Saturday, May 30, 2020

Wisdom in Uncertain Times part two

Amos 5:18-27 English Standard Version (ESV)

Let Justice Roll Down

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
    Why would you have the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, and not light,
19     as if a man fled from a lion,
    and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
    and a serpent bit him.
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,
    and gloom with no brightness in it?

21 “I hate, I despise your feasts,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
    I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

English Standard Version (ESV)

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Amos 5:18-27 The Voice (VOICE)

Most people think they are OK with God; it’s the other fellow who should be worried. Some apparently think that they will fare well in the day of the Eternal One, a day when God will judge sin and defeat His enemies. Ironically, God’s own people have become His enemies. So Amos warns that the day of the Eternal One will bring a big surprise to those who think they are in good standing with God. It will be a day of darkness, not light—a day of gloom from which there will be no escape.

18 How horrible for you who look forward to the day of the Eternal One!
    Why do you want it to come?
For you, its arrival will mean darkness, not light.
19 It will be as if you were to escape from a lion
    only to run headlong into a bear,
As if you ran into a house to hide, leaned against the wall to rest,
    and a poisonous snake latched onto your hand.
20 Will not the day of the Eternal One be darkness instead of light,
    pitch black, without even a hint of brightness?

21 Eternal One: I hate—I totally reject—your religious ceremonies
        and have nothing to do with your solemn gatherings.
22     You can offer Me whole burnt offerings and grain offerings,
        but I will not accept them.
    You can sacrifice your finest, fattest young animals as a peace offering,
        but I will not even look up.
23     And stop making that music for Me—it’s just noise.
        I will not listen to the melodies you play on the harp.
24     Here’s what I want: Let justice thunder down like a waterfall;
        let righteousness flow like a mighty river that never runs dry.

25 Did you offer Me sacrifices or give Me offerings during the 40 years I guided you in the wilderness, people of Israel? 26 But now you place your trust in false gods; you pray to the idols Sikkuth (your king) and Kiyyun (the star god), those detestable images that you’ve made for yourselves. 27 Because of your worship offered to man-made images, you must go away—beyond Damascus.[a]

So says the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies.

Footnotes:

5:25–27 Acts 7:42–43

The Voice (VOICE)

Many times I would rather turn away from issues of injustice and racism, rather than asking the harder question of what I, as a fully devoted follower of Christ, am to do. What has made this past week so difficult for you?

_______________________

James 1:16-22 The Voice (VOICE)

If you give in to temptation and desire, then sin is born. If you give in to sin long enough, it overpowers you and costs you your life.

16 My dearly loved brothers and sisters, don’t be misled. 17 Every good gift bestowed, every perfect gift received comes to us from above, courtesy of the Father of lights. He is consistent. He won’t change His mind or play tricks in the shadows. 18 We have a special role in His plan. He calls us to life by His message of truth so that we will show the rest of His creatures His goodness and love.

19 Listen, open your ears, harness your desire to speak, and don’t get worked up into a rage so easily, my brothers and sisters. 20 Human anger is a futile exercise that will never produce God’s kind of justice in this world. 21 So walk out on your corrupt liaison with smut and depraved living, and humbly welcome the word of truth that will blossom like the seed of salvation planted in your souls.

22 Put the word into action. If you think hearing is what matters most, you are going to find you have been deceived.

The Voice (VOICE)

Note these words again: He calls us to life by His message of truth so that we will show the rest of His creatures His goodness and love. As you prayerfully seeks the Holy Spirit's directions, how can YOU be an element of God's peace in a foreign land of hurt and pain?

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Wisdom in Uncertain Times

Ecclesiastes 12 The Voice (VOICE)

12 Teacher: And so we come to the end of this musing over life. My advice to you is to remember your Creator, God, while you are young: before life gets hard and the injustice of old age comes upon you—before the years arrive when pleasure feels far out of reach—
2 before the sun and light and the moon and stars fade to darkness and before cloud-covered skies return after the rain. 3 Remember Him before the arms and legs of the keeper of the house begin to tremble—before the strong grow uneasy and bent over with age—before toothless gums aren’t able to chew food and eyes grow dim. 4 Remember Him before the doors are shut in the streets and hearing fails and everyday sounds fade away—before the slightest sound of a bird’s chirp awakens the sleeping but the song itself has fallen silent. 5 People will be afraid of falling from heights and terrifying obstacles in the streets. Realize that hair turns white like the blossoms on the almond tree, one becomes slow and large like a gluttonous grasshopper, and even caper berries no longer stimulate desire. In the end, all must go to our eternal home while there are mourners in the streets. 6-7 So before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is shattered: before the earthen jar is smashed at the spring and the wheel at the well is broken—before the dust returns to the earth that gave it and the spirit-breath returns to God who breathed it, let us remember our Creator. 8 Life is fleeting; it just slips through your fingers. All vanishes like mist.

The teacher advises the readers to “remember” their Creator. Remembrance is a pervasive theme in Scripture. Throughout the Bible, God remembers His covenant people, and the covenant people are told to remember the promises and actions of God on their behalf. In the Book of Psalms, “remember” occurs 45 times, sometimes written by the suffering faithful who cry out to God to remember (Psalms 25:6–7; 74:2, 18, 22; 89:47), and sometimes by the worshiper who marvels that God has remembered (Psalms 8:4; 78:39; 111:5; 136:23). Thus remembering in the Old Testament is an action of both God and God’s people.Memory was as fundamental to the faith of ancient Israel as it is today. Believers gather together to remember who they are and to whom they belong. This communal memory shapes reality, forms identities, and determines right living.

9 Not only did the teacher attain wisdom by careful observation, study, and setting out many proverbs, but he was also generous with his knowledge and eagerly shared it with people. 10 The teacher also searched for just the right words to bring hope and encouragement, and he wrote honestly about truth and the realities of life.

11 The words of the wise are like goads; the collected sayings of the masters are like the nail-tipped sticks used to drive the sheep, given by one Shepherd.

Wise words ring true in our ears, whether we want to hear them or not. They prod us, convict us, and move us; and heeding them strengthens us.

12 So be warned, my child, of anything else that might be said! There is no end to writing books, and excessive study only exhausts the body. 13 And, when all is said and done, here is the last word: worship in reverence the one True God, and keep His commands, for this is what God expects of every person. 14 For God will judge every action—including everything done in secret—whether it be good or evil.

The Voice (VOICE)

What are the beautiful things in life that you want to appreciate more? What does it look like to hold these with open hands?
Since there’s so much we can’t control and understand, Ecclesiastes instructs us to accept this and live with wisdom and close to God. What would this look like in your own life on a daily basis?

Questions and content used from Bible Project and Tim Mackey.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Embracing the Challenge for HOPE

Finding the HOPE in all things!

2 Corinthians 12 English Standard Version (ESV)

Paul's Visions and His Thorn

12 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and (A)revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man (B)in Christ who fourteen years ago was (C)caught up to (D)the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, (E)God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into (F)paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, (G)God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, (H)except of my weaknesses— 6 though if I should wish to boast, (I)I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 So (J)to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,[a] (K)a thorn was given me in the flesh, (L)a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 (M)Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, (N)“My grace is sufficient for you, for (O)my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that (P)the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 (Q)For the sake of Christ, then, (R)I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For (S)when I am weak, then I am strong.

God’s past faithfulness motivates hope for the future. What has God done in the world or in your own life that helps you trust and hope in him now?

In what ways does the resurrection of Jesus provide hope for us?

Materials taken from bible Project's Church at Home series on HOPE and from Biltmore Psychology's Vlog on How to Move Forward When Everything is so Hard.

https://youtu.be/4WYNBjJSYvE

Saturday, May 9, 2020

Is this a trap?

Daniel 1 The Voice (VOICE)

1 Now it happened during the third year of King Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah, the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched against him and laid siege to Jerusalem, Judah’s capital. 2 The Lord gave Nebuchadnezzar the victory and allowed him to take King Jehoiakim of Judah as his prisoner. At the same time, He permitted the Babylonian king to rob God’s temple of some of its sacred vessels and carry them away to Babylonia (called Shinar), which was the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, to fill the treasury of his own gods, Marduk and Nebo.

3 After the king returned home, he commanded Ashpenaz, chief of the royal eunuchs, to bring some of the Israelites who had been taken captive to the palace. These included members of Judah’s royal family and the nobility. 4 He was looking for potential candidates from the exiles to serve in his court, fit young men with no physical or moral infirmities, handsome, skilled in all wisdom, knowledgeable, discerning, and understanding. Those selected would be taught the language and literature of the Chaldeans, the people who lived in Babylonia. 5 As part of their assimilation into Babylonian court life, the king offered them a daily portion of food and wine from his own table. They were to be educated for three years before serving in the king’s court. 6 From among Judah’s exiles, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were selected. 7 Ashpenaz, chief of the royal eunuchs, gave them Babylonian names to signify their new identities in a foreign place: Daniel he renamed Belteshazzar; Hananiah, Shadrach; Mishael, Meshach; and Azariah, Abed-nego.

(COMMENTARY: Nebuchadnezzar seizes the wisest, strongest, and most powerful people in each land he conquers and deports them to Babylonia. This serves three purposes: it gives the government an unending supply of capable people; it further cripples the conquered nation, rendering them helpless; and it ensures the conquered nation will not want to retaliate because their own loved ones live in the conquering land.

Daniel and his friends are among these deportees. When they arrive in Babylonia, they are expected to assimilate to the Babylonian way of life; this includes changing their names. Nebuchadnezzar renames the deportees to complete their conversion to the Babylonian society and to demonstrate his status as their master.)

8 Although the king ate only the finest Babylonian fare, Daniel was determined not to violate God’s law and defile himself by eating the food and drinking the wine that came from the king’s table; so he asked the chief of the royal eunuchs for permission not to eat the food.

(COMMENTARY: Daniel’s concern is the food has been offered up to Marduk and does not meet Israelite dietary laws.)

9 Now God had given Daniel special favor and fondness in the eyes of the king’s chief eunuch. 10 Still the eunuch was concerned.

Ashpenaz (to Daniel): Belteshazzar, your request puts me in a difficult position. I am afraid of what my lord the king might do. He has ordered that you are to eat the food and drink the wine prepared for his table. What will happen if he sees you and your friends over time in poorer health than the other young men your own age? I am certain he will have my head.

11 When Ashpenaz refused, Daniel reasoned with the guard whom the chief of the royal eunuchs assigned to watch over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Daniel (to the guard): 12 Please, do us a favor. Put us, your servants, to the test for the next 10 days. Give us a vegetarian diet and water. 13 When the time is up, you can see for yourself our condition and compare it to the condition of the other young men who are eating from the king’s table. Then, after you have seen what has happened, do whatever you think is best with us, your servants.

(COMMENTARY: Daniel and his companions ask for a diet consistent with God’s instructions to His covenant people: vegetables and grains, without the rich cuts of meat that are normally a staple of those who eat at the king’s table. They also want to exclude any wines or meat because they intend to avoid any unnecessary entanglements with Babylonian culture. Most of those meats and wines have been offered to the Babylonian gods, and Daniel wants no part of that. Daniel and his exiled friends may have to live in Babylon, but they don’t have to be absorbed into the culture. Every bite of every meal reminds them that they are different.)

14 So the guard agreed to do as Daniel requested. He tested them on a diet of only vegetables, grains, and water for 10 days. 15 When the 10 days were up, he looked them over and noticed that Daniel and his friends were better off than all the young men eating from the king’s best foods. They looked healthy and well nourished, 16 so the guard continued to hold back their royal rations and replaced them with a strictly vegetarian diet. 17 Through all of this, God conferred upon these 4 young men superior abilities in literature, language, and wisdom. God had given Daniel an additional gift, too: the ability to interpret visions and dreams. 18 When the 3-year period of training and conditioning, as set by the king, was over, the king sent for the candidates; the chief of the royal eunuchs himself escorted them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king interviewed all of them and found that none of the candidates were any better than Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they were each assigned an important place in the king’s court. 20 When the king inquired further into their grasp of wisdom and understanding, he discovered that they were better prepared than all the magicians and enchanters in his empire, even 10 times better. 21 This is how Daniel came to serve the royal court, a position he safely held until the first year of King Cyrus when his Persian army conquered Babylonia.

The Voice (VOICE)

For many of us, our previous way of life has come to a halt. In what ways has your practice of worship and faithfulness to God changed?

Think creatively about what faithfulness to God could look like in this strange new world. How can you connect with God and others and live faithfully in this time?

Consider, for a moment, the ministry that several of you are having on your community.

Kurt

Kurt volunteering at the local food pantry; Mary Jane anonymously off-ering to cover the monthly fee for several senior adults at the community center; Harlan and Karleen going to San Diego to assist their children with a new baby; Jennifer and Mark organizing basic food distribution for students in need at the school; Hoss researching and then organizing a plan to fix Hal's broken bicycle; Bob and Gail organizing an online teaching resource channel on improving marriages; Becky organizing resources and assists for the vulnerable students; Karleen helping connect Makenzie (see picture below), an ASU May nursing graduate, to a job opportunity at a Banner Hospital; David Z organizing memes and articles to promote spiritual growth and security in these challenging times; Colleen helping a friend that recently lost her job; Colleen taking the time to love on the grandkids by making them personal blankets; I've been communicating with students and friends, sending gift cards and notes of congrats and encouragement. I'M CERTAIN THERE ARE MORE EXAMPLES, BUT THESE COME TO MIND AS I WRITE (forgive me where I've left your gestures out!)

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Zooming into May

None of these recent days takes God by surprise. He saw viruses long before we had microscopes to see them. Like any good parent, He has lessons to teach each one of us during this time. He also has lessons to teach us all.

As so many churches are planning on how to "open back up" after this pandemic, The Real Church never closed. Even though we can't assemble in a room together in worship, doesn't mean we can't still worship. Nor does it mean that The Church has ever shut down.

The call for Biblical Justice

Isaiah 58 The Message (MSG)

Your Prayers Won’t Get Off the Ground

58 1-3 “Shout! A full-throated shout!
    Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives,
    face my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,
    and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—
    law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’
    and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
    ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?
    Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

3-5 “Well, here’s why:

“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.
    You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
    You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
    won’t get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
    and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
    a fast day that I, God, would like?

6-9 “This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    to break the chains of injustice,
    get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
    free the oppressed,
    cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
    sharing your food with the hungry,
    inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
    putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
    being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
    and your lives will turn around at once.

What injustice grieves you the most right now? What do you think God thinks and feels about this?

James 1:26-2:7 The Message (MSG)

26-27 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

The Royal Rule of Love

2 1-4 My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?

5-7 Listen, dear friends. Isn’t it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world’s down-and-out as the kingdom’s first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn’t it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren’t they the ones who scorn the new name—“Christian”—used in your baptisms?

The Message (MSG)

Where do you find hope when there’s injustice in and around us? What might YOU do about it?

Study taken from the Church at Home series, Bible Project by Tim Mackey