Luke 21:29-31: the First Sprigs of Spring

Presented to St. Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church
Swift Current, Saskatchewan, 29 November 2009  
and Swift Current TSA Corps 02 December 2012
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Click here to see the sermon:
http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/11/luke-2129-31-first-sprigs-of-spring.html

1 Kings 13: Lion for Prophet

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army , 25 Nov. 2012

By Captain Michael Ramsay

 

Harvey told a joke at the Army this week:

There is a fellow who is big game hunting somewhere in Africa along with his wife and her parents. One afternoon, his mother-in-law is missing so, of course, they all franticly search for her. The wife spies her mother and grabs her husband. She points to a clearing where they see her mother who is face to face with a lion. “Do something!” she exclaims to her husband.

“No” he replies, “the lion got himself into this mess, he can very well get himself out of it.” (I imagine that the point of this story is simply pointing out the superior big game hunting skills of his wife’s mother)

The pericope that we are looking at today contains a lion and a person but the person who comes face-to-face with the lion doesn’t fare quite as well as the fellow’s mother-in-law in our opening anecdote presumably does. This scriptural episode with the lion is just one aspect of the story that we read today and this passage has so many fascinating parts to it.

We read in 1 Kings 13 how the LORD uses one of His prophets to give this powerful message to King Jeroboam of Israel. As recorded in 1 Kings 13:2-3, the prophet relays the message from the LORD that the LORD will punish the king for his sins: for the golden calves and high places that the king had set up (cf. 1 Kings 12:2-5-33). When King Jeroboam responds to this news by stretching out his hand to command the prophet’s capture, his hand is shriveled up and he cannot withdraw it. So the king pleads with the prophet to intercede with the LORD on his behalf so that his hand may be restored. The prophet intercedes: the hand is restored by God. The king then invites the prophet to have dinner with him reportedly in order to present him with a gift of some kind: probably a thank you gift.[1] Declining, the prophet declares in Verses 8 and 9 that “even if you were to give me half of your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the Word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’ So he took a different route home.”

If the story ended here it would be interesting enough. At the beginning of the episode, we have two characters going head to head here: the prophet [He is named ‘Yadon’ by Josephus (Antiquites viii.9.1; cf. Iddo, 2 Chr. 13:2)] – and the king, Yadon and King Jeroboam.[2] The roles seem to be pretty well defined here too. The prophet is a ‘man of God’. He is the good guy and the king in this scene is the bad guy.[3] If this was an old west film, Yadon would be wearing the white hat and Jeroboam, the black hat. If this was a classic western movie, when Jeroboam reached out his hand he would have had a six shooter in it but Yadon would be quicker, paralyzing Jeroboam as he shoots the gun from his hand. You can almost picture this dramatic scene.

In our scriptures today it is this dramatic of a scene but, of course, this actually takes place a long time before western movies existed and it seems as if all that is in the king’s hand is his full royal authority, which of course is more powerful than any six-shooter possibly could be. It is this authority with which the king is reaching out in order to order the prophet’s arrest. The prophet Yadon by condemning the king’s idolatry has just challenged the king’s authority to set up independent places and modes of worship in his own country. The king takes this sort of challenge seriously and he responds as the powerful often do when challenged, even in our world today. The prophet however (as do we all) has access to the power and the mercy of God. The power of God is manifest through this prophet in that when the king stretches out his hand to command the arrest of the prophet, the Lord arrests his hand. God then shows His power and His mercy through the prophet by restoring the king’s hand and then Yadon further shows his strength of conviction and his character by obeying the Lord in refusing to delay returning home by refusing to dine with the king.

Now there is even more to this apparent strength of conviction and character of Yadon the prophet. Some background information: King Jeroboam, the bad guy, in the first part of our story today is the king of the newly created Kingdom of Israel. God has just torn Israel (with the exception of the tribe of Judah) away from Solomon’s son Rehoboam and God has given it to King Jeroboam (1 Kings 11-12). King Rehoboam of Judah, in the previous chapter of the book of Kings here, sent his officer in charge of forced labour to go get Israel back but God and King Jeroboam’s Israel didn’t take so kindly to this and the Israelites stoned him (1 Kings 12:18). King Rehoboam of Judah then sent an army against Israel, which God, through the prophet Shemaiah, turned back and now God sends this young prophet from Judah to condemn Israel’s King Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:21-24). You can see why Israel and King Jeroboam might not trust this prophet from Judah and you can see why this young prophet from Judah might doubt his assignment from God but he doesn’t; on the contrary he displays this apparent strength of conviction and character in his obedience to the LORD.

Putting the Israel of our pericope today in its proper historical context: Israel is in the process of seceding from its union with Judah. There has been talk this week about some of the American states in the south seceding from their union; how would they feel if someone from the north then came down to the south to tell them what is wrong with their lives and the way they worship God? They might not like that too much. Closer to home Quebec just this year elected a separatist government again. If Quebec finally does separate from Canada, how would we here react to a Québécois prophet coming to Saskatchewan to tell our premier that we are worshipping God in the wrong way? This is what it is like for King Jeroboam and this is what is like for Yadon, the man of God.[4]

Can you imagine if you were a prophet from the west here, after a separation, and you were sent to tell the Québécois how to worship God? How bold would you be? That would be what it must have been like for the prophet Yadon but he stands strong. He never wavers. He obeys God: he gives the king God’s message, he restores the king’s arm, and he heads straight for home refusing to tarry with the king. This prophet seems like he is doing great, right? Wouldn't we all like to be as bold as he is? Now this is where the story gets interesting...

