Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord and join us here today.
In truth, Lord, most of us are worried over something
We are afraid and it has us all tied up
And it is so common a thing
We act like this is our lot in life
Like this is just how life goes
We are concerned about the election
All of its vitriol
All of its deception
All of it ugly meanness and the aftermath and the fights to come
and the impact of the next administration
We are concerned about money and bills
About children and grandchildren
About demands we might not be able to meet
About expectations we may not be able to fulfill
About choices we make
And choices others make and how they will work out
Or not work out
We are concerned for our health
And the health of others in our lives
And treatments and procedures
And pain
And life and death
And how will we ever make it through
And how will we possibly manage after
We are concerned that we will be found out
That our secrets will be divulged
Our inner lives revealed
That our reputations will be ruined
That our hearts will be laid bare
That we will lose our friends
That we will be abandoned and alone
In our worry In our fear
We look to ourselves
We become our own focus
We get a little lost
So this morning we turn again to you
Anxious and expectant
That we can keep calm
Because all things are in your hands
Because all things will refine us
Because all things are perfectly perfect
Just as they are in this moment
And we turn to you
Anxious and expectant
Ready to carry on
Because you call us to you
Because we are partnered with you
Because you have given us others to love
Because you lead the way
We turn to you Wanting to ease our worries,
Our concerns
Our fears
Knowing all along
The path to peace is loving
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Matthew 5:3
Intro: Recently, I came across an interesting ad:
The caption said, “Free AI Sermon Generator”
“Free AI sermon outlines help you preach a confident, creative message. AI sermon starter ideas make your sermon fresh and relevant.”
– I realized, from now on my life could be easy; for example,
• last week I mentioned my frustration with “kingdom” (bringing to mind the idea of a nation with borders)
• more than one person recommended that we talk about the “realm of God”
– when I searched for a definition of realm online,
• an AI response automatically popped up, with a list, included:
A realm is a domain or area of activity, interest, or influence.
It can refer to a kingdom or territory ruled by a monarch.
Philosophically, it can be a specific sphere of existence or reality.
Realm can also imply a level of consciousness or a state of being.
• so, for now, Jesus is going to walk us into the “realm of heaven”
Of the four gospels, only Matthew uses “kingdom of heaven” rather than “kingdom of God“
– there’s no difference, except where the emphasis is placed
Amy-Jill Levine, “. . . Matthew is setting up a contrast between heaven and earth: heaven is where God’s will is done; heaven is where God rules rather than where the ‘kings of the earth’ . . . hold sway. Heaven is a different place, a better place, a real place, a place where God rules and life is as God wants rather than as humanity has constructed.”
• Jesus’ Sermon illuminates the realm of heaven and its here, now reality
• we enter the Sermon through the Beatitudes
– my Mom once explained, “They are not the ‘Do’-attitudes, but the ‘Be’-attitudes
• despite Mom’s wisdom, Jesus isn’t teaching attitudes here
◦ he’s not laying out rules, and he’s not handing out blessings
• so what is Jesus doing in the Beatitudes?
Matthew’s synopsis of Jesus message when he first began preaching was:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17)
– “repent” means “change” and especially a change of mind
• this includes our perspective, perceptions, thoughts, motives–and all the rest of it
◦ as we change, we become “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17) our new self (Ep. 4:24)
• that’s what Jesus is doing in us with the Beatitudes and his entire Sermon
◦ he is preparing us to receive our full citizenship in the realm of God
– Jesus is changing us, and he is doing this from the inside out
If the Beatitudes are not Do-attitudes, what are they?
To learn the answer, there’s a mess that must be cleaned up first
– in the Hebrew Scriptures, two words are translated “blessed”
• these words have two different meanings
1. one of the words refers to blessings given by God and others
• for instance, fathers to sons, priests to people, one person to another (cf. Ruth 2:4)
◦ to pronounce a blessing is to give a gift from one’s soul
◦ when in the Psalms, people bless God, they give him praise (Ps. 103:1)
(One of the most common ways that Hebrew prayers begin is,
“Baruch hashem Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha’Olam“
“Praise to the Lord God, the Ruler of the universe”)
• God blesses people by showing them his favor, doing good
◦ Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 contain lists of this type of blessing,
which generally consist of fertility, health, prosperity, success in war, and shalom
Jonathan Pennington points out that the opposite of “to bless” (baruch) is “to curse”
• we tend to associate these blessings with emotional responses
Happy are the people whose God is the LORD (Ps. 144:15)
◦ when we hear someone say, “I was so blessed,” they are usually referring to the joy they felt
2. the other Hebrew word refers to a state of being: esher
Blessed [esher] is the one
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked (Ps. 1:1)
• the esher blessing is not a gift and it doesn’t involve a transaction
Pennington says it is “a certain way of being in the world”
◦ a way that pleases God
Pennington: the opposite of “be blessed” (esher) is “woe” (Lk. 6:20-26; Mt. 23)
• the New Testament continues to make same distinction as the two Hebrew words
◦ and, unfortunately, translates both words as “blessed”
• the word Jesus uses here in the Beatitudes is makarios, and it describes a state of being in God’s will
◦ so in the Beatitudes, Jesus was not pronouncing blessings on people
◦ he was saying these are already in a blessed state
– we do not have an English word that matches the meaning of makarios
• we could say something like, “a fortunate situation is theirs . . . .”
• Jesus isn’t pronouncing blessings on people who have these traits
◦ he’s saying they’re fortunate because they’re already on the right path
A philosophical quest began hundreds of years before Jesus
Socrates asked, “What was the best life that a human could live?”
– a century after Jesus, the quest was taken up by Cicero, who asked, what is the summum bonum
(“the greatest good” that people could reach in their lives)
• his answer included a life of virtue, wisdom, moderation, and courage
◦ the Beatitudes are Jesus’ answer to that question
• only, unlike the virtues of Greek and Roman philosophers,
◦ the Beatitudes are not accomplishments
– Jesus is not saying the poor in spirit pursued poverty of spirit, and so were blessed
• instead, he was saying, if for God’s sake you find yourself in this unpleasant condition,
◦ you’ve stumbled onto the right path
• let’s take a closer look at this
There are two parts to each Beatitude
I know that observation is obvious, but it’s important to keep it in mind
– in the first line of each Beatitude, Jesus declares a person to be in a fortunate state
• because they exhibit a certain trait, or they’re in a certain situation,
◦ or practice a specific behavior toward others or God,
◦ or they are persecuted for righteousness sake
• but each first line comes like a slap in the face
◦ it doesn’t make sense – it’s a contradiction (how are those who mourn, blessed?)
◦ in that culture, humility was a liability, a disgrace
• so the first line contradicts the values of the corrupt world and turns secular virtues on their head
◦ it doesn’t seem like Jesus is describing a blessing, but a hardship, a need, a disadvantage
◦ these are things that people of the world seek to avoid
– the second line of each Beatitude reveals why the first line is a qualifier for blessed state
• and it is linked to the summum bonum, or what Jesus called the “abundant life”
– notice that the list of the Beatitudes begins and ends with the kingdom (or realm) of heaven
• in between the first and last Beatitude, the blessed state includes comfort, an inheritance, mercy, and so on
◦ each of these verses look to the future, “shall be”
◦ but the two verses that end with the kingdom of heaven are present tense, “theirs is”
• Jesus wants to make us aware of God’s realm,
◦ then to value it, and then to seek it
◦ when we’re cut-off from the world and its vision of “good life,” we’re closer to the heavenly realm
I think we’re ready now to cross the threshold
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
– poor in spirit can be anything that breaks a person, that puts them at a disadvantage
• it could be material (Luke gives the bare version of the first Beatitude, “Blessed are you who are poor” )
◦ or it could physical, or psychological – I can imagine something like a mood disorder
◦ anxiety, depression, or bi-polar disorders
Pennington, “‘Poor in spirit’ may seem like a positive Christian virtue, but in an ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman setting of honor and shame, the poor in spirit are in low places in society . . . .”
– there was only one other kind of person of whom Jesus said something like,
“theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
• those were the children parents brought to him for his blessing
“to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 19:14)
◦ the poor in spirit are often reduced to the status of a child
• I think we hear echoes of the prophet Isaiah
“For the says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy;
I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15)
To suffer hardships and setbacks and unhappiness in the world,
– does not deprive us of the experience and enjoyment of God’s realm
John Calvin, “The disciples of Christ must learn the philosophy of placing their happiness beyond the world, and above the afflictions of the flesh.”
Conclusion: I can imagine people in the crowd, listening to Jesus
When they hear him say, “poor in spirit,” they look down
– they try to make themselves small, so no one notices them
• they don’t want to be exposed for what they are; that is poor in spirit
• but then they hear Jesus say, the realm of heaven is theirs
◦ not only in some distant future across the galaxies,
◦ but here – now – with Jesus on the Mountain
Jesus shows us ourselves through his eyes –
A perspective that is hopeful and positive
He opens our eyes to the realm of God – and invites us in
We find that even though we do not experience its fullness
it is here already, transforming our liabilities into assets
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord join us here this morning
Remind us of the times you have called us to you.
Out of the blue
Or just in the midst of our everyday lives
Or In tragedy or desperation
In heart break or sorrow
Help us to rehearse these times in our minds and our hearts.
Allow us to feel the depth and purity and strength of your love.
Let us bask in it.
Let us swim in it.
Let it settle in us again and refresh us.
Lord, all the voices
All the anger
All the fear
All the lies
All the propaganda
All the manipulations
All the resentments
Are pulling on us
Demanding from us
Calling us away
From your good great love
To a far darker path
Refresh our days with you.
Grant us a task of love to which we can give ourselves
To honor and emulate your love for us
Allow us the full hope of your care and concern for us and for all we encounter
No matter the circumstance
No matter the outcome
No matter the chatter all around
Allow us the confidence that all shall be well
Since we are in this together with you.
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying . . . . Matthew 5:1-2
Intro: Last week I gave my introduction to the Sermon On the Mount
This week we’re going to look at Matthew’s introduction
– but first, I have a question – and it’s for me as much as anyone:
Are we ready for this?
– the Lord has made many changes in our exterior lives,
• but the big challenge of the Sermon is what it does on the interior
◦ we’ve cleaned up our speech; what about our thoughts?
◦ we’ve given up bad habits; what about desires and resentments?
• I rationalize my inner life:
“My thoughts don’t hurt anyone” and “I’ve a right to my private thoughts”
◦ the Sermon tells me, “Not any more”
Going through the’ Sermon, we realize Jesus is serious
– that he wants to see radical changes in us
• he also wants other, less radical adjustments, but those are also non-negotiable
◦ Jesus meant for his Sermon to be life-changing
• we may hear Jesus calling us to follow him like the twelve
◦ perhaps to go off on some mission
(It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be meaningful and helpful)
◦ or to give up some of our comforts for the benefit of others
– are we ready for this?
• the Sermon is from Jesus, and it’s wonderful
◦ but it’s no walk in the park
• so let’s be honest with ourselves – will we take it seriously?
Verse 1 is Matthew’s prelude to the sermon
The curtain is raised; we’re near Jesus’ base camp in Capernaum,
– a fishing village situated on the shore of the Sea of Galilee
• imagine a landscape that is mostly green,
◦ bordered by a mountain range, and from its base,
◦ the ground gradually slopes down to the water’s edge
• we see crowds that have been drawn to this place
◦ and, of course, we see Jesus at the center of it all
– the scene is set, and now the action begins:
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain . . .
Matthew does not tell us how seeing the crowds affected Jesus
– why would he tell us?
• is it important to know how Jesus felt or what he thought?
