Monthly Archives: December 2016

A dream deferred (Elizabeth–Luke 1)

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“What happens to a dream deferred?” asked Langston Hughes, a poet of the 1950’s Harlem Renaissance.  “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?…Maybe it just sags, like a heavy load.”

Desire is a fragile thing.  Our unmet desires can fill us with hopeful expectancy, or they can drive us to utter despair.

Culturally, Christmas is a season of desires, of wish lists, of anticipation.  But for many it’s a season of lost loves, empty chairs, and teary eyes.  I’ve had friends tell me how strange it is, after their divorce, to send out Christmas cards without the name of their spouse attached.

With enough time, the “heavy load” of our deferred dreams transform into bitterness—toward ourselves, toward one another, and toward God.

A WOMAN’S REPROACH

As we saw last week, the Christmas narrative isn’t simply played out as some God-sized drama.  It’s a deeply personal story, with characters of real flesh and blood, feelings and thoughts, and—like many of us—dreams that have gone unsatisfied.

Zechariah and Elizabeth, we learn, were a couple who had been very faithful.  Yet their faithfulness only threw their childlessness into sharper contrast:

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. (Luke 1:5-7)

The ancient Jewish community saw children as a blessing from God.  Recall that God had promised Abraham that through him, God’s people would experience the blessing of the Promised Land and countless descendants.  Thus, children became seen as a sign of God’s providential care.  The ancients would likewise speak of having “quivers full” of children (Psalm 127:3-5).  To be barren, to be childless—well this was indeed a sign of reproach.

Elizabeth, of course, could recall the stories where God had enabled women like Rebekah (Genesis 25:21) and Leah (Genesis 29:11) to conceive—and this is to say nothing of Sara conceiving in her old age (Genesis 21:2).  Still, these were the exceptions—not the rule.  What hope remained for her?

So as the years went on, we can imagine Elizabeth’s quiet pain, the subtle ache that came from seeing friends or family bear children.  She could share their joy, yes—but only as an observer, never from holding a child of her very own.

That this couple continued to serve faithfully is a testimony to their enduring trust in God, and their satisfaction in him even amidst their anxious grief.

THE REVERSAL OF REPROACH

One thing has always been true regardless of the century: a baby changes everything.  When Zechariah is promised that he and his wife would conceive, it turns their world upside down, and it turns Elizabeth’s reproach into joy:

24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” (Luke 1:24-25)

We might imagine that Zechariah found a way to communicate to his wife what was happening, what the Lord was doing.  The text doesn’t clarify why Elizabeth spent five months in seclusion, though it’s reasonable to expect that this aging woman took some time in her first trimester or so to ensure the health of both her and the child.

It’s not clear that Elizabeth fully understood what was happening in the life of her cousin, Mary—at least  not until the Holy Spirit reveals this knowledge to her through supernatural means.  Mary makes a journey covering 80-100 miles (3-4 days, in that era) to visit Elizabeth.  Why?  We’re not told, but presumably she’s reacting to the Lord’s leading.  And it’s in that encounter that we find our first tangible expression of the child’s future purpose:

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:39-45)

Elizabeth would later give birth to John, who, later in life, would make a career out of pointing people to Jesus, “the strap of whose sandal [he] is not worthy to untie” (John 1:27).  So dedicated, it seems, that John began his ministry in utero.

THE OBJECT OF OUR EVERY DESIRE

Finally, the child came:

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. (Luke 1:57-65)

Many of us have desires that have long gone unmet.  There’s a reason that the return lines are so long on December 26.  People return their gifts to get what they really want.  Or they go on a shopping spree with all their gift cards.

Still others will not get what they want, or perhaps cannot have what they want.  And that’s heartbreaking.

But even this should never be seen as an interruption to our holiday; it should remind us why Christmas was necessary in the first place.  The desires of our hearts are only shadows and hints of a deeper desire, a desire that can be satisfied only in the Creator of the universe, the author of human destiny, and the Savior of the soul.  Our culture’s Christmas emphasis has long been that if you’re good, you get good gifts for Christmas.  But the gospel promises that because God is good, he gives you himself, and he is what satisfies the soul long after our sweaters go unraveled.  The cross promises forgiveness of sins, just as it invites us into a life of personal transformation.

