Pray to the real God (Exodus 20:18-20)

Today’s Readings: Exodus 20:18-20

As all the people witnessed the signs of God’s presence—the blast of the ram’s horn, the roaring thunder, the flashing lightning, and the smoke-covered mountain—they shook with fear and astonishment and wisely kept their distance.
Israelites (to Moses): We are afraid to have God speak directly to us; we are certain that we will die. You speak to us instead; we promise to listen.
Moses: Don’t be afraid. These powerful manifestations are God’s way of instilling awe and fear in you so that you will not sin; He is testing you for your own good.

Our culture often impacts how we prayer because it influences how we think about God. The problem in our Western culture is we fail to read and understand God’s word and rely solely on what we hear from pulpits or television or what our friends tell us about God. Consequently, we sometimes get a perverted view of who God really is and we end up praying to God in perverted ways.

Before I lose you in this discussion, let me explain. In the last 20 to 30 years, we more and more think about God as a benevolent cosmic agent who exists to give us all things we want. Pray and get rich, or at least get more comfortable in earthly possessions. Pray and get well. Pray and get family peace. Pray and win your husband or wife back. Pray and have all your problems solved.

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We view God as a cosmic Santa who grants our reasonable wishes, but we understand that sometimes we ask things that might fall out of bounds and even our cosmic Santa won’t fulfill every desire. For many in the Western world, that’s a pretty good description of God. And when God doesn’t come through with an “answer” to prayer, we decide He doesn’t exist.

But God does exist and He hasn’t changed from before creation until now. Yes, He is a benevolent being full of grace and love. He is still the God of the Old Testament, though. I’ve chosen the verses in Exodus to share how His chosen people described Him when they came into His presence in the deserts of Sinai. “They shook with fear and astonishment and wisely kept their distance.”

In the Western culture, we don’t like to hear about that side of God, but remember, He hasn’t changed. He remains a holy and just God who withholds His justice in this dispensation of grace so that all who choose can find salvation through His Son, Jesus. But be sure His wrath will come. The Old Testament God didn’t die with the coming of Jesus. God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit have always existed and always will exist just as they are. Never changing. The only change in any of the three is the addition of the scars in Jesus hands, feet, and side.

When we converse with God in prayer, it is always best to know who you talk to. The best way to know Him is to read and study the word He gave us through the many writers that have come to us in the message we call the Bible. No other written document has stood the academic or scientific scrutiny given the Bible with such amazing accuracy through the centuries. We can rely on it. We can know who God is. We can learn from Him. I urge you to take up a good Bible reading plan and read the Bible through each year. It isn’t a hard task, about fifteen minutes a day is all it takes.

If you’d like to join me, I’ll be leading you through another reading plan beginning January 1, 2015. I hope you will be there with me to the end.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-2)

Today’s Readings: Acts 4:32-5:10

Once a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira fully cooperating, committed fraud. He sold some property and kept some of the proceeds, but he pretended to make a full donation to the Lord’s emissaries.

What is it about us that we want to compare ourselves to each other?

I remember in school one of my teachers would put up our grades in numerical order instead of alphabetical order. We could tell how we stood in the class after each test by looking at the two lists she posted on the board each week. Everyone would crowd around the board after class to see who had the top score, where they stood and who had the bottom score. Some people walked away embarrassed. Some walked away with smiles. Some walked away and didn’t come back.

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I’m not sure why that particular teacher thought it was a good idea. Maybe it was supposed to encourage everyone to strive to reach up. I’m not sure it did. We had several people drop the class because of the way the teacher embarrassed them. That certainly didn’t motivate them the right way. Some near the top did work harder for that top spot. Some too far from the top to get there gave up and just coasted along, so I’m not sure it helped them. But that’s the way that particular teacher decided to “motivate” us.

Because I ended up as valedictorian of my class, I got lots of nicknames in school. Most of them I didn’t care for. You’ve probably heard them before. Hopefully, you haven’t used them to refer to anyone yourself. If so, well. . .that was more than forty years ago and long forgiven on my part. Perhaps they let it go a long time ago, too.

Well, Ananias and Sapphira liked the nickname one of the wealthy followers of Christ received when he sold all he had and gave it to the Apostles to distribute for the needs of the newly formed group of believers. Barnabas means “son of encouragement” and Ananias and Sapphira were a little envious of his nickname. They wanted a cool nickname, too.

