Psalm 19, Two Books

Psalm 19 speaks of the revelation from nature in the beginning.  this portion reminds us of a statement found in a confession of the Reformed Church tradition.  Generally this is a Fresh Read so we don’t quote theologians from previous centuries.  However, this was heard at a lecture on the spirituality of John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club.  Muir was raised in the Scots Presbyterian tradition and his writings are filled with language of the scriptures - particularly the Psalms.   This quote is from the Belgic Confession, which sprang out of a time of great persecution by the state church against the reformers.  It speaks clearly and eloquently about the Two Books of revelation:

Article 2: About the Knowledge of God

Moreover, we know God by two means, first, by the creation, preservation, and government of this whole world. For it is before our eyes as a most beautiful Book in which all creatures, from the least to the greatest, are as certain letters and marks through which the invisible things of God can be examined and understood, certainly His eternal power and His divinity as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. This knowledge is sufficient for convicting any given people and rendering them inexcusable. But He also bears His very self to us, much more clearly and openly, in His holy and divine Word; indeed, as much as is expedient in this life for His glory and for the salvation of His own people.

Psalm 11, Don’t stop at verse 3!

Perhaps you have heard verse 3 quoted.

“when the foundations are being destroyed,

what can the righteous do.”

We hear it quoted with the thought by traditional people that morality has decayed beyond repair, and the institutions of faith and society are turning to dust.  OK, if that is your view of morality. (We tend to think that things are mixed - perhaps we have gained in the areas of race relations, while we have lost in the area of sexual responsibility.)  However, don’t stop at verse 3 because the Psalm does not either. 

Verses 1-3 present a dark picture.  The wicked crouch in the shadows to pick the good guys off one by one with their poison arrows.  There is a debate in verse 1 between the Psalmist and another, or maybe with himself - should I flee to the mountains like the birds? 

We have seen traditionalist take to flight.  They decide it is time to escape the culture - the schools, maybe even the electrical grid.  History would seem to show that when the floods come, no safe hill is high enough.

The Psalmist proceeds with the recognition that, even if our institutions are crumbling, God remains on his eternal throne.    The Lord sees and takes note of the wicked and the righteous.  He will certainly give the wicked their comeuppance.  It may not be today or tomorrow, but the judgment of God is coming.  It is like the Bob Dylan song, “Slow Train Coming”

People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting
Oh, you know it costs more to store the food than it do to give it
They say loose your inhibitions, follow your own ambitions
They talk about a life of brotherly love, show me someone who knows how to live it
There’s slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

Verse 7 is interesting.  Instead of an inclusio- where he ends at the beginning point - the Psalmist takes us to a new thought.  He does not tell us that the foundations on the earth are in good shape, or are due to be rebuilt.  He seems to say, “Suppose the foundations are destroyed, all can not be lost.  The upright have God.”  God loves justice, and will bring it, we understand, on the earth.  The final thought is, however, that we will see his face.  This is not escapism - because the realism of the earthly fight is there.  He seems to say that there is Someone more that makes all this meaningful.

Don’t stop at verse 3, read the whole psalm.  it is not pessimistic, but ultimately and realistically optimistic.  It is optimistic because the world is not finally run by impersonal forces.  It is run by a Person.

FR

 

 

John 21 - Freshly Read

John 21 is a good case in point for taking a fresh look at the text.  Here are some things to ponder over against what you might have heard.

• Was Peter avoiding his mission by going fishing?  Often this is preached.  However, is that the case?  There is no reprimand in the text.  Jesus invited them to add their fish to his.  And clearly Jesus and Peter had some unfinished work to do.
• Often changes in the Greek between two words for Love (agape, phileo) are made an integral part of the message.  However, it is good Greek style, also typical of John to vary language with synonyms.  F. F. Bruce notes that the words for “flock”, “tend” and “know” are also varied. 
• On the question of whether John is written with the knowledge of the other gospels, or of their sources, compare the fishing here with that in Luke 5.
• Is there any meaning to 153 fish?  Augustine and other church fathers developed fanciful symbolic meanings of the number.  Another favorite idea was that ancient scholars thought that there were 153 species of fish (more or less),  thus it become a story of the universal appeal of the Gospel.  We prefer the view that 153 means “lots of” and it ring true to the fishermen we know who will count their catch and talk about it later.  Two commentators (Milne, Witherington) suggest that it has to do with the abundance of the response to the gospel (these men were elsewhere told to be fishers of men), and that the nets not bursting suggests that the Lord can accommodate the number that will come.
• Why do we move from fish to sheep?  the Shepherd theme for leadership goes back to Moses and David, and was a significant emphasis in John 10.  David and Jn 10 speak of the good shepherd not running from danger, very pertinant to Peter, who had denied the Lord 3 times.
• Is this a second ending (see 20:30-31), an epilogue or a free tradition that was attached.  There is no textual evidence that chapter 21 was separately circulated.
• Finally, one commentator suggests John serves as a manual for outreach and for leadership for the church.  This chapter has some things to say about spiritual leadership.  (Success comes at the Lord’s direction; Restoration of the minister precedes ministry; Don’t compare your calling to others; Love and Service are linked, etc)

Fresh Read Preaches - Job 28

 job28sermon.doc

Good Question

Luke 9:23
    And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

   

What did Jesus mean by this? 

Remember he said this before crosses were considered jewelry or a good subject for a tattoo.  On church member bragging on the cross they put on the new church said, “it cost us $10,000″.  The other person said, “They used to give them away for nothing.”

Who’s Love?

Ephes. 3:17-18
    so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

    What do you think?  Is it when we are deep into the experience of God’s love, or the love of the community of believers that we begin to comprehend the extent of God’s love?  How can we experience God’s love all alone and all by itself?  It seems to FRESH READ that we read this amiss if we think that it speaks of our experience alone by the seashore or in a recluses cave.  It seems better to think that when the little kid gives you a big grin at the church potluck and an “air kiss”, and when his brother asks you why we need to come to church when we know who God is, and when he hear three young men on electric guitars, with applause by older people, and when three of us talk with a senior about her sister’s health….and so on….that we begin to see the extent of God’s love…and not only see it but participate in it.

FR

Revelation 12 continued…

So we start with what is clear:

The Dragon represents Satan (v. 9) and possibly his allies.

the Child must be Christ (see Psalm 2, Isaiah 9:6,7, etc)

The Woman is Israel, from whom the Messiah is born.

The Time frame must be from Christ’s birth (v.6), possibly to pre-history if the dragons tail sweeping the stars from the sky is related to the fallen angels (v. 4) and looks forward to the crushing times of persecution associated with the Great Tribulation (1260 days has to do with 3 1/2 years, which is tied to Daniel’s 70th week - Dan 9).  You will have to consult your theology of the End to work out that detail.

The Point?  Now that is a good question.  Is it so we can argue over what will happen when?  I don’t think so because so much of prophetic scripture is clear as to the big idea, but unclear as to the chronology.  Knowing when is not as important to God as that we know What and Who.  The point of this passage is that despite the irrational ragings and attacks of evil (and remember Revelation was written to people facing the ragings of the Roman empire in all of it’s awesome and brutal power) the Lord will prevail, and will preserve his people through all dangers.

In other words, don’t give up.  In the words of Sherlock Holmes, “the game is afoot…”  Hold your ground, look up to the Almighty and not across at raging enemy.

 Fresh Read

Revelation 12

We will be discussing the meaning of this passage - add your comments or questions below:

Rev. 12:1-17 (ESV)

    And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. [2] She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. [3] And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. [4] His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. [5] She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, [6] and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
    [7] Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, [8] but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. [9] And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. [11] And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. [12] Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
    [13] And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. [14] But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. [15] The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. [16] But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. [17] Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

1.  Who are the major characters?

2.  What are they doing?

3.  When did this or will this happen?   

Magnificat

anyone want to chat over this?

Luke 1:46-55 (ESV)
    And Mary said,

    “My soul magnifies the Lord,
        [47] and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
    [48] for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
        For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
    [49] for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
        and holy is his name.
    [50] And his mercy is for those who fear him
        from generation to generation.
    [51] He has shown strength with his arm;
        he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
    [52] he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
        and exalted those of humble estate;
    [53] he has filled the hungry with good things,
        and the rich he has sent empty away.
    [54] He has helped his servant Israel,
        in remembrance of his mercy,
    [55] as he spoke to our fathers,
        to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

    (see My Marked Magnificat

Judge Not!

Matthew 7:7 is often quoted to suggest that one should never challenge someone else’s beliefs or actions. To that reading, “Judge not, that you not be judged..” would seem to be an absolute prohibition on critical thinking.

Let’s try this one together. Read the passage in it’s immediate context (below) and see what you think? Also check against the parallel passage in Luke 6:37 and following.

Matthew 7:1-6 (ESV)
“Judge not, that you be not judged. [2] For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. [3] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [4] Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? [5] You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
[6] “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

(Hint: consider “speck”, “dogs” and “pigs”)

FRESH READ