Monthly Archives: September 2013

The Two-Season Preacher – 2 Timothy 4:1-5

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First, let me thank all of those who have prayed for me over the past 24-36 hours during my unexpected vacation to the hospital with blood clots in both lungs. The original source has been found but not the reason for it to have happened. So, I’m going to continue to IMG_0826[1]make lots of new friends with the staff at Meritus Medical Center for a few days. Though not the theme of today’s reading, experiences like this remind us of how fragile our lives are and how quickly they change. I’m told that had I not come in when I did, I might not be loading this devotional in the program or doing anything else this side of glory – which also reminds me to say that if you are reading this, it means that I figured out how to do it remotely from a hospital bed with two IV lines and two monitors attached!

The Two-Season Preacher – 2 Timothy 4:1-5

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The front entrance to Dallas Seminary

When I was a boy growing up and going to church and Bible conferences with my parents and grandparents, most of the great preachers we heard had a common heritage – this place called Dallas Theological Seminary. If you know me well at all, you know that I am intensely proud of my graduate and post-graduate connection to this school that has surely trained more pastors/teachers with greater impact worldwide than any educational institute in the history of the Christian Church. And the theme verse of the school is from verse two today – PREACH THE WORD!

This is ground zero. Now, one can successfully argue that God and the work of the Gospel through Christ is ground zero of the faith. That is a true statement. But let me ask you this:  “What would you know about God/Christ/salvation/eternal truth without the Scriptures?”  Not much – just the stuff of what we call “general revelation” from Romans 1 and Psalm 19 – which, in a sentence, is sufficient to condemn but insufficient to save.

There is simply no connection to God, nor is there a successful way of living life in a manner that counts for eternity without a significant understanding of Scripture. And yet it is oft resisted or set aside for another day by God’s people. Learning the Scriptures involves a large measure of “want to” … and of work, diligence, discipline and thinking.

So in our passage today, Paul is telling Timothy that he has one charge or commission that is above all others in his service as a minister/pastor/elder/shepherd – to preach God’s Word. As we would put together a sort of personality profile on Timothy, the picture is one of a more timid and gentle soul than the feisty Apostle Paul. He was a guy who seemed to sometimes need to be a bit “pumped up.”

So Paul is exhorting Timothy to be a two-season preacher, and of course this is not referring to winter and summer or anything of that sort. Rather, it is “in season” and “out of season” … essentially all the time. Clearly there were going to be times when the preaching ministry and church leadership work was going to go well, but others times when it was going to struggle. Through it all, Timothy was to be faithful and diligent in the teaching of the Scriptures – that would be his guide and measure of success, not the current seasonal response.

This teaching ministry would at times also feature varied tones. First there is a negative slant that involved reproof and rebuke – often not a natural proclivity for a typical pastor who is by personality frequently a lover of people with a soft heart. But secondly, there was a positive tone – to exhort with gentle patience and instruction.

Let me ask you:  As a general pattern of life, do you enjoy preaching and Bible teaching? Do you enjoy reading Scripture and expositional writings about the Word? Do you have a plan of life that you are executing to be known as a life-long learner of God’s truth? If not, you are being a fool and hurting yourself terribly.

At Tri-State Fellowship, our vision is that we will have a church of people who have such a continual hunger for the Word. And this is the second element of our Pathways Vision statement that we will continue to talk about this week.

2 Timothy 4:1-5

4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Seeds on the Pathways – Matthew 13:1-23

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I recently had reason to visit with some of my New Jersey relatives, and while I was there I drove past the high school I had attended 40 years ago. I noted that on the same hillside behind the football grandstands was a pathway leading into the woods. It was there 40 years ago; it is there today. The path was used by the cross country team and the gym classes, and apparently has continued to be used for the same ever since. Surely, over all those years, there are seeds of some sort that have fallen on the pathway – thistles or grass or ragweed – something. But it has never grown, as the path is too hardened to be penetrated.

And that is the picture of today’s reading in Matthew 13 as Jesus tells the parable of the sower and the seed. You will notice that there is nothing wrong with the seed in the story – which equals God’s Word. That is not the problem. The difficulty is in the condition of the soils.

The hardened pathway is the person who is firmly walled off to receiving the Word into his life. The only way it is going to happen is with major disturbance and tilling that busts through ground as hard as concrete. It is not likely to happen on its own.

And then there is the soil just off the hardened pathway, which represents a few openings between the rocks that allows the seed to take root and begin to grow. But there is still a hardness there that disallows the roots from growing deeply and nourishing a growing plant through the hard times of drought, which speaks of difficulties and persecutions that inevitably come into the life of the professed follower of Christ.

