Pastor Glenn’s Weblog

            The tag line for my blog is “a teaching pastor’s devotional and theological thoughts.”  In that light, I have tried to avoid political comments.  There are plenty of blogs out there with those anyway!  Yet sometimes, theological/devotional thoughts overlap with political ones.

            This morning in my devotions, I read this question from Psalm 58:  “Do you rulers indeed speak justly?  Do you judge uprightly among men?”  And the answer is not a wishy-washy answer, “No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.”  That sounds like many politicians in power in the USA today.  They don’t speak what is best for men, though they couch everything they say in terms that sound good, at least to some; instead they mete out what amounts to violence and injustice.  I have heard references in recent months to some who have hoped for and prayed for Obama’s failure as a president.  Though I believe we must pray for his salvation, this psalm seems to indicate there’s nothing wrong with praying that sinful and misleading programs, and politicians, fail.  So seems to be the indication of verse 6-8 – a harsh prayer against David’s enemies.

            To the end that Obama’s programs further entrap the poor in poverty, while giving more to those in power, I pray that he fails, even if I personally think they’re wonderful programs.  To the end that his programs genuinely help with the injustices in the world, I pray that he succeeds, even if I am personally against such programs.  Ultimately, however, we want to see God glorified and people coming to know him, as the last verse of the passage indicates:  “Then men will say, ‘Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.’”

          My wife mentioned the other day that her Sunday School class had a discussion about the prayer requests we make in churches today, that most all of them are for temporal rather than eternal matters.  The next morning I read the following verse in my devotions, “Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’” (Luke 12:13)  I laughed when I read it, because it is exactly like us, asking God to intervene in a matter of temporal importance, while ignoring the eternal.  Now there’s nothing wrong with prayer requests of a temporal nature; Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread, and he answered requests for physical healing, food, and even wine.  The problem is that most of us live our lives there, and never get beyond the temporal.  When Jesus fed the 5,000 he used it as a lesson in eternal matters (see John 6:26-69 and Mark 8:14-21).  He operated on both levels with an emphasis on the eternal; we tend to operate on only the temporal level, or we operate on both but emphasize the temporal.  In the follow up to the demand to arbitrate the inheritance, Jesus mentioned many things about the eternal.  To the man who made the demand, Jesus responded, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (v15)  He then told a story of a man who built bigger barns for his abundant crop and decided to “eat, drink, and be merry.”  (Did you know that famous phrase came from Jesus’ lips?)  God took the man’s life away that night, and Jesus concluded, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself, but is not rich toward God.” (v21)  After a command not to worry about temporal things, Jesus added “Seek his kingdom and all these things will be given to you as well” (v31)  And finally he concludes the entire section with “Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (33-34)  Along with our constant pursuit of the temporal, let’s seek purses that will not wear out, let’s seek God’s kingdom first.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13  The last verse of this section is certainly well known and loved by many.  “No temptation has overtaken you …” but I never considered the context.  The verse immediately preceding this famous saying is, “if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”  And the context of that statement is the history of the Israelites in the wilderness.  Though they had seen the miracles and passed through the Red Sea, though they ate the manna and drank water from the rock, God was not pleased with them, and they died without seeing the Promised Land.  This chapter contains a list of the sins they were guilty of, and thus reminds us that we can stumble over the same temptations.  They were guilty of idolatry, sexual immorality, testing the Lord, and grumbling.  This list sounds like some of the same things we see rampant in the church today.  We too are idolaters who “set our hearts on evil things;” we see rampant sexual sin, even in the church; we grumble all the time, even the church leaders (and pastors); and we test the Lord by living on the edge of what we believe we can get away with.  Yet what happened to Israel happened as an example and a warning to us (said twice in the passage, verses 6, 11).  And God tell us, “No temptation has overtaken you … God is faithful … and, with the temptation, will provide a way of escape.”  The forgiveness of these sins is through God’s faithfulness and grace; so also the escape from these temptations is through God’s faithfulness and grace.  We face temptations no different than those faced by generations of God’s people.  The temptations haven’t changed.  Neither has God, he is still faithful!