◦ but I’m curious, because on other occasions he does tell us what Jesus felt, and how it motivated him
◦ traveling through cities and villages in Galilee,
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt. 9:36)
Trying to take a break with his disciples, “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Mt. 14:14)
On another occasion, Jesus told his disciples, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat” (Mt. 15:32)
• so I wonder why it was about seeing the crowds sent Jesus up the mountain
– some Bible scholars are convinced Jesus mirrored Moses
• Moses on Mount Sinai received the revelation of the Law
◦ Jesus on this unnamed mountain delivered the revelation of God’s will
• but we must stress the fact, Jesus is not replacing the law
Jonathan Pennington, Jesus gave the Sermon, “. . . not as a mere substitute [for the law], but as its eschatological fulfillment.” (So that the law does what it was designed to do)
I’m not convinced that Jesus was reenacting a Mount Sinai event
– but at the same time, I don’t know the connection between,
• Jesus seeing the crowds and then going up the mountain
◦ he wasn’t trying to get away from them, I’m sure
◦ maybe he was sifting the serious from the superficial
◦ maybe he was looking for space to accommodate them
• anyway, when he reached a suitable spot, he sat down,
◦ and that was his signal he was going to do some teaching
– the next thing Matthew tells us, is his disciples came to him
• the word disciple refers to all of Jesus’ followers–not just the twelve
◦ eventually, hundreds of disciples are drawn to him
◦ in this instance, maybe fewer hiked up the hill than the crowds who stayed below
• however, by the end of Sermon, there were crowds present
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes (Mt 7:28-29)
– the possibility of Jesus sifting the crowd is why I asked my first question:
“How serious are we?”
• will we make the hike up the mountain?
• will we be “disciples”? – people who are drawn to Jesus to learn from him
Amy-Jill Levine, “Making the climb is the first step, and it is already a commitment. Staying on the summit and realizing we could do even more requires more courage, and letting that experience transform us, transfigure us, is scarier still. But the effort is worthwhile. The vista is gorgeous. And we become cities set on a hill—but we’re not there yet.”
What is it that Jesus wants to pass on to his disciples?
Well, that is what we are here to find out
– and it’s what we’ll learn in the coming weeks
• to summarize the Sermon, Jesus is going to share heaven with us
◦ heaven is not at all like this world or any nation in it
◦ everything on earth will be transformed when God’s name is revered and his kingdom has come and his will is done
• Jesus is going to teach us about the reality of God’s kingdom
◦ the nature of God’s kingdom
◦ the presence of God’s kingdom
◦ life in God’s kingdom
◦ and the priority of God’s kingdom (Mt. 6:33)
Verse 2 is not particularly interesting
But there is something about it that calls attention to itself
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying . . . .
– well, of course he opened his mouth if he was going to say something
• let’s notice first of all, that the extra wording in this verse is unnecessary
• secondly, if Matthew chose this way to introduce Sermon, he may have had good reason
– it’s possible Matthew was influenced by a psalm he enjoyed
• Psalm 78 is a history lesson of God’s continued goodness and Israel’s continued failure
◦ it begins:
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old (Ps. 78:1-2)
◦ repetitions like this characterize the poetry of the Psalms
• perhaps Matthew was struck by how well these verses fit Jesus’ ministry
◦ of course, it could just be a coincidence
◦ there’s one reason to suspect that it is not
• in chapter 13, Matthew explains why Jesus used parables
◦ one thing he says, is that his parables fulfills what a prophet had said,
◦ then he quotes Psalm 78:2, “I will open my mouth in a parable”
There’s another reason Matthew used extra words
– scholars who study literary elements in the Bible have a term for this: a two-step progression
• there are two parts to a single statement or action
◦ this occurs frequently in gospels, but especially in Mark
• the first step makes a statement and the second step clarifies or specifies the first step
◦ it is also the second part that gets the emphasis of the sentence
◦ here, the second step calls attention to the fact that Jesus began speaking in order to teach
Conclusion: What if Jesus never “opened his mouth”?
What if he took one look at the crowds of humankind and walked away?
What would we have missed?
The secrets of a meaningful life that survives all of its hazards
That’s what Jesus himself tells us at the end of his sermon (Mt. 7:24-27)
Frederick Buechner: “. . . we must be careful with our lives, for Christ’s sake, because it would seem they are the only lives we are going to have in this puzzling and perilous world, and so they are very precious and what we do with them matters enormously. . . . . we do always need to be told, because there is always the temptation to believer that we have all the time in the world, whereas the truth is that we do not. We have only one life, and the choice of how we are going to live it must be our own choice not one that we let the world make for us. . . . for each of us there comes a point of no return, a point beyond which we no longer have enough life left to go back and start all over again.”
So, we pay attention, to Jesus,
because this isn’t another boring sermon;
this is our life
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord join us here today
Meet us In our fragility and our need
Add to our hope
That in you everything is perfectly perfect
Just as it is
Even the astonishingly imperfect things we encounter all day, every day
Even our own imperfect selves we wrestle with all day, every day
Nurture in us the ways of mercy Lord
And show us how to pass your mercy along to others
Settle in us the ways of forgiveness
Releasing ourselves from condemnation as you have
And then granting the same to those who have hurt us
Learning to be at peace with all so far as it depends upon us.
It takes so much to live in this imperfect world with our imperfect selves, Lord.
Grace us with your presence in every little snippet of birdsong,
every friendly smile,
every hearty laugh.
Fill us with hope for this day
To carry us along.
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:1-2
Intro: A couple weeks ago someone told me,
“Your next series of talks should be about The Sermon On the Mount”
– that title has a pleasant ring to it, doesn’t it?
• isn’t that where Jesus talks about birds and lilies? Love your enemies? Do not judge?
• it’s like a friend has invited us on an outing:
“Hey, go with us to the park for a picnic. We’re going to sing our favorite worship choruses, then share our favorite Bible verses.”
– but the reality is, the Sermon isn’t butterflies and rainbows
• it doesn’t read like a collection of Hallmark greeting cards
• it contains the most intense demands in all of scripture
◦ some Christians have given up on it:
In L’Abri Switzerland I heard a speak say the Sermon: “was meant for an elite class of believers, not average Christians”
Some Dispensational preachers have taught that the Sermon “was prior to cross, so it was meant for Israel and not for the Church”
Others have said, “Because the moral demands of the Sermon are impossible, its purpose is to shows us how desperately we need God’s grace”
Jesus had a different purpose for this teaching
Amy-Jill Levine (professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies) tells us this is “not a sermon. It’s a series of discrete teachings, each of which could be the basis of a sermon, a lecture, a community study, or a personal mediation. . . . There’s too much in these chapters to absorb in a single lesson.”
– I’ll suggest that the Sermon is Jesus’ curriculum for life in the kingdom of God
(when I refer to Jesus’ “Sermon,” think “messages” or “talks)
• Jesus was serious that his followers experience God
◦ he was concerned with the way people were interpreting the law
• they weren’t becoming more aware of God or sensitive to God
◦ it was time for a breakthrough – and that’s why he had come to Israel
– Jesus was conditioning his followers for what he was bringing into the world
Many years ago, there was a song I would listen to over and over again
I can still hear Eric Clapton’s voice, rich with emotion, singing,
“I have finally found a way to live
in the presence of the Lord”
That’s what we learn from Jesus in his Sermon On the Mount
– how to live in the presence of the Lord
The Sermon comes early in Matthew’s gospel
– first Jesus’ birth, then a brief survey of events involving:
John the Baptist
Jesus’ temptations
The beginning of Jesus’ ministry
The call of the first four disciples
• although Matthew jumps into the Sermon right away,
◦ what comes before it was well chosen and important
• he introduces and illustrates key themes we will come to in the Sermon
– so we’ll respect Matthew’s outline, and make his introduction to the sermon our introduction
• let’s see how Matthew presents these key themes
Matthew makes clear something the angel told Zechariah regarding his son, John the Baptist
“he will go before go before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Lk. 1:17)
– Elijah is one of the few people in the Bible whose appearance is described
“He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist” (2 Ki. 2:8)
• here is Matthew’s description of John the Baptist:
“Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist”
• only Matthew adds something about John’s diet
“and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Mt. 3:4)
From one of my morning meditations a few years ago: “John’s rugged clothing and severe diet were not gimmicks meant to draw crowds. His asceticism and minimalist lifestyle was effect rather than cause. His complete devotion to his work required a focused attention away from the distractions of village life. He was a rare species of humankind.”
– something that is not explained regarding John
• when Pharisees and Sadducees came to his baptism, he blasted them
◦ their practice of religion was not satisfactory
◦ but Matthew gives no hint of why John did this
(there is the possibility that John knew and agreed with the Essenes who considered the Pharisees and Sadducees to be spiritually compromised and were critical of both of those religious groups)
• Perhaps Jesus provides an answer to the problem of the Pharisees in his Sermon
Don’t display your charity “as the hypocrites do . . . when you pray, you must be like the hypocrites . . . when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites” (Mt. 6:1-18; see also Mt. chapter 23)
◦ these hypocritical displays were characteristic of the Pharisees and scribes
When Jesus came to be baptized, John was uneasy and hesitated
He told Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
– Jesus answer, “Let it be so for now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:14-15)
• righteousness is one of the key themes in the Sermon
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees
Beware of practicing your righteousness before others to be seen by them
–and perhaps the strongest statement:
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness
– Amy-Jill Levine points out that Tamar is first woman mentioned in Matthew (Mt. 1:3)
• after being impregnated by her father-in-law, Judah, he made this statement about her:
“She is more righteous than I” (Gen. 38:26) — (this confusing statement will be clarified later on)
• it was in the story of Tamar, I learned meaning of righteousness
◦ we’ll see what righteousness looks like when put into actions in the Sermon
After Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God led him into the desert
– Matthew says he was taken there to be tempted by the devil
1. the first temptation was to satisfy his hunger by miracle
◦ Jesus did not argue with devil or explain how his suggestion was wrong
◦ he simply quoted scripture, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone . . . .”
• please note that Jesus resisted the devil by quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures, and specifically the law
2. in the second temptation, it was the devil who first quoted scripture
◦ I get the impression he’s saying,
“Oh, You want to play that game. Well, I can play it too. How much do You trust what the Scriptures say? Let’s find out if they really work”
Then he encouraged Jesus to leap from the highest point of the temple and see if God’s angels would prevent him from being injured
◦ Jesus didn’t argue the devil’s misuse of scripture, but again said,
“It is written, you shall not tempt (test) the Lord your God”
3. the third temptation was rather blatant
◦ the devil offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, provided Jesus would bow and worship him
◦ again Jesus answered him with a quotation from the law
“Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only you shall serve”
• in his Sermon, Jesus will quote from the law and then go on and reinterpret it – “But I say to you . . .”
◦ but notice that the three quotes he used to resist the devil were from the Law (specifically, Deuteronomy)
◦ Jesus never set the law aside, in fact he honored it and will insist on maintaining it
Temptation is a second key theme in the Sermon
– Jesus will go deep into the nature of temptation–down into it’s roots
• he will also teach us to pray, “lead us not into temptation”
• but we will also learn the double-meaning of temptation:
◦ it is not only our usual idea of seduction,
◦ but it also means to “test” – as we learned last week, “Everything is a test!”
The third key theme is embedded in Jesus’ rejection of the third temptation
– that is, when he rejected the devil’s offer of all the kingdoms of the world
• there is a simple reason for this – but today it has largely been lost
◦ after his baptism and the ordeal of his temptations we read:
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Mt. 4:17)
▫ repentance is certainly a goal of Jesus’ Sermon, and it is implied all the way through
▫ but I’m not including it as one of the key themes
◦ after Jesus called his first four disciples,
“. . . he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction among the people” (Mt. 4:23)
• Jesus rejected worldly kingdoms, because he came to announce the arrival of God’s kingdom
• the third key theme in the Sermon is the kingdom of God
I’m reluctant to accuse anyone of being a false teacher or a false prophet
– there are several different schools of theology,
• each one valid, and well supported, but none absolute
◦ if I disagree with the theology of others, it doesn’t mean I think they’re lost or deceived
• however, there are some doctrines that are false, and harmful!