What happens to a dream deferred?  It rests in the hands of Jesus.

 

The Song of Zechariah (Luke 1)

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The story of Zechariah continues here as he talks about his special son John, who will grow to become the forerunner of Jesus Christ – John the Baptist …

(Zechariah speaking) …

I am not going to live long enough to see it fulfilled myself. But I have been given a prophecy about this little boy.

So let me read to you what I wrote and have said. I tell you, of anything I have ever said or written, I was never so “INSPIRED” as with these words … they really are, I can assure you, words that came through me under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit …

68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Yes, the Messiah is coming, and John will play a role in preparing the way for him to fulfill God’s greatest plan of the ages. People – don’t miss this truth, don’t fail to see and understand God’s salvation revealed for all people. This is what ALL of God’s work is ALL about!

Before I go, let me share with you some timeless lessons from my life experience …

God is able to use us in our weakness, even redeeming our failures.

I’m not pleased I did not believe immediately, having prayed for the very thing that was now happening. And it was annoying to not have a voice for many months. But God used all of that for great good, adding to the witness that He was doing a special work in the birth of John and in who he will become.

The important thing when making a mistake is to not double-down on it and try to fix it and twist it yourself. Acknowledge the failure and get right back on the road of trusting God and following His way.

God remembers his promises and fulfills his word, even if it seems often to be terribly delayed in arriving.

Remember my name? Yahweh remembers. That name was so popular in Israel over the years because it has been the nature of our nation’s history to believe that God does not remember … that He forgets … that it takes a long time for answers to problems and injustices. But God does not forget; He is always working His plan in His time. And His timing is always perfect – both in the big plan of things, right down to the details of each of our lives. And remember also that His plans are much bigger and eternal when compared to our small lives and brief time in this world.

God may choose to use our offspring to accomplish greater things than we ever imagined for ourselves.

I don’t know what it is like in this time and in this place, but too many people where I am from believe that they are the center of the world and that everything should circulate around them. The greatest achievement of our lives may be what we make possible through the family and generations that follow us. It is the place of greatest potential impact for all of us.

Pastor Randy told me in our brief time together that this is a major focus of this synagogue … and you should listen to him – he’s a really smart guy!

God is able to do the impossible, to bring life from that which is even dead.

There is simply no way possible that a child could be born to Elizabeth and me at our advanced age. But the God who created life in the first place was able to bring life to the death of her womb. This “life-giving” is God’s business.

We are all born dead – separated by sin from the perfect relationship such as God had originally intended in the creation of man. But there is a perfect plan of salvation that is to come through one person – God’s Anointed One – don’t miss that! Don’t overlook that. Don’t minimize the importance of the unfolding of that story.

My Name is Zechariah (Luke 1)

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Our First-Person Christmas series will feature five Sundays of first-person narrative sermons. The initial presentation was this past Sunday, featuring a personal look at the life of Zechariah. For those of you who missed being there, here today and tomorrow is much of that manuscript. And even if you were there, reading it will likely refresh your memory with new insights you may not have caught by ear.

My Name is Zechariah

Yes, my name is Zechariah, you may have read about me in the Bible.  OK … I know what you are thinking.  “Yes, Zecharia, like in Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, ZECHARIAH, Malachi!”

Wrong!

Actually, there are 31 different men in the Bible who have the name Zechariah … which means “Yahweh remembers.”  You need to remember that, because I’m going to tell you more about that later!

My home is in the hill country of Judah, were I live with my wife Elizabeth. I am a priest and serve the nation of Israel in that capacity. My background is not just from the tribe of Levi, but actually I am descended from the line of Aaron, dating back 1500 years to that brother of Moses. And I might add that my wife Elizabeth is from the same unique family lineage of the Aaronic priesthood.

And as you can see, I’m a rather old fellow, as is my wife; and therein lies the great sadness that has attended our lives over the decades. We had been childless, even to well past the time and age of bearing children.

This was a great sadness for both of us, but particularly for my wife Elizabeth. In our culture, childlessness can be seen as a sort of judgment from God … or at least a suspicion of that.  But we knew that was not true in our circumstance. We have lived our lives consistently in an upright fashion, trusting God and honoring his commands – being faithful to observe the law, doing so joyfully as servants of the one true God.

