The Ikea choir

This morning, on the way to church, both Kim and I thought we should maybe bring the camera, but neither mentioned it, and neither did.  When we got to church, saw someone in a bright yellow Ikea shirt. It isn't unusual to see someone in a brand-name shirt around here, as they make it through Goodwill (or others) to places like this for sale, and people pick a quality shirt with bright colors, and don't know/care what the words on it mean.  Passing the back of the church, I thought I saw another person with the same shirt, but decided I must have mistaken, and that it was just the same person passing from another direction.
So we get into church, and when its time for the choir to stand up and sing, there are TEN people in Ikea shirts, singing praises to Jesus! Anyway, choirs with uniforms aren't new, and sports teams with corporate sponsorship aren't news either, but this seemed like an interesting juxtaposition.
Since I didn't have my camera, for those that might not be sure what shirt I'm talking about, I found a pic online:

What We Want

I've been looking through John 6 a lot lately, as it speaks to a number of issues, such as hard doctrines, non-seeker sensitive evangelism, and the value of eternal life, as opposed to a full stomach today.  The first time this year I looked at it, I was thinking about sustainability, and how to encourage people to seek things that last, as opposed to things that are exciting/fulfilling/satisfying today, but not in the longer term.  Today I realized that at least one uniting theme in the chapter is what people want. (These quotes are all John 6, ESV)
1. Signs

 ¹After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ²And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

People seek after signs. Someone does something great, and people are impressed -- which we generally like to be.  This morning I noted the number of signs I saw on the way to church.  One coke add said "Open happiness," with a woman in rapture opening a coke.  I also saw beer, a number of cell providers, skin cream, toothpaste, and a Christmas festival -- and these were just the very large ones. The purpose of these signs is to get people to enter a store, and buy a product.  If someone sat on the street and admired the sign (which some might do, especially the one with the skin cream lady on it), without later buying the product, the ad money didn't work.  The point of these signs, as with all signs, is to point to something else, not to be looked at for it's own good.
So what are Jesus' signs pointing to?  Himself.  After attracting them all by healing the sick, he fed them all (5,000) with five loaves of bread and a couple fish. Did they get it?  Kind of...  They did get that this sign meant that He was someone, but then the got tripped up on the second Thing We Want:

2. Power

¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" ¹⁵Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

I think we generally want power for ourselves, but watching someone else in power is a close second, especially if we feel we have some part in it, and perhaps even more so if he might help us throw off our oppressors.  "Wow, this man really is from God!" is immediately followed by "Let's make him King!"  But what is Jesus' response?  Humility.  No thanks, I have other plans.  So He slips away, and walks across the water to his disciples.  The next day, the crowd realize He's given them the slip, and eventually catch up with Him.  When they do, He accuses them of wanting another thing:

3. Food/Today's Requirements

 ²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" ²⁶Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Here he's saying that it wasn't even wrongly seeking signs that brought them to him, but their stomachs.  In America it doesn't mean so much to feed someone, but in less prosperous places, food is relationship.  We really do need things today, and giving that to me is caring for me.  While we may not be seeking food itself, we certainly chase after the things relevant to today, as opposed to more longterm concerns.  That this is what Jesus meant is clear by His admonition in the next verse:

²⁷Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal."

People come to Him for more free food, and he offers them eternal life.  Given this dichotomy, the people then express another want:
4. Something to do

²⁸Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" ²⁹Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

Having been told to work for eternal food, they ask what to do.  I think we often are looking for a simple roadmap of what we can/should to do be good/right with God.  This desire is what makes works based religion so successful.  We want to do something to earn a reward, or to make things right.  But what does Jesus say?  "Believe in Me." With this, the people go back to wanting

5. Signs, Again

³⁰So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

This may be a request for another sign, or just more bread.  But either way, I think it pretty amazing that one who has just healed the sick, fed them all with a few provisions, and then crossed a stormy lake without a boat, would be asked for proof of His power.