An old prophet seeks out this man of God as he is travelling home. He invites him home for dinner. The young prophet originally declines: God told him to go straight home. Our bold man of God who has just faced off against the king of a hostile country, he is bold and he is determined and at first he is not deterred even when he is invited to stop and have dinner with a colleague, a senior colleague. That would be like if I was returning from a mission to Regina or Ottawa and a Major or a Colonel asked me to stop by on the way home. The old prophet asks the young man of God to stop and, 1 Kings 13:16b-17: The man of God says like he did earlier to the king, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’” So far so good…

Now in our story then, this old prophet, this senior prophet, ‘Colonel Old Prophet’, he then lies to the man of God, saying that an angel of the Lord has asked him to invite the young prophet to his home to eat and drink with him. Verses 18-19: “The old prophet answered, ‘I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ (But he was lying to him.) So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.”

This is were the tragedy unfolds: the young man of God accepts this invitation that the older prophet of God tells him comes from God and a then lion sent from God kills the young man of God for disobedience to God. Put yourself in the place of Yadon, the young prophet. What is he supposed to do? Well, we know that he was supposed to go home without stopping but how could he know that ‘Colonel Old Prophet’ was lying to him? This is a young prophet heading home is probably completely drained. You know the feeling when you have just been used by God in an amazing way or have just finished some very important task, how drained you are. One is drained after the Lord uses us for big events like this. I imagine that the young prophet Yadon feels like this. This young prophet is coming home from a successful encounter with the king where the Lord has just spoken through him and he has seen the king’s hand arrested and then he has seen it healed. He is going straight home just like God told him but then another prophet of the Lord comes up to this man; an older, presumably more experienced prophet tells him that the Lord has told him that the young prophet should stop for dinner and so he stops for dinner and is then later killed by a lion for disobedience to the Lord.

There is more here too. Imagine with me now that you are this young prophet who has just been used by God to do so much and imagine with me now that you have had this invitation from a senior prophet that you only accepted because the prophet told you that it was a message from God. Imagine that you have just sat down to dinner. Imagine that you have been recounting the events of your day to the senior prophet. Imagine that you are maybe even listening to some of his stories from the old days. Imagine that you then sit down to dinner. Imagine that somebody is about to ask the blessing, say grace, and then, Verses 20-22: “While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: ‘You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.’”

How would you feel? You have just been used mightily for God’s purposes. You were bold in standing up to the declared bad guy, the king of Israel; you refuse to be distracted from your God-given task but then someone who is supposedly on your side tells you that he has a message from the Lord telling you to stop, so you stop: why would you think he would be lying to you? And then as you are about to eat supper with him he does ironically deliver a message to you that is actually from the Lord, that of your impending death and burial away from your ancestral home for disobeying God by obeying the one speaking to you. How would you feel?

And then it comes to pass, Verse 23 and 24: “When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it.” So, the lion was obliviously from God: he didn’t eat the prophet and he didn’t touch the donkey. He just killed the prophet and stood there beside the donkey watching over the prophet’s body. This is no hungry lion that just happened along by coincidence.[5]

So I have a lot of questions here: Why did the old prophet lie? Why -after the old prophet did lie- did the LORD still use the old prophet to prophecy to the young prophet? Why does the young prophet pay for his sin with his life? But why then is there no punishment recorded here for the elder prophet? Why, more importantly, why is this story even in the Bible? What is God relaying in this scene and this episode to anyone who reads the book of 1 Kings? What is the very important message that we need to learn here today so that we don’t wind up deserving the same fate as Yadon, the young prophet?

What did Yadon do wrong? He disobeyed God. Why did he disobey God? A senior prophet of God (one of the supposed good guys) told him that God wanted him to do something different than God really did want him to do. Are we ever vulnerable and apt to make this same error? Do we ever doubt what God is telling us because someone else tells us differently? How many of us have Christians pastors, preachers, prophets, officers, and others speaking into our lives? I hope most of us do. How many of us read Christian authors? How many of us watch Christian speakers on TV? How many of us listen to Christian preachers on the radio? How many of us search the Internet for Christian teaching? How many of us pass along Christian e-mail messages? These are all good things just like Yadon’s heading to Israel to talk to their king was a good thing. And these Christian preachers and teachers are presumably the good guys like the older prophet was supposed to be one of the good guys; but how many of us bother to check to make sure that these messages that we receive even from the presumed good guys are true before we forward them on or how many of us make sure that our favourite Christian speaker is correct –anyone can make a mistake – before we re-tell his story? How many of us make sure that what our favourite speakers, preachers and teachers are teaching is true before we obey it or tell our friends about it? And how can we verify these things and so avoid falling into the trap that cost the man of God his life?

