Joshua 24:1-24: Thanks A lot. I Trust You.

Presented to The Salvation Army's Alberni Valley Ministries, 10 February 2018 by Michael Ramsay

  

I recently read an interview with David Suzuki where he was asked –among other things- about political reform; how to give power to the people rather than politicians and their parties. He had what I thought was a very interesting answer. He said, ‘The solution to me is we need a system where politicians are drawn from a hat, the same way we need to set up our juries.' It has some merit. The word ‘democracy’ from the Greek roots ‘power’ and ‘people’ has come to mean ‘power to the people’ and way of drawing lots for political representation would give power to the people rather than the political parties. And actually, now that I remember it, that is the way that the first Greek democracies actually did operate, through the casting of lots. I thought it was very interesting that I read this while we have been studying Joshua.

 It reminded me of the way government was run in the Book and the time of Joshua in the Bible and throughout the Old Testament at least until the time of King David.

Susan, last week, spoke about the allotment of the land in Joshua. Much of that was shown by casting lots. When we read about Achan in Bible study on Tuesday and the way his tribe, clan, family, and self was revealed to have disobeyed God was through the casting of lots.

In the Bible lots aren’t cast to give power to the people as David Suzuki suggested; lots are cast to discern the will of God. In the New Testament, even God’s choice of Matthias, the disciple to replace Judas, is revealed through the casting of lots.

Probably the most famous lots in the Bible actually have names? Do we know what they are called? Urim and Thummim. These were kept in the High Priest’s ephod? We don’t know exactly how these worked but we do know that that is often how they would seek God’s direction. The people would consecrate themselves, intentionally avoid ‘bad’ or various non-holy things; pray and ask God what to do. They would then wait for His answer to be revealed through the casting of these lots. God did reserve the right not to answer them too, like was the case with King Saul before he went to a medium and other times. But when they approached the Lord in a sincere, holy and pure manner that was one way in which the Lord answered them.

As we know, there are a few basic themes in the Bible that the different authors, books, letters/epistles, etc. keep coming back to over and over again over years, decades, centuries, millennia, and varied geography, location, and situation. One of these basic themes is that we should put our trust in God rather than in ourselves or anyone or anything else.

Those of us who have been coming to Bible study have noticed quite a few similarities between what God did for Joshua and what God did with Moses. One of the most dramatic examples was probably the parting of the Red Sea (or the Sea of Reeds) and then the parting of the Jordan River. God parted to Jordan River to show that He could be trusted to take care of them in the same way He parted the Red Sea when it seemed like there was no way out. Like the people under Moses could trust God so could the people with Joshua.

This idea that we don’t need to turn to ourselves to solve our problems but that we can actually rely on God comes up again and again in both Moses’ and Joshua’s stories and even continues on as a central theme in the book of Judges, the next book in our Bible. Who do we trust? Do we trust God or do we trust ourselves? That is the choice set before us in our text today.

Again we can think of Moses at the edge of the Promised Land when the spies come back reporting on the land – the vast majority of the spies are terrified of the inhabitants of the land. There is now a choice to make. The people must decide whether to follow God into the Promised Land or whether to listen to the majority of the spies and the people not follow God. It is a very long story with many twists and turns but the Coles Notes version is this: The people choose not to follow God into the Promised Land but instead they actually try to invade it without following God and without God’s help and even eventually against His will. This did not go very well. Even if we are doing something that God wants done, if we do it without Him and against Him it will not succeed because He loves us and He wants to be with us. Christianity isn’t a set of rules or a ‘to do list’ it is a deferential relationship to and with our Lord. We can trust Him; we should trust Him, he loves us and can see us through the storms of life.

For those of us who have been reading through Joshua together, this should remind us of Ai. Susan preached on this a couple of weeks ago. That first assault on that very small foe ended in a heart-melting defeat because the people were attacking the city all on their own, without consulting (and even disobeying) God.

It is only when they consecrated themselves and came before the Lord seeking His direction and guidance that they took the city of Ai. And we see this played out over and over again in the Bible and in Joshua. And we see this played out over and over again in our world and in our lives. When we try to do things on our own, when we try to (as the refrain in the book of Judges says) ‘do what is right in our own eyes’, when we put our trust in the wisdom and ability of ourselves or anyone else but God, it does not work out well.

Conversely when we trust in the Lord, we will not be disappointed. The Lord is trustworthy. The Lord will take care of us. I handed out some verses to people in the congregation; I will ask you to read them out now:

• ·         Psalm 20:7: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
• ·         Psalm 31:14: But I trust in you, LORD; I say, “You are my God.”
• ·         Psalm 56:3: When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.
• ·         Psalm 84:12: LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
• ·         Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.
• ·         Proverbs 28:26: Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.
• ·         Proverbs 11:28: Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
• ·         Psalm 121:1-2: I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 “…The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned…” for, 1 Samuel 17:47, “…the Battle belongs to the Lord”, Luke 1:37, "For nothing will be impossible with God", Matthew 19:26, “…with God all things are possible.”

We can trust the Lord. He is with us in the very midst of our struggles just like He was with the Israelites in and out of Egypt and into the Promised Land and beyond.

This week, I have had the chance to pray with and anoint a friend who was being tortured with some terrible dreams. The Lord is with her and He can and is delivering her from and through this. We can trust Him.

This week, a friend of mine called me frustrated by life, closemindedness in the world and society, and looking for some escape from the struggles all around and searching for meaning. We talked about how as we seek first God all else that we actually need will be added unto us – Matthew 6:33. We talked about how life is a process not a circumstance and the act of seeking God is finding Him. The means is the end. We can trust God. Life may not be easy bur we can trust Him in and with it.

This week I spoke with a friend who told me of the many people being shut out of the safety and security they have known for a long time. I heard of extended grieving and temptation to trepidation. But the Lord will prevail. He is bringing them through. We can trust the Lord.

This week I spoke with a friend who is concerned about the safety and the life of his child; he is concerned with his health and safety and custodial issues and the much more that is tied up with all of that. We spoke very much about how even in all of this we can trust God. No matter what happens, we can trust God to bring us through. This, I think, is the central theme of Joshua, a central theme of the Bible, and this, I think, is the key to navigating all the challenges that life sends our way. We can trust the Lord.

This week, yesterday, I went to the funeral of a friend. My friend died of due to his drug addiction. He had struggled against drugs the vast majority of his life. When I knew him well, he was walking with God and seeking God and even then was being attacked by the Enemy through addiction. I have seen many people delivered from the addiction but my friend lost his life to it. My friend has passed on to eternity now but I do not believe that the Enemy has won; because death has been defeated between the cross and the empty tomb and I know my friend loved the Lord and I know that the Lord never leave us nor forsake us. The Lord is with us, even in the very midst of our struggles.

I know that there are some serious challenges that people here today are facing and I want you to know that you do not need to face them on your own. The Lord is able, He is more than able to accomplish what concerns us today; He is able, more than able to handle anything that comes our way.

Let us pray.
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Robert B. Coote, The Book of Joshua (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998)
Leon Morris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Hebrews/Exposition of Hebrews/VIII. Faith (11:1-40)/F. The Faith of the Exodus Generation (11:29-31), Book Version: 4.0.2 
Dale Ralph Davis, Joshua (Glascow: Christian Focus Publications, 2000)
Trent C. Butler, Joshua 13-24 (WBC 7B: Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2-14)

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2 Samuel 7: David's Kayak.

Presented to 614 Warehouse Mission 2:30pm service, 
10 September 2017.

This has been a weird summer for us. We didn't have any real family vacations. The older girls were both working. Rebecca was working out of town at Jacksons and Sarah-Grace was working at day camps; so we mostly just had Heather who we tried to keep busy through some great summer camps and lessons. We did try to make to most of our time together. The older girls and I went down to Buffalo to see G'n'R and Live in concert and just the other weekend we saw Alice Cooper and Deep Purple here in Toronto.  Susan, the younger two girls and I went to see the Martyr's Shrine where Father Brebeuf and the others were martyred. That was really interesting. Sarah-Grace and I were going to go to an Argos game and Heather and I did go to a Blue Jays game. It was actually quite a full and busy summer on top of Karaoke nights and the rest of things around here.

There were a couple of big corps events as well. Yesterday was the Cabbage Town festival here and Friday we went to see the Niagara Falls and early in the summer we went to see Howard fall out of a kayak. It is a good thing we weren't anywhere near the falls when Howard falls into the water. I may share about this story a little more in a little bit but I should probably get onto today's topic.

Today we are chatting a little bit about covenant. Covenant is a topic that I know a little bit about with my book and a number of articles that have been published on this topic.[1] However, I must confess that, like the Apostle Paul, I have spent much more time looking at God's covenant with Abraham than I have His covenant with David.[2] Today we are going to look God's covenant with David. Who can tell me what is a covenant? And what does the word 'berit[h]' (covenant) literally mean? (bound).[3] In our passage here today God binds David, Jacob, and all of humanity to Himself in an important covenant.[4] Bruce Birch writes that "this chapter is the most important theological text in the books of Samuel and perhaps the entire Deuteronomistic History.'[5] Let's take a look at how that works.

First it is very interesting: When the chapter opens, we have the king sitting in a palace of some sort. He must be a little board. It says he has a rest from his enemies and later we read about some of the other stuff he does when he is board but today he starts off pretty good. He must have been thinking about the Lord as, Verse 2, 'he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

           3 Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.”

Have you ever had a moment when you say or do something without thinking and then, oh oh...? Have we ever just answered someone quickly without thinking about it or - worse - has anyone ever involved someone else without checking first. Think of the stereotypical husband in the old days before cell phones who invites his friends over for dinner without checking with his wife first. Think about the wife who lets the kids or someone else borrow a tool or something else of dad's without checking with him. Have we ever been in a spot where we answer someone quickly without checking or without thinking. This is what the Lord's prophet does here when, verse 3, 'Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.”

Verse 4 records that that night the Word of the Lord comes to Nathan and says, basically, 'why didn't you check with me first!?' and then He opens up on Nathan like a steadfast wife; He says, you tell  David this and you tell David that and then tell David one more thing. You ask David this and you tell David the other thing.  You ask David, Verse 7, ' Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ The Lord then talks about all the things He has done for David and all the things He has done for Israel. He doesn’t need David to build Him a house. God makes that abundantly clear and God doesn’t want David to build Him a house and Nathan should just march right back there and let David know that. God has been fine without a house until now and he will continue to be fine without a house.

Nathan before God here must feel a little like Howard on our kayaking trip this summer. No sooner had we gotten on the river, out of sight of the kayak rental place and all their equipment when ‘snap’ Howard’s paddle breaks in two. That cannot be a good omen. If this were a Shakespeare play you would know that something bad was going to happen to poor Howard before the trip was done – and you wouldn’t be wrong. We set up Howard as best we could but he was an inexperienced kayaker in the current; he really was up the creek without half a paddle. More about this later. But in the end God took care of Howard and God took care of Nathan. (And God took care of David)

After God finishes the exchange with Nathan about all of this, God has one more thing to tell him. The one more thing He has to tell Nathan is that God is going to build a dynasty for David and this is interesting – in the Hebrew there is a play on words that actually exists in the English translations as well. The word ‘house’ can mean a building or a dynasty: for instance, our current monarchy is from the House of Windsor, formerly the House of Hanover, meaning the family dynasty of Windsor. It is the same in Hebrew: David says he is going to build a house (a temple) for God but God says no, He is going to build a house (a dynasty) for David. This part actually reads a little bit like a love letter between two young people.[6] I don’t know if any of you have managed to keep any old love letters from years gone by or if you have even just noticed young love in action. I think we have all seen young people just in a new relationship, right? This exchange reminds me a little bit about that: 'No you’re the cutest and I am going to build you a big house of love'.

                  'No you’re the cutest and I am going to build you a big house of love'.

                  'No, no, no, you are… '

David wants to build a house, a palace for God but God will not except it from David. Instead God is going to build a house, a dynasty from David that will last forever.[7]

God loves David. David, after all, as 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22 say, David is ‘a man after God’s own heart’. Now, you may stop me at this point and say, ‘hold on there, Captain! It’s all fine and dandy to say David is a man after God’s own heart but we’ve skipped ahead in 2 Samuel and we’ve been reading about him over the past few weeks and David doesn’t always sound like a great guy. He’s a horrible father! His kids seem to hate him. He commits adultery with Bathsheba, murders her husband and then has her come live with him and his other wives and their kids. He seems to treat a lot of people poorly and after his own son tries to overthrow him it seems that it is only by the grace of God through the (maybe even deplorable) actions of his nephew Joab that he and his house even exist at all. And I remember we read the other week that God said about David, 2 Samuel 12:9-10, “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? … Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ David is a man who got into all kinds of trouble; so how can this be the same man who loves God and who God loves in this way? Good question. Let me try to explain it this way…

Going back to the kayaking trip, after Howard’s paddle breaks and things are looking a little shakey for the trip, we set up Howard as best we can but he is an inexperienced kayaker in the current and, in reality, he is up the creak without half a paddle. He makes it for a while then he hits a rock in the fast moving current. He capsizes and his boat fills up with water very rapidly and drifts downstream as it begins sinking quickly. Howard doesn’t know what he is doing and most of the people on our trip don’t know what they are doing either. I am the only experienced kayaker there and we are all floating downstream very quickly as Howard crashes on the rocks and abandons ship as his craft begins to sink. I send Rob back to keep him company while I try to empty the kayak of water mid-stream with Sam as the two of us are being carried downstream farther and farther from Howard. I can’t empty his kayak in the water. It is too full. Sam and I guide the boat to the river bank whereby I get out of my kayak, then lift Howard’s water-filled kayak over my head and dump it out. I’m exhausted. This is a lot of work. Then Sam and I have to paddle upstream, against the current to try to get the kayak back to Howard so that we can try to put him back in his boat. And...until now Howard has been sitting nicely on a rock by Rob who has been keeping him company. All we need to do is pull Howard’s kayak up to the rock and he can climb in easily. I’m exhausted and I am just thinking that it is great that we can just load Howard in his boat from a rock rather than –in our exhausted state- drag Howard up out of the water when Howard decides to jump into to water  and swim to us! We do eventually get him out and no one is the worse for wear and we have a great story and a lot we have learned from this experience.

This is like David. His staying home when kings go off to work was when his paddle broke. He made subsequent choices and experienced the consequences of those choices that must have exhausted him and those around him but God like Rob, Sam, and I did not give up on him. God metaphorically paddled all the way upstream; even though David must have seemed like he was exhausting God by jumping in the current of sin. God never gave up on David. David’s actions had some serious consequences and he broke more than just a paddle but God loved him all the same and God fought against the current to be faithful to His covenant - in spite of all the strange moves David made. This is very important. The scriptures, Romans 3:3-4, ask us, “What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?” The answer is of course not. Once God commits to a covenant He will be faithful even if we are faithless. This is the whole point of covenants and this is how God saves us through them. God will never abandon a covenant before it has been completed. He is faithful even when we are faithless.[8]

And this is good news. Anything less would be a works-based salvation, salvation achieved by our own merit, skill, and ability, and as the Apostle Paul points out that is an impossibility. None of us can achieve salvation on our own. We need God to save us. None of us can pull ourselves from the fast moving current by ourselves; we all need Jesus to do it for us – and he has through the cross and the empty tomb. God promised David that He would build an everlasting dynasty through him and He does. Jesus is the heir to David’s dynasty and Jesus reigns forever; so no matter how many times the devil may tempt David or you or I to sin that will not nullify the Word of God.[9] There is nothing that will ever cause God to break His promise of salvation for any of us – the only question is whether we will avail ourselves of that salvation or not, whether we will be pulled back into the kayak of salvation or whether we will choose to drown in our sins. And no matter what sins we have committed in our lives, make no mistake, it is not too much or too late, while we still have breath in our body we can still let Jesus lift us into that kayak of eternal salvation.

This is what the passage we are looking at today is talking about. God is faithful to his covenant (and still offers each of us the opportunity for eternal salvation) even when David is not; God is faithful to his covenant (and still offers each of us the opportunity for eternal salvation) even when Israel is not; God is faithful to his covenant (and still offers each of us the opportunity for eternal salvation) even when we are not. No matter what we have done, God has his arms out ready to accept us into His salvation.

In our passage today, it introduces us to everlasting life by saying that the Lord’s kingdom will last forever, and it will be ruled by David’s successor, Jesus, for all time and nothing can change that. The only question for us today is, do you and I choose to drown in the quickly moving current of all the temptations and sins of our world or do we accept the eternal joy of that salvation by riding peacefully down the river of eternal life in the kayak of Christ? It is my hope that each of us will choose Christ.

  

www.sheepspeak.com

Questions for further exploration listed below.

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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay. Praise The Lord For Covenants: Old Testament wisdom for our world today. Vancouver, BC: Credo Press, 2010. (c) The Salvation Army. For more info: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Praise-The-Lord-For-Covenants/155941614427110?v=info

[2] Cf. Michael Ramsay, 'Covenant: When God is Bound...a look at Genesis 15:7-21'. Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, p 5. On-line at http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf

[3] G.E. Mendenhall. "Covenant." In The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by George Arthur Buttrick. (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 715. Cf. also M. Weinfeld. "berith." In Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, edited by G. Johannes Botterweck. (Stuttgart, W.Germany: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1975), 253.

[4] Cf. Michael Ramsay, "Berit[h]" Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 40, December 2005 – January 2006 pp 16-17.

[5] Bruce C. Birch, 'The First and Second Books of Samuel' in New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 2, ed. Leander E. Keck, et el. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998), 1254.

[6] Cf. Gbile Akanni and Nupanga Weanzana, Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), '2 Samuel 7:5-15:Nathan's Prophetic Declaration', 387

[7] Cf. Bruce C. Birch, 'The First and Second Books of Samuel' in New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 2, ed. Leander E. Keck, et el. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998), 1255 and Gbile Akanni and Nupanga Weanzana, Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), '2 Samuel 7:5-15:Nathan's Prophetic Declaration', 388

[8] Captain Michael Ramsay. Praise The Lord For Covenants: Old Testament wisdom for our world today. Vancouver, BC: Credo Press, 2010. (c) The Salvation Army. This is the thesis statement of PTL4C: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Praise-The-Lord-For-Covenants/155941614427110?v=info 

[9] Cf. Gbile Akanni and Nupanga Weanzana, Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), '2 Samuel 7:1-17:The Promise of a Dynasty', 387

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Questions for further exploration

       I.            Life

1.      What is something you noticed about God this week?

    II.            Text

2 Samuel 7

Leader's note:

·         This passage is the record of the Davidic Covenant. It, along with the Abrahamic Covenant, points to the Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ. Jesus, descended from David's line (house) will rule eternally.

·         There is an interesting play on words both in HB and in English in this chapter. The word for 'house' can mean 'building' or 'dynasty' / 'family line'. Ie: the house of Windsor (formerly Hanover) is our current Canadian Monarchy. In this passage then David wants to build a house (building) for God but God says instead He will build a house (dynasty) through David.

1.      What happened in this story?

2.      Re-read 2 Samuel 7:1-4:The king lets Nathan know what he intends to do, 7:1-2, (presumably for either feedback or approval); Nathan replies, 7:3, 'Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.' That night, 7:4ff, the Word of LORD says something very different.

a. Do we ever speak without thinking and then afterwards have to back track?

b. Nathan is a prophet of God; David is God's annointed king. They both made an error here: what was it? How could it be avoided?

c. David seems to have been led astray by good intentions; what were his good intentions? Do we ever fail to consult God because our intentions are good and are plans seem good - like here building a temple/house for God?

d. Nathan made the assumption that because 'the LORD is with David' that whatever he had in mind was good; do we ever blindly accept or reject things because of where/who they come from?

e. Even when we have good plans, they may be wrong; even when others have good plans they may be wrong; how can we be sure that what we are doing is what God wants us to do?

f. Give an example of when you listened to and obeyed God.

3.      God has done a lot for David, 7:5-7; God has done a lot for Israel, 7:8-11. List some of those things from the text. God has done a lot for us; what are some of the things God has done for you?

4.      2 Samuel 7:11-16 (along with Genesis 12:1-3) is one of the most important pericopes in the Old Testament.

a.  what strikes you about these verses?

b. Verse 16 states that "your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever" Who is the member of David's house (dynasty; his ancestors) who will sit on the throne forever?

c. Do you serve Jesus who is the ruler who rules forever? Are you a citizen of the Nation/Country/Kingdom of God? Do you want to be?

If you have never prayed to dedicate your life to God and to serve Jesus forever, you are welcome to pray: Lord Jesus please accept my life in service to You. Please forgive my sins and please come into my heart for now and forever more. In Jesus' Name, amen.

Devotion 2.21/73: Judges 7:2: Accomplished

Presented to River Street Cafe, 09 September 2016

Read Judges 7:2-3

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’

This has been a tiring week for me. Many of us around here are very busy. Kids are back in school. Lessons are starting. Meetings are starting with the agencies and community groups to which we belong; regular fall programming is beginning and there is all of the busy-ness that everyone in ministry is surrounded with in September.

This week we have had added to this, like Gideon, the fact that we are short staffed. And some of you know too that we have been given the responsibility for running another corps (church), The Warehouse Mission. I have been involved in hiring someone to work at the Warehouse and, in the absence of someone else, I have been personally supervising their programs. This takes a little bit of time.

And then there is the building here. I have been talking not only with headquarters but also architects and contractors this week. There is more too – there is a lot of paper work. I could go on all day with the things that have been keeping me busy but I won’t. This isn’t meant to be a ‘woe is me pity party’. Many people are busy.

The point I am making today is, I know that I do not actually have the time to physically do everything on my to-do list right now. I have crunched the numbers and it is just not going to work.

I think that is one reason why God has let me meditate on Judges 7:2 these past few weeks: Judges 7:2: The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’

Like Gideon, God has reminded me that my own strength can’t save me. I thank the LORD for that because I think sometimes we can become overwhelmed quite simply because we think we can or we think we should be able to conquer life in our own strength. I think a lot of the stress that I (and maybe some others of us here) feel is quite simply because we try to do things in our own strength, forgetting that it is not our own strength that saves us but rather the strength of the Lord.

This week I have resolved not to become overwhelmed by the tasks that I cannot complete because I know that I can’t accomplish them but I know someone who can accomplish all that needs to be done... and that someone is God.

Week 46: John 10:5: Faithful

Devotional thought composed for TSA Devotional Book, June 2015. Presented to River Street Cafe, 15 April 2016 by Captain Michael Ramsay 

Read John 10:1-5

In the scriptures we have often been compared to sheep. In contemporary shepherding we are also comparable to sheepdogs. Shepherd Jared Epp showed us a number of ways at Beaver Creek Camp one summer:

* The sheepdogs know their master’s voice;

* The sheepdogs learn their master’s signals;

* The longer they serve the good shepherd the more they get to know him;

* The sheepdogs have a job to do;

* Their job is to herd the sheep to the shepherd;

* The nature of the sheepdogs is such that if they were left completely to their own devices they would quite likely kill the sheep;

* When they follow the shepherd not one sheep needs to be lost.

This is a lot like us as Christians. We are the Lord’s sheepdogs. We have been tasked with the great commission to proclaim the good news to the world so that whosoever will may be saved. If we try to do this on our own we will fail and some sheep will inevitably perish. However, as we turn our eyes and our ears toward Jesus – the Good Shepherd – as we listen to his direction and follow his lead, he will use us to bring the whole flock safely home to be with him. As this is the case it is my prayer that we will all be faithful sheepdogs.

Are you working for the Lord as a sheepdog works for the shepherd? How are the attributes of a sheepdog of salvation reflected in your life of serving the Lord?

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay, We are Sheepdogs.  Sheepspeak (August 24, 2009) On-line: http://renewnetwork.blogspot.ca/2009_08_01_archive.html#3592587213509775337 

Week 18: Genesis 1:28: Obedience

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 03 February 2015. Presented to River Street Cafe, 20 November 2015.

Read Genesis 1:28, 11:1-3

When God made the beautiful garden for Adam and Eve to look after. He asked something simple in return. God asked people to:

1)      populate the earth (Genesis 1:28a),

2)      take care of everything in it (Genesis 1:28b) and

3)      to hold off on eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17).

The very first thing God asked us to do was, Genesis 1:28 ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…’ He has told us to go and fill the whole earth and in Chapter 11 we say, “Thanks anyway God, but I think we’ll just stay here and make a name for ourselves instead of going and filling the whole earth like You said.” How well do you think that goes over?

That’s like telling your children to get their coats and boots on because its time to go to school, then heading out to warm up and scrape off the car. Upon coming back into the house, you see them still sitting around in their pyjamas. And when questioned they answer you, “we decided not to go to school today.” How’s dad going to react? How’s dad going to feel? Our earthy fathers are going to  - in maybe not their most gentle voices – tell their children to get ready right now! Dad is not happy. The children are going to school whether they like it or not! The children are none the better off for this little stunt because a loving father is still going to send his children to school because he wants what is best for them. And a generation and a court ruling or two ago, they might just have had a sore backside to show for their disobedience as well. The children’s stunt doesn’t help their cause at all because they still have to go to school, just now they are a little less happy about it then they would have been if they had done what they were asked in the first place.

It is the same with God –our Heavenly Father- and humankind’s decision to disobey His command to fill the earth. Just like the kids still had to go to school, we still had to do what we were told – scatter over the whole earth – but now we just have something extra to remind us about it. Genesis 11:8-9: “So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

God has, does and is going to do what is best for the world because He loves us. God sent His people to the ends of the earth to testify about Him. God sent His Only Begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him need not perish but may everlasting life; so why do some of us choose to disobey our Father and miss out on enjoying sharing – or worse – experiencing that eternal salvation?

Are there times when our actions have caused us to miss out on God’s blessing before? What can we do to ensure that we continue in obedient faithfulness to God?

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, God: Creator, Governor, and Preserver of All Things. Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army, 26 Feb 2012. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/02/genesis-1-4-god-creator-governor-and.html

Luke 1:46-56: Christmas is Coming 2014

Presented to Swift Current Corps, 21 Dec. 2014 and Alberni Valley Ministries, 22 Dec. 2024. Based on the 20 Dec. 2009 sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay. 

Based on the 20 Dec. 2009 homily available here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/12/luke-146-56-christmas-is-coming.html

The 22 Dec. 2024 version is available here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2024/12/luke-139-56-rejoice-smoke-will-clear.html

Wayne Cormier told me a story the other day. He is currently the director of ECIP (Early Childhood Intervention Program); he used to work for the government. A few years ago he found himself driving around one of the cabinet ministers and his assistant was sitting in the back with his tape recorder taping everything the minister said as per protocol at that time in that situation. They were driving around sizing up the damage from all of the forest fires in the north when all of a sudden their vision became impaired. It became more and more impaired. Wayne was chauffeur and he could barely see anything in front of him and it wasn’t winter so it wasn’t snow – it was smoke from the fire. The fire was so close you could almost feel it. The politician asked Wayne, ‘what do we do now’?

Wayne said, ‘Pray’. Wayne is a solid Christian and he has been for a quite a long time. ‘Pray’, he says, ‘we can’t see anything but we can’t stop driving or its game over; we can’t do anything else but drive and pray - so pray!’

The assistant with the tape recorder in the back begins to pray quite a bit when Wayne hears the cabinet minister, the politician, start to pray. He prays, ‘God if you save us, I will go to church on Sunday.’ They wait patiently as Wayne drives slowly through the fire. They wait and they pray as they await their salvation from the fire.

When they get out of the fire and they start to relax a bit and get ready for their next tour, Wayne approaches the politician, the cabinet minister, and he asks him, ‘So you’re going to church on Sunday?”

“Oh, you heard that, did you?”

“Yes, and so will everyone; your assistant has it on tape”

“Oh, well maybe I should go to church then…”

Now Wayne doesn’t know whether or not the politician was true to his word. He doesn’t know whether he did go to church or not but while he was waiting for his salvation, in that moment he approached God, he encountered God and we can only hope that once that waiting was over he continued to wait on God.

 This is the Advent season and waiting is what Advent is all about. We are waiting for Christmas to come. Advent is when we remember the first coming of Christ as we are awaiting His second coming.

Who here like to wait? One of the keys to waiting is faith (see Matthew 17:20 and Hebrews 11:6). Faith is a key element of Advent; so what is faith?

There is the classic definition of faith, of course, from Hebrews 11: 1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Martin Luther says: “Faith is God's work in us, that changes us and gives new birth from God (John 1:13)… It changes our hearts, our spirits, our thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with it. Yes, it is a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly.”

Faith is a belief in the seemingly impossible. Faith is a belief that you will come home and find that your children have cleaned their rooms or done the dishes all on their own.

The Greek word translated variously as ‘faith’ or ‘believe’ is pistis (noun) and this comes from pistevo (verb)[1] meaning ‘to have faith in, extend credit to; to commit, to adhere to, to trust in, and to rely on.’

Prominent theologians James Dunn and Tom Wright drive home the point in many articles and books that faith isn’t just a vague belief in something. Faith is an action word. Faith and faithfulness are forever intertwined.[2] One cannot say they love God and not love their neighbour (Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 10:27, 18:18-29). If you have faith in Christ, you will be faithful and even when we are unfaithful, Christ’s faithfulness makes our faith(fullness) possible (Romans 3:3,4, see also Genesis Romans 1:16-17, Romans 2:1-16, Hebrews 11). It is the faithfulness of Christ that leads to humanity’s salvation. Faith is an action and the action of faith during Advent is waiting. Christmas is coming.

In our story today something very interesting is happening: Mary an unwed teenager finds out that she is pregnant and goes to her aunt’s or a much older relative’s; she goes to Elisabeth’s house and this is Mary’s greeting (vv. 46-49):

And Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— Holy is His name.

Mary speaks about how good the Lord has been to her. She talks about how greatly she has been blessed by the Lord. She speaks about how He has been mindful of someone such as her. Mary here is praising God.

Mary, the mother-to-be of Jesus, is a teenager in the occupied territory in Palestine. Mary isn’t married when she finds out she is going to be with child. Mary’s partner in today’s vernacular, her husband-to-be, had never been with her in that way:[3] they have never consummated their relationship.[4] Can you imagine what people in that day and age would think of Mary who is pregnant without being married? If you were her husband-to-be or if you were her parents what would you think if your teenage daughter came home and told you she was about to have a baby? In those days she could have received the death penalty for that.[5] Mary is vulnerable and Mary is on the margins of society.

Mary isn’t a wealthy woman and months from now, right when Mary is to have this baby, she and Joseph are supposed to load up a pack animal and walk all the way from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea to enrol in a census for the purpose of paying their taxes. They are to walk and/or ride on the back of this pack animal this whole distance when Mary is very, very pregnant (Luke 2:1-7). I don’t know how many women here when they are nine months pregnant would like to hike from here down to Moose Jaw or Regina either by foot or ride there on the back of a donkey.

Mary is a poor, humble girl who isn’t yet married but is already with child in a time when she could be executed for this and Mary is anticipating a very long journey by foot or on the back of a donkey right around the time she is supposed to give birth, Luke 1:46-49, “And Mary said:  ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— Holy is His name.’” Mary - in this state - finds herself blessed.

Now, I have spoken to many people in the last few days and weeks and there are quite a few people around here who have very real troubles around this time of year. As Christmas is coming; how blessed do we feel? The lead up to Christmas is often a very stressful time. Do we, when our life seems challenging, almost overwhelming, do we –like Mary- consider ourselves blessed?

I know that there are people in this city and I know that there are people in this congregation who are going through some really difficult times. I have heard stories recently in our city of eviction notices, of addiction struggles, of custody battles, of illness, and of life and death battles. I have heard of direct demonic attack. There are families that have been torn apart who because of restraining orders can’t even see each other when they transfer their children from one home to another – they have a tragically but aptly called ‘broken family’ and Christmas is coming. There are so many people in the hospital. There is injury. There is illness. There is even death. Many have even lost almost everything but Christmas is coming. Mary is in her circumstance with all that is involved in it and Mary is praising God.

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent and Advent is a time of waiting for Christmas. As the smoke from the forest fires of troubles, of depression, of oppression, of adversity, of sin, of circumstance surround us so much so that we cannot see anything through the life around us, Christmas is still coming. The lead up to Christmas is often a very stressful time. Do we, when our life seems challenging, almost overwhelming, do we –like Mary – praise the Lord, considering ourselves blessed?

Mary continues her greeting to Elisabeth praising God. She says of God, Luke 1: 50-55:

 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
      from generation to generation.
 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
      he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
      but has lifted up the humble.
 He has filled the hungry with good things
      but has sent the rich away empty.
 He has helped his servant Israel,
      remembering to be merciful
 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
      even as he said to our fathers."

Mary in the midst of all that she is in the midst of, Mary speaks about God’s mