Presented to Swift Current Corps, 19 June 2011
By Captain Michael Ramsay
This is one you may hear again sometime but I thought it was appropriate for Fathers’ Day: When we were in Winnipeg, on Friday nights I used to help out with the street outreach at the Weetamah Corps. We would walk around the streets at night to see who we could offer a warm meal, a hot chocolate or a place to stay down at the shelter (the Booth Centre) for the night. We then tell them about Jesus.
Now these nights usually go quite late -until 1 or 2 in the morning sometimes – and so at the end of a long week, I am just exhausted and really quite look forward to my one day of sleeping in – Saturday morning.
Well this one Saturday about 6am or so – four or less hours after I crawl into bed – Rebecca (who was then only 4) and Sarah-Grace (who was 3 at the time) come bounding into our bedroom.
“Daddy, what’s a trout?” Rebecca, as a four year-old, asks me as she and her sister climb on my bed. “What’s a trout?” (aside: You know what it is like when you try to respond to someone but you really don’t want to wake up – that is what it is like)
“What’s a trout?”
“A fish, why do you ask”
“A fish?”
“Yes a fish”
“Oh… Like Nemo…?”
“Short of, I think Nemo is a Clown fish”
“Oh”
Now these nights usually go quite late -until 1 or 2 in the morning sometimes – and so at the end of a long week, I am just exhausted and really quite look forward to my one day of sleeping in – Saturday morning.
Well this one Saturday about 6am or so – four or less hours after I crawl into bed – Rebecca (who was then only 4) and Sarah-Grace (who was 3 at the time) come bounding into our bedroom.
“Daddy, what’s a trout?” Rebecca, as a four year-old, asks me as she and her sister climb on my bed. “What’s a trout?” (aside: You know what it is like when you try to respond to someone but you really don’t want to wake up – that is what it is like)
“What’s a trout?”
“A fish, why do you ask”
“A fish?”
“Yes a fish”
“Oh… Like Nemo…?”
“Short of, I think Nemo is a Clown fish”
“Oh”
“Daddy,” asks Sarah-Grace, who has been standing there the whole time, “what’s a trout?”
“A fish”
“Like Nemo”
“No”
“Daddy”
“Yes, Sarah-Grace”
“What’s a trout?”
“A chipmunk. A Chipmunk!” I snap back with all the composure of one who has not had enough sleep.
The girls run out of the room laughing, none the worse for wear. I put my pillow over my head and just try to get back to sleep wondering just what that was all about and why I was woken up for a question that no one seemed to want the answer to anyway.
At this point, in comes Susan. Slowly and today with the calm demeanour of the caring mother and wife. I know I have spoken a little harshly to my daughters, so I listen intently as she lifts the pillow from my head and gently asks me, “Michael, What’s a trout?”[1]
That story is dedicated to any parent of small children who ever suffered under the delusion that it was possible to sleep in sometime.
“A fish”
“Like Nemo”
“No”
“Daddy”
“Yes, Sarah-Grace”
“What’s a trout?”
“A chipmunk. A Chipmunk!” I snap back with all the composure of one who has not had enough sleep.
The girls run out of the room laughing, none the worse for wear. I put my pillow over my head and just try to get back to sleep wondering just what that was all about and why I was woken up for a question that no one seemed to want the answer to anyway.
At this point, in comes Susan. Slowly and today with the calm demeanour of the caring mother and wife. I know I have spoken a little harshly to my daughters, so I listen intently as she lifts the pillow from my head and gently asks me, “Michael, What’s a trout?”[1]
That story is dedicated to any parent of small children who ever suffered under the delusion that it was possible to sleep in sometime.
Here, in Swift Current, we are looking at the book of Malachi in Bible Study and in the services for the month of June so I had a challenge for today to try to find something at least loosely Father’s Day related. This is what I came up with, Malachi 2:10-12:
Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?
Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty.
This isn’t necessarily the most feel-good part of scripture and it is a part of the larger pericope that we read earlier about breaking faith with our brothers and sisters (Malachi 2:10-16). Verse 10 says that when God’s children break faith with each other that we are profaning the covenant of our fathers (cf. Malachi 1:2, 2:12, 3:6; cf. also Isaiah 51:2).[2] How do we do this? Two ways:
- By marrying the daughter of a foreign God (Marrying someone of a different faith)
- By breaking faith with the wife of our youth because God hates divorce
What is the consequence of marrying daughter of a foreign God or getting divorced? Malachi says that as a result of these actions we are cut off from God even though we may bring offerings to the Lord (Malachi 2:12) and God no longer accepts or even acknowledges our offerings (Malachi 2:13). This is important.