Even so, I have to say, it still was an inner hurt that never went away. Our home was terribly quiet. The sounds of children at play would always dredge up to our conscious awareness that there was a vacancy in our lives – a hole that was never filled, not even by all of the good and blessings we received.

You may not know or understand this, but there are literally thousands of priests in Israel (somewhere around 18,000 right now), all connected to the lineage of Aaron. I have a lot of distant cousins! God wasn’t kidding when he told Abraham that his offspring would be like the stars of the sky or the sands of the sea. I am from the family – the division – of Abijah. There are a total of 24 divisions of the priests – this set-up dating all of the way back 1,000 years to the time of David.

Though I have responsibilities on a regular basis, particularly during the festival times of the Jewish calendar, my division only serves in the Temple for a week at a time, once every 24 weeks. Those 7 days are a busy and intense time.

Not long ago, during my rotation week of serving, I was chosen by lot to go into the Temple and into the Holy Place to burn incense. It was a daily event that accompanied the daily sacrifice – before the morning sacrifice and after the evening offering. This was an amazing opportunity – a day that would/could only happen once in my lifetime. The incense represented the prayers of our people – the whole nation – before the Lord. The focus of the entire nation at that moment in time is upon that priest who goes before the Lord.

It was the regular experience in the Temple at this daily moment for a crowd of people to gather and see the priest go into and out of the Holy Place; and they pray during this time as well.  So, yes, I was a bit excited about this and could feel my heart pounding somewhat as I went inside and began to offer the prayers. Others had told me of what an intense spiritual moment this was for them.

But none had a story quite like what happened to me. Suddenly I was not alone!!  There appeared an angel on the right side of the altar. I was terribly frightened!  How many of you have had an angel show up when you least expected it?

And he began to talk to me, telling me that my prayer had been answered. My prayer??  I was praying – as all the faithful in Israel would pray – for God’s ultimate redemption in the coming of a long-awaited Messiah. Was this to be the prayer to be answered?  Well, more on that later …

But the angel’s words were, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.”

Ah … OK … I wasn’t really thinking about that right now. And … well … I wondered – Does this angel not see how old I am?  And if you think I look bad for having babies, you should see Elizabeth!

Before I could debrief with him a bit on this matter of age and discuss my natural skepticism, even seeking some sort of sign or evidence beyond his words, he continued his message.  He said some interesting things that are to come true of my son John. Let me list them for you …

He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

There is no doubt that a child could bring great delight to us, and beyond that to those who know us.  But this seems to be speaking of something more than that. Somehow this revelation is that this boy of mine is going to be powerfully blessed in God’s work…

He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.

Of course we understand that a vow to abstain is related to a particular commitment to God’s work, which is clearly the future for John. And it is wonderful to hear that God will be with him by the filling of the Holy Spirit – that is for us in Israel only the rare benefit of those that God particularly sets apart…

He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.

There is no doubt that a great need exists in the nation for people to return to faith and trust in our God. These are discouraging times with the Roman occupation. So many of our national and spiritual leaders are in an unholy alliance with them, while others – the “Zealots” we call them – look for a political or military solution. But the heart of the matter is a spiritual issue – a declension from a true trust in God and obedience to Him.

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.”

Wow, speaking of the hopes of a Messiah – this part of the message was truly messianic – bringing up the name of Elijah.  It was not the prophet of my name (Zechariah) who spoke about Elijah coming again, but the next and last prophet – Malachi … writing, “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents…”

Some people believe Elijah himself is to come again, though I have always understood it to be someone in the same God-given power and authority to lead the nation to revival … and this angelic message to me was that my son John was to do this service.  And why?  It would be to prepare the nation for this promised Messiah to come with true and full salvation.

Up until this point, I had not said anything, as this was a lot to take in … I mean, I just couldn’t stop thinking about how old I am … and then … (not the best moment of my life or career, I admit), out of my mouth comes, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

You would think that being a priest and a descendent of Aaron – being one who has always been deeply aware of the details of the Jewish scriptures – that I would be quickly open to the idea that God can intervene miraculously and bring life to that which is dead and hopeless. No less than our Father Abraham had the same experience and he believed the prophecy – being credited to him as righteousness for believing God’s promise … though his wife Sarah was worse than me – she outright laughed at it.