A third soil is that which is off the path and in the midst of thorns and weeds. Here the seed is able to penetrate and begin to grow, but it gets choked out by all that is around it – the stuff of this world primarily – and it never gets to the fruit production stage.

But the final soil is the tilled field, where the seed finding this good earth grows and flourishes to the final state of fruit production. But even with production, there are three degrees of fruitfulness.

Everyone wants to think of themselves as fruitful at 100% capacity, but it is sadly not so. We have, in every evangelical church, a total mix of all the soil conditions and seed growth results.

We have the hardened heart people who, when they show up, do so out of some sense of obligation – more likely to a mother, spouse, or someone else, rather than God himself.

And then we do see the folks who do seem to grow for a while, and it is a great sadness when physical troubles or the peer crowd causes them to jettison their faith for a more comfortable situation. They soon drift away and are no longer seen.

And it is not rare in modern America to witness those who become much attached to the things of this world – to a variety of toys and joys that draw them increasingly away from faith, from participation with the church family, and ultimately also from the Scriptures and relationship with God.

Yet the great joy of ministry, even in the surrounding context of disappointments with so many people, is the opportunity to witness those who have seen God’s goodness in their lives as they have trusted him. They understand that a great gift has been given them and that the Word within them is their very lifeblood. Because of this, they are grateful for those who planted the seed in them … of others who watered it … and of God who is the one who caused it to grow and produce fruit.

This also means that these fruitful followers understand an obligation to be about the work of preparing the soil in other people’s lives – starting with their family and extending to the larger family of faith. This takes intentional effort. You’ve got to go the shed (so to speak) and get out the shovels and rakes. You need to sweat at it, and you need to study yourself as to when is the best time to drop the seed into the ground. The work has now just begun, because you have to be sure it is watered and tended. You need to be mindful of the weather, the insects, the weeds and other external factors that may choke the seed and the fruitfulness of the person whom you are mentoring/discipling/teaching.

It is about being intentionally cross generational – the lesson of last Sunday.

And it is about being a person of seed – a person with an appetite for the Word of God, NOT ONLY FOR YOUR OWN LIFE, but so that you may invest it by planting it well in the soil of the hearts of others around you. And that is the lesson for the coming week!

The Parable of the Sower – Matthew 13:1-23

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

The Greatest Story Ever – Psalm 145

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The study of one’s ancestry has taken on an entirely new dimension in the computer age. The technology and resources make it an accessible endeavor for common people. The web site Ancestry.com is an extraordinarily successful online engine with powerful tools. I have used it in recent years when researching my lost family background and found it to be amazing.

But also amazing to me is the way ancestors are so quickly forgotten in most families. When I finally met a blood relative (a cousin) from my biological, pre-adoptive family of origin, he was almost completely devoid of any stories or information farther back than our common grandparents. When we went to the family plot in the cemetery in Easton, PA, it was I who pointed out to him that our common great-grandparents were actually buried next to his own parents. He did not know that and knew nothing about them.

This loss of information does not seem to be uncommon for many people who are descended from anything less than someone rather universally famous. Most folks cannot recount anything about any ancestors more than three or four generations. But those who had ancestors who were extraordinarily famous for some reason, stories exist that they can pass down from generation to generation.

And this is the ability we have as God’s children. Our Father God – through his mighty deeds – is famous to the ultimate extreme, and his power and glory resides in the stories and accounts of what he has done. His character and works need to be passed on from generation to generation. Imagine if you were George Washington VIII … the 8th generation of the first President. Would you tell your children the story of who you are, who they are, who they are descended from … or would you just never get around to saying anything about it?  Well, in Christ, we are related to the creator God of the universe. Why would we not be quick to pass on the story of that incredible connection? Why would we not daily meditate on such a blessing of relationship? How could that reality not cause us to respond in worship?

These sorts of thoughts seem to be what the Psalmist has in mind today in verses 3-7 – the portion of the Psalm of most interest relative to our theme of generational ministry.  In our homes and in our church family, we need to understand the role we increasingly possess as we age – to be the mouthpiece of God’s greatness to those who are coming behind us.

Psalm 145

1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.
5 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7 They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

Annoying Rich People – Deuteronomy 6:1-26

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There are two types of annoying rich people in the world who flaunt their wealth. The first is the guy who simply was born in the right place at the right time, and then he managed to live long enough to inherit the incredible wealth that existed even before he was a spark in someone’s eye. The second annoying type is the one who talks incessantly about all his hard work, but seems to forget the strength and good health God allowed him to have and all the infrastructure around him that helped facilitate the rewards of his labor.