Today we are not going to talk about the second listed action of breaking faith here, divorce, other than to draw our attention to Verse 16: which states, ‘I hate divorce’ says the LORD God of Israel” (cf. Isaiah 50:1; Cf. also 1 Corinthians 7). This is really quite self-explanatory and so I am going to leave that for today and move onto addressing the first listed way that we break faith with each other and in the process cut ourselves off from God so that He no longer accepts our offerings (Malachi 2:12-13). We break faith with each other and profane our fathers’ covenant by marrying the daughter of a foreign God.
What does this mean to marry the daughter of a foreign god since we know that there is only one God (TSA Doctrine 2)? There are not multiple Gods, so what does it mean to marry the daughter of a foreign god (cf. Numbers 25; Judges 3:6; 1 Kings 9:24, 11:1–13, 16:31; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 13:23–27)? Basically what this means – marrying the daughter of a foreign god – is just to marry someone who worships other gods and thus open the door to that temptation for yourself and for your children.[3]
Why was it such a temptation to worship false foreign gods? We know this temptation goes way back in Genesis. We know that the Chaldeans way back when Abram left Ur worshipped other gods. We know that Israel/Jacob’s family worshipped other gods: his wife stole her father’s household idols. We know that Egyptian society when Moses left Egypt worshipped other gods. We know that the inhabitants of Canaan when Joshua entered Canaan worshipped other gods. We know that -as recorded in the books of Kings and Chronicles- throughout most of Israel’s short history as a nation, we know that there was a fierce rivalry between the people who worshipped the foreign gods of Baal and Ashterah and the people who worshipped YHWH (cf. 1 Kings 17-19). If Israel had been subjected to the tyranny of the majority that we call democracy back then I imagine that the Baal Party would have won the popularity contest that we call a general election more times than they lost it in the Old Testament (cf. Genesis 3:2, Judges, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles). Even the second and the last king of the united kingdom of Israel, Solomon, in all his wisdom, was led astray by his wives who worshipped other gods (1 Kings 11). He, like his forefather Jacob, married the daughters of foreign gods. Even King Solomon, who apparently was unequalled in his wisdom, was led astray by marrying daughters of other gods. This happened quite a bit throughout Israel and Judah’s history and that frequency is one of the reasons why the Bible mentions over and over and over and over again that we should not marry daughters of other gods.
In ancient Palestine, even though there is only one real God and they know there is only one God, Israel could still be tempted to worship idols, false gods (Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13-21; Numbers 15:37–41; cf. for ex. Deuteronomy 31:14-22, Judges 2:10-15). Even though they are commanded not to worship false gods many times in their history, they are still tempted to worship false gods. This is how much of a temptation it is for them to worship idols and false Gods: we remember the exodus story, right? We remember all the plagues that God visits on the Egyptians. We remember that God parts the Red Sea and drowns Israel’s pursuers. We remember that God feeds the Israelites manna, bread from heaven, on a daily basis. We remember that in all their travels as they are walking around the desert for 40 years, the Israelites shoes never wear out. We remember that God is right with them: they are led by God’s pillar of cloud by day and His pillar of fire by night. We know that the Israelites know the power of God and let me read you this story that takes place right after and right when all these miracles are happening: Moses is receiving the Ten Commandments, the first 4 of which tell us how we are supposed to worship God, worship God alone and not have any idols (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5). I am reading from Exodus 32:1-4 and 19-24 (NIV). This is while Moses is still on the mountain with the LORD, receiving the 10 Commandments:
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
[Verse 19]…When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewellery, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
This is what happened when Moses was on the mountain speaking with God and getting the Ten Commandments. The people chose to forsake God when Moses was up the mountain and worship these false gods that were no gods at all. This happens all through the Bible.
How does this apply in 21st Century Canada? In BC where I am from you can often see Buddhist idols in many restaurants and other businesses. Many Sikhs around the lower mainland proudly wear their turbans, bracelets, and ceremonial daggers as symbols of their faith. There is not a lot of this in Swift Current though.