◦ like the devil, they abuse the Scriptures by quoting out their biblical context
◦ most often they will use a single verse as a “proof text”
– Luke tells us, when the crowds asked John what they should do, he told them,
“Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and who ever has food is to do likewise” (Lk. 3:11-14)
• the same with the tax collectors and soldiers:
◦ he stressed the importance of showing integrity regarding social obligations
◦ he told the crowds to give away the excess of what they owned,
not to impoverish themselves in order to clothe and feed others
• someone might argue, “That’s the ‘Social Gospel’!”
◦ an close reading of Matthew, Mark, Luke (especially), and John,
◦ we learn that the gospel is social! It is the new “society” of God’s kingdom
Yesterday morning I read in Mark’s gospel (ch. 3) where Jesus was angered and grieved
– what set him off was the unwillingness of those gathered in the synagogue to admit it is permissible to do good on the Sabbath
• the problem was, a man was there whose hand was crippled
◦ but Jesus knew if he healed someone on the Sabbath, he would be condemned by those whose interpretation of Sabbath law was that no healing could be done on the Sabbath
◦ he was angered and grieved by “their hardness of heart”
• what kind of religion bans empathy?
◦ that tells us not to help those who are in need?
There is a false teaching that claims the Church will eventually produce God’s kingdom on earth
– that eventually, the Church will advance to the point where it rules the world
• but that is the doctrine of Islam and not Christianity
◦ Jesus was very clear on this score:
“My kingdom is not of this world” (Jn 18:36)
◦ many Evangelicals have been deceived about Christians imposing God’s will on nations
– if Jesus had wanted a worldly kingdom he would have had to bow to Satan to get it
• historically, when religion joins government, both become more intrusive and oppressive
(think of Iran, of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and even of Orthodox Christianity in Constantinople or Russia today, where Patriarch Krill supports Putin in his war on Ukraine)
• oddly, the Church has always been its healthiest when persecuted and its sickest when in power
Conclusion: When Jesus called the fishermen from their nets to follow him,
He told them, “I will make you fishers of men”
His Sermon On the Mount is about Jesus bringing to us the kingdom of God
and “making” us its true citizens
I hope we can let Jesus bring his message to us, in our time and place
If so, through it he will lead us into the lived experience of God’s kingdom here and now
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
Now when the LORD
was about to take Elijah up to heaven
by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha
were on their way from Gilgal 2 Kings 2:1
The prophetic ministry of Elijah provides one of the most entertaining stories in all the Bible. When it comes to phenomenal miracles, Elijah’s only rival would be Moses. His spiritual stature as a man of God is equal to the greatest heroes in scripture, and yet St. James wrote, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (Jas. 5:17). Like us, Elijah could be frightened, discouraged, and ready to give up.
Elijah would have been a fun person to know– if you like surprises. For instance, this final episode begins with a surprise. It seems we were supposed to already know he was going to be swept up to heaven by a whirlwind. He certainly knew that his work was done and something significant was about to happen, but it’s not likely he was aware he would take a ride unlike any other in the entire history of humankind. As we walk the last leg of his journey with him, it’s as if he already has one foot out the door.
As spectacular as his final moments on earth turn out to be, the other character in this scene has the greater challenge. Elijah’s servant and star pupil, Elisha, who will follow his mentor on their final road trip together. However, his motive for tagging along with Elijah is not merely see him off.
Gilgal was located in the desert and not far from the Jordan River, still within Israel’s border. As Elijah was getting read to leave, he turned to Elisha and said, “You don’t need to go with me. Please, stay here in Gilgal. As for me, Yehovah has sent me on to Bethel.” Elisha’s reaction was instant and adamant, “As Yehovah lives,” he swore (coincidentally quoting the first recorded words of Elijah), “As Yehovah lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave your side!” Elijah simply gave him a slight nod, and off they went, taking the road that led to Bethel.
Bethel had long been recognized as a sacred site–perhaps since the days of Jacob, when he fled from his brother who was threatening to kill him. Jacob stumbled onto a place where he would spend the night. God appeared to him in a dream, and extended to him the covenant he had made with his grandfather, Abraham. Overwhelmed by God’s presence there, Jacob named it Bethel, “the house of God.” In more recent years, Israel had established their own homegrown cult in Bethel. But there was a separate community of prophets faithful to Yehovah who lived in or near Bethel.
For many years, at least as early as the days of Samuel, there had been people who longed to experience the inspiration of God’s Spirit. We do not know all of the ways they opened themselves to God’s immediate presence, but we do know that music sometimes played a role. By the time of Elijah’s arrived, these communities were known as “the sons of the prophets.” That there was some real activity of God going on in their community is evident in the few times they appear in scripture. For instance, on more than one occasion, King Saul came into contact with one of these groups, and both times he was overwhelmed by the Spirit of God.
As Elijah and Elisha neared the gates of Bethel, members of the sons of the prophets approached Elisha and took him aside. They told him, “You know, don’t you, that Yehovah is about to take your master from over your head?” Elisha’s voice was low, but stern, “Yes, of course I know! Don’t say another word.”
They had been in Bethel only a short while, when Elijah was on his feet again. Immediately, Elisha was at his side. Turning to him, Elijah gave him the same instructions as he did in Gilgal, only this time he spoke his name. “Elisha,” he began, “you can stay here with these men in Bethel, but I have to keep moving. Yehovah has now sent me on my way again; this time to Jericho.” Elisha would not back down, “As Yehovah lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave your side!” So once again they were on the road.
Jericho was in the same general region as Gilgal and Bethel. It seems that the sons of the prophets were drawn to those isolated desert locations to seek God. Away from the larger villages and all their distractions, they focused their attention on intense spiritual development. Hundreds of years later, another similar spiritual community would settle a little further south, near the Dead Sea. Ruins of that community and the Scriptures they stored in caves there, still exist today.
The sons of the prophets in Jericho circled Elisha, and said to him, “You know, don’t you, that Yehovah is about to take your master from over your head?” Elisha answered them with the same harsh tone as before, “Yes, I know. Say nothing about it!”
If by this time you don’t recognize the pattern, then you haven’t been paying attention. In the previous chapter, three captains accompanied by fifty soldiers, came to apprehend Elijah. Each of them approached him, addressing him,“O man of God.” It did not go well with the first two captains, so the third captain changed his tone.
The pattern of threes is repeated here in the travelogue, in which the sons of the prophets replace the soldiers. The first two groups deliver the same message to Elisha word-for-word, as the first two captains had with Elijah. The third group doesn’t approach Elisha, but observes him and Elijah from a distance. Setting these two stories side-by-side, and repeating the same pattern of threes, secures the close identity of the two prophets. We cannot help but notice their names are almost the same. Now we are discovering there’s a reason for that. Elijah is about to be removed from the ongoing story of Israel, but Elisha is going to carry forward his work and ministry.
Leaving Jericho, Elijah’s destination was not another city, but this time it was the Jordan River. Again, he told Elisha that he did not have to go with him, and again Elisha said, “As Yehovah lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave your side!” As they reached the water’s edge, fifty of the sons of the prophets, were watching them from a nearby hillside. Standing on the riverbank, Elijah removed the mantle from his shoulders–the same mantle he had draped over Elisha when he ordained him to be a prophet. Elijah wrapped it around his arm, and then slapped it on the surface of the water. Immediately, the water upstream was separated from the water down stream, creating a path of dry ground that the two of them took to reach the other side.
For anyone familiar with Israel’s history, this calls to mind Israel’s crossing through the Red Sea with Moses, and then crossing through the Jordan River with Joshua. Moses’ staff was the symbolic instrument God used in parting the waters of the Red Sea. The ark of the covenant was the symbolic instrument he used when Joshua led Israel through the Jordan River. Now, this time, it is Elijah’s cloak (or mantle) that symbolizes God’s means of working the miracle.
Why the miracle? Why is it so important for people to get from one shore to the other, that God would provide a supernatural passage? The answer may have to do with inevitable stages of human life, and moving from one into the next. Whether the process of moving from one stage to the next occurs over time or happens in an instant, we pass through necessary transitions as we journey through time. What we may not do well, is mark those transitions. Or worse yet, we may not even realize we have made the transition. We may be pouring all our attention and energy into clinging to a past we will never again possess or experience.
The tragedy of not marking transitions is not that we remain stuck in the same rut that brought us to this point in our lives, but that refusing to recognize life is different now, our mental, emotional, and spiritual growth is stunted. We cannot stop our bodies from aging, but we can stop learning, maturing, developing, and drawing ever closer to God. To refuse to step across the next threshold, to stubbornly hang onto a past that no longer serves the demands of today, prevents us from appreciating the fullness of where we are now or doing our best work in this stage of our lives.
Elijah had to make the transition from active service to retirement. Elisha had to make the transition from neophyte to full-fledged prophet. Both of them had to transition into the next thing God had for them. The beauty of their stories, is that they both were ready for this. I would say that Elisha, at least, was eager to reach the next pinnacle. It was time.
On the other side of the river, Elijah stopped and turned to Elisha. He was no longer playing games, as if he wanted to lose Elisha and go on by himself. He had never been more serious than in this final moment with his disciple. Looking into his eyes, he said, “Elisha, what can I give you, what can I do for you before I’m carried away from you?” Without skipping a beat, Elisha answered, “Please, let there rest upon me a double portion of your spirit.”
Elijah took that request seriously. He explained to Elisha, “You have asked for something that does not come easily, is difficult, and could be painful. But, if you’re there to see me the moment I’m taken from you, that double portion will be yours. If you aren’t there, then you won’t get it.”
If we’re not familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, it could sound like Elisha is asking for twice as much of God’s Spirit than had rested on Elijah. The double portion referred to something extra. The closest parallel to what Elisha wanted to receive from Elijah, was the guaranteed inheritance an eldest son received from his father (Deut. 21:17). We don’t know precisely what that would entail. There’s no doubt it referred to material possessions, but it may have had to do with other immaterial roles of authority, responsibility, and influence as well. At any rate, it was the normal inheritance given to the oldest son, and not a surplus of what the father had owned. Elisha wanted to serve God’s people with the same dynamic gifts and abilities that typified Elijah’s ministry.
After that dramatic moment, they continued walking together, carrying on a conversation that would have been reported to us if it included something we needed to learn. Still, one can’t help but wonder whether this was an ethereal conversation regarding mysteries normally hidden from human minds.
The force that threw them apart was sudden. Chariots of fire, drawn by horses of fire flew between them. Elijah was swept up off the ground by a whirlwind that carried him into the sky. Elisha cried out, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” What else could he say?
Then it was over. Elijah was gone.
Whether in grief or the passion of a new spirit, Elisha literally ripped off the cloak he was wearing. Elijah’s mantle having fallen from him when swept away, was lying on the ground. Elisha picked it up and returned to the bank of the river. He rolled the mantle around his arm as he had seen Elijah do, and slapping it on the surface of the water, he shouted, “Where is Yehovah, the God of Elijah?” With that, the water parted as it had before, and he returned through it to Israel’s side of the river.
Having witnessed the entire spectacle, the sons of the prophets realized what had happened.“The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha,” they exclaimed. Hurrying off to meet Elisha, they bowed before him as a sign of respect.
Now, at last, we have come to the end of the story of Elijah.
No, I was wrong. Instead, I should have asked, “Have we now come to the end of Elijah’s story?” He did not die, so this was not the end of his life. Have we heard the last of him? Apparently not.
The Hebrew Scriptures end with Malachi, and Malachi’s prophecies end with this prediction:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a [curse].” (Mal. 4:6)
Then later, the angel who announced to Zechariah the birth of his son, predicted that John the Baptist would minister “in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Lk. 1:17)
So we are not ready just yet to write the words: “The End.”
As I said at the beginning of this episode, Elisha’s challenge through this ordeal was greater than Elijah’s. Why did I draw this conclusion? The answer is simple. As we move through the story, what questions naturally come to mind? For instance, I would want to know why Elijah kept telling Elisha he did not need to go with him from place to place. I think the answer to that question comes when Elijah explained what Elisha had to do to receive the double portion he requested. He had to be there to see Elijah go. That means that every step of the way had been a challenge for Elisha. Would he continue on to the reward, or would he hang back?
Another question I would like answered, it why did Elisha insist on staying with Elijah in his final journey? Was it simply out of loyalty to his mentor? Or did Elisha inherently know that if he was going to receive the double portion from Elijah, he had to stick with him? Well, Elisha was a prophet, after all. It is possible he knew that if he did not stay close by Elijah’s side, he would not get the gift he desired and needed.
Later on, when Elisha was nearing the end of his life, the king of Israel came to visit him. Elisha gave King Joash a couple of tasks to complete. Both tasks had prophetic significance. In the second challenge, Elisha told the king to take a handful of arrows and then said, “Strike the ground with them.” So the king took the arrows and hit them on the ground three times. Of course, he had no idea why the old prophet told him to do this, and he may have felt silly hitting the ground with the arrows. But when he stopped, it angered Elisha, who asked, “Why did you stop? You should have struck five times, or even six times; then you would have defeated the army of Syria until you wiped them out completely. But now you will have only three victories, and that will not be enough to prevent Syria from returning and conquering Israel.”
I have always felt sympathy for the king. How could he have known he was enacting a ritual that would have serious consequences later on? Of course, he would have struck the ground more times–if he had known. Perhaps the moral of the story, is if God tells you to do something, you should keep doing it until he tells you to stop. However, I think there’s another lesson to be learned here.
It turns out, that each time Elisha was told he could stay behind, it was a test. Elijah knew that if Elisha was not there to see him taken away, there was nothing else he do for him. Elisha had to pass the test in order to get what he desired. Maybe the three tests were meant to reveal whether Elisha was really suited for the work that lay ahead. How committed was he? Would he give himself the luxury of taking time to relax if he had not finished a project? Would he continue through the hardships and setbacks of God’s work, even when it seemed like he wasn’t accomplishing anything significant?
My concern today is for myself and for you. I feel like I’m old enough that God has to know by now I belong to him. I don’t need any more tests. But I have heard the stories of other people who gave out before they reached the finish line, and I don’t want to be included in those statistics. That means I’m going to be tested.
You are going to be tested. In a moment I will elaborate on that statement. How can we know when we are being tested? Well, if we’re prophets, we’ll just know. Sadly, we aren’t prophets–or, at least I don’t think we are. And that means we cannot know when we’re being tested. So if we don’t know we’re being tested, how can we keep from failing the test?
Here’s my elaboration: Everything is a test!
You are being tested today. I have no idea what that test is, or what it’s going to prove, or how you’re going to rate on it, but you are being tested.
I have been tested this week. The tests are always more intense when we’re sick or not up to par; and that’s how it’s been for me. I’ve been hit with the realization that I am unprepared for the increasing demands coming my way. I thought that when we got old, everything would be easier, that we would be less responsible for anything other than surviving another day. Instead, I’ve been tempted to entertain a host of worries, to fixate on my inadequacies and sink into despair. Only, now I realize that I am being tested.
And what is it God is testing? That’s simple. My trust in him. If I allow myself to drown in the fear of failure, of uncertainty and insecurity, then I have failed the test, regardless of what happens next, whether good or bad. If good, well then I will give thanks and rejoice. If bad, well then, I will trust God, rejoice and give thanks. The only way to pass this test is to let go of anxiety and despair.
If you pay attention, you will be able to discern in what way you are being tested today and what it is in your relationship with God that he is testing. And if you determine to stay close to him, like Elisha did with Elijah, you will pass the test and get your double portion. And then this excursion into Elijah’s story over the last three months will have done us some good.
Welcome, Prayer, and Morning Talk: Jim Calhoun
Heavenly Father Help us to live in the world as it is.
Just this, just now
Help us when we are ill or injured and bring us to rights
The deep pain of losing loved ones when it comes all at once or slowly over time
The sorrow of seeing others in pain or disappointed or grieving
The anxiety of what the future may bring us and the fears that we may not be up to the challenge
Help us to live in the world as it is
With every blade of grass shimmering
Every leaf trembling
Every cloud floating by
Every burst of laughter
Every shared moment
Every hope
Every dream
Every joy
Every love
Knowing every grace is your grace
Just this, just now
Help us to hold it all at once
Help us to hold it all together
Lord, please, hold us together
In the world as it is
Amen
Lectio Divina
Today we are going to have a group Lectio Divina session. This is a spiritual exercise in which we listen to God’s Spirit speaking to us through the Scriptures. Our application of it this morning will be similar to what we do during the week but adjusted a little for our situation this morning.
Lectio is an amazing practice that helps us better listen to God
It helps us hear God, the still and quiet voice, that is calling to us with tenderness, comfort, direction, correction, instruction and affection.
It helps us hear God and not just repeat our anxieties or shame to ourselves.
It helps us hear God and break out from all of the messages, good and hurtful, that we carry from our families and friends.
It helps us hear God and point us to a liberation from the demands, concerns, expectations of our society.
You know, how we look, what we drive, our status, our wealth, our place in comparison with others.
Slowly, over time we grow past all of these things and find new ground, fresh territory in the Kingdom Of God.
We find new life.
This, today is a workshop and we will be practicing spiritual listening.
For more than a dozen years we have been doing these groups in homes and also online.
Combined with quiet sitting this has been our focus.
We have wanted to know God in some way that is personal, meaningful, relational instead of simply know about God from the perspective of one tradition or another.
By the way, I have no bone to pick with the traditions of the Church.
The major traditions are important.
The Orthodox Church of Greece and later Russia.
The Church of Rome which we most often call the Catholic Church
The English Church
The Church of Europe either from Luther or Calvin
The Church of America which grew out of The English Church and took on a distinctive American turn with the teachings of John Wesley and his followers.
Of course there are others, Baptists, Anabaptists, And more.
All this to say each of these churches have a beauty in them.
A sanctity, a holiness.
There are members full of the Spirit and love with great generosity and sacrifice in each and every one.
And there is ugliness as well.
Self serving, moral double dealing, pride and all that goes with it.
And this is the risk of following a tradition, we can be blind to our foibles.
We may not see at all what everyone else sees plain as day.
We may justify the impossible because it is our tradition.
Then we get lost all over again and never quite understand it.
Lectio can awaken us.
From our families, from our spiritual traditions and habits and from our society.
We can awaken and take another step into freedom.
So today we are workshopping, practicing, listening.
The process is simple in that there aren’t many steps and the steps are easy to understand and implement.
I’ll give you clear instructions along the way.
The process is demanding and transformative because it takes our whole selves to engage.
We encounter God in the reading of the passage both aloud and quietly.
We encounter God in the silence between the readings.
We encounter God in our brothers and sisters as they share.
Not everything is that you hear is needed today.
That is okay.
Hold it loosely and let it go.
This is a devotional practice.
It is rooted in affection.
Recognizing how God has come to us in one way or another and our gratitude in response.
It isn’t about the one right answer.
Your response maybe very different from mine.
Even opposite. Why?
God remains the same and the Scriptures hold true.
That isn’t the issue.
The differences are found in us.
We are each solving a different problem in a different context.
God is guiding us through.
I may need to learn appropriate boundaries in this moment and you may need to develop your depth of generosity and we may find the same phrase in the same passage is teaching us these two very different things.
This isn’t troubling.
It is a gift.
So in this way we don’t monitor or correct what another person is working out.
We let them do their work and trust God to lead them from this place to the next.
If what another says stirs us up we need to decide if we will let it go or if we need to hold it close.
Is it an example of iron sharpening iron?
Is it for someone else?
These sorts of questions are the heart of discernment.
We ask God in real time what we might do with what we read and hear.
If you find any of this overwhelming just step back a little and take a breath or two.
Allow yourself just to observe if you like.
There are no demands or expectations for you in this.
All may share if you like and none are required.
Now let’s turn to Matthew
Matthew is written in pairs of story and teaching, narrative and discourse.
There are five pairs.
Our section today is toward the end of the second discourse or group of teachings.
The stories just before this in chapters 8 and 9 show Jesus doing the work of the messiah.
He is healing, casting out demons and all sorts of signs and wonders.
He is making his declaration of who he is by being who he is.
At the end of chapter 9, Jesus seems to be concerned for so many people who need his help.
They are spread all about and he doesn’t have time or physical energy to reach them all.
But he declares that the harvest is ready, but the workers are few.
At the beginning of chapter 10 Jesus calls together his disciples, the twelve, and sets about to address the problem of too few workers.
This chapter is sometimes called the little commission in contrast to the great commission at the end of the gospel, “Go into all the world . . . ” (Mt. 28:19-20).
But here the mission is to go into the local area and continue my work among the people of Israel.
And then he gives a lot of thought concerning the difficulties connected with the task.
We pick up his message at the next to last section of this chapter.
It was what we covered in Lectio two weeks ago.
There are hard sayings here.
We will work our way into it with gentleness for each other and for ourselves.
An act of devotion and affection, hoping to hear a little something for the day that is nourishing.
(These instructions were followed by a time of practice with those of our Reflexion community who were present this morning)
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord join us this morning.
In a world full of bickering and hate,
let us be peace
In a world of lies let us be truth
In a world that is ever striving let us be contentment.
In a world that makes endless demands on others
let us be generosity
In a world that worships money let us be contentment
In a world that seeks endless power let us be surrender
In a world that destroys souls let us be sacrifice
Move us Lord
No longer content to talk about the thing
No longer gratified to judge others because they are not the thing
Teach us to be the thing
Transform us to be the thing
By your loving hand
Amen
Morning Talk: Guest speaker, Guy Gray
Psalm 3 is the most loved, most quoted, and best known of all Psalms
There are lots of reasons for this.
It’s short – just six verses. But though it’s so short it’s incredibly deep.
It’s simple – easy to understand. The Lord, the shepherd is God. I am the sheep. I get it!
And there is something uniquely encouraging, comforting, and empowering about this Psalm.
So, this morning, I’d like to give you Psalm 23 as a “fixed focal point” for your faith – through all the different seasons and experiences of your life.
When I was a boy I used to go deep sea fishing with my father. Often the sea would be rough and I would get sick. He used to say to me, “If you can find a fixed focal point on the horizon, keep your eyes on that, and that’ when you will find your balance once again.”
That’s good advice for a storm at sea.
But what if we could apply that idea to our life of faith in God?
That is how I have come to see Psalm 23 in my life experience.
It has become a fixed focal point for my faith – through all the ups and downs of life.
So now, let’s think through Psalm 23, with a special focus on Vs. 4.
First, we need to get a feel for how this Psalm unfolds.
It has a beautiful beginning, a hope filled ending, and a valley of deep darkness in the middle.
THE BEAUTIFUL BEGINNING Vss. 1-3
These verses give us this incredible portrait of: peace, nurture, movement forward, and purpose.
This is a life “fully alive” and “flourishing”.
I love this. I want to be in this scene!
A HOPE FILLED ENDING Vs. 6
This verse gives us the most profound picture of hope you can imagine. It’s a hope that seems to transcend even the grave itself.
In Psalm23, hope gets the final word!
I love this. I’m trying to learn to live in this perspective more an more in my life.
Illustration: The blank book gift and not knowing what to write. Then I wrote “I choose to live in faith.” (I was so excited about it that the next Sunday I preached a sermon on this.)
THE DARK VALLEY IN THE MIDDLE Vs. 4
I think of this as the unexpected and uninvited intrusion into the perfect picture
But this is also why we love Psalm 23 – because it meets us where we live, in our broken lives and our broken world.
Here are 3 key ideas from Vs. 4:
1. The darkness described in Psalm 23 is darkness in the extreme
There are lots of words for darkness in the OT, but this is a rare word that is the most extreme of them all. Two other passages help us get a feel for this: Psalm 107:10 uses the image of being chained in prison to describe this darkness. Job 10:20-22 describes this as a darkness so deep that it swallows all light – like a black hole.
But we know this deep darkness is a metaphor for the most painful and difficult experiences of our lives.
In 2 Cor 7:5-6 the Apostle Paul describes deep distress in his life that has two sources – external circumstances and internal anxiety. He describes himself as “downcast”. Even the amazing apostle Paul had times when he needed a strength beyond his own to keep going.
2. The comfort that God brings into our lives might be different than at first we would think
The modern definition of “comfort” is something like this:
“The state of feeling better after felling sad or worried; something that makes your life easy or pleasant.”
This is primarily about feeling better. This is why we talk about needing “comfort food!”
But the biblical definition of “comfort” is different: gaining the courage you need to face the adversities of your life because you know you are not alone.” This is much like the “antiquated definition of “comfort” found in the dictionary: Comfort (obsolete meaning, from the Latin comfortare) “To aid, support, encourage, strengthen.”
The purpose of God’s comfort in our lives is to give us the strength to go on, through the darkness, not just to make us feel better.
3. In Psalm 23 it is the promise that God is with us in and through the Darkness that makes all the difference. It brings the comfort of God’s presence to us; it brings the strength of God to us.
Vs. 4 – “for you are with me.”
“God with us is the great gospel promise of the Christian faith. In the Gospel of Matthew Ch. 1 we are told that his name shall be called Emmanuel – God with us. In Matthew 28, in the very last phrase in the gospel, Jesus says, “and I will be with you to the very end of the age.”
This is the core message of the Gospel. God is with us in Jesus Christ. In his incarnation; in his life; in his death on the cross for our sins; in his resurrection victory over death; and in the giving of the Holy Spirit to be with us in our lives.
Jesus said, in John 14, I will ask the Father and he will give you another “comforter” to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.” Comforter is the Greek word “paraclete” that word means “one who comes alongside to help. Sometimes it is translated as “comforter”, but other times as, advocate, or counselor, or helper. And God is with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit in all of those ways, through all the seasons and experiences of our lives.
It’s amazing to know that we can bring this comfort to other people. Like Titus did for Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:5-6. And God can use other people to bring his comfort into our lives as well.
This is what God did for me when, at a very dark day in my life, God sent a man I had not seen in several years to encourage me. It was a “random” encounter in passing at an airport. He said, “Do you remember that sermon you gave years ago on hope?” I want you to know that I was listening. And he rolled up his sleeve and showed me his arm where he had tattooed the words “I chose to live in hope.” That encounter was a strong affirmation to my life that, indeed, God is with me. What comfort!
These are the themes from Psalm 23 that have become a fixed focal point for my faith in my life journey. When I fix my eyes on Psalm 23 in this way, it helps me find my balance again through the different seasons and even the dark storms of life.
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord join us this morning.
Grant us the gift of having large hearts
Tender and gracious
With affection and attention
To the people we know
The people we meet
And all those we encounter.
Let us feel and know their joys and fears
Grant us the courage to be this sort of person
Save us from being overwhelmed
Allow us to see the world through their eyes
If only for a moment
To better understand how it is for them
The problems they are struggling to solve
The battles they are desperate to win
Their joy for every success
Helping us to love the difficult person
The belligerent
The angry
The hateful
The needy
The broken
Allow us to be safe for them
Without fear of condemnation from us
Fellow pilgrims
Fellow mortals just making our way
Uncertain
Sometimes afraid
Sometimes overwhelmed
Save us Lord from being overwhelmed
Grant us the gift of listening
To hear and receive and respect
What is revealed through word and deed
To listen with curiosity and interest
To listen without planning our response
To listen without correction
Ease our anxiety as we listen
Ease our need to fix things
Ease our need to manage them
Ease our need control those things that make us anxious
Ease our need to judge
Help us to discern
To keep our own inner world in order
So we might help
And serve
And even sacrifice when needed
Lord, grant to us big hearts
To love like you
Because you have loved us
Day in and day out
Through it all
Even through our worse moments
The ones we rather forget
With your very big heart
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
After the death of Ahab,
Moab rebelled against Israel 2 Kings 1:1
This first sentence of 2 Kings is an odd way to begin a new chapter. The transition from the previous book to this one could have been much smoother. For instance, the last lines of 1 Kings provide all the explanation we need for this new episode:
Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria . . . and he reigned for two years. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother . . . . He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked Yehovah, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done (1 Ki. 22:51-53)
Instead of this clear statement regarding the throne of Israel passing from the deceased father to the firstborn prince, we have an odd report of Moab’s rebellion. Why?
Moab was located in what is Jordan today. The mention of Moab breaking free from Israel’s domination reminds us that tensions in that area of the world go back for millennia. But what is the significance of this event, that plays no part in any of the action that follows?
The answer is that we learn soon after Ahab died, Israel suffered a substantial loss. A piece of its control in that region was taken from them, and there was nothing they could do about it. This is an important insight into the beginning of Ahaziah’s reign. Israel was beginning to deteriorate from within, and right away the nation suffered a loss of strength and influence.
When Ahab died, his son Ahaziah became king–however, his reign did not last for long. The palace in Samaria had been his home since childhood, and it now belonged to him. Unfortunately, he was unaware that the design of ornamental features in the upper chambers was made to be decorative and not sturdy. So when he leaned against the lattice enclosure of a large window, it gave way and he fell to the ground. He remained bedridden for several days, but his injuries were not improving and his health was worsening.
Ahaziah summoned messengers to his bedside. He told them, “I have heard from others about a reliable source for divining the future and learning one’s fate. Go now, and inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to learn whether or not I’m going to recover from my injuries.” It seems that people in every nation have always sought out sacred places where they could receive oracles from the gods. To “inquire” was the technical term for consulting the deities at those sites. It seems that human mind has always had a special fascination for knowledge of the future, and by various mystical methods tried to pry into things to come. Oracles, soothsayers, prognosticators, astrologers, psychics, and others have been sought out by people who want to penetrate the veil God has placed between the natural world and the supernatural, between the present and the future.
Israel was unique among the nations, in this regard. They were forbidden to resort to occult agents or practices to explore regions of the unknown. God had it written into their law and later he reaffirmed it by one of his prophets, through whom he said, “And when they say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no [light of the] dawn” (Isa. 8:19-20)
The God of Israel could be consulted–and he would answer, but giving only as much information as served his purpose. Ahaziah’s quest must have been especially offensive to Yehovah, because Ekron was one of the capitol cities of the Philistines, who had been hostile to Israel from the time they entered the land.
While Ahaziah’s messengers were on their way, another messenger was dispatched. The same Hebrew word that translates into English as “messenger” is also translated “angel.” So it was that the angel of Yehovah found Elijah and reactivated him for service. “Get up,” the angel told him, “go up and confront the messengers of the king of Samaria and tell them to take this word back to him: ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now listen to what Yehovah has to say, for he has the answer to your inquiry. You will not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you will die for certain.’”
Elijah carried that message to Ahaziah’s servants. When they arrived at the palace, the king was baffled that they had returned so soon. “What happened?” he asked them, “Why have you come back? What have you learned?”
They explained, “A man came and stopped us. He told us to come back here and tell you, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now listen to what Yehovah has to say, for he has the answer to your inquiry. You will not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you will die for certain.”
If Ahaziah was upset by this news, he controlled himself. He was curious about the person who intercepted his messengers and sent them back with that message. How did he know about their mission? Who told him the king would die? Was he reliable? “Tell me,” the king said to his messengers, “what sort of person was he who stopped you on the road and sent you back to me with this news?” If the king was asking them for their opinion of the stranger, and whether he seemed credible, what they gave him was a description. They asked themselves, “What kind of man was he?” then told the king, “He was the kind of man who is hairy and wears a leather belt.”
Instantly, Ahaziah recognized him by their description. “It is Elijah,” he said–and a flood of memories rushed into his head of Elijah and the drought, Elijah and Mount Carmel, Elijah and how his mother hated that prophet of Yehovah.
The king dismissed his messengers and changed his agenda. For the next mission he needed soldiers, not emissaries. So he summoned one of his captains with a detachment of fifty soldiers. Why soldiers? Was he expecting trouble? Ahaziah commanded the captain, “Take your men and hunt for Elijah the prophet. When you find him, bring him to me.”
When the soldiers found Elijah, he was sitting on the top of a hill. There he was, out in the open, unprotected, defenseless. If a sheriff came to your door, not in uniform but in fatigues and riot gear, you would no doubt feel apprehensive. We have no idea what Elijah felt as he saw those soldiers approaching the hill where he sat.
“O man of God,” the captain called to him, “the king says for you to come down. You must go with us to the palace in Samaria.”
Elijah tilted his head to one side, squinted his eyes at the captain and said, “If I am a ‘man of God,’ then fire is going to come down from heaven and consume you and your soldiers.” Something like a sonic boom jolted the ground as if lightning were ripping the sky apart. A ball of fire fell and instantly the captain and his fifty men were ashes.
If Ahaziah had his wits about him, he would have perceived the significance of this miraculous event–that is, obvious proof had been given that there was, indeed, a God in Israel. But no sooner did Ahaziah receive word of what happened to his soldiers, than he ordered another detachment to go and apprehend Elijah. The prophet had not moved, so he was easy to locate.
This captain resembles a specific person type in the military or law enforcement; someone who asks for cooperation but if they do not get it, they assume they must be rougher, more aggressive, and use force if necessary. It would never occur to them that sometimes the wise approach to dealing with others is to avoid violence.
When this captain approached Elijah, his words were not like the first captain whose words were, “The king says, ‘Come down.’” The second captain said,“this is the king’s order, ‘Come down’” and he added, “quickly!”
Elijah tilted his head to one side, squinted his eyes at the captain and said, “If I am a ‘man of God,’ then fire is going to come down from heaven and consume you and your soldiers.”
Here Elijah was at the end of his ministry, and only one other person ever called him a “man of God.” He met that other person at the beginning of his ministry. She was a widow who lived up north in the nation of Sidon. She addressed him as a man of God, but it was only when he resuscitated her dead son that she actually believed it. She told Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”
These two captains with their men learned the hard way that Elijah was indeed a man of God.
Predictably, the king sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers with him.
The first two captains had called Elijah from the base of the hill, but this third captain hiked up the hill, and when he reached Elijah he immediately went down–on his knees, not telling Elijah “The king says” or “The king commands,” but begging the prophet, “O man of God, please, let my life and the lives of these fifty servants [yes, he referred to them as servants, not soldiers; they were only doing what they were told to do], let my life and their lives mean something to you. Value our lives. Look, the two captains who came before me did not honor you, and they were devoured by fire from heaven. But I’m here now, begging you to value our lives and spare us.” This captain had figured out that words “man of God,” were not just a formal title.
Right then, the angel of Yehovah spoke to Elijah, and told him, “Go down with him,” and perhaps anticipating Elijah’s reaction, he added, “There’s no reason to be afraid.”
Elijah tilted his head to one side, squinted his eyes at the captain, and said, “Okay.”
The remainder of the story is anticlimactic. Not many details are given regarding Elijah’s encounter with King Ahaziah. The king remained silent as Elijah repeated what he had already said, only this time it is not a question, but an indictment, “This is what Yehovah has to say to you, ‘Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron–as if there were no God in Israel to inquire for his word–you won’t come down from that bed to which you have gone up, you will die for certain.”
Now, at last, King Ahaziah had his answer and knew his future. And soon the word Yehovah had given to Elijah was fulfilled. Once Ahaziah was gone, his brother Jehoram took his place and became Israel’s next king.
Take a moment. Breathe. Relax.
There is a reality that is larger than our universe, and the source of our universe. That reality is eternal, and therefore encompasses the past, present, and future of our universe at the same time. In that added dimension, God is not hidden as he is from our world of experience. God reaches to us from that dimension and calls us to himself. Jesus our Lord referred to that dimension as “the kingdom of God.”
The invitation of the Scriptures is not to come and inquire about the future, or learn the secrets of the transcendent realm, or tap into spiritual powers. The invitation is to know God in and through his Son. For this purpose, God has given us the potential for spiritual development, so that we can interact with him Spirit to spirit.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption . . ., by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Ro. 8:15-16)
Here is the challenging part of this arrangement: Our physical selves are not equipped with the ability to perceive God with our senses or know him with our rational minds. We can learn lots of information about God, but that still falls short of knowing God in his actual beingness. To know him, our spirits need to be enlightened. That is why St. Paul prayed for the Ephesians, that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him (Ep. 1:17)
When Jesus taught, his primary tools for enlightening his hearers were, in the synoptic gospels, parables, and in the gospel of John hard sayings (analogies and metaphors that were difficult to digest). Why are the methods for enlightening his disciples useful and effective? Because they do not attempt to explain what we cannot understand, but instead lead us to an experience of truth and of the larger reality. In stories, truth is caught rather than taught. Jesus explained to his disciples, that his parables reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Not all mysteries, but those that benefit us when we are enlightened by them.
We are not aware of everything a story does in us and for us.
In the stories that Jesus told, there are specific patterns. We hear the parable and our brains naturally find the pattern. We do not have to be conscious of the pattern, but our brains will discern and remember it. Later, in the daily grind of our lived experience, something will happen that fits the pattern, and that will take us back to the spiritual truth Jesus has revealed to us. Our spirit is awakened in those moments to God’s presence or his obvious work in us and in our world.
Today’s story of Elijah may speak to us in ways we are not yet aware. In fact, we may find details of the narrative offensive, such as the catastrophic deaths of one hundred men. However, there are subtleties in the patterns embedded in the story that may prove useful to us.
First, we return to the beginning, when Moab rebelled against Israel. This footnote was necessary because the people who lived through it may not have recognized the significance of this loss. This is something that is always a concern to me. Is there something important to my relationship with God that I have lost? One of the saddest moments in scripture is when Samson went to battle with the Philistines, confident of his victory, “But he did not know that the LORD had left him” (Jdg. 16:20) I need all the resources God has ever given me. Sometimes I let an important gift lapse. In those times, I am not doing my best work, or I’m not being my best self.
And it is not only myself that concerns me. A great many people in the Evangelical subculture have lost their way and the central message of Jesus, but they don’t seem to realize the loss or where that leaves them.
A second pattern in the story is one that is common in folk stories and fairytales; namely the way people or events are arranged in “threes.” Three times, the question is raised, “Is it because there is no God in Israel . . .?” Three times captains with the soldiers came for Elijah.
The pattern of three can help us sift out our failures. One captain was polite. One captain was a bully. The third captain learned from the mistakes of the first two. You might recognize the testing of threes in Goldilocks and the Three Bears–one porridge too hot, another too cold, and the third just right. Or the Three Little Pigs.
In scripture,
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And thought a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him–a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecc. 4:9-12).
There is, of course, the ultimate “threefold cord. As my friend, Fr. Romuald, said, “The fundamental revelation of the Trinity is relationship.”
A third pattern is repeated through the chapter, and is very easy to see in the English Standard Version because of its literalness. Ahaziah went up into his bed, and he was not coming down from it. Then the first captain to approach Elijah, went up and told him to come down, and that is when Elijah called fire to come down. The third captain went up to Elijah, but then fell on his knees. Elijah was then told to go down with him to Samaria. This theme will continue into the next chapter, perhaps because it signifies the ups and downs of Elijah’s ministry, until his final move upward.
Embedded in this chapter is an outline of Israel’s history with the Lord their God, which was up and down. The most condensed version of it is found in the Book of Judges, where we see an ongoing cycle of Israel turning to God, then turning away, turning back, then turning away again. The other books of Israel’s history present a longer version, but it’s the same pattern. We also see this cycle in the lives of individuals.
Israel’s upward movement began on Mount Sinai and reached its climax on Mount Zion.
I, too, have had my ups and downs with the Lord. It never hurts to ask where I am in the cycle–and then answer that question as honestly as possible.
Perhaps for us, the central purpose of this story is to get us to ask ourselves, “Is there no God in South Orange County, that we would chase after what everyone is striving to attain?”
A few years ago a famous Christian author wrote a philosophical argument for God’s existence, and even more, for the fact that God continues to speak to people who will listen for him. The title of his book was, He Is There and He Is Not Silent.
This morning we’re going to cross out one letter: He Is Here and He Is Not Silent.
That’s a good enough truth for us to take home and live with this week.
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord, join us today,
Most all the hard things will come to us in time
For many of us it is always on our minds
Never forgotten
It seems more difficult to remember that
Most all the good things will come as well
Many here already
And we miss them
Take them for granted
Dismiss them.
This morning allow us to give thanks for all the good we have
Today we come as creatures in creation because that is who we are
And you our creator, maker of heaven and earth, and all that means
Thank you Lord for those moments of creaturely comforts of just being alive
Let us hold each one for a moment with reverence and gratitude.
For the warm sun on our faces
The cool breeze on our skin
We thank You
For the clouds and the fog, and the sun that streaks through them and the changing color of the sun in the evening as autumn approaches
We thank you
For the flowers we see, in every color, on our walks, or in our garden, or in a vase at home
We thank You
For the sound of the ocean with waves crashing and spray blowing, or the gentle quiet lapping at the pebbles on a beach, permeated with the smell of salt and sea
We thank you
For the song of birds everywhere, their flitting from place to place, their grace, their freedom
We thank you
For the howling of coyotes, the barking of seals, the cooing of owls and the lowing of cows
We thank you
For our pets who greet us, play with us, tease us, play with us, need us, and love us
We thank you
For our neighbors and their greetings and smiles and good words and unexpected kindness and welcomed affection
We thank you
And for the opportunity to be all that and more to our neighbors and build lasting bonds and grow as people and to journey further
We thank you
For our families and our friends, the strong ones, the ones who are sick and who are suffering, the bright ones, the ones who are making their way barely able to look up, the fortunate, the needy, and the difficult, and the ones filled with joy
We thank you
And for our place with our families and with our friends, every struggle, every laugh, every tear, every long talk, every story told, every confidence given, every smile, every hug, every kiss we thank you
For all of this and more, so much more
We thank you
We thank you
Amen
Morning talk: chuck smith, jr.
Now Naboth the Jezreelite
had a vineyard in Jezreel,
beside the palace of Ahab
king of Samaria 1 Kings 21:1
King Ahab left the battlefield, victorious over the Syrians, but he arrived home moody and sullen. In theory, there’s no reason for kings to be “moody and sullen.” If they are troubled, they have counselors. If they feel sad, they have jesters. If they need comfort, the priest is always on call. Having the luxuries afforded them by wealth and power, one imagines they could avoid ever being moody and sullen.
Ahab may have assumed he did a good thing, releasing the enemy king who had attacked Israel, and sending him back to Syria with a slap on the wrist. But as he was riding through his troops with them congratulating him, there was suddenly that miserable prophet standing in his way, telling him God did not want King Ben-hadad to go free, and Ahab would pay for that wrong he did in releasing him. That spoiled everything.
Soon after this discouraging episode, Ahab took his queen and together they went to their palace in Jezreel for rest and entertainment. One evening, strolling the palace grounds, the king paused at the section of his wall that bordered the property of his closest neighbor. He stood there a good awhile, looking over the vineyard that thrived in the luxuriant field. This had always been the favorite part of his walk. Gradually, a picture formed in his mind, followed by an idea, and then a plan. He had work to do, and that pleased him.
Rising early the next morning, Ahab’s brain was racing through the steps he had to take. In truth, his imagination was already far beyond the first steps–way past the negotiation and purchase stage. He was mentally dividing and redesigning the entire field, and deciding what he would plant in every square foot. The king was walking so fast, his attendants were having difficulty keeping up with him. He knocked, perhaps too loudly, on the door of Naboth his neighbor. The door had barely opened when Ahab asked Naboth’s wife, “Where’s your husband, now?” Controlling the shock she felt seeing the king up close, she managed to say, “Out there–somewhere,” pointing to the vineyard.
Ahab turned and began scanning the vineyard as he was already rushing into it. He finally discovered Naboth, crouching by a vine, pulling at weeds near its roots. “Naboth,” the king startled him. “Naboth, let’s strike a deal. I want your vineyard–after all, it’s right next to my home. I will trade you an even better vineyard for it; or if you prefer, I’ll buy it outright–top dollar. The decision is yours,” Ahab said, and then asked again, “Which do you want, a better vineyard or the money?” He was not really giving Naboth much of a choice.
Naboth had to restrain the anger from seeping into his voice. “God forbid!” he blurted out. “Yehovah will never allow me to give up or sell the inheritance of my fathers.” Ahab took a step back. He was not prepared for this response. In all of his dreaming and planning, the possibility Naboth could refuse him had not entered his mind. And even though Ahab was king, Naboth had the winning hand.
When Israel entered the land of Canaan, a great deal of care was given to locating where each of the twelve tribes would settle. The leaders of each tribe gathered in Shiloh at the entrance of God’s sacred Tent. There, Joshua divined God’s will for the division of the land and assigned each tribe their portion, which they then allowed each clan and family to claim their possession. Hundreds of years had passed from that time to the present, and still the portion of each family, with its defined boundary lines, was considered sacred. Ahab could not argue Naboth’s right to his property.
His spirit crushed, Ahab dragged himself away from the vineyard. Describing what happened next, we can hear the same exact phrase that we heard before, Ahab arrived home moody and sullen.
We could make a long list of pious individuals who believe it’s their job to discover and condemn the sins of everyone in the Bible–and everyone outside the Bible as well. Some of them have interpreted Ahab’s dejection as a moral failure. In their eyes, he was a sissy king who could not handle setbacks, but instantly fell into whiney self-pity in the face of disappointment. His morose feeling was “a lack of faith,” or “the sin of self-love,” or “the misery of the person who turns away from God.”
Perhaps they are right to find fault with Ahab’s grousing every time his path leads straight into a wall. But then again, there have been others who were righteous, yet also became moody and sullen at times.
“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?” says the poet of Psalm 13.
“How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day? . . .
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death . . . .” (Ps. 13:1-3)
Some of God’s favorites resisted taking on the role he assigned them, or they felt oppressed by his will, or they accepted their task, but later wanted to resign. Others, like Ahab, went around moody and sullen, because they carried a great burden, had grown up in an insane home, or suffered unrelenting persecution.