It was this second category of person that Obama was seeking to address in his ill-advised campaign remarks when he said, “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. … Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”  This, of course, offended the bulk of business owners who are not actually wealthy, and rightly saw that their conscientious hard work was devalued. Yet, apart from the unfortunate categorizations, the President did have a legitimate point that the ability to work hard and succeed is built upon the shoulders and inter-connectedness of others who have done the same—before us and around us.

When standing at the front door of a successful business, it is easy to forget and overlook both the diligent work over a long period of time that went into it, as well as the surrounding infrastructure that likewise contributed to making it possible. And so, in our reading today, Moses reminds the people that when they would soon be standing successfully in the towns and countryside of the Promised Land, that they should remember that the buildings, wells, and vineyards were not of their construction; rather, it was God’s strength through them and by his provision that these riches existed for them to enjoy. They needed to have an accurate “remembrance.”

That is the big idea today – remembrance. It is not a stretch whatsoever to state that whatever we have is due to God’s grace and provision. Life itself is from him. Our health and ability to succeed is from him. We stand upon the generations of others before us who have done much to make anything we enjoy possible – including the passing down of timeless truth to us.

By nature, our reality goes as far as our personal remembrances and experiences. The rest of true reality needs to be taught to us; and in turn, all we know needs to be taught by us to those coming after us – to our children in our homes and in our church family.

Here are some formulas for success and failure …

Remembrance + trust + obedience = success.

Forgetfulness + independence + disobedience = failure.

Left alone to our own devices and natural drift, we will tend to forget and devalue the work of God in the past. That is the problem Israel had, and it is a problem endemic to all generations apart from the older folks reminding the younger about these truths. An illustration is given in today’s passage in verse 16,  “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.”  This story from the time of the Exodus from Egypt was one the Israelites would rather not recall, though it was an event they needed to remember. The people under Moses were in a position where they were out of water. And though they had previously seen God’s incredible provision for them, in a lack of faith and trust, they grumbled and rebelled. Essentially, they had forgotten – failed to remember. So the story of Massah is recalled here (and in a number of other places in the Bible) as “exhibit A” of unbelief; and the exhortation is, “Don’t be like that!”

That’s the lesson!  Don’t be like that! But that is how people will be – our children and youth especially – if we don’t help them remember! And it is my role as the lead pastor in this place to remember to remind you to remember and help the rising generations to remember! Don’t be like the annoying rich person who forgets the source of his success. I’m writing this in advance of the first sermon, and you’re reading it after it has been done, but I’m likely to have yelled a little bit at this point! But it is the main thing that I believe God has told me to tell this church … so I’m doing it.

Love the Lord Your God – Deuteronomy 6:1-26

6:1These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” 21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

The Downward Trend Line – 2 Timothy 3:1-17

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It was during the hippie, free-love, war protesting era of American history that I was a boy growing up in church. Weekly, the pastor would speak of the vile elements of the culture of that day, preaching about how surely the times were so evil that certainly the return of the Lord had to come at any moment. I recall thinking that I would never get to graduate from high school or be an adult, because the world was simply not going to last that long. It seemed to me to be more of a negative message than it was a positive one of the hope to be found in Christ.

Now, about 45 years later, I’m the older pastor in a church; and I’m feeling much the same way as did Pastor Robison back in the 1960s. I’m not one to say much about the sure and certainly soon return of Christ (though I believe it could happen at any moment), but my view of the surrounding world is just about as negative. So, is it just that as we age we tend to see the world more negatively? Do we just become more depressed as we accumulate the observations and experiences of life’s sorrows? Or is the world actually worse and indeed more evil and vile?

I believe the final of these questions does get answered with a definite “yes” and that this proposition is supported by the text of our reading today. Paul says to Timothy …

3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Most of these descriptors could rightly be used to characterize our modern world and the systems of belief in this age. Endemic to it all and serving as a common denominator is a self-centered focus. And there are loud voices in our culture who champion this indulgence as appropriate, as even the educated choice … so Paul continues …

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Clearly this errant focus has no future … it never has, and never will. But Paul offers an alternative to the recurrent, self-centered, errant teachings that have most often predominated the surrounding culture in the last times (all of the years since this was written in the first century). The appropriate viewpoint is to know the truth from Scripture, along with the model and testimony of lives who have lived it before us, and to pass that down for the success of others who follow …

10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Paul references his own sufferings in living for Christ – the persecutions he faced in various places such as he lists here, and about which we studied just this summer in our journey through the book of Acts. True to Paul’s teaching in multiple locations, persecutions and opposition are par for the course for the Christian in this fallen and troubled world. It is not going to get better.