Psalm 11:1-3.  Verse three of this psalm is an interesting verse, and I have heard it often quoted in the context of our culture.  “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”  I have always heard this verse cited as a reason to take up arms in the political fight against the moral decay in our culture.  Certainly the reason for the moral decay we see around us is the attack of wicked people, and that is also the context of this statement.  Note the previous verse that says “the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.”  I appreciate those who take an active political role in fighting the destruction of our moral foundation, and I see more of that destruction today that ever before in my lifetime.  However, this poem is not about taking up arms.  Those who advocate such a fight need to find another verse for a rallying cry.  This passage is about finding our refuge in God.  Read the first verse: “In the LORD I take refuge.  How then can you say to me: ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain?’”  David, who wrote this poem, is not calling men to fight in the battle of the foundations; he is stating the best and first thing to do when the foundations are being destroyed.  We don’t first flee to the mountains, nor do we first take up arms in the political battle; the first thing we must do is take refuge in God.  Verse three is not a call to arms but a call to refuge!  First, take refuge from the battle in God, from that reference point further steps can be determined.

          Two more thoughts on the battle for our moral foundations:  First, as Christian people, we can’t fight the battle of the foundations ourselves; we simply are not strong enough to fight it.  However, when we find our refuge in God, he can fight that battle for us, and we can more clearly see our part in it.  Second, since studying church history, I’m not convinced that God always wants us fighting that battle on the political front.  The church has almost always done better spiritually when an evil regime is in power. Who are we to say that God’s kingdom will move forward better when the government is righteous?  Such thinking denies the pattern of history and can easily confuse our worldly kingdom with God’s kingdom, as though the USA was God’s kingdom on earth.  Let’s commit to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

          Here are some recent random reflections from my devotions in Mark.  After feeding the five thousand, Jesus walked on the water and calmed the storm.  The disciples shouldn’t have been too surprised at this, because they’d seen him calm storms before, and the multiplying of the loaves proved once and for all who he was.  But still “They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” (6:52)  I wondered about people I know who don’t understand who Jesus is, in spite of the evidence in front of them.  I prayed for one man who is a part of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and with whom I’ve had some conversations about Jesus; I prayed for a long-time friend who reads the Bible but has yet to see Jesus as the One who completely paid for his sin; I prayed for our congregation, because there are probably many who hang around church but don’t really know who Jesus is.  Even after a second meal of multiplied bread, the disciples still didn’t understand that God would use his resources to meet their needs. (9:21)

          “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”  Jesus had compassion on the lost crowd.  He also had compassion on the individual sinner.  Of the rich young man inquiring about eternal life, we are told that “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” (10:21)  I often see the sinful crowd as hostile to Christianity and in the way of what I should be doing.  I often see the individual sinner as one who should stay lost.  Not Jesus.  He loved the crowd and he loved the individual.  May I have the same compassion for those without Christ!

          Jesus’ attitude about the above is also reflected in this famous statement. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (10:45)  I hope my attitude toward others, both in and out of the body, grows more into one of serving.  I like serving the body with my gifts, but serving those outside is sometimes harder.

            We’ve been out camping and vacationing for the past week, so I’ve done no writing on this blog.  One morning I was reading and pondering Psalm 39 and these words spoke to me about men in midlife crisis. “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.  Each man’s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.  But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.” (vv 5-7)  So many men in our culture get to middle age and begin to realize that their life is short – a mere handbreadth.  They also begin to wonder what they are so busy about – why they are heaping up wealth to no purpose.  They question what they have been investing in for most of their lives.  I’ve seen it with some friends of mine.  For many men, that leads to a complete questioning of all life – a reevaluation of purpose and meaning.  I can’t say I will never be there, and so far I have been graciously preserved from that; however, I can make David’s prayer my prayer.  “Lord, show me how fleeting my life is.”  We all need reminders that life as we know it is temporal.  That most of what we pursue will never last.  If a time of complete reevaluation must come into my life, may I do it with an understanding of things eternal.  Help me, God, rather than heaping up temporal wealth, to invest in eternal things, and ultimately to put my hope in you.