So the two plotted together and sold their property to give the proceeds to Peter with one little caveat. They enjoyed the good life and wanted to make sure they didn’t become one of those in need so they kept some of the money back. But they told Peter they gave everything they had to the church, just like good old Barnabas. That would get them a pat on the back, their names in next Sunday’s bulletin, maybe a plaque on the back wall or on the pew. You know, just a little recognition from the crowd about what good and generous people Jerusalem First Church had as part of their congregation. Anyone would love to have them on their team!

By the power of God’s Spirit, Peter sensed a problem. Ananias didn’t tell the truth. He only gave a part of the proceeds to God. That’s okay. God’s word talks about a tithe. Anything above that is an offering. Sometimes, as in Barnabas’ case, God nudges us to give it all. He’s never asked me to do that. He’s never told me to sell everything and give it all away. He’s only told me to be willing and understand it’s all His in the first place. The problem is Ananias lied to Peter to get some glory. He said he and Sapphira gave everything to the church when they didn’t. It wasn’t the amount of the gift or the fact he withheld some, it was the fact he lied about it.

Trying to compare ourselves to others is always crazy. God made me like no one else. That’s a good thing. Two of me in the world would be hard to handle. My wife and kids can vouch for that! So comparing myself to anyone else just doesn’t make sense because I’m not like anyone else. I’m only like me. And you are not like anyone else either. God made you unique. There is no one else like you. You don’t need to impress anyone or compare yourself to anyone because you are one of a kind.

Just be the you God made you.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Eli, His Sons, and Samuel (1 Samuel 2:23-25)

Today’s Readings: I Samuel 2:12-26

Eli (to his sons): Why do you do such horrible things? The people have told me about all the evil you have done. No, my sons, I do not hear good words spoken about you by the people of the Eternal. If one person offends another, [at least someone can plead with the True God on the sinner’s behalf]. But if someone offends the Eternal One, then who will plead for that person?
But Eli’s sons did not listen to his words, for the Eternal One had already decided to destroy them.

We march along in our study of the story of God’s word and come to the story of Eli and his sons. This passage gives us a glimpse into the reason God began rejecting the priesthood and sending His message through prophets like Samuel. Eli served as priest and later we learn he was exceedingly fat. Scripture doesn’t tell us, but we can surmise he gained his weight by consuming what his sons brought back to the table from the sacrifices they attended as priests themselves.

God intended the priests to get their sustenance from the tithes, offerings, and sacrifices of the other tribes, but He never intended for them to become gluttons in the process. He gave them fairly simple rules to follow in determining what part of the sacrifice they could receive. The practice we hear from Eli’s sons clearly violated God’s rules. But Eli had a bigger problem than his sons violating God’s rules.

Eli’s bigger problem included his personal failure to correct them and enforce God’s rules for the priesthood. If Eli were doing what he should have done, his sons would feel the punishment they deserved. If they continued to disobey him and dishonor the priesthood, they probably would find themselves under a pile of stones outside the city as God’s law demanded and Eli would have thrown the first stone, as difficult as it might be.

Two reasons pop into view immediately for such a drastic response. First, the fifth commandment demands it. Honor your father and mother. Eli’s sons dishonored their father by their disobedience and blatant disregard for the rules of the priesthood his father represented. Second, their failure to obey God’s rules for the distribution of food for the priests and the desecration of sacrifices served as an affront to God Himself. The fact they flaunted their disobedience in the face of God marked them for death by stoning in the laws God set out. Because the priests failed to carry out His law, God carried out His punishment by inciting war between the Israelites and the Philistines and killing Eli’s sons in battle.

Again in this story, we see how the sins of a few, in this case, Eli and his two sons, affect many, here, the whole nation of Israel. The sins of these three cause the death of soldiers again. And worse, the loss of the ark of the covenant to the Philistine army. The Israelites will not see the return of the ark to its rightful place until David becomes king, decades later.

Sin always has far reaching fingers of destruction.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Achan’s Disobedience (Joshua 7:4-5)

Today’s Readings: Joshua 7

So Joshua sent about 3,000 soldiers to Ai; but they were easily repulsed by the defenders, who killed 36 of them and pursued them from the gate even to the descent toward Shebarim. When the Israelites heard their soldiers had been defeated, their courage melted away like water.