But the good news is that there is a remedy. Paul reminds Timothy to draw upon it by remembering the truth of the teachings of Scripture he had received – in Timothy’s particular case, from his earliest years. This teaching would be sufficient to provide a perspective on the world, equipping him and the others whom he instructed with the wisdom and skills to navigate the crazy culture. The Scriptures provide parameters and the guardrails to live successfully in every sort of situation.

But the remedy must be taught to all people, and most especially to the youth and children. Even as the world has a natural descent and drift toward evil, so the church and Christian community needs an ascending line of biblical instruction and practical understanding. We have to not just receive it, but we have to pass it on. This is the stuff of cross-generational ministry, and it is our duty to not just learn it and apply it for ourselves, but to help others who are just beginning to walk in the Christian faith – equipping them for every good work by being models of that good work in the way we live and serve.

God’s Plan Tied Together – Malachi 4:1-6 / Luke 1:5-17

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The founding of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia was a long time ago – 406 years to be exact. We think of that as a substantial hunk of time, and it is. And that is the amount of time that passed between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament.

Yet the story from Genesis to Revelation is one grand story of God’s work. We even speak of it in our children’s ministry curriculum at TSF as “God’s Big Story.”  It is God’s masterpiece – it is THE BIG PICTURE. And we fit into that story as his workmanship … his ambassadors to a lost world.

What might not be immediately evident in today’s two Scripture passages is that, though there are 400 years between them, the story line itself has essentially no gap. The reading in Malachi chapter 4 is the end of the Old Testament. The reading in Luke chapter 1 is actually on the flip side of the page in terms of the working out of God’s plan. Malachi ends with the promise of the return of Elijah before the great day of the Lord, and Luke says that John the Baptist is the coming and fulfillment of that prophecy.

In the previous chapter 3 of Malachi, just prior to today’s reading, the prophet wrote,  “14 You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

We have all had that feeling sometimes, right? … the sense that those who do wrong get away with things while good people suffer injustice. But the next several verses remind the readers that God is really good at record keeping, and in the end, the following happens …..

4:1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.

Malachi says that in a final day, there will be a just judgment – of fire upon those who are evil, and of light and life upon those who are the righteous. The picture presented here is of cattle who have been penned up, and then when set free, they really do run and jump for joy!

And verse four brings back to our memory so much of what we emphasized in the ReviveTSF.org writings from our Deuteronomy series this past spring – that God honors his covenant and blesses those who are obedient to remember and observe. “Remember” is a word that was used 18 times in contexts of exhortation in Deuteronomy.

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

The concept of the “day of the Lord” is a bit complicated. This is the time when the Messiah does come – as Christ did, accomplishing salvation through the cross – though every aspect of the final judgment of evil and sin has not yet been fully realized. But the sunrise of this entire period was heralded by the coming and ministry of John the Baptist …

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold – Luke 1:5-17

5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

So John the Baptist is sent as a sort of “warm-up” act for the coming of Jesus. His ministry was recognized by masses of people as unique, and it set up a fresh expectation of God stepping into time to fulfill his covenant promises to the nation of Israel; and we know now that the plan of God through the work of Christ was truly universal – touching us as well.

God has a master plan. It is not about just the Old Testament and the covenant people of Israel. It is not just about the Christian church. It is about how God has redeemed a lost creation of mankind back to himself through the work of Christ on the cross. The Old Testament looked forward to it – presenting the background and the need. The New Testament finishes the story by telling how it was fulfilled in Christ, and how that message is one for us to preach until such time as God returns to make an end of his entire earthly work.

In a way, it might be said that we fit into that story book somewhere in the next to last chapter. And we have a lot of history and obligations to understand and put into practice in our world. We have obligations to live in a way that we are in right relationship with God. But our obligations extend beyond ourselves – most particularly to be passing along this truth to the rising generations behind us … in our homes first, then in the church, and finally to the rest of the world. We need to understand where we (personally, and as a church) fit into God’s plan, not how do we get God to fit into our vision.

All of this story was passed down to us … over thousands of years of people transmitting it – some at the cost of their very lives. We now carry the baton, but it must be passed off as well to those who will run after us (pending God’s return). How are you involved generationally in that transfer?

Seeing the Big (and Biggest) Pictures – 1 Kings 12:1-24

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I know how to make it stop snowing! I can even stop a weekend blizzard! It has happened several times. All I did during a Saturday evening/Sunday morning snowstorm was make the decision to call off church; and sure enough, the temperature rose, the ice began to melt, and the clouds split with the storm mysteriously heading in an unexpected direction. I studied the forecasts and looked at the local weather radar, pulled back in the view and looked at the larger east coast image, and attempted a best decision. But when the warming sun arose on Sunday morning, several hundreds of people wondered why church was cancelled.

A situation such as I describe results from an inability to accurately step back from the situation enough to get an exact understanding of the future and what decisions to make. Hindsight is always 20/20, it is said. Accurate foresight is the challenge. Good vision and planning comes from evaluating the current circumstances of strengths and weaknesses, anticipating the future environment, and then charting a wise PATHWAY forward to lead into the unknown with the greatest wisdom available. This requires the ability to step back from the myriads of details, in order to gain a sense of the larger picture.

Our current preaching series that begins this weekend is a five-week effort to share with the church the work that the elders and staff have done in crafting a vision statement for the future of Tri-State Fellowship. This is our statement of the big picture. We are projecting what we would like to see, by God’s leading and grace, be the PATHWAY and outcome of the ministry of this church in the approaching years.

Today’s reading and devotional is from an Old Testament passage that I trust will give us some orientation for this type of thought process.

We drop into the very middle of Israel’s history today, to a time at the end of the reign of David’s son Solomon. This is at the end of the United Kingdom of Saul/David/Solomon – each of them having been the king of a unified Israel for 40 years a piece. Following this passage and its outcome, the kingdom will be divided as 10 northern tribes under Jeroboam continue on as the nation of “Israel,” whereas Rehoboam and the two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin (a very tiny clan) will be known simply as “Judah.”

You will recall from Israel’s history that Solomon began well as Israel’s king, displaying a heart for God. But over time, his many foreign wives turned his heart away from God (summarized in the previous chapter).  A part of God’s punishment for this spiritual declension would be that Solomon’s son Rehoboam would not inherit the rule over the entire nation. Instead, as foretold by the prophet Ahijah, 10 of the tribes would rebel and be ruled over by a man from the tribe of Ephraim named Jeroboam – who had to flee to Egypt for his life when Solomon learns of this prophecy. After the end of Solomon’s reign, we pick up today’s reading with his son Rehoboam ready to become the new king.

12 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

Sectional differences between the north and south were nothing new, as several historical incidents made for some bad blood. The nation, including the newly returned Jeroboam, state their willingness to follow Rehoboam if he would lighten the taxation and conscriptions that marked the Solomonic era – which yielded great national expansion, but at a very heavy price.

5 Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

7 They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

Apparently the elders in Israel saw the unsustainable situation and advised a different and more conciliatory path than Solomon had taken. However, the younger crowd advised a more severe crackdown of centralized power and heavy-handed authority.

12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

The first temptation in seeking to apply this Scripture is to think that there is never any good advice to come from younger people. I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten some pretty awful advice a few times in my life from elderly people. Yet it is true that those who have lived longer have seen more things and garnered a larger sum of life experiences. If they are wise in evaluating all they have encountered, they likely are a greater resource for wisdom. Yet it could be counter-argued that younger people understand the current day and the culture more precisely. Hence, the truth is more likely found in another Scripture, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”  (Proverbs 15:22)

The phrase within this passage that is often forgotten is verse 15 where it says “this turn of events was from the Lord…”  Simply stated, there was a big picture the young counselors failed to appreciate, but there was a bigger picture that it appeared everyone missed!

16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

“What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!”

So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

20 When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.

21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.

22 But this word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 23 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.

So the 10 northern tribes simply decided to “blow off” Rehoboam; rather, they helped us (or confused us) for millennia later by placing the dude with the rhyming name in his place – Jeroboam. Rehoboam sends the IRS tax man and task master (Adoniram) after the northerners, but they stone him! Back in Jerusalem, Rehoboam musters 180,000 warriors to wage war against the rebels and restore the nation. But a prophet named Shemaiah tells them, again, that this division is God’s doing. And this time, they obey and go home.

God’s picture is the biggest picture. We need to remember this as we move into the future. God is working His own master plan, and by His grace we have a part in it. Yet we too – even as a church family together – need to think about what we anticipate is the picture of the plan that is ahead for us. Where do we believe God is calling us, and what are the wise steps to take as we move in that direction?

That is what this series is about. As we live in increasingly difficult times of growing hostility in what is likely the approaching end of the age, how do we practically be God’s people in this place? We want to take the timeless truth given us in the past, and carry it wisely into the context of the day and trends portending the nature of the future. So come with us!

(Welcome to the beginning of the devotional series. These will post in the early morning of weekdays over the coming five weeks. You may view them on the sermon series web page at www.PathwaysTSF.org, catch them posted daily as a link on Facebook, or sign up to have them delivered by email to your phone or device. Most will be much shorter than today’s introductory writing.)