³²Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.³³For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

He corrects their understanding of the scripture, and points back to himself. Which, of course they don't get, so He goes on:

³⁴They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." ³⁵Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Wow.  That is a pretty incredible claim.  With the number of poor Christians I have known, I can see why this would look obsurd on the face of it. But Jesus doesn't stop there; he goes on to Election, Eternal Security, and the Incarnation:

³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

I've heard a lot about evangelism from different perspectives, but I don't know anyone who would recommend throwing all that into a seekers' class.  And His audience responds by demanding

6. (Human) Reason

 ⁴¹So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." ⁴²They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

In other words, "Where is this kid getting this stuff?" It doesn't make sense; it isn't possible.  A reasonable request, after a sort, but should we really expect God to always make sense to us?  Do we really think we're ask smart as He is, or even in the same ballpark? His response:

⁴³Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

This is an interesting mix of hope and further frustration for them, I imagine. They are claiming that He doesn't make sense, and is therefore wrong.  He is offering them to be taught by God, the One who set this all up, and the only one who could really explain it to us, if that's what we really want.  But He also says that this doesn't happen to everyone, but just the ones the Father draws.  Then He claims to be greater than manna, which did not preserve life longer than a day at a time. They dispute with Him some more, and He dishes back more about eating His flesh and drinking His blood.  When asked to make the Truth fit into a package small and simple enough for us to figure out, Jesus refuses.  We ask to understand for ourselves, but He offers us the Truth.  Which brings them to their final want:

7. Ease

⁶⁰When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"

Wow, Jesus can make life hard some times. And He doesn't seem to make it any easier:

⁶¹But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? ⁶²Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ⁶⁵And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."

Some will not come to Him, and He doesn't seem bothered by it.  When they complain that it is too hard, he accepts that, and continues -- where we would be sorely tempted to make it easier.  Their response?

 ⁶⁶After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

So Jesus starts out with a crowd of some 5,000 people chasing him down, and now many leave, and what does He do?

⁶⁷So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?"

He turns to His inner circle, and challenges them as well, offering them the door.  He doesn't seem bothered by the drop in numbers, because He knows who's in control.  Rather, He continues to drive the point home.  The classic response is very well known, but it bears repeating, and looking at in the relationship to these wants:

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

Peter knows that what Jesus offers cannot be found elsewhere, and that this is what he truly needs. When asked for ease, Jesus returns with the Truth, which can be hard at times.  And those that have given up everything else to follow the Truth, stick around.

We want signs, power, daily needs, something to do, a way to understand it, and for it all to be easy.  And Jesus, in return, offers us Himself, in all His glorious complexity, difficulty, eternity, and beauty.  And apparently we can't have it all; it's either chase the other stuff, or stick to Him.  The question now before us, is which one do we want more?

Not by Works, but for them

I've been thinking a lot about Grace and works righteousness lately, having just heard a number of fiery sermons telling us to Do Right in order to Be Right with God.
Then last night I read the last chapter of Timothy, and was surprised by the amount of stuff Paul packed into just a few verses:

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. (Titus 3:4-8 ESV)

The intro to Titus in my Bible talks about evidence for the divinity of Jesus, which is one of the striking bits here.  In verse 4, "God our Savior appeared...," pouring out the Holy spirit on us "...through Jesus Christ our Savior," in verse 6.  While there isn't a whole lot of direct Biblical evidence for the Trinity, it is nice to see these passages were the three Persons are all related, and in some sense equated -- God gives us the Holy Spirit through Jesus, both God and Jesus being "our Savior."
But what really struck me was the juxtaposition of two things that are said elsewhere regarding Grace and works.  That is,

1. We are not saved by our good works, and
   
2. We are saved in order to produce good works.

The first is stated clearly in verse 5: "he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy..."  then Paul takes some time to describe how that happens.  Salvation is accomplished by this thing called regeneration, which is like washing, and the work of the Holy Spirit, which renews us.  And this Holy Spirit is given to us (and richly) through Jesus.  And the result of this action on us by the Holy Spirit (and through Jesus) is that we now have a different legal status --we wait in hope for eternal life.
This doctrine of our salvation then gets some commentary in verse 8.  This statement (either the whole statement of our salvation by Grace, or our position as heirs of eternal life) is trustworthy.  Not only is it trustworthy, but we should insist on it. But Why? Here's the trick, where the second statement above comes in: we insist "so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works."  And this is both "excellent" and "profitable."