So many people today tell me after their families fall to pieces they thought their sins would only affect them and no one else. Whether drink, drugs, adultery, pornography, gambling, or some other vice. It starts out so innocently, but in the end, it destroys them and everyone they touch. Families fall apart, children take up the same habits as mom or dad and the cycle repeats itself in successive generations.

God’s command to the Joshua and the Israelites as they took the city of Jericho and the territories of the promised land seem harsh to us today, but the reason He gave such harsh commands was He knew the traps they would fall into if left to their own devices. We see the beginning of their fall even in the victory of their first battle at Jericho. God said destroy everything, yet one of the soldier saw something he wanted so badly he just couldn’t do it. Instead, he hid the robe, silver and gold in a hole in his tent.

Achan’s disobedience cost the lives of 36 of his fellow soldiers in what should have been an easy victory over the village of Ai and it cost him the lives of all his family. His clan and tribe felt the embarrassment and disgrace of Achan’s sin as with the passing of their family in front of Joshua and the priests the lots fell to them each time.

Achan, knowing his sin, felt the weight growing heavier with the lot falling on the leadership of his tribe and clan leaders with each passing. He knew he caused the problem. He knew the responsibility for the deaths fell on him. He knew the curse pronounced by God and Joshua and he stood guilty. Achan knew yet there are no repentant words recorded in the book of Joshua.

Sin can do that to us. Sin’s casualties always involve more than just us. Sin affects all those around us despite what we might think. Sin carries with it punishments far greater than the momentary pleasure we might gain from it. Sin, no matter how great or how small, carries with it the same punishment, death. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans, “the wages of sin is death.” We cannot escape it except through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. It is His gift to us, but we must accept His gift with a repentant heart. We may still suffer the consequences while we walk this earth, but we can experience eternal life with Him when we accept Him as Lord of our life.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard

Noah and the Flood (Genesis 6:22)

Today’s Readings: Genesis 6:5-22

So Noah listened to God, and he built the ark. He did everything God asked him to do.

The anger we read about in Cain multiplied across the population over the next centuries. The offspring from Adam and Eve learned quickly the selfish side that sin breeds in humankind. Scripture says everyone thought about evil all the time. Wickedness ran rampant throughout the world and God sorrowed over creating man.

I sometimes wonder just how bad we had gotten that God would destroy all mankind. What depths of degradation did we fall to that caused Him to regret making man and devising a way to rid the world of every living thing He made? How far had we gone in our moral decay to reap the wrath of God and have Him create torrents of rain and unleash the floodgates of the earth to destroy us?

I look around today at the moral degradation around us and wonder how mankind could be worse then than it is now. How much longer can God put up with us? When will He stop holding back His wrath and once again decide He needs to start over with mankind and destroy every living thing one more time? We see abuse, war, stealing, lying, dishonor, envy and covetousness. Living as if God doesn’t exist, taking His name in vain, dishonoring the Sabbath, dishonoring parents, the young and the old. Murder and violence is everywhere. Family means little to most people today. Marriage takes on new meaning in many countries, contrary to scripture. How long will God put up with it?

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I do know how we can avoid it, though. We can act like Noah. He listened to God and did everything God asked him to do. The problem with the world when God destroyed it was people stopped listening to Him. They decided they knew more than God and could make it on their own. God showed them differently. But God saved Noah and his family because of his faithfulness to Him. Noah listened and did what God told him to do.

The question for us is, do we listen and do everything God asks of us? Do we do the unusual when God asks? Are we willing to step out and do the things others might think are crazy for God? Noah spent a hundred years building a boat when it had never rained before because God told him to do it. Are you will to do something equally ridiculous in the eyes of those around you? Are you willing to spend 20% of your life acting the fool for God when you know He’s talking to you?

Noah lived faithfully for God despite the pull of the world to do otherwise. The pull on the world on us is strong, just as it was for Noah. But Noah stood the test and did what no one else was willing to do. His faithfulness saved his family and him in the face of total destruction. Our faithfulness will not the same for us if we will consistently follow God. But it takes consistently listening to and following God.

Join me next time, won’t you?

Richard