Throughout the scriptures Abraham is known as a man of faith. In Romans chapter 4 Paul uses Abraham’s experience and life to define faith in Jesus Christ. In Hebrews he is the shining example of one who believed and changed the world. The two events that have defined this faith are: 1) His leaving the Ur of the Chaldeans and 2) God’s command to sacrifice Isaac, his son. In both of these cases Abraham listened to the voice of God and acted upon what was asked of him.
In these two events Abraham was a risk taker. He was someone who didn’t look back but forged ahead to fulfill his obligation to God. He risked death, comfort, never seeing his family, security and his future in order to follow the desires of this voice. As he left Ur he went with a promise, the promise of an heir and a kingdom.
As he left Ur he risked security but when he walked toward Mt. Moriah, to sacrifice his son, he was risking his own self-judgment, his conscience and his love. He must have argued with himself wondering if this really was the voice of God, and should I argue with God. It sounds so contradictory to what I know of God, how can this be happening?
One writer has said of his experience of faith, “I love the recklessness of faith, first you leap and then you grow wings.”I agree with this statement because of all the things that we try to say faith is, at its heart it is defined by our actions. Faith is not just assent to what is said in scripture, it is taking it out for a ride every day. This statement also reflects the goal of faith---growing wings so we can go where God wants us to go. When we stop growing wings we stall out and plummet to the ground.
The things that can prevent faith from growing are: 1) our intellect, 2) our greed and 3) our abilities to control the things around us. For Abraham it was his ability to control life around him that became his biggest deterrent to growing wings.
Abraham stalled out in Egypt when he feared for his life and told Sarah to say to Pharaoh that she was his sister, instead of his wife. He also stopped growing wings when he decided that he would take Sarah’s servant and have a child with her, hoping that his was the way God was to bring them an heir.
But on Mt. Moriah he grew great wings of faith that would help him navigate the rest of his life, and the building of a nation. Now it is our turn, will we continue to grow wings or will we prevent faith from flourishing in us because we know we can control our life. It is our choice?
David: The Passionate Life
Sunday, September 06, 2009
David is one of the most colorful personalities of the bible. Not that he should be equated with celebrity personalities of today, but that in order to understand him we need a full range of adjectives to fully appreciate him. When I imagine a painting of Abraham, I think of Rembrandt—contrast of light and darkness. When I think of a painting of David, I think of Van Gogh—penetrating contrast of colors with deep brush strokes.
It is no surprise that when Michelangelo began to plan the sculpture of David he wanted a representation that ignited the passion of life. He wanted to draw people to the very thing they dreamed they could be. He did not want to create a sculpture of perfection but of the real energy and life of humanity. He did in this boyish representation of a great man.
Abraham was a father of a nation. He carried on his shoulders the new adventure of building a nation, and defining its character. Abraham was its mind, its intellect, giving the people of God a model of faithful obedience. David on the other hand was the flesh, the life of nation. He represented the joy of loving God, the honor of being a Jew, and a faith that was moved by passion, instead of the sternness of law. Abraham’s faith leads to obedience; David’s faith leads us to the passionate life.
But when faith diminished in their lives Abraham resorted to his intellect and his negotiating skills to try and control the situation. When faith diminished in David he was controlled by his passion which caused him to step over many boundaries. His passion always led him to experience joy and freedom, but when he forgot God his freedom was misused.
The essence of David’s faith can be seen in the great story of David and Goliath. David’s passion was to uphold the honor of God. His love of God overshadowed any fear on that day. His victory provided him great celebrity which he used and enjoyed. He was WWI’s Sergeant York, and WWII’s Audy Murphy. Soon his love of God and passion became misguided. The boundaries of appropriate and obligatory behavior became blurred.
But one thing David never lost was his need and the joy in forgiveness. He never shied from saying to the people, “I am the man.”He knew he need to the grace of God. He always looked for that boy who honored and loved God. Even when the Ark came home again, he couldn’t resist dancing in the streets with joy. But, like all passionate people he needed the voice of others to help shape his decision making to be more faithful to what he loved the most—God.
Great Figures of the Bible
Mary: The Humble Life
Luke 1:46-56
Sunday, September 27, 2009
In a world in which competition is advanced and encouraged it is hard to find room for a positive word to say about humility. Where winning is seen as the only possible result worth praising humility has seemed to go out of style. Even though I enjoy the competition of sports there has always been a place in my world for humble praise of the other person or team that was victorious. It doesn’t make you weak, it draws you closer into the reality outside you.
Years ago I was teaching a class on “humility” to a group of adults in which I was trying to explain the biblical roots and its importance in our society. I was trying to use many different metaphors to try and advance my understanding. One person in the class disagreed. He felt that arrogance was the only worthy attribute to push us into excellence. Then tried to explain how Jesus was arrogant.
Even within our Christian community humility has had a difficult time finding praise. But it is there on every page of the New Testament and begins with Mary. She is the first person in the story of the birth of Jesus we find with this remarkable gift.
It is magnified in verse 45 of chapter one when Mary said, “Yes, I see it all now: I am the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me, just as you say.”Mary did not take credit, nor did she enter into false humility by saying she didn’t deserve this honor. She simply believed and accepted. In other words she accepted but didn’t strut. She is overcome with the joy that this child will bring to the world. She is not proud because it is her, she would have been just as excited if it would have been her cousin. She is overcome with what God is doing. If it is through her then she will accept that, but now use it either for false humility, or to elevate herself in the community.