So there is this reality, that God saved us on His own terms, irrespective of good things that we may have done. This salvation that He gave us puts us in a position of Hope, where we await heaven.  But Titus is encouraged to insist on the trustworthiness of this doctrine. We really can trust in God's provision for our salvation, both for now and for the future, as we await the time that all is made right in Heaven.  And this confidence, that God really does have it all under control, is what leaves us free to do real Good, good that might please God, and not be just another misguided attempt to buy His favor.  I guess this is what John Piper calls faith in "Future Grace," that our confidence in God's accomplished provision (for the next five minutes, and to the time of our death) frees us to start living Holy lives.

And this this both excellent and profitable for people, because we waste so much time trying to look good.  If we took the time and energy we wasted trying to look good, and applied it to being satisfied with what God has already done for us, we might actually get some real good done.

The Bible for the Church

I heard a rousing sermon this morning, about how we sell (and cheaply) our Christian identity in times of trouble, and how it is the role and responsibility of the Christian to leave comfort for more difficult places.  He talked about the comfort and safety of the womb, and the death that comes if we don't leave it for the harsher world outside.
Somewhere in there, he mentioned the 2/3 world church, and how the places that have historically had the church, are abandoning Christ for more pleasant pursuits.  And somehow, I made a connection that I never had before.
In preparing to come out here, I did a lot of thinking about missions, and the role of Bible translation in the church.  I read a brochure once on the connection between Bible translation and church planting.  While some may oppose the two works, I believe that it is foundational to the church not only in that a new church needs the Bible in a form that its laypeople can easily understand, but also the process of Bible translation trains up community members in the understanding of the Bible, which provides the church with trained (and hopefully mature) leaders.  In some places where Bible translation is done, there is little or no church at the beginning of the process, and at least some mature leadership by the end -- and this is church planting.
But that is not the way it often works around here. Africa has been evangelized, for the most part, for some time.  But the missionaries that came used trade languages (to reach a broader audience, because it could be learned before moving to an area of work, or for a number of other reasons), in most or all areas of the church life, but certainly including preaching and scripture reading. I think of the story of Adoniram Judson, diligently working away on his Burmese language scripture drafts because they were essential to his church planting work, and God's preservation of it through his time in prison and the war with Britain.  And I realize that I can't think of one such story in Africa. Some people ask us if we're learning/using "African," while the reality is that there are some 2,000 African languages, not including dialects of those languages, some of which can be significant.  Many people know of Swahili, which is spoken in this part of Congo, but it is also spoken in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, and at least a bit differently in each place.  Swahili is a mother tongue, but the Swahili people live on the other side of Kenya, two countries and Lake Victoria away from us.  People here who speak Swahili do so to get along with people from other tribes, who therefore speak other languages.  By "get along with,"  mean principally buying and selling, but also relationships with colleagues in most work outside of education and government, and often within them as well.  For education and government, French is often used -- particularly in the presence of a foreigner.  So people here mock their own use of Swahili, and they have a simplified grammar and vocabulary, as would be true, I think, for anyone working in a language that was not their first language (e.g., I get by just fine in French here, but no French person would ever mistake me for one of their own...).  But this is the language of the life of the church.
One of the saddest implications of this fact for me is that people only know reading and writing in other languages, and in general the impression is that reading and writing is hard.  Reading and writing in another language is hard, but it is possible to have an experience of reading and writing in your mother tongue, that moves ideas much more smoothly between your head and paper -- as most native English speakers know.  But for me, the greatest shame of this situation is that most people here have no idea.  They try regular Bible reading (or not), find it hard, and give up. So people get up to sing and dance by the hundreds on Sunday, but the weekly Bible study has maybe 30 people.  Why should they work so hard at it?  Pastors are supposed to work hard at it, but I can't really blame laypeople for not regularly reading the scriptures.  And even for pastors, it is clear at times that they have not understood the text: we had a sermon recently on Ezekiel 14, where the pastor read , e.g., from vv 13-14:

Son of man, when a land sins against me... even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.

But his sermon clearly betrayed that his understanding of the above was the following:

Son of man, when a land sins against me... if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.

Perhaps a subtle difference, but missing "even" and "but" turns the scripture on its head.  We got a wonderful sermon on how we had to be as righteous as Noah, Daniel, and Job if we were going to avoid God's wrath.  So the church got once more taught on works righteousness, and missed a chance to see the Grace of God in the face of Christ in the Old Testament (where, for one person to save another's life, he would need to be even more righteous than Noah, Daniel, and Job!)
But my point is, the church here is experiencing a famine for God's word -- not the milk of newborns, but the meat that allows full maturity.  And it may be that anyone who has worked here has heard the metaphor describing the church as topsoil -- miles wide, and a couple inches deep.  I believe this is a direct consequence of not having the Bible in the languages that people understand the best -- the languages it would be easiest for the to read and write in, if there were anything to read, or a system to write with.
So, this morning, when the elder mentioned the 2/3 church, it occurred to me, that the question for missions and Bible translation was not, "is Bible translation the best means of and/or necessary for evangelism of the world?" but, "Given that the center of the Christian church is moving to places where it has not historically been, do we want the people in those places to be able to read the Bible fluently, or not?" Or, we could say that Bible translation is not (only) a question for bringing people into the church, but it is a question for the health and maturity of the church as a whole. Or, as the Westminster Confession of Faith (Ch 1.8b) says:

because these original tongues [i.e., Hebrew and Greek] are not known to all the people of God, who have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship Him in an acceptable manner; and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope.

Wherever the church goes, we have a responsibility to provide the Scriptures.  Laypeople have a right and responsibility to read (and search!) them, and they can't, if all they have is Hebrew or Greek (which they don't know), and they won't if all they have is a trade language, because of the difficulty.  We want a church where God's word dwells plentifully, not where it exists only for the few who are educated or obstinate enough read it in another language.  This is what will give the church proper worship; this is what will give the church patience, comfort, and hope.
So, in 100 years, when the Christian church in America looks like the Christian church in Europe does today, and when the centers of Christian thought and activity are in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, my hope and prayer is that those centers will be firmly grounded in a clear understanding of the scriptures, and trained by habits of Biblical worship and daily encouragement from those scriptures.
Well, that's what I think, anyway, and why I do what I do.

Repenting of our Service and Obedience

This morning the sermon was on the brother of the prodigal son.  Unfortunately I didn't get much out of it, since my head was a bit foggy, but it did get me to thinking, again, about different things that have come together in that passage for me at different times.

The basic story is well known. One son cashes out on his promised inheritance early, takes off, wastes it all, and becomes dirt poor (this is all Luke 15 ESV):

 ¹¹And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. ¹²And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. ¹³Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. ¹⁴And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Then he decides to go back, and try his luck with his father, hoping to at least get a better job than feeding pigs.  His father is gracious and forgiving far beyond his expectations:

 ¹⁷"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! ¹⁸I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' ²⁰And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' ²²But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

Many people stop here with the story, and talk about how wonderful God is in forgiving us.  And that's right, but Jesus doesn't stop here; he continues with the story of the other brother, the one who didn't go away and spend his inheritance on prostitutes. When he heard the news of his brother's return, and his father's forgiveness and celebration, he was not happy.

 ²⁵"Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' ²⁸But he was angry and refused to go in.

One thing that did come across this morning, was that the Bible does not just give us good examples to follow, but also bad examples to not follow.  This brother is jealous of his brother, and refuses to participate in the celebration.  How do we feel when someone next to us gets something good that they didn't deserve?  Are we happy for them, or are we bitter that they didn't get what they deserved, or that we didn't get something even better?  Why can we not rejoice that God is gracious with our neighbor, without being disgruntled that He wasn't even more gracious with us?  But the wonderful part of the story is that the father doesn't leave this son in his sulk:

^28bHis father came out and entreated him,

This son's response is rather telling of his relationship to the father:

²⁹but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

This son looks at his relationship with his father as one of service and obedience.  Long years of service, and no disobedience, should earn a reward.  And what reward was he seeking? "you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends." Clearly he sees his father as someone to serve and obey, and get stuff from, and not as someone to celebrate with.  He wants the good things his father has to offer, to go celebrate with other people, his friends. And when he compares his service and obedience with his brother's sin and dissipation (including prostitutes, no less!), he is irate that his dad is celebrating.

Looking at it another way, when the first son took his father's goods in order to go party elsewhere, he later repented, and recognized that he had sinned against his father (v18).  He knows that he is no longer worthy of an intimate relationship with his father, but goes back to him anyway, and is graciously received.  But the son who never left had the same idea (take dad's stuff and go party elsewhere), and hadn't repented, since he had conformed to his own idea of righteousness: service and obedience.

This is one of the core problems with legalism, or works righteousness. I develop a conception of what is right that is attainable for me personally, then I feel good about myself and complain about anyone else not following it.  I am limiting God's actual righteous requirements (which I have not met) to feel good about myself, and at the same time, I have misapplied my own standards, to become a measure of judgment against my neighbor. 
The irony is that this is not at all what God is looking for.  He doesn't want us to try really hard to live by a certain set of rules, and complain about those who don't. He wants relationship with us.  For the father, this is not a question of sins, service and reward, comparing service and obedience with dissipation and fornication.  This is a question of life and death:

 ³¹And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³²It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

The son who stayed home always had relationship with his father, however badly he misconstrued it, and however little joy he drew from it.  But his brother had been dead to their father, cut off from relationship by his open rebellion, and had returned to life and relationship.  When the prodigal returned, he didn't give the father back all the money he spent on prostitutes and wild living; his father bore that cost himself.  But he returned to relationship with the father, and that is cause for celebration.
I think often we look at God as this cosmic vending machine, where we put something good in, and get something good back, and then go eat it somewhere else.  But I think this conception cheats us of both our relatinhsip with God, as well as our true enjoyment of His gifts, which were meant to be enjoyed in relationship with Him.  I think it is good to enjoy the gifts of God, but if that enjoyment leads us away from relationship with God, then it will be short lived, and ultimately hollow.  God has meant for us to enjoy Him first, and through Him we also have temporal pleasures to enjoy.
And this is the great truth that John Piper has been reminding us of: God's greatest glory amounts to our greatest pleasure.  God wants His own glory above all else, and that includes us being happy (in the long term, not necessarily right now).  If we chase our own (right now) happiness, we lose it all. Or, as Jesus said,

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? (Luke 9:24-25 ESV)

and

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matt 6:33 ESV)

So we cannot be righteous by trying hard, and we can't really party (in the long term) with the stuff we can get by working hard.  But if we consider God as our best and only hope, He will make us both righteous and happy.  Not that it won't be hard for us sons who have stayed home, and worked hard to serve and obey.  We think we have it coming to us, and aknowledging that we don't have it all together, and that we really do need God more than He needs us, is hard.  Fortunately God helps with that, too, if we come to him, asking, seeking and knocking for his help.

Post Christmas Blues

It is not often that I feel like sharing what I heard in church two weeks in a row, but such is the case.
I recall a potent Advent sermon some years ago, linking the passage from Isaiah that Jesus read in Luke 4:18-19, with the rest of the context, in Isaiah 61.  It was a rather potent juxtaposition of the message Jesus came to proclaim on his first coming, before his death (i.e., freedom, mercy, and healing), with the whole message in Isaiah, which also includes judgment, which is then apparently reserved for His second coming.  Get your mercy now, before the judgment comes.  A good thing to think about as we anticipate God being "with us."
This morning was on Jeremiah 31, which is quoted in Matt 2:18, just after Herod's killing of the innocents.  There is weeping in Israel, because her children are no more.  But what of Jeremiah's context?  Apparently Jeremiah didn't always write with weeping eyes; this message is happy.
The whole passage read was Jeremiah 31:10-17, of which verse 15 appears in Matthew:

 ¹⁰"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
   and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him,
   and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'
¹¹ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob
   and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
¹²They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
   and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
    and they shall languish no more.
¹³ Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
   and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy;
   I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
¹⁴ I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
   and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
         declares the LORD."

 ¹⁵Thus says the LORD: "A voice is heard in Ramah,
   lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
   she refuses to be comforted for her children,
    because they are no more."

 ¹⁶Thus says the LORD:"Keep your voice from weeping,
   and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
         declares the LORD,
   and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷ There is hope for your future,
         declares the LORD,
   and your children shall come back to their own country.

(Jer 31:10-17 ESV)

He who scattered Israel will gather him?  Keep him like a shepherd keeps his flock?   They shall come and sing aloud?  Radiant over the goodness of God in blessing the land? Women dancing, and merry men?  The priests will be feasted, and (because?) the people will be satisfied?  This is not hard times.  This is not exile.  This is the good life.
So what the heck is verse 15 doing there?  And particularly, in light of its accomplishment in the killing of all babies/toddlers in and around Bethlehem?  How can that be a happy thing?
The main point of the sermon, I think, was that life after Christmas has Joy and sorrow, good times and bad times, like any other time.  We may spend all we have to feast well with our families on Christmas day, and come to church in new clothes, but what are we going to eat and wear the day after, if our same basic struggles remain?  We should take care how we celebrate, so we do not cause ourselves unnecessary hardships later (Mom, are you listening?), but we should also acknowledge that in this life God has given us happy and sad times.  They come together.
And in this passage, we see one of the saddest and happiest times placed right smack next to (inside?) each other.  Rachel is weeping, right after "my people shall be satisfied with my goodness," and right before "Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work." There is hope, your children will come back.
So what is Rachel weeping for, and what counters that sadness, giving us hope? Certainly there was not the immediate return to prosperity that some may have expected on the return from exile.  There was a lot of hard work, and a lot of resistance.  Israel was not as populous, nor as powerful, as it was before being sacked. (and again.) The Evangelist Matthew sees this fulfilled in Herod killing all males under 2 years old in and around Bethlehem.  I should probably know how many children we're talking about.  But even if it were a couple, how could that be a happy thing?  Mass infanticide, by the guy you have to submit and pay taxes to.  Glad those taxes are supporting good governance. :-{
But where is the hope?  We see for the second time God preserves a child in the midst of a mass infanticide by a head of government.  Whatever Satan's plans to spread death, pain, and suffering (notice Herod did this because he "became furious," v16 ESV), God preserves His remnant, He moves right ahead with his plan.  Not only would Moses not be killed at birth, he would be used to let God's people go, and to give them the law (and lead them through a long period of disobeying it!).  Not only would Jesus not be killed at birth, but He would be killed at the right time, according to God's plan -- through, of course, the wicked designs of evil men.
A friend says (quotes someone?  I don't know) that God likes taking simple evil, and making a complex good.  The trick is, it has to be pretty good, to justify the evil.  Here we have Jesus' birth, and preservation, placed alongside the senseless, furious slaughter of many innocent children.  And Jeremiah tells us that life is Good.  Which, for Jeremiah, is really saying something.  Jesus really is that Good.  And He really will wipe away all our tears, and give us Joy, and a reward for our work.

shirts

Sometimes you see the weirdest shirts around here.  Like the Curves shirt on a middle aged guy.  And people wear whatever they have to church; though they usually pick something they think looks nice, whatever it happens to say.
So last week I saw, for the second time, a guy wearing the shirt for the 200(2?) women's snowboarding championship in Japan.  I'm guessing he didn't go himself.
And today I saw one of the members of the second choir that sang, wearing a nice, new black shirt with "Suiciders" across the front.  Probably a kind of hard apple cider; sounds like something Rogue Ales would sell.  Anyway, I asked her after church, and she had no idea what it meant.  But it was a nice looking shirt.  Just not what I would normally expect to see while hearing "Jesus is born to save us."  Except maybe here.