But they weren’t the only ones. Samson and Samuel were born to women of advanced age. But so many years had passed with no children. So much pain … and for my wife Elizabeth – the shame of being barren. We had given up hope long before the angel Gabriel showed up.

Yep, Gabriel – that’s who this angel was – the same one who spoke to Daniel on two occasions. I didn’t have a chance to say something like, “Sorry I didn’t recognize you; I’ve never seen an angel before!”  He went on to say …

I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.  And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Well shut my mouth!  Literally!  That’s what happened. Try as I might, I couldn’t talk, though I remembered every word perfectly as stated to me.  And yes, I deserved it for not believing immediately. And though I could not talk, I knew altogether that this was real and going to happen exactly as stated.

All of this took a lot more time than was the routine for a priest doing the incense.  The folks standing and praying outside were wondering what the delay was all about. I’m sure I was a sight when coming back out to them; and when I could not talk to them, they knew that I had seen a vision and had an unusual experience. Through motions I attempted to share what had happened, though few understood much about it.

My week of service time had passed and I went home, communicating mostly in writing to my wife about all that had occurred. Elizabeth and I were much secluded in the coming months, though her relative Mary – the mother now of a baby named Jesus – came and spent three months with us. In time, our son John was born.

Elizabeth has also been invited by Randy and Chris to speak to you… just don’t tell her about how I talked about how old she is!

According to Jewish law and tradition, we took John to be circumcised on the 8th day. Now remember, I haven’t been able to talk all this time. In the Temple, they thought that we would surely name the boy Zechariah, after me.  But Elizabeth spoke up for us and said that, no, he would be named John (as the angel had told me).

Not believing we would do this – there were no “Johns” in our family – everyone looked at me to see my reaction. And asking to be able to write my response, I wrote that indeed his name was to be John. This surprised everyone; but even more surprising was that at that very moment, my voice returned.

All of these events have caused quite a stir, I must say … especially back home in the hill country of Judah. Though John is still just a little fellow, it is clear that there is indeed something special about God’s hand on him – everyone can see it and they all comment about it.

(the rest of the story will come tomorrow)

The Family Tree (Matthew 1:1-17)

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I have on occasion in sermons and writings talked about my somewhat convoluted family background. Born to a single mother, I was adopted by her parents; and so that half of my family tree is known to me rather fully. But my father’s side was always a mystery. I only knew a handful of scant facts. I talked with him once on the phone when I was age 22, seeking to get together, but he politely blew me off and died a couple years later.

In an effort to understand a little bit more about where I came from, about five years ago I began a search of information on both sides. My mother’s side was easy enough, as I can trace that family lineage back to Switzerland with a rather certain connection to one of the leading figures of the Reformation.

My father’s family has been more difficult. Even with the incredible research capabilities that are available in this electronic age, I cannot get beyond a great grandfather born in 1855. So this genealogy today for Jesus that has 42 generations in it is something that I find especially amazing.

Why are people like me so interested in such things?  I suppose it is the way it can give you a sense of who you are and where you came from.

But you might not like what you find out. I like it that my ancestor on one side was a compatriot of Luther and Zwingli in the Reformation. However, it was not so great to find out that my great grandfather on the other side spent time in federal prison for theft while working for the postal system. The PBS series called Finding Your Roots uncovered that Ben Affleck had slave-owning ancestors. He asked to have this overlooked in the airing of the program, which it was. But WikiLeaks is everywhere and revealed the whole thing, leading to embarrassment on both sides.

The question from this might be to ask how significantly one’s ancestry reflects upon an individual. Is it fair to have a negative view of someone simply because of their genetic past? That could make for an interesting argument.

But let me speak to it theologically. We are all genetically related to Adam, and that is a problem for us. The curse of sin has come down to us. And ladies, here is one you lay on your husbands and fathers of your children – the kids got the sin nature from him, not you. And this is at the heart of the issue of the importance of the virgin birth of Christ.

But there is a way that family history plays well for us. As we have by faith trusted in Christ, we are adopted into his family. Yes, that’s a good thing! Legally we are the children of God with rights as heavenly heirs. So, I can say personally that adoption has worked out well for me on two occasions!