King Ahab certainly had his faults, and reacting poorly to setbacks may have been one of them, but, even though God was clear regarding Ahab’s actual sins, he said nothing about his pathetic moods.
While Ahab made his way back to the palace, his conversation with Naboth was playing over and over in his head, “Naboth said, ‘I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.’” Once home, he went straight into his room and tossed himself on his bed. When his servants entered and asked what were his wishes, he turned his face away without answering them. He wanted nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing to do but lie there and sulk.
Concerned for his unhappiness, Queen Jezebel came to check on him. “Why haven’t you come to dinner? What makes you so miserable you won’t join us?” He looked up at her and told the story of his offer to Naboth, and how it was rejected. However, Ahab edited some of the details. He left out the part where Naboth mentioned the inheritance of his fathers. So it’s possible that Ahab’s version of the story caused Jezebel to assume that Naboth was just being peevish. It’s also possible, that being a foreigner in Israel, she was not aware of the sacredness of maintaining ownership of the land of one’s family.
“Is that all?” she asked, as if it were nothing. “You’re the king of Israel! Now start acting like a king. Get up. Go feast on something. Call for entertainment. I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard. Cheer up; it is practically yours already.”
Jezebel hurried off to the chamber where the king’s official documents were written and stored. She called for a scribe, and with his help, she forged a legal decree in the name of her husband and then secured it with his personal seal. Jezebel had the document delivered to the leaders of Jezreel; all of them, of course, men who knew Naboth. Here is what was written in the letter they assumed came from the king:
“By royal decree, you are to proclaim a public fast. Make this announcement, ‘We must seek the will of God and learn why he has withheld his blessings from our land. If we do not discover the guilty party and rid ourselves of his sin, God will continue his punishment.’ Once the city has gathered, set Naboth in front of crowd. Hire two lowlifes to come forward and accuse Naboth of blasphemy, saying, ‘We have heard you curse both God and our king!’ Then drag Naboth outside the gate of the city, and stone him to death.”
Upon receiving these orders, that is what the leaders, the elders, and the men of the city did. They proclaimed a fast, brought Naboth forward, and two scum bags stepped forward and accused him of cursing God and the king. So the people took him outside the city gates, and there they executed him. Afterward, the leaders sent word back to the palace that Naboth had been stoned and was dead.
As soon as Jezebel received this message, she hurried back to Ahab. “Get up!” she said. “You can go now, and take possession of the vineyard you offered to buy, but that Naboth refused to sell to you. He’s no longer alive, so he can’t stand in your way. The vineyard is yours.”
Once the king learned that Naboth was dead, he immediately hurried back to the vineyard.
Around the same time that Ahab received word of Naboth’s death, someone else was receiving a word regarding the King and Queen. The word of Yehovah came to the prophet Elijah. “Get up,” God told him, “and go down to confront Ahab king of Israel. You will see him standing in the vineyard of Naboth, that he has entered and taken over its ownership. When you reach him, say to him, “Hear the word of Yehovah! In the same place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick up your blood as well.” The meaning of this message was obvious. Like Naboth, Ahab was going to die a miserable and dishonorable death.
When Elijah entered the vineyard, Ahab looked up and recognizing the prophet, he asked, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” The question dripped with irony. If Elijah were Ahab’s enemy, it was the king’s doing, not the prophet’s. Besides, Elijah was not the one Ahab had to fear, it was Yehovah who opposed him.
Elijah answered him, “I have found you, and the reason is because you’ve sold out–sold out to do nothing but evil in the sight of Yehovah. God tells you to look away from this vineyard to the disaster that coming for you, to consume you and cut off your posterity from every person in Israel. Yehovah says, ‘I am going to erase your house and dynasty the way I erased Jeroboam’s, the first king of Israel; and the way I erased the dynasty of Baasha, who was king prior to your father Omri. I will do this because you have sinned and spread your sin throughout Israel. Regarding Jezebel, your wife, dogs will eat her body, not outside the gates of the city, but within the walls of Jezreel. Anyone in your family that dies within a city, dogs will eat, and anyone who dies in the open countryside, the birds of the sky will eat.’”
If we are stunned by this message from God, then we are feeling the terror it was meant to provoke. Until now, Ahab had not taken his or his wife’s offenses against Yehovah seriously enough to turn from the other gods and their idols, and begin walking in the ways of the God of Israel. Now, without a shred of compassion, they had murdered one of their own subjects in order to take ownership of his land.
Ahab’s final brief biography reads like this:
“There had never been someone who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of Yehovah like Ahab, whose wrongdoing was incited by his wife Jezebel. His actions were heinous in devotion to pagan deities and their idols. He became as evil as the people who had lived in the land previously, and whom God had removed before Israel arrived.”
When King Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes from his body and wrapped himself in sackcloth. He fasted from all foods, and went about his life in a deep depression.
Once again, the word of Yehovah came to Elijah, and it is impossible to hear what God had to say without being amazed. God asked Elijah, “Have you see this? Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me, and how he has shown respect for my word? Because he has taken my word to heart and humbled himself before me, I will delay my punishment, so that he will not see the worst of it. I will not bring the complete disaster during his lifetime, but will unleash it on his heirs after he is gone.”
Although Ahab failed at being a decent king, it is Jezebel’s name that is remembered for its wicked connotations. For better or worse, the name of Jezebel has been so overused and subjected to so many different forms of insidious behavior, that it is currently more useful in comedy than tragedy. A few years ago, a group of Christian leaders began warning believers that some women could be possessed by the spirit of Jezebel. That sort of teaching is embarrassing for its complete silliness (although I know a few husbands who wanted to believe it could be true). Nonsense like this may shield us from the real danger that lurks in this story, and therefore it could fail to provide the serious warning that we need for such a time as this present hour.
When Jezebel told Ahab to “act like a king,” her concept of what that meant was foreign to the role of the kings of Israel according to God’s specifications. In fact, Jezebel’s model king was what could be applied to all the worst leaders of history and the world today.
When David–Israel’s model king–was chosen, the characteristic that qualified him was he was a man after God’s own heart. The devotion he showed his sheep as a shepherd–willing to risk his life for the runt of the flock–mirrored God’s heart for his people.
There have been many people who have either been thrown into leadership positions or finagled their way into leadership, who don’t belong there. Some of them are simply inept. They have no vision, or no integrity, or no skill in motivating or guiding followers. Others have talents that are useful in other departments, but not in the leader’s role. For example, it is a disaster for followers when their leader is a bean-counter. That is because the focus of the accountant is on money and math and analysis down to the fractions of a penny, rather than on human persons, who will always be the chief concern of every true and decent leader. Among the worst leaders, are not those who fail to serve people, but those who actually damage their followers. These are frequently the men and women who want to lead for what they get for themselves from it–perhaps wealth, attention, or the power of control.
God has provided plenty of instructions for leaders, and you don’t need to attend a conference to learn them. For instance, God told the prophet Ezekiel,
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them” (Eze. 34:2-4)
We cannot always find a job working under the perfect boss or manager. In fact, I hear more terrible stories about bad managers than I do wise and helpful managers. However, we do have the freedom to choose our spiritual leaders and we can at least cast a vote for political leaders. I look for the most compassionate and understanding leader. I look for people who do care for the strays and the lost; those who fall through the cracks of society. But that’s just me.
If I were to give you any advice this morning, based on this chapter of Elijah’s story, it would be this: The one who brings us the truth is not our enemy. Ahab assumed Elijah was his enemy, because he brought him information he did not want to hear or believe. Of course, truth can be delivered in an unloving and criticizing way, but it is still better than being told lies. So . . .
Don’t follow the person who always asks for more from you
Follow the one who inspires you to be more
Don’t follow the person who says they love you
Follow the person who shows you they love you.
Follow the person who follows Jesus.
Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord and join us today
We are full of gratitude for all the good in our lives
For our friends and family
For our good fortune and happy memories.
Still we fret and worry
We strive and scramble
We hustle and grind
To fix what isn’t working
To patch up the holes in our lives and in our hearts
Often things go well,
our crisis averted
and we are on to our next thing,
not exactly at peace,
maybe wondering when the next shoe will drop.
Other times things don’t go as planned
We don’t seem able to satisfy our needs or expectations
We are confused by it all
We become frustrated,
We become isolated
We suffer, we suffer quietly and alone
(Or not so quietly and alone)
And we put our heads down and push forward
Day after day
Sometimes the suffering of a person bubbles up and boils over
When that happens suffering multiplies and spreads.
This happened this week in Georgia when the suffering of one family, one child,
burst the seams and cut through a school, a community and a nation.
Show us our part
Show us what we can do
How we can contribute
Show us how we are currently increasing our own suffering and the suffering of others
And give us practical ways to overcome those patterns and choices
Bring us the help we need.
Give us the ways to bring peace into our own lives
And show us, in ways that are timely and tangible how we can offer peace to others
To ease their pain and loneliness
To assist in their joy and hope
So their lives,
And our lives too,
against all we may have ever known will be filled with gratitude for all you do
Your rock solid love
Your tender considerations
Your gentle presence
And lead us
another step forward
Into our surrender to you
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
Ben-hadad the king of Syria,
gathered all his army together.
Thirty-two kings were with him,
and horses and chariots.
And he went up and closed in on Samaria
and fought against it 1 Kings 20:1
Today’s episode requires an explanation, because my plan was to skip this chapter. For the past seven weeks we’ve been immersed in the story of Elijah, but for some reason he does not appear here; not even his name is mentioned. But that is one of the curiosities in this episode that interests me. There are still gifted seers through whom God delivers messages to King Ahab, and these three fill the void that Elijah leaves. However, not even one of the three is named, but each one is identified by a title: the first is simply “a prophet,” the second is “a man of God,” and the third is “a certain man of the sons of the prophets,”
I have two reasons for including this chapter in the story of Elijah, even though we lose sight of him. First, there is a strong connection between the end of this episode and a moment in the next episode where an unusual phrase is repeated using the exact same words. The link is strong enough to suggest a theme that deserves attention.
The second reason I’m including this chapter is because I-love-this-story! The first time I discovered a truth revealed in this chapter, it was something I desperately needed to learn. So, here we go.
Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, was a bully.
He commanded one of the most impressive armies east of the Mediterranean Sea. He increased his dominance and control by conquering smaller kingdoms in the region of Aram, and then replacing their kings with his own governors. The powerful nations in the ancient world found it easier and more profitable to force weaker nations to pay them for protection rather than increase the burden of taxation on one’s own people. In his current campaign, Ben-hadad brought thirty-two governors of his vassal kingdoms with him along with their armed troops to assist in attacking Israel. When Syria’s soldiers were on the march, nations trembled.
In his current campaign, he had his eyes on Samaria, the capital city of Israel.
The Syrian strategy was classic. The simplest way to conquer a city was to form a blockade around it. If no one was able to escape, and all supplies of food and water were cut off, then starvation and disease would eventually force the helpless city to open its gates. All a general needed was enough provisions for his own troops to be able to wait out the people in the city.
Ben-hadad’s certainty of victory was absolute. An idea entered his cruel mind, to harass the king and people of Samaria, the way a cat plays with a mouse before crushing it. That the city would fall was obvious, so why not humiliate Israel and at the same time plunder them without having to shoot an arrow or break down the gates? With that intention, he sent a delegation from his camp to King Ahab to deliver his message: “This word comes straight from the lips of King Ben-hadad. You are to hand over to me your silver and your gold. Also, your wives and their children are mine.”
Without expressing a word of complaint, Ahab told the messengers: “Give my answer to your master, ‘O king, I am yours, and so is all that I have. I accept your terms.’”