What foreign gods can we be tempted to worship here? Across this country, one of the fastest growing religions is secular atheism. The ceremonies of that faith are quickly becoming the ceremonies of our country. Whereas at public events across this country people used to pray to the Christian God upon whose word our nation was founded (Psalm 72), at the national ceremonies following the Swissair crash in the Maritimes, all the clergy present were invited to invoke the name of their deity except the Christians, and a few years later at the Canadian 9/11 remembrance ceremonies only the secularist religion was represented.[4] In recent years the Lord’s Prayer and the Bible have been removed first from our schools and now even from the House of Commons. Did you know that very recently there used to be big prayer meetings on Parliament Hill? Canada now has its first Prime Minister who does not even bother to attend these – even when it would be politically beneficial for him.[5] Canada is worshipping the idols of secular atheism: we abstain from praying in our state functions; the Bible has been removed from classrooms and hospital rooms across this country. Many teachers and politicians alike who are teaching our children and making laws and are not so slowly turning this country into a secular-atheist state. How does this happen? How does a country that once belonged to God follow the secularist religion instead? We do this by Christians denying Christ. We do this by Christians not putting God first, and we do this by Christians marrying the daughters of foreign gods (Numbers 25; Judges 3:6; 1 Kings 9:24, 11:1–13, 16:31; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 13:23–27).[6]
People who worship these other gods, people who practice these other religions –Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Atheism- are daughters of foreign gods. When we are married we bring people from two different households with two different sets of traditions and rituals and make one new household. If a child of the one true God marries a daughter of a foreign god, what is going to happen to your children? If your husband or wife has bought into the secular fairytales, what are they going say when you tell your kids the truth? If dad worships God but mom worships herself; if mom submits to Christ but dad mocks her faith, what are the kids going to do? Mark 3 tells us that a divided house cannot stand and it can’t. If we marry the daughters of foreign Gods, our homes, our churches, and our country will fall (cf. Deuteronomy 31:14-29). This is sad.
God loves our children and He doesn’t want them to go to hell so it is very important to Him that we do not marry daughters (or sons) of foreign gods. There is more to it too in our world today. I submit that there are other ways that we commit this same sin of marrying the children of foreign gods. If in our marriages, if in our families, if in our lives, we ourselves don’t read our Bibles with our kids; if we ourselves don’t pray with our kids; if we ourselves don’t worship the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul with our kids; then indeed for all practical purposes we have commit the same sin of Malachi 2:10-12 because we are failing to raise our children in the Lord and instead we are placing them in danger of the fires of hell.
Not too long ago, the Lord spoke to me loud and clear through one of the local radio stations. There is this old Irish folk song – generations old – called Whiskey in the Jar. I don’t know if anyone here knows that song or not. Susan knows all kinds of these old folk songs. She really likes some of those old fashioned numbers and so as a result I was familiar with it. Well, I got in the car one day, turned on one of the local radio stations and – I don’t know if anyone here is familiar with Metalica, they are a contemporary heavy metal band – I heard them doing a heavy metal rendition of this old Irish folk song. I was sort of in shock. I was struck by it as I began to think of all the remakes of songs that I have heard over the years. Many times the remakes were my first exposure to the song and it got me to thinking. When the words of an old song are put to a new tune they become accessible to a new generation. As we continue to sing these same songs in new ways, we remain faithful to their intent, passing it onto our children and to our children’s children. This is like our personal testimonies and conversations about the Lord. When we put the gospel message of salvation into our own words, in our own tune and share it with our children then we are indeed passing that eternal truth of salvation down through the generations; so, today on this Fathers’ Day in the 21st Century, we parents have a choice. We can either serve the foreign gods of secularism (or other faiths) that have invaded our country and thus remove our children from the blessing that comes from being raised in a Christ-centred home or we can –through praying and reading the bible with our children - spread the gospel in a new way to the tune of our own personal testimony and the tune of own personal experiences and in the process point our children, our city, our province and indeed our whole country to the song of everlasting life that will be sung forever with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
Let us pray.
[1] Trout story by Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Mark 4:35-41: We Stand in Awe of You' Presented to Tisdale Corps on March 30, 2008 and Nipawin Corps on April 6, 2008. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/03/mark-435-41-we-stand-in-awe-of-you.html
[2] Baldwin, Joyce G.: Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1972 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 28), S. 258: These fathers probably refer to the patriarchs specifically and then ultimately God only by extension.
[3] Robert L. Alden, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Malachi/Exposition of Malachi/IV. The Unfaithfulness of the People (2:10-16), Book Version: 4.0.2
[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'The Ethics of Salvation: Should We Proclaim the Gospel?' Presented to William and Catherine Booth College 19 April 2007. Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_History_TSA.htm#Ethics
[5] Leslie MacKinnon, 'Inside Politics Blog: Religion on the Hill', May 18, 2011 8:23 AM. Available on-line: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/inside-politics-blog/2011/05/prayer-on-the-hill.html
[6] Baldwin, Joyce G.: Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1972 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 28), S. 258: ‘Daughter of’ implied ‘bearing the character of’ a deity whose whole ethos was diametrically opposed to the righteousness of Israel’s God, and since a married couple must come to a common understanding in order to live happily together, one or other partner had to compromise on the matter of religion. It had been proved in Israel’s experience that in practice the less demanding standards prevailed (1 Kgs 11:1–8; 16:31; Neh. 13:23–27), and apostasy quickly became the fashion. Since apostasy had been responsible for the exile it was unthinkable that the whole community should be put at risk again.
Posts