This Matthew genealogy is one that demonstrates for the reader the legitimate right that Jesus had to be king in Israel. That is the theme of Matthew’s gospel – the angle from which he writes to a Jewish audience in particular. So it traces from Abraham, through Judah and David, to Joseph who – read it carefully – is said to be the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Matthew 1:1 – This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,

4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,

5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,

14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud,

15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

The Long-Expected Jesus

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We enter once again into the season of year where we repeat the greatest of all stories, remembering the coming of Christ into the world in order to fulfill God’s redemptive plan of the ages. As always, telling this story involves a lot of rehearsing of familiar narratives. The challenge is to bring a fresh angle and unique consideration to something so very well-known.

Our series this year is an attempt to truly humanize the characters involved. These are folks not terribly different from most of us, going about their lives while little expecting to be given a role in the greatest story of them all. And so we want to bring them alive in fresh ways, speaking through their voices and attempting to tell a story as it likely looked from their perspective.

So to begin with our devotionals, let’s try to drop in on the world and context into which Jesus would come. It was indeed a non-stellar era of Jewish history. The Romans ruled the roost. The religious leaders of the Jewish nation were mostly self-serving and therefore sell-outs to the iron-fisted world power. A dissident group of Zealots imagined and dreamed of overthrow and political solutions, yet the minority of those in Israel who were faithful to God understood the core issues to be spiritual in nature (now there’s a timeless truth!).

There remained in Israel a hope and expectation of a promised Messiah figure as portrayed by a vast array of Old Testament prophets dating back many hundreds of years. But wow … talk about waiting!

Let’s illustrate it this way: We think that the Pilgrims coming to America was a long, long time ago. And that is true, being about 400 years. That is how many years had passed in Israel since the most recent of the Old Testament prophets had made a prediction of a coming Messiah. Other prophecies went back even 1500 years.

And so, Israel waited; the world waited. False messiahs came and went. When would the true fulfillment come, and what would it look like?

Even those who wrote about it wondered concerning these questions. All they could do under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was write some foggy pieces of the story. What they could see was interesting indeed. At any given time they held in their hands and minds a couple of very colorful pieces of a larger puzzle. They could tell that the whole picture of the entire puzzle, when completed and revealed, was going to be the most amazing thing ever. Their pieces were interesting in their own right. But they could not put it together, and that was frustrating for them to be writing about something they even knew they would not live to see.

Peter wrote about this, saying …

1 Peter 1:10 – Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

The entire collection of details and puzzle pieces is amazing. We can see that the ancient Scriptures prophesied that the Messiah would be born of a woman — a virgin, of the family of Abraham > Isaac > Jacob > Judah > David, born in Bethlehem though going to Egypt, named Immanuel and called the Son of God, a Nazarene bringing light to the Gentiles, being falsely accused and forsaken and put to death as the sacrifice for sin ……. And that’s just the beginning of details. And people doubt the Scriptures!!  And today they doubt the second coming of Christ as well.

Among the early songs of each Christmas season is the 18th century Charles Wesley hymn that captures the essence of these thoughts today …

Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art; dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.

Remembering (Nehemiah 13:1-31)

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There is the oft-quoted, famous saying that the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Why do people repeat mistakes?  It is often because they simply do not remember or choose to remember what went terribly wrong in the past.

The nation of Israel had their own sort of special stupid when it came to repeating mistakes and paying a price for them.

A few years ago I was discipling a young man who had come to Christ out of a totally non-religious background, and he insisted on reading the Bible from beginning to end. I wanted to have him do it in a more strategic way for discipleship purposes, but he was insistent. So every week he would come with a list of questions about Old Testament narratives and practices, and every week he would go into a new laughing fit at how dumb the Israelites were AGAIN, and how God had to spank them for disobedience. He was incredulous at their failures … over and over.boy-with-bible

Some of this final chapter of Nehemiah may strike us as very odd, but understand that it comes from an ancient culture. But what is timeless is the truth that disobeying God simply never works out.

It never worked out (as God said it would not) for the Israelites to intermarry with goodness people groups around them. This had to stop. And having an enemy living inside the very center of worship itself was total foolishness.