Did Israel’s king actually find his situation so hopeless that he sent this shocking reply? Was he going to hand over his wealth to Ben-hadad, as well as his royal family and harem just like that?! The Syrian king’s assessment of Samaria’s desperation was correct. They were terrified of the suffering that would follow in the wake of his invasion.
This was almost too easy. Ben-hadad decided he would press for even more.
In a very short time, the Syrian delegation was back at the gates of Samaria. They brought a new message addressed to King Ahab, that went like this, “From his royal majesty, King Ben-hadad. Previously I sent word to you, demanding that you surrender to me your silver and gold, and your wives and children. But now I am changing my terms. Besides what I set forth at first, I hereby order you to show my representatives every room in your palace and all the quarters of your servants and officials. They will watch you closely, and whenever they notice something that is precious in your eyes, they will lay hands on that, and bring it to me in my camp.”
Unlike Ben-hadad’s first demand, Ahab did not respond immediately. Instead, he summoned the chief leaders of the people, and presented to them Ben-hadad’s message. Then he said, “Please take note, and see for yourselves how this man is up to no good. When he sent me his demand for my family and my treasures, I did not resist him. But now he’s telling us he wants more. What should we do?” Among all of Ahab’s advisers, the answer was unanimous. “Don’t listen to that tyrant,” they said, “and don’t give into his ridiculous requirements!”
Ahab needed this support. When he received Ben-hadad’s first message, he could make his decision without consulting with anyone else. That was because, the extortion required him to give only what was his own to give. But now the families and belongings of others in his kingdom were at stake. Of course, as king, he could have consented to the Syrian king without the permission of his subjects. But the throne of Israel was always unsteady, and to surrender the property of his people could be his last official act. He was replaceable.
The next message that went from Ahab to Ben-hadad was simple, without any disrespect or defiance. “From King Ahab” it read, “To my lord the king, I am still willing to give you everything you required in your first message, but what your are asking now, I cannot do.” Of course, this did not go over well, and soon Ahab received Ben-hadad’s furious response. “May the gods do so to me and more also,” he swore, “if when I am finished with you, there will be enough of Samaria left for each soldier who follows me to take away even a handful of its dust!”
No doubt, Ben-hadad meant to terrify the king of Israel with that response. With a flare of brave repartee, Ahab’s answer came in a proverb, “The one who is strapping his armor on should not brag as one who is taking his armor off.” I suppose we could compare that to the more simple advice, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” The Syrian king was enraged, and told his soldiers to prepare to move out. Nevertheless, Ben-hadad remained in his bivouac with his governors, drinking wine. He was that confident that Samaria would soon fall into his hands.
Look now! A prophet approaches King Ahab and delivers a message to him from Yehovah. He said, “Listen to the word of Yehovah, ‘Have you viewed this massive army preparing to take the city? Watch carefully, because I am going to hand all of them over to you, and then you will know that I am Yehovah, Israel’s one and only God.’” Ahab asked the prophet, “Who among our troops is God going to use to win this victory?” The prophet answered, “Yehovah says that it will be by those who serve the chief leaders of the people.” Again, Ahab asked, “And who will lead the charge?” The prophet’s one-word answer, “You.”
King Ahab quickly ordered the chief leaders to fall in behind him–232 men–and after them, the army of Israel numbered, that numbered seven thousand. At noon, they set out for the Syrian camp. By then, Ben-hadad and his crew had been drinking themselves drunk. When he received word that a contingent of soldiers had come out of Samaria and was approaching their camp, Ben-hadad ordered his scouts to go out and meet them. “If they have come to make peace,” he told his scouts, “take them alive. Or, if they have come to make war with us, take them alive.” Naturally, he did not consider them a serious threat.
As Syria’s scouts reached Ahab and his soldiers, and immediately Israel’s troops attacked them. The initial onslaught was aggressive enough, and successful enough, to create a panic in the Syrian camp, and all of Ben-hadad’s army took flight. With their backs to Israel, they became easy targets, and Syria’s army suffered great losses of men, chariots and horses. With help from his commanders, Ben-hadad managed to mount a horse and flee to safety.
The same prophet who predicted this outcome showed up again, on the heels of Israel’s victory. He advised King Ahab, “Prepare yourself, strengthen your forces and give serious thought to what you need to do next, because when spring comes, so will the king of Syria, and he will launch another attack against you.”
Time passed. King Ben-hadad sobered up. Still licking his wounds from their humiliating defeat, his military advisers came to him with a new war plan. They had an explanation for Israel’s victory. “Their gods are gods of the hills, and that is why they were able to overpower us. But if we engage them on a valley’s level ground, we will have the advantage. What we must do, is get rid of the governors you placed in charge of the troops and put veteran commanders in those positions. Then build an army like we had before; soldier for soldier, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. Then, when we draw them onto the level plain, our forces will be so much greater than theirs, that they won’t stand a chance of defending themselves.”
The adaptations that they recommended were straight out of the strategic military thinking of that period of history. Whenever armies fought in mountainous terrain, those at a higher elevation had the advantage. Stones thrown or slung from a slingshot, arrows shot from a bow, or spears thrown at specific targets had the advantage of both gravity and vantage point. Then, when it came to having a large, level battlefield, the advantage went to the army that could deploy a greater number of chariots and horses, leaving little foot soldiers could do to protect themselves. A third tactic was to wait until spring before their next engagement. The wet, inclement weather could make guiding a chariot through a muddy fields difficult, if not impossible.
Spring arrived, and Syria, with its massive army descended on Israel. The small force that Israel was able to muster looked pitiful compared to the Syrian camp. The picture that comes to mind is that the Israelite troops looked like two small flocks of goats in a large open space, while Syrian troops filled the entire landscape.
As before the previous battle, someone approached the king of Israel, only this time he’s not described as a prophet, but as a “man of God,” which is probably another way of saying the same thing. “Listen to the word of Yehovah,” he told Ahab, “The Syrians have said that ‘Yehovah is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,’ and for that reason I am going to hand you the victory. Then you will know that I am Yehovah, Israel’s one and only God.”
The two armies spent a week observing and spying on each other. Then, on the seventh day, the battle began. The fighting went as the prophet predicted. Israel killed thousands of Syrian soldiers while thousands more. Thousands of others took refuge in a nearby city, but were killed when a large wall collapsed on them. Again, Ben-hadad fled, but he didn’t get far. He was holed up in one of the villages of Israel. When his servants found him, they suggested a plan.
“Look, your highness. Word on the street is that the kings of Israel are known for the mercy they show their enemies. With your permission, we’ll disguise ourselves as if we were prisoners of war, present ourselves to the king of Israel, and test him to see if he is willing to negotiate. If this works, we may be able to get him to spare your life.”
Their ploy worked. When they appeared before Ahab, they told him, “We’ve come from your servant, Ben-hadad. He is begging you to spare his life.” King Ahab responded, “What’s this? Is he still alive? He’s like a brother to me.” These connivers immediately saw the opening they were hoping would come, and picked up on Ahab’s words. “Yes,” they said, “Your brother, Ben-hadad, is begging you for mercy.” Ahab commanded them to go fetch him, which they did, and when the humbled Syrian king came to Ahab, they treated each other like old friends and swore a covenant together. Then Ahab released Ben-hadad to return to Syria.
This could be considered a pleasant end of the story, except for the epilogue that follows. A certain man, who will remain anonymous though he was a member of the school of the prophets, approached a fellow soldier and, at the word of Yehovah, asked him, “Please, draw your sword and wound me.” But the soldier, for whatever reason, refused to do as he asked. So the man said to him, “You have disobeyed the word of Yehovah, and for that, look what will happen to you; when you walk away a lion will attack and wound you.” And that is exactly what happened. Then the man from the school of the prophets turned to another soldier and said, “Please, wound me.” And he did.
Next, the wounded man pulled a similar ruse on Ahab like the servants of Ben-hadad. He disguised himself by wrapping the upper part of his face with a large cloth bandage. When King Ahab passed that way, the man cried out to him, “Have mercy, O King!” He then explained that during the battle another soldier of superior rank brought him an enemy prisoner and told him, “Guard this man with your life. If you let him escape, it will be your life for his life. Otherwise you will be charged a sum of money greater than you can afford to pay.”
The man continued, “But, your majesty, I had other responsibilities and obligations, so while I was distracted, running around here and there, the prisoner escaped.”
The king answered him sternly, “You have pronounced your own sentence. You made your decision and now you will suffer the consequences.”
Quickly, the man unwrapped the bandage from around his face and Ahab recognized him as one of the prophets. The man then prophesied, “Listen to the word Yehovah has for you! Now it is you who has pronounced your own sentence, for Yehovah put a man into your hand whom Yehovah intended to punish. By releasing Ben-hadad, you have forfeited your life and jeopardized the lives of the people.”
Ahab did not return home in the triumphant mood that would normally follow a great victory. Instead, he entered his house miserable and sullen. This unhappiness is what links today’s episode with what we will encounter next week.
Ben-hadad’s advisers realized they would have an advantage over Israel if they drew their forces down into a valley where their own horses and chariots far outnumbered those of King Ahab. We identified their military strategy, however, the way they presented it to their king was as a spiritual strategy, pitting the gods of the mountains against their gods of the valleys. We need to give consideration to the spiritual aspect and advantages of warfare whether we face them on the mountains or in the valleys.
In the Scriptures, lots of wonderful experiences occurred on mountains. Moses, and much later Elijah, encountered God on Mount Horeb. God revealed to David that he was to build the temple on Mount Zion. Jesus’ most famous message is his Sermon On the Mount. He also resorted to mountains to pray in solitude. Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on a high mountain, and there he was transfigured in the presence of three of his disciples. Jesus spent his last free hours on the Mount of Olives, and was crucified on Mount Calvary.
Have you ever considered how many Christian camps and retreat sites are located on mountains? Even recently, a young man I had not seen in years, described to me the impact that retreats on Mount Palomar had on his life in Jesus. I could go on. God has done many wonderful things for people on mountains. He is definitely God of the mountains.
But in this story, it is not the mountains that grab our attention. The emphasis here is that Yahweh declares that he is the God of the valleys as well. I am sure that most Christians believe this is true “technically.” We have met God in the mountain forests, where our souls have been refreshed in his presence. But are we rejoicing in him as much when we travel through the lower levels of our life’s circumstances? Do we expect to find that the One we trust remains the one and only also God in our valleys–our poverty, our diagnoses, our visits to a graveside? Everyone’s life journey takes them through dark valleys. Have we learned that our Lord is God of those places?
If, when our circumstances turn against us, we immediately start complaining; if we ask, “Where were You, O God?” Or say, “Prayer doesn’t work,” then we’re believing the lie, that he is only God of the good times.
Like many others, I lived with depression from the time I was a teenager into my sixties. During the most intense seasons of despair, I was convinced that death was the only way that I would ever be free from negative, repetitive and self-deprecating thoughts that constantly raced through my brain. But there have also been moments–and not just a few–when Jesus met me in my deepest depression. I cannot say that God’s superiority of God over all circumstances was always clear to me. But now, after many years, I am fully confident that the Lord is God of the valleys.
After his moment of the glory of his transfiguration, when Jesus descended the mountain, he was met by a few of his disciples who had suffered defeat by an evil spirit, whom they could not drive away. Jesus, however, could not be defeated, but with a word he drove out the demon. He proved himself to be Lord of the valleys.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me . . . (Ps. 23:4)
Twice in today’s episode, King Ahab was told that through God’s intervention he would “know that I am the LORD” (1 Ki. 20:13 & 28). I’m certain God wants us to trust this word today.
If there were any truth I wish God would brand into our brains, it would be this: Our divine Lord is God of the valleys!
Daily Meditations From the Scriptures