One key way that we have available to us today is the Bible: when someone purports to have a message from God we should make sure that they are right and true. Doctrine 1 of The Salvation Army states that, “We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God; and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.” We need to test what people – even the good guys - say against the Scriptures. Acts 17:10-12 commends the Bereans for doing just that: they would examine the Scriptures every day to see if what even the apostle Paul himself was telling them was true. We need to pray and read our Bibles, for otherwise how can know if what we hear from the pulpit, what we hear on the radio, what we hear the TV, what we read online, or what we read in a book is true or not? For those who come to Bible study on Monday nights, you’ll remember last Monday we looked at, among other passages, 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22, where God through the Apostle Paul reminds us all: “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.”

This is important in our world today. More and more people and more and more churches are spending less and less time in prayer and less and less time in Bible study. And this is a shame because how can we possibly tell what of all the cacophony of voices speaking into our lives is true if we don’t ask the Lord and if we don’t spend time praying and reading our Bibles. Romans 1:16 reminds us that the Gospel itself is the power for Salvation. That is how we can know what God is telling us.

Today we read about a prophet who was used greatly by God but then disobeyed God as another prophet deceived him and it cost him his life. If that happened then and there to a man of God, it can certainly happen to any of us today. So I extol each of us to protect ourselves from that which befell Yadon. I encourage each of us to fervently seek the Lord through prayer and Bible Study because that is our protection. For God promises us that when we seek Him, we will find Him and He promises us that when we find Him we will be saved (from more than just lions) and when we are saved what a day of rejoicing that will be (Matthew 6:33).

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Donald J. Wiseman, 1 and 2 Kings: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1993 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 9), S. 158: If the man of God were to make an agreement or show fellowship (‘eat bread’, vv. 7, 18) with the king, that would have been tantamount to a withdrawal of judgment. The king’s motive could have been ‘to link himself in fellowship with him as a form of insurance’ (Robinson, p. 161; cf. Noth, p. 298), and so to seek for the prophet’s endorsement of his new royal position. The ban on the return route might serve to avoid further contact with a cursed place and people.

[2] R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:1 Kings/Notes to First Kings/First Kings 13 Notes/First Kings Note 13:1, Book Version: 4.0.2: If Josephus's suggestion (Antiq. VIII, 240-41 [ix.1]) that the prophet's name was Yadon is accepted, he may perhaps be connected with the Iddo mentioned as a chronicler of the events of Abijah's day (2 Chronicles 13:22).

[3] Mark Leuchter, 'Jeroboam the Ephratite', Journal of Biblical Literature 125 no. 1 (2006): 51:"No other king is so strenuously distanced from the principles of the prophet tradition, the theological standards of Israelite covenantal theology, or the inherent grace of the Davidic house."

[4] Cf. Mark Leuchter, 'Jeroboam the Ephratite', Journal of Biblical Literature 125 no. 1 (2006): 55.

[5] Cf. Choon-Leong Seow. The First and Second Book of Kings, (NIB III: Abigdon Press, Nashville, 1999), 108.

Philippians 1: Be Bold for the Gospel.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 18 Nov. 2012 and to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on 06 Jan. 2008 by Captain Michael Ramsay.

To read the 2008 version of this sermon click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/01/philippians-1-be-bold-be-prepared-are.html

To read a version of this as an article in the Journal of Aggressive Christianity click here: http://www.armybarmy.com/JAC/article6-54.html

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Today, before we get into our text a little bit, I thought that we would look at some background information about Philippians. I have a little quiz for us to see if any of us know anything about the historical context of Philippians (answers below):[1]

1)      Philippians live in what city?

2)      Who is the city of Philippi named after?

3)      Who was Phillip?

4)      What other famous battle took there?

5)      Does anyone remember, where in the Bible – just recently would we have read about Caesar Augustus? [2] 

Very good, so this battle of Philippi that Augustus fought in is less than 100 years before this letter to the Philippians was written; there may even still be some veterans around. We just had Remembrance Day here. Reflecting on the battle of Philippi it would be similar to our reflecting on WWI or WWII. It is still in our general consciousness and just like our world changed after the World Wars of our time, the Greco-Roman world had changed significantly by the Apostle Paul’s time as well.

The world does change very quickly, doesn’t it?  I remember when I was growing up in the 1970s. We lived in a semi-rural area of Victoria. Behind our house were cornfields and beside our house were Farmer Wild’s potato fields and my parents had a very small orchard of our own in our back yard. And the Vantreights, they had Daffodil fields everywhere. Between Farmer Wild and the Vantreights there was no end to seasonal agricultural employment for the neighbourhood teens and pre-teens. In the Spring some of us would even cut school in order to make some money cutting daffodils.

Now, of course, my parents’ former house has been completely swallowed up by the city Victoria, which is now a community of more than 300 000 people. It is Canada’s 13^th largest city.[3] Things change.

But in those days life was different. The area in which we lived was semi-rural and dogs could even roam free without being on a leash or without even their owners. They would often stroll along by themselves or together in pairs or even packs and then they would meet up with another pack of dogs and they would start to investigate each other. Of course, every once and a while there would be an aggressive dog or two and I certainly saw more than one dog fight growing up.

In those days, we had a dog. His name was Tuffy. Now Tuffy, he was a little border collie/sheltie cross and he was a smart dog but every once in a while, of course, he would get into one of these scraps himself.

I remember more than once, Tuffy would see some dog on our block that doesn’t belong there. He would charge them. It wouldn’t matter how big is the dog. It doesn’t matter how fierce is the dog; Tuffy runs at him. He’s not afraid of him. He growls at him. He, completely without any fear, he engages the intruder. He charges him.

Now sometimes, like I said, the dogs are a lot bigger than Tuffy. Still Tuffy charges, teeth bared- no fear – he charges the giant intruder with full confidence. And then when the large dog strikes back, he… runs away.

The other dog inevitably chases him and Tuffy runs right toward home. Tuffy runs faster and faster as he gets closer and closer to home. The pursuing dog inevitably, nonetheless, gets closer and closer to Tuffy. And as the dog gets closer, Tuffy – never afraid – Tuffy runs to… our next-door neighbour’s house. He bounds up the stairs to his deck. The dog comes flying after Tuffy and arrives on the deck where he is trapped and … there is Goldie.[4] Goldie is by far the biggest dog you have ever seen and Goldie and Tuffy are quite a pair. They really are the best of friends.

So now this pursuing dog, the dog chasing Tuffy – which until this moment seemed quite large - is all of a sudden dwarfed by the giant Goldie. He is surrounded and trapped on our neighbour’s deck. After a couple of very noisy minutes, the intruding dog finally finds a way out and off of our neighbours deck and runs away as fast as it can never to come back again. And there is little Tuffy standing at the top of the stairs (if dogs could smile) this little collie-sheltie cross is telling the much bigger dog, I’m sure, never to come back – or he’ll have to deal with Goldie.

When Tuffy saw the intruder, he wasn’t worried, he engaged him; he did not avoid a conflict. He was prepared; he was not afraid. He didn’t worry about what could happen to him. His goal was to encourage his opposition toward Goldie and have Goldie take care of the rest.

This is actually the same sort of thing that is happening in Paul’s life as he writes this letter to the Christians in Philippi. Paul has been openly engaging the non- and pre-Christian Roman world of the first century AD/CE. He has met with some strong resistance and it is just like he is Tuffy up against a bigger dog. Paul is even in jail right now as he writes this letter that we are looking at today. Paul is in a jail and jails then, like jails now, really are not the best places in the world to be and not only that, Paul is facing a capital charge[5]. Paul, if convicted, is facing execution. Paul is seemingly cornered by a larger and an aggressive part of the pre- and non-Christian world of his day but he is neither afraid nor is he even apparently concerned for himself.

Look at our text today…well…actually wait a minute…imagine with me first, that you are in prison. I don’t know how many of you have ever seen the inside of a prison. I’ve seen a couple. I can tell you that they themselves can be more than a little intimidating – even when you aren’t confined there.

Now imagine that you aren’t just in any prison. Imagine that you are in an off shores American prison – the Super Power of our day – imagine that you are in Guatanamo Bay or something and that they’ve actually charged you OR even imagine that you are in Afghanistan or Pakistan and in the hands of the Taliban or another such group and imagine that you are facing a capital charge. Imagine that you are facing execution if you are convicted.

What would you write in your letters home? If you could make a video tape or leave a phone message, what would it say? I imagine that we would be more than a little afraid. I imagine that we would ask for everyone to pray for us. We would try to activate a prayer chain on our behalf and we would get everyone that we could to pray for our safe return, right? We would send up the prayer alert and ask everyone to pray for our deliverance.

Now this is interesting because, this isn’t what Paul does here at all. Paul mentions that he is in prison but it is not with his own state that he is concerned (1:18b-26).[6] He is bold and he is concerned with how well the Philippians are doing at standing firm in preparing to meet Christ (cf. 1:11) on the balcony, as it were. Paul is concerned that they not be afraid and Paul is concerned that they are prepared for this Day of the Lord by living in a manner worthy of the Gospel (1:27), by being united in purpose (1:18; 2:1-8; 3:15-16), by staying the course, by fighting the foe, and Paul is even now rejoicing in the Lord’s accomplishments through them (cf. 1:3, 6);[7] Paul is encouraging them to be bold in making preparations for the day of the Lord’s return. Are they ready for Christ’s return? This is Paul’s concern as he is sitting in prison awaiting appeal.

Look at earlier in Chapter One. Instead of ‘Please pray for me’, Paul writes in Verse 3, ‘I thank my God every time I remember you.’ Paul is not concerned about himself. He is thinking about others and he is thinking about their participation in the Gospel and Kingdom of God; and Paul goes on, Verse 6, he tells them how confident he is that God will complete the good work in them that God has already started. Verses 9 and 10: he speaks of his desire that their love may overflow with wisdom and knowledge to help them determine what is best so that they are prepared when the day of the Lord does arrive – and it’s coming soon. When the day of the Lord does arrive, Paul reminds us, that when we are prepared, the righteousness that we will have comes from God.

Paul is not worried about his own self. Paul is concerned about others standing firm, about others being prepared for the Kingdom of God. This is a man in chains writing here. This is a man facing a death sentence. This is a man who has put his life on the line for the Gospel and right now is in jail awaiting appeal.

He is in jail and we don’t read in his letter any “Oh why is this happening to me, Lord”, do we? We don’t read any of the, “What have I done to deserve this?” or “How could this be happening to me?” Talk. Do we? NO, we don’t. Rather he is bold because he is prepared; he says to live or die, both are good. Death is gain (because of the resurrection) and life, life, is Christ!

We don’t hear him whining and complaining (cf. Romans 8:19). We don’t hear him making accusations about his captors. We don’t hear him calling down curses upon Caesar. We don’t read of him complaining about even the food or his fellow inmates. What do we hear? We hear that his captors are hearing the Gospel and we hear Paul encouraging others to be bold and to be prepared to share the Gospel in Philippi.  Paul is in jail and he is concerned about the Philippians and their courage to fully participate in the Messianic Kingdom of Jesus when Jesus returns.

Now Philippi, which was once a predominately Greek city, is a small Roman Colony with special status and many Romans citizens.[8] It is a city of privilege[9]. Paul has visited it before, and now he, imprisoned by the Romans, is writing to encourage them who are in this privileged city and who are free and he is writing encouraging them how to live.[10] Interesting.

The one imprisoned is writing to encourage those who are free. Paul is imprisoned for his defence of Christ. In our world today, people are still imprisoned for defence of the Gospel. Missionaries are still martyred but lest we think ourselves better than we are, let us not forget that there are Canadians who struggle against our own current governments for the Kingdom of God.

Now in this part of Saskatchewan we still have it relatively good. We sang Christian hymns, read Scripture and I briefly spoke about Christ in the public Remembrance Day ceremonies last week. The schools put on Christian plays at Christmas and there has even been reference to Christ in Rebecca’s homework. But let’s not be mistaken about what is happening in this country. Today people are suffering for the Gospel and we do need to stand up for Christ.

In BC, in previous sermons and articles[11] I have mentioned the religious persecution that has already begun in the public school system. In the 80s or early 90s, we were told not even to refer to Christmas in the schools. We were told rather to call it a ‘Winter Festival.’ I heard of Christian student teachers taking a stand at this time and I heard of some of these Christians not successfully completing their degree or suffering even worse consequences.

Even more recently, it was decided in BC’s lower mainland that Christian parents were not allowed to protect their children from courses –taught by outsiders, not even their regular school teachers, if I remember correctly- that they felt encouraged promiscuity, fornication, homosexuality and adultery. So not only are Christians not allowed to try to protect others from what some consider very dangerous things, but they are even forced to subject their own children to these things.[12]

Persecution for serving Christ is not constrained to the Roman Empire of the 1^st Century or the third world of today; so are we prepared to be bold in defence of the Gospel?

In Nova Scotia, after the Swissair crash, the Christian clergy was told not to mention the name of Jesus and after 9/11, the only world view represented in the official Canadian ceremonies was that of secular-atheism: God was excluded from the ceremonies.

In Saskatchewan, I have heard a local politician, encouraging others to write letter to the editor defending our freedom to proclaim Christ in the public arena. In Ontario, however, people are calling the police to step-in when politicians dare to pray in even small meetings. Persecution for serving Christ is not constrained to the Roman Empire of the 1^st Century or the third world of today. It is happening more and more here in Canada of the 21^st Century. As it comes here, are we prepared to be bold in defence of the Gospel?

We here in Canada and Saskatchewan have it pretty good, just like the citizens of Philippi did. Canada is one of the richest countries of the world and a close ally of the Super Power of our day. Philippi had a privileged status within the Empire of its day; people had it pretty good by comparison but even in Philippi persecution had begun and even now in Canada persecution has begun.

As this is true let us not just lament the acts of our aggressors. Paul didn’t. Let us not run away and hide. Paul didn’t. The Philippians were not to. Let us not cry out, ‘whoa is me.’ Let us not let our predecessors’ preaching have been in vain. Let us not let those who are hauled before the courts in this very country for our faith today do so in vain. Let us rather stand firm in proclaiming the Gospel.

Paul is encouraging us, thousands of years later; Paul is encouraging us, since we have the same struggles that he had (cf. 1:30), Paul is encouraging us to be bold in our proclamation and Paul is encouraging us to be bold in our preparation for the Day of the Lord so that our love may overflow and so that indeed the harvest of holiness, the harvest of righteousness may be produced in our own lives through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God (1:11; cf. 1:27,28).[13]

Let us not be mistaken, in our world today, as we walk along we, like Tuffy, we will run into dogs who will attack us for the truth of the Gospel of Christ. We will run into big, aggressive beasts. We must stand firm in proclaiming the Gospel and we must stand firm living a life worthy of the Gospel (1:27,28) and - who knows? -  in the process we may lead even our aggressors to Jesus Christ so that even they may be saved and so that even we may be saved alongside them because it is only through Christ that our salvation comes. 

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] 1) Philippi 2) Philip of Macedon; Macedonia is one of the northern most Greek provinces 3) Alexander the Great’s father; he laid the ground work for the Greek Empire and when he took over Philippi he really encouraged Greek immigration to the Area 4) The Battle of Philippi which was around 300 years later; this was an important battle in the Roman civil war in which Caesar Augustus won. 5) The Christmas story, remember, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that the entire Roman world should be taxed (Luke 2:1).”

[2] Octavius, as he was called at this time, was allied with Antonius (Mark Antony) and Lepedus against the republicans, led by Cassius and Brutus. Octavius later defeated Mark Antony as well which led to the famous story of Cleopatra’s suicide by Asp. Octavius / Augustus, after securing power, and thanks to Julius Caesar’s wrestling power from the Senate and placing it instead in the leader’s hands, would turn out to be arguably the most powerful Roman Emperor ever.

[3] 2006 Census. Canadian’s largest urban area:. www.stascan.ca

[4] I can’t remember her real name.

[5] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, Philippians, Interpretation Series, 1985, p. 19He may or may not actually be in a jail as we think of it today. He is still awaiting trial so he could be in a cave, a secured room, a house, or a barracks. Regardless, he is in the hands of the Super Power of his day, the Roman authority (Paul, of course, is himself a Roman citizen) and we should not assume that his imprisonment is necessarily easy. In some of our contemporary Canadian minimum security facilities, which are undoubtedly more comfortable than Paul’s arrangements, outsiders have greatly underestimated the effects of confinement upon people. Imprisonment is not a pleasant experience. Let’s not forget as well that he is awaiting trial for a crime that is punishable by death. This fact itself does not tend to gain oneself favour from one’s captors. See also DW Palmer, “To Die is Gain.” Novum Testamentum 17. 1975. pp. 203-208, re: release from imprisonment via death (and later resurrection, of course).

[6] This segment (1:18b-26) serves to clarify to readers that even if Paul does die, it doesn’t matter and they (we) should still be encouraged. After all if he does die, the next thing he knows will be the resurrection, when the Kingdom to come has indeed been established and gained and if he does live, he can continue to rally the troops to be prepared for the coming ‘Day of the Lord.’

[7] Paul’s reference to “Joy” is repeated numerous times throughout the letter.

[8] This is particularly interesting in the context of this letter because it doesn’t appear that there was much of a Jewish population in the tiny city of 10 000 people at all. This is interesting because Paul usually first evangelised the Jewish communities in the towns. Here there is no such evidence of such a segment even existing.

[9] There was however persecution of the Christians in this city. Cf. Philippians 1:28-29.

[10] Cf. Morna D. Hooker, The Letter to the Philippians, NIB XI, 476. It is interesting that there is some debate as to the theme of the letter itself. One thing, however, that is evident regardless of the primary theme (if there need be one at all) is that Paul is indeed encouraging the readers how to act in accordance in relationship to our theological understanding. Cf., also, R.C.H. Lenski, St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians, p. 695.

[11] Full citations for the references in this list are in other sermons and papers of mine, most of which are available on-line at www.sheepspeak.com.

[12] , Cf. StatsCan: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/rel/bc.cfmS ince this type of indoctrination has begun in the schools, atheism has become the fastest growing religion in BC

[13] Paul is encouraging us not to fight amongst ourselves (cf. 1:18: How it is that we proclaim the gospel doesn’t matter; what matters is that it is proclaimed).[13]He is encouraging us to proper actions, ethics, and to have

John 15:13: Greater Love Has No Man

Presented to the community of Nipawin at the Remembrance Day Ceremony, November 11, 2007, and to the community of Swift Current at the Remembrance Day Ceremony, November 11, 2009 and 2012 
by Captain Michael Ramsay




Click HERE to read the address: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/11/greater-love-has-no-man-than-to-lay.html

Proverbs 3:13-18: Advertising Haikus for Life.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 04 Nov. 2012
and 614 Warehouse Mission, 07 April 2018

By Captain Michael Ramsay

 

The passage today would be a wonderful teaching pericope on wisdom.  Ellen F. Davis has referred to the book of Proverbs as a series of short haikus or poems.[1] If we had more time or if this was a class that I was teaching rather than a homily, I would actually have us all writing haikus about wisdom before its conclusion but since it is not I won’t make us write haikus… about wisdom. I will still let us each try to write a haiku but it can be about anything you want. You each have a pen and paper so I’ll give us each a chance to see how we do. Now so that we all know what we are doing, we will look at a few sample haikus to start us off today. First, can anyone sum up for me roughly, what is a haiku? A haiku is a short Japanese poem that often has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third line; and the last line is supposed to make you think about the first 2 lines in a whole new way. I am going to have at least one person read out the haiku that we each write here; so be prepared - think about it. Here are some examples for us by Udiah:[2]

 

The Rainbow (Gen 9: 8-17)

after summer's rain (5 syllables)

God's promise is remembered (7 syllables)

glorious rainbow (5 syllables)

 

The Tree of Life (Gen 3:22)

Partake of The Word (5)

The Tree of Life, Jesus Christ (7)

And live forever (5)

 

I’ll give everyone a moment to come up with a haiku and when you have one ready that you are willing to read out, put your hand up. Let me know. Here is one that Sarah-Grace and Susan shared with me earlier this week that I think sums up haikus quite nicely.

 

Haikus are easy
but sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator

 

Davis writes that, “like a haiku, [Proverbs] does not require a lot of scholarly explanation.” She states, “Biblical proverbs represent language in its most condensed form. Their stock characters are the wise and the foolish, those who yield to wickedness and those who practice righteousness.”[3]

Today we are taking a cursory look at verses 13-18 of Proverbs 3 and we can read this passage as a series of haikus or as one poem about Biblical wisdom.[4] Before we do this though, who can tell me what is wisdom? Holman Bible Dictionary refers to it as ‘the art of learning how to succeed in life’ or ‘study of the essence of life’ but ultimately “wisdom comes from God (Proverbs 2:6).  Thus though it will involve observation and instruction, it really begins with God and one’s faith in Him as Lord and Saviour (Proverbs 1:7, Job 28:28).”[5] In basic language, wisdom is the ability to discern God’s will and action in our lives and the world. It is the way to figure out how to live our lives. This is what Proverbs is speaking about: how we can decide in what way to live our lives.

With that in mind, we are going to re-read our pericope and we are going to listen to this short poem on wisdom and let’s see what we can discern about how to live our lives. Let’s read our poem from Proverbs and see what it says about wisdom:

Blessed are those who find wisdom,

those who gain understanding,

for she is more profitable than silver

and yields better returns than gold.

She is more precious than rubies;

nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honour.

Her ways are pleasant ways,

and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;

those who hold her fast will be blessed.

What strikes us about this poem? What does God say about wisdom and how we can actually figure out what’s important about how we should live our lives? In the first verse, the author of Proverbs says that this wisdom is pretty important (v.13). Making our life decisions by God’s wisdom rather than by our own whims and fancies or by our own pocket books or by any other means (v.6); the poet says this is more profitable than silver, yields better returns than gold, and is more precious than rubies (vv.14-16).[6] Following God’s wisdom, he says is pleasant and she, wisdom, leads to peace not to war (v.17). Godly wisdom – look how the poem concludes - Godly wisdom is a tree of life for those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed (v.18). We remember the Tree of Life from Genesis 2-3 (cf. Revelation 2:7; 22:1-21; cf. also Proverbs 11:30, 13:12, 15:44): the one that in order to protect it, God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden before they could of eat it. This Tree of Life, our proverb says today, is wisdom. The fruit of the Tree of Life is relying on godly wisdom to make our choices.[7] Wisdom that comes from the Lord leads to this fruit of everlasting life.

We should pause and think about this for a moment. Godly wisdom is so important: it is what leads to the everlasting Tree of Life. It is a key to eternal life with Christ Jesus our Lord. Knowing that godly wisdom is this important, we should reflect: In 21^st Century Canada, do we generally seek the wisdom of the LORD in making our life choices? In making our daily decisions, do most Canadians pray and read the Bible? Does the majority in our culture and society reap the available benefits of Christ, the Tree of Life, and everlasting life through making our decisions based on Godly wisdom; do we reap the available fruit of the Tree of Life by praying and reading our Bibles – or do we make our decisions in other, lesser ways that do not lead to this everlasting life?

What are some of the ways that 21^st Century conventional Canadian society can tempt us to make decisions? There are a lot of ways, many of which we have addressed from this pulpit on more than one occasion. But, for our purposes today, we will just concentrate on one rival to wisdom and the Tree of Life. How do many in our culture decide: what cars to buy? What movies to see? Where to eat? What new gadgets to buy? What brand of cereal to try? What is one way that Canadians these days often decide what products are popular and what we should spend our money on? For those who watch TV, what is it that interrupts the shows every few minutes? Commercials: advertising has a great influence on us all. Just think about how much money the Americans have spent just this past week on election ads alone: I understand that the two sides down there have spent more than 4 billion dollars this year on advertising. In the journal article by Ellen F. Davis, which we have already cited today, she tells us this story that I find quite interesting:

A few years ago I was invited to lead a day-long workshop at a church in Beverly Hills; to my surprise, the requested topic was Proverbs. It was early autumn, and the day dawned crystal clear and slightly cool, perfect for being in the garden, at the ocean, or on the hiking trail. I therefore expected a small and likely reluctant group to turn out for the workshop: the planning committee and a few loyal friends, perhaps. Yet surprisingly, the room filled, and people became so engaged with the topic that I had to insist they take a break. "Tell me," I asked, "where does all this energy come from?" Immediately someone responded: "Oh, most of us work in Hollywood. We write commercials and advertising copy. And when we were in training, they told us to read Proverbs." She smiled a little self-consciously before continuing: "But now I see that most of what we write is aimed at the people Proverbs calls 'fools.'"

If more professors of Bible and homiletics had seen what the advertising industry has seen, we would doubtless hear and do more preaching on Proverbs, and it might be some of the most helpful preaching in the church. Both Biblical proverbs and advertising slogans are designed to speak directly into the heart of a culture, to ordinary people in their daily lives. With just a few words, they epitomize certain core values, and if they catch on, they become a powerful way of communicating those values…

The most telling point of correspondence between biblical wisdom and the advertising industry is that both are directed toward shaping and stimulating desire: more people should want something they do not yet have, or else want more of what they already possess. So a proverb and a well-crafted advertisement are both forms of the poetry of acquisition.

And these poems of acquisition, these advertising sound bites are very effective as shown by how memorable they are. Capitalists have discovered the ancient secret of the proverb and they are using it in the service of Mammon. Let’s take a look here and see how good they are at it. Here are some examples from some old ads; let’s see if we can associate these sayings/slogans with their products:[8] 

a)      “breakfast of champions”,

b)       “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands”,

c)      “Takes a lickin’ and just keeps tickin’”,

d)      “Finger lickin’ good”,

e)      “Plop, plop; fizz, fizz; oh what a relief it is.”

f)        “Don't leave home without it.”

The ad executives know what the ancient scribes of antiquity knew and what we, as readers and doers of Scripture, should remember. They know that these short little sayings can easily convince and that once we are convinced of them, they can remain with us for a lifetime.

This is what Proverbs is all about. This sequence of short poems is like a series of quick commercials enticing us to try Wisdom –instead of money, or our own desires, or anything else. It is like a series of short commercials enticing us to try Godly wisdom as a means to Salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord. For the Christian, the new and the old believer alike, as we immerse ourselves in these Divine advertisements, these Scriptural proverbs should come rushing to our minds as quickly and as easily as any of the capitalist ones that we have mentioned today. That is a point of Proverbs. The proverb is the wise sound bite of antiquity and Proverbs has some great lines that we should remember as easily as any product slogan or TV jingle.

Let’s re-read our text, Proverbs 3:13-18 for a third time today and let’s picture it as that TV commercial interrupting our regular life’s programming for a moment. Picture with me as I am reading this ancient commercial for Wisdom here, that there is a person sitting on a beach in a lounge chair and then another person climbing a mountain followed by another person sitting at their desk managing their investments – maybe flipping from scene to scene here and there as we have sentimental music playing in the background. Picture this ancient ad for Salvation with God’s Wisdom:

Blessed are those who find wisdom,

those who gain understanding,

for she is more profitable than silver

and yields better returns than gold.

She is more precious than rubies;

nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honour.

Her ways are pleasant ways,

and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;

those who hold her fast will be blessed.

As the last words of the announcer are being spoken, the TV screen then fades to black with only the silhouette of the tree remaining.

Proverbs is like a collection of antiquity’s greatest commercials and finest poetry combined to point us to the glory of God’s wisdom and salvation. And our text today reminds us that as we gain wisdom, as we make our decisions based on praying and reading our Bibles that our life will be a lot different. It will make a lot more sense.

We know this; so my question for us today is, do we pay even as much attention to Proverbs, the Bible’s poetic commercials for wisdom as we do to the ads on our televisions? Do we pay so much attention to the Bible’s advertisements for wisdom that we just want to rush out and get that eternal life from the Tree of Knowledge that God has provided for the whole world? …Or do we just skip over these Devine commercials that point us to the eternal Tree of Life?

My encouragement for us this week then is this. I encourage each of us to read and re-read Proverbs, enjoy the sayings like we enjoy our favourite poems or our favourite TV commercials; let us run them over and over again in our minds like we do a well-written jingle. Proverbs are as artistic as any poetry and Proverbs are as effective as any ad; so let us take a break today from life’s regular scheduled programming, let us read through these Heavenly Haikus and then let us, in response to them, let us -at the next opportunity, let us if we haven’t already - let us acquire for ourselves what Proverbs is advertising: the eternal wisdom of the Tree of Life that leads to Salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Ellen F. Davis, ‘Surprised by Wisdom: Preaching Proverbs’, Interpretation: a Journal of Bible and Theology 63 no. 3 (July 2009): 265

[2] Accessed 30 October 2012, available on-line at http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/haiku/

[3] Ellen F. Davis, ‘Surprised by Wisdom: Preaching Proverbs’, Interpretation: a Journal of Bible and Theology 63 no. 3 (July 2009): 265, 266.

[4] Katharine J. Dell, ‘Proverbs 1-9: Issues of Social and Theological Context’, Interpretation: a Journal of Bible and Theology 63 no. 3 (July 2009): 238

[5] Harry Hunt, ‘Wisdom and Wise Men’ in Holman Bible Dictionary. Editor, Trent C. Butler, (Holman Bible Publishers: Nashville, Tennessee. 1991), 1412.

[6] Derek Kidner, Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1964 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 17), S. 62

[7] Alan P. Ross, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Proverbs/Exposition of Proverbs/II. A Father's Admonition to Acquire Wisdom (1:8-9:18)/E. Admonition to Follow the Way of Wisdom in Relationships With God and People (3:1-35)/3. Commendation of the way of wisdom (3:13-26)/a. Wisdom the most valuable possession (3:13-18), Book Version: 4.0.2. But cf. Roland Murphy, Proverbs. (WBC 22: Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, 1998), 22

[8] a) Wheaties, b) M&Ms, c) Timex, d) KFC, e) Alca Seltzer, f) Amex