Not honoring the Sabbath was an ongoing problem that cheapened faith and drew the people into dependence upon self rather than trust in God. It was saying that six days out of seven were not enough to supply their physical needs and desires.

Not being generous and sacrificial toward God’s worship and work always resulted in a weakening of the foundations for centralized success and prioritization. The Temple work suffered, and the people were not sufficiently resourced with God’s truth.

Nehemiah took on all of these challenges, repeating multiple times in this chapter and throughout the book a prayer that God would remember him for this faithful work he undertook, often at great personal peril.

Why did Nehemiah live as he did? Why did he care? Why did he over and over take strong stands, rebuke people for going their own way, calling them back to God and truth?

Why did he repeatedly invoke God’s blessing on his work and leadership?  To make a great name for himself? So that others would come along 2500 years later and preach a sermon series about his life and work? To just be famous for a wall?

It was because he knew the only way his generation and those to follow would be blessed would be because they safely centralized and prioritized God in their lives and nation.

To put it into New Testament terms, describing a way we should live, we follow the model of the ultimate Nehemiah – Jesus Christ – of whom the Scriptures say (2 Cor. 5:15) “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 

That is living a legacy #ForOurCity, while leaving a legacy for generations to follow.

13:1 – On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, 2 because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) 3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.

4 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.

6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.

10 I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. 11 So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.

12 All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms. 13 I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zakkur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.

14 Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.

15 – In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”

19 When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.

23 Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah. 25 I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. 27 Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?”

28 One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.

29 Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.

30 So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task. 31 I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits.

Remember me with favor, my God.

The Choir Director’s Big Day (Nehemiah 12:40-47)

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I have to have some fun with this passage today, as it really tickles a bone down deep inside me to read hear about choirs and musicians being honored and prioritized. When I set out into the world of education after high school, I thought that it was to such a position and career I was headed. Church choirs and orchestras were a big deal then. Contemporary worship was yet to be born. And even though my primary focus drifted from music to pastoral ministry even before I had graduated from college, serving as a minister of music with choral and orchestral conducting was still a primary part of what I would do in local churches for a handful of years. And it was exuberating I must say. And though I made my change away from traditional to contemporary worship with my eyes open many years ago, believing it would be the best way of reaching our culture and world, a part of me still loves the grand sounds of a large choir, orchestra and pipe organ.

The two choirs marched around the wall in opposite directions, meeting ultimately at the Temple. It may well be that they performed some sort of antiphonal singing – meaning a type of back and forth expression, or something with one group echoing the other.

The passage goes on to not only describe this day, but to also give detail as to how an ongoing system of support was arranged for the functioning of worship. Detailed arrangements were made that offerings would be provided to support the priests, Levites, and musicians. This was re-establishing what the Law had prescribed for the worship experience of the nation, something largely forgotten and alien to the experience of people who had been dispersed, along with their physical center of faith being destroyed.

What are the timeless truths that arise from an Old Testament passage such as this? Should we re-establish choirs and pay musicians to live in the church building? No, that’s not the ticket. We do need to take from this that God is to be worshipped and prioritized in all of life. Honoring him centrally in all we do needs to be the highest priority. Doing that together with others on the first day of the week is an important feature of this, and we should “not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (as it says in Hebrews 10:25).

But as Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4, a day was coming when true worshippers would not be about doing it at a single place like Jerusalem, but that it would be in “spirit and truth.”  We don’t go to church to meet God at the specific place where his glory especially dwells, because we have in this church age the Spirit of God living in us. We don’t go to church merely to do church, we ARE the church and we gather to do more together than we can do alone – both in worship and service.

When the Israelites gathered and worshipped on this occasion, it says that the sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

As we live our faith and live a legacy, oh that it would be true of us that the “sound” and knowledge of the joy and reality of life in Christ would be very evident to the outside world. And may that be true of our church and our churches in this community! May it be that our relationships with God and with each other are the stuff that makes those yet to know Christ say to themselves, “Where can I sign up to be a part of something like that?”

12:40 – The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials, 41 as well as the priests—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah with their trumpets— 42 and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam and Ezer. The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah. 43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

44 At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. 45 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the musicians and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon. 46 For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the musicians and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the musicians and the gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.