The difficulty in developing humility and expunging pride is illustrated in this rabbinic story of “The Cantor and the Rabbi.” A Rabbi and Cantor went to synagogue to pray. The Rabbi overcome with God’s creation threw himself on the altar and said, “I am nobody, I am nobody.” The cantor moved by the Rabbi’s humility threw himself on the altar and said, “I am nobody, I am nobody.” Then the janitor, cleaning the synagogue, moved by their act of humility threw himself on the altar and said, “I am nobody, I am nobody.” The cantor turned to the Rabbi and said, “Look who is saying, he is nobody.”
A humble person does not judge by class or station, those lines are blurred. False humility is nothing but judging. It is judging that you are the only one worthy to say you are not worthy. Mary carried no false humility. She carried with her faith and humility believing that God was wiser than her and that she was fortunate but at the same time not owed anything.
It is so easy to get sucked into competition and the desire to be acknowledged as the best. Humility says I want to do my best, but it doesn’t demand that it be acknowledged as the best.
Great Figures of the Bible
Amos: The Just Life
Amos 5:21-26
Sunday, October 04, 2009
The great figures that we have studied in the last few weeks—Abraham, David and Mary—are somewhat familiar to us. They represent people that are like us. Abraham is a businessman and a leader, David is someone in authority and a leader and Mary is a leader in her own right. She is a leader of faith and humility. But Amos, a prophet, we are unfamiliar with because we don’t necessarily have a society that raises up prophets like Amos. The prophets of Israel were official spokesmen for God. They had access to the leadership and were schooled in order to have a legitimate place in the society.
However they are like many today who provide a measuring stick for our society. The prophets of the Old Testament were individuals who had the integrity and insight to criticize the society and reveal its mistakes. We too have individuals like this but they are not sanctioned by our government. Yet, they do provide a necessary function for us by revealing where we are failing and where we are corrupt.
Amos was a small businessman in Tekoa, just south of Jerusalem. He was a rancher. He owned a sheep ranch and was most likely a builder as well. Tekoa was the Bakersfield of Jerusalem. It provided Amos a chance to travel throughout Israel and what he saw he didn’t like. He saw a society that was greedy, selfish and corrupt. It was turning its back on the majority of people who do the work and turning it over to the wealthy. His book of sayings is a collection of exhortations and encouragement to the people to return to compassion as a way of life. He even wants people to have compassion for God. Amos weeps for God for God must be weeping over Israel.
Amos’ message however is not old but contemporary. He is speaking to a society in whose policies are turning good hardworking people into poverty stricken households with little hope. Because of the trade alliances with other nations the chosen few were getting wealthy, but it was not trickling down to the worker. Some were even being sent off to work for foreign businessmen almost like slaves. But the worst demonstration of injustice was the courts. Run by the wealthy the courts were dishing up more money to the wealthy and the poor were being torn apart.
Idolatry was on the rise as well. Idolatry was not a religious habit for Israel, but it was a means for wealth with the neighboring countries. Amos’ message is “let justice flow down like water.” May compassion instead of greed reign over the nation.
Great Figures of the Bible
Isaiah: The Righteous Life
Isaiah 61:8-11
The Puritans came to America to escape the hardship and mistreatment of their church. During the early 1600’s a new movement was sweeping over the Church of England trying to purify its ways. The Church reacted and removed many pastors and left many without the protection of the church and its fellowship. The pilgrimage to America was both an escape and a hope. They were escaping an intolerable situation, but looking to America as a new hope. This hope soon turned from hope to reality. The leaders of Massachusetts Bay were no longer living in anticipation of the “light of God coming.” They believed that they had created it. Righteousness was now set loose upon the earth through the building of their city. For many leaders the sermon by John Cotton on the ship coming over to America was a reality, “A new city on the hill” was established.
Isaiah says, “Arise shine for your light has come,” and “the lord will make righteousness and praise, spring up from the world.”His meaning is clear, God will create righteousness, and he is the light. It is God’s presence that is the light of the world. God’s righteousness spills over on to us as we live in the presence of God’s glory. Righteousness is not created by our laws, or our activities. Righteousness belongs to God. We share it when we live in the humble expectation and hope of God’s continual coming.
Isaiah was a contemporary of Amos. While Amos came from a smaller town, Isaiah lived among the wealth and power of Israel.While Amos saw little hope for Israel Isaiah found hope in the presence and light of the Lord. What he means is that all righteousness, all change; all goodness in the world begins with worshiping the holy God. The activity of humanity is changed, not by fear but by the righteousness of God that shines as a light upon the world. Contained within this righteousness is freedom and compassion.
We can never think that we have created some heavenly community which reflects Isaiah’s city on a hill. Rather our hope is increased as we live in anticipation of the God’s coming. When Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor, to give sight to the blind,” he meant that the light had come. He is the righteous one. We only share this righteousness as we say yes to his ministry and to his life. We will never have any righteousness of our own.
Isaiah’s vision is the right one for humanity, “Arise, shine for the light has come.” Come and worship for all ethics, spiritual transformation and goodness begins when we see God.
