaxing in my chair you’ll bring me my slippers and then run my bath … and when I’m done with my bath, guess who’s going to dress me and comb my hair?” The woman answers rather directly, “The funeral director.”

Maybe that joke works because the attitude displayed by the condescending husband is all too real. And that attitude has been around for a long, long time.

The arrangement of instructions to the members of the household that appears in Ephesians was not unique to the Bible in ancient times. Philosophers and politicians of the ancient world frequently commented on the way husbands and wives, fathers and children, and masters and slaves ought to conduct themselves in good society. The likes of Aristotle, Josephus, and Philo drew up their own codes of household conduct. And there are even other examples of this in the Bible in Colossians and 1 Peter (even though that one is interestingly incomplete). So, there’s nothing exceptional about the apostle instructing Christians how to behave in the household. What is exceptional is how the biblical code of contact differs ever so slightly – but oh so importantly, from the typical code.

For instance, the typical code is usually just aimed at the free men: husbands, fathers, and slave-owners. The duty of the men is to rule the household and the wives, children, and slaves are to be in servitude. Of course the men ought not to be cruel and violent, but the assumption is that the other groups require this sort of guidance. Josephus will even point out that the wife is inferior in all things to the man (Contra Apionem 2.24). It sounds patronizing to us. In fact it is patronizing. It truly is paternalistic because that’s the way these ancient societies were structured – the father, the pater, ran the show. He had all the authority and in that world the head of the household’s position was not just familial, it was also political.

And when Paul writes to the Ephesians, he knows that. Nevertheless, he aims his code of conduct at Christians who live within the pattern of these social institutions. And the all-important difference is tucked away so subtly in verse 21: “Submit yourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Notice the difference …

First, submission is voluntary. The text says, “submitting yourself.” It is describing one of the results of being a Spirit-filled people (v. 18). [Note that the verb in 5:18 is the main verb. 5:21 is a participle and 5:22 doesn’t even contain a verb in the original language.] This is the way that God’s people live in community with one another – in the church, in the family, and in the world. We are the children of light, the imitators of God, the wise folk who make the most of the times. Being filled with Christ’s spirit and walking worthy of our calling means we submit ourselves (willingly, voluntarily) to one another.

Second, it isn’t just the wives who submit. Husbands also submit. They are to be like Christ who loved the church so much he gave his life for it. Self-sacrificing love! Husbands are to treat their wives as if they were their own body – and how does Christ treat his body (meaning the church)? Christ made his “bride” holy and cared for her.
        That submission language changes meaning in a context in which the submission is voluntary. Wives love their husbands and respect the authority that the first-century structures invested in the husband – not because she is being “put in her place” but because she is thinking of someone else. Husbands love their wives and will sacrifice and care for them in a way that imitates Christ. Not because they must, but because they willingly choose to do so.

Thirdly, can we see how Paul is addressing the social reality that husbands and wives in first-century Ephesus find themselves in, but at the same time he seems to be working from a higher standard. Some of the other philosophers who wrote up household codes of conduct attempted to preserve the status quo. A few others were cynically critical of the status quo. But there’s more going on in Ephesians 5 than a concern for or challenge of the way things are. Paul is looking “off the page” at a greater vision. One in which there is neither male nor female, slave or free, but unity in Christ (Gal. 3:28). Paul is looking at a new vision of humanity that has an attitude of humility and service. Like Christ, the new humanity doesn’t grasp at authority, but looks out for the interests of others rather than self. Paul is looking at the creation story and describes marriage as a mysterious unity in which two individuals become as one. Sort of like Christ and the church. It is a lot to take in, he admits. But for now, in his world, he simply asks them to love and respect one another.

Our institution of marriage in 21st America is only slightly similar to the first century institution. There’s probably more that is different than similar. And that not necessarily a bad thing, the bible doesn’t authorize or affirm any particular culture’s details about family relationships. But it does reference a higher vision. Can we also look off the page with Paul and consider how the influence of the Holy Spirit and the example of Christ and the church order our husband and wife relationship? Not stopping there, how shall we all submit to one another out of reverence to Christ?

That woman who helped me read this Scripture carefully told me that she could see the wisdom of this the way I explained it to her that day. She said that that was what she wanted in a marriage relationship. That’s what I attempt to preach at every wedding – a calling to be unified in Christ’s spirit; submission to one another in love and respect. That’s what I hope I have preached today.

Wise Living

Posted by Chris on July 8, 2007 under Sermons

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. – Ephesians 5:15-21

The letter to the Ephesians inspires us to live out our Christianity in a way that stands out from the world. We are called to live a life worthy of our Christian calling. Three ways of describing it show us just how exceptional this calling is:

1. We are light, not darkness. Sometimes we let our past sins consume us and drag us down. But even though we once were darkness, our calling confirms that we are now light in the Lord. We have a bright future (pun intended) because we are the children of light and that light shines forth to reveal the truth of God. It exposes what is wrong about sin and darkness and how that hurts people and ruins lives; but this isn’t a crusade, it’s just who we are and our speech and behavior reflect God’s light.
2. We live in self-sacrificing love, not self-indulgent lust. We are imitators of God. The example of Christ himself is what shapes our definition of love. We are not consumed with greed or selfish desires (sexual or otherwise). Our speech and behavior reflect Christ’s love.
3. We are wise, not foolish. This is the final contrast. God’s people are not foolish. So, what does it mean to be wise?

To live as a wise person means more than having knowledge. Education and intelligence are not necessarily the same thing as wisdom. Wisdom means having skill about how to live. And often that wisdom is transmitted to us by those who have lived a little longer than us but have the wisdom not to be arrogant about it.

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” – Mark Twain

Proverbs 4 is a testimony to this. The wise man is asking us, his children, to pay attention to his wisdom – wisdom that he himself learned from his father. But he wants us to learn wisdom so that …
My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life. I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. – Proverbs 4:10-12

Since wisdom has to do with the way we live, then living wise (according to the text of Eph. 5) means …

1. Making the most of opportunity. We are naturally inclined in our culture to link wisdom with opportunity. We live with sayings such as “When opportunity knocks, open the door.” We understand this and we equate opportunity and wisdom with success. This is why we remember Thomas Edison, but not Heinrich G?bel. G?bel invented the light bulb 25 years before Edison secured the patent. But Edison innovated on the light bulb and made the most of the opportunity for its practical application. We can understand making the most of opportunity, but the difference for Christians is that we are make the most of opportunities to do good, not simply to be successful. The important opportunity is for good because the days are evil. The times are evil because of the darkness, greed, and foolishness in the world. So what better opportunity is there for God’s people than to live in light, love, and wisdom. This is essentially what evangelism is all about. [Note: Evangelism is not mass recruiting or fund-raising] What opportunities are in front of us? Will we be wise in acting on that?

2. Living wise means that we will seek wisdom. We will find it as we strive to understanding the Lord’s will. Discerning the Lord’s will is not a matter of fortune-telling – that’s foolishness, not wisdom.
   One day an engaged couple went to see a man of wisdom. These devout believers were very anxious because they loved each other so much and they were devoted to God, but they wanted to be absolutely certain that it was God’s will that they should be married to one another. Alas, they had sought some sort of sign or insight from the Almighty, but nothing was forthcoming. So they turned to this man’s counsel. His reply was, “Have you considered that God may not have an opinion on whether you two get married or not?” The couple was astounded and wondered if this man really was wise. “How can you say that?” they asked. “Doesn’t God care about marriage? Doesn’t he want a man and woman to stay married forever? Isn’t it important to God?” To that the wise man replied, “Indeed, God cares about marriage and his will for marriage is clear. Now God may not care one way or another if the two of you choose to get married to each other, but if you do then he certainly has a strong feeling about how you ought to live together in that marriage. If you will honor that, then you will be living in God’s will.”
   Like the young couple, it is easy to assume that God’s will represents some hidden script to the future. But that’s not God’s will, that’s fate. God’s will is “what God wants.” And since the days of the Ten Commandments (and even in the Garden of Eden) God has been pretty clear about his will – i.e. what he wants. Understanding that is what it means to live as wise people.

3. Living wise means being filled with the Spirit. Look at the text and notice all the choices: We can make the most of the opportunities, or we can participate in the foolishness and evil of the age. We can understand what the Lord wants, or we can act thoughtlessly. Finally, you can be filled with the Spirit, or you can get filled “with spirits.” God’s people ought to be the ones who understand how to live joyfully and how to celebrate the goodness of creation with thanksgiving. Unfortunately the world has cornered the market on celebration. Celebrating and living it up are equated with excess.
   Being filled with God’s spirit of holiness doesn’t mean that we must be drab and miserable. In fact, the text spells out clearly that we ought be singing and practicing thankfulness. Notice that the aim of the singing is to encourage one another and lift each other up. This is much better and more beneficial to all of us that the world’s foolish counterfeits to joy and celebration.
   So, when we sing let’s truly sing from the heart. There’s more to this than simply be non-instrumental. We can focus on the musicality, the order, the arrangement, the notation of the songs, but to do all of that and miss the spirit of our hymns and songs is just foolish. But we aren’t foolish, we have God’s wisdom. It is a gift for the asking. God’s spirit is a spirit of wisdom, so let’s live in wisdom and take the opportunity as often as we can to encourage one another to do what Christ wants us to do.

Live in Love

Posted by Chris on July 1, 2007 under Sermons

Read Ephesians 5:1-14.

Character contrast – I want to remind you what this text is about. As those who’ve been baptized into Christ we are called to live worthy of our divine calling. We are children of light. We are imitators of God. You were darkness, but now you are light. Along side that contrast is another important contrast: We can live in Christ-like love or we can live in self-indulgent lust. (See 5:1-2.)

Idolatry of Lust – The empty deeds of darkness that we have been called away from include self-serving lust. Lust in all its varieties, but sexual lust in particular, regards other people as objects that exist for our own gratification. Perhaps because this force is so powerful and prominent it has been personified in a hundred different gods and goddesses. Ashtoreth, Eros, Aphrodite, Xochiquetzal, Ishtar, Varuna, Medb, Chuang-Mu, Bacchus, Gerda are just a few examples of how humans have turned sex and sensuality into a force to be worshipped. Those old names may not be around anymore except in encyclopedias, but lust is still a power that is worshipped even in this day and age.

Just like Ephesus and the ancient world our day and age seems to have the same problem with obscene and foolish talk about sexuality. Our culture has an unhealthy fascination with scandal and innuendo. We are told that sex sells – it sells books, movies, TV shows, music, clothing, cheeseburgers and buffalo wings.

Sarah Freeman is an Assistant Manager at a Westco Jeans shop in Melbourne, Austrailia. Two weeks ago, she and all other staff were presented with a new item of uniform, a tight white T-shirt, with a plunging neckline, bearing the slogan, “stop pretending you don’t want me”. The slogan refers to the company’s product, but for Sarah, its double meaning was clear, and she didn’t like it. Sarah raised her concerns with managers. But the memo to staff was clear – there were no exemptions from the rule, and no T-shirt equals no work. Not long after that, she says her concerns were realised when she was harassed by a customer. Eventually, the company issued a release saying that the T-shirt was a quirky statement reflecting the attributes of their product, and that feedback from staff had been overwhelmingly positive. However, [the company] reversed its directive that wearing the shirt is compulsory.
[Article by Ben Knight – http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1076590.htm]

But its just all in good fun, right? Not quite. There’s a price for regarding sex as nothing more than recreational, casual, or just something for buddies. There’s a cost involved with crude joking about sex or using it to sell merchandise. A culture that seems shocked when children are molested but at the same time markets suggestive material to pre-teens is simply hypocritical. We cannot cry out against the sexual degradation and demeaning of children and adults if we take human sexuality lightly or ignore its holy significance.

There’s nothing sinful or wrong about sex as God intended it. There’s nothing sinful about human sexuality. It was after all God’s idea to create us as male and female. But there’s quite a lot wrong with worshipping sexual desire (or any desire for that matter). When we are ruled by our lusts we are no longer living under God’s rule. It is essentially idol-worship and the tragedy is that when we are ruled by our need for gratification we have exchanged the creator and sustainer who made us male and female for a counterfeit god that will consume us. Who do we worship? What power do we serve? The answer will determine the kind of people we are …

What is Fitting? – As children and light and as those who called to imitate God, what is fitting for us? Should we live for gratification of our own desires? Or should we live in love? What is fitting? What is proper? We know the answer.
To “live in love” is more than a legalism that denies human sexuality, rather it is a higher standard in which people make covenants on the basis of love. The standard of those covenant is the self-sacrificing love of Christ. Regarding sex and sexuality, this will of course apply to married couples, but it also has implications for all of us concerning the way we behave and the way we talk about sexual matters and the reverance we show to God’s design.

The text indicates what is fitting:

1. First of all, to “live in love” means to imitate the love of Christ. (5:1-2) That’s a self-sacrificing love. At minimum, it is a love that considers the welfare of others. This applies to marriage in which a man and woman consider each other and their relationship is patterned after Christ’s relationship with the church. But this principle can be applied even more generally than that. Living in love toward one another means that our sexuality is defined by God and not by selfish gratification. So that means that a man is not going to treat any woman [even if he doesn’t know her] as an object of satisfaction. It means that a woman will not use a man for her own means. Instead of being foolish and casual about sexuality it means that we are going to regard all men and women as souls created in God’s image. It means that we will respect this wonderful mystery of sexuality that God conceived.

2. Secondly, to live in love means that we are going to be a people who give thanks (5:4). The language of thanksgiving, not the language of foolishness and obscenity is what we speak. Thanksgiving is not only reserved for God, but it is also directed at others. Being thankful is the antidote to selfish indulgence.

Handwriting on the Wall

Posted by Chris on June 24, 2007 under Sermons

Daniel 5: Five Moves

1. Belshazzar’s Party (1-4)
2. God’s Graffiti (5-9)
3. Calling Daniel (10-17)
4. Read It and Weep (18-28)
5. Aftermath (29-30)

Raiders of the Lost Artifacts

• Background: 2 Kings 25:13-17
• Destruction and Desecration of Jerusalem Temple
• Looting the Temple artifacts

Rembrandt, The Feast of Belshazzar (1632)

The Feast of Belshazzar

• Belshazzar throws a party for his nobles
• They use the goblets dedicated to Temple service
• They “toast” the images of their gods

God’s Graffiti

• Belshazzar is upset by God’s action
• The failure of his counselors magnifies his distress

Calling Daniel

• The queen has good advice
• Belshazzar isn’t aware of Daniel, suggesting he isn’t getting wise counsel
• Belshazzar has not learned Nebuchadnezzar’s lesson (his testimony in chapter 4)

Read It and Weep

• Handwriting on the Wall is a judgment of doom
• Belshazzar did not humble himself or honor God

Aramaic – Hebrew Words
To understand the cryptogram you have to understand a little about how Hebrew words work. Most words come from a three letter root. Hebrew has no true vowels. So different vowel sounds change the meaning of the words. One root word can be read numerous ways.

mlk – root word
mĕlĕk – king (m. noun)
mălkah – queen (f. noun)
m?lăk – reign (verb)
malkuth – royalty (noun)

MENE MENE TEKEL UPARSIN
The text only gives us the letters that make up the message. But these words are not evident until Daniel decodes it. Why can’t the other diviners read the message?

This is where the theory about the cryptogram comes up. What if the letters were arranged in an unusual and atypical way?

There is a legend that the inscription was written in columns. That is the way Rembrandt pictured it in his 1632 painting. He learned this interpretation from his friend Manasseh ben-Israel in Amsterdam.

The color changes above show how the four words (including the   for “and”) could be arranged.

More importantly is the how the words have double meaning depending on whether it is a noun or verb. This chart describes how Daniel understands the riddle.

The Pun Intended
So, Daniel is assuming that the riddle refers to an assortment of coins, but also functions as a prophecy of doom on Belshazzar.

The riddle Mina, Mina, Tekel and Parsin (using our common coinage) might read something like “Half a dollar, half a dollar, a penny, and two bits”

What is means (as Daniel explains very well in the text) is: “Your days are numbered, your rule has been weighed, and your empire will be divided among the Medes and Persians”

It isn’t accidental that the word for half-mina can also be read as Persia.

The aftermath is reported as Belshazzar’s immediate fall and the conquest of Persia. A new ruler is in charge of Babylon. The mighty have fallen.

So What?

• God is not limited to one nation or region
• It could have gone differently for Belshazzar
• God mocks the proud (See Proverbs 3:34 and Matthew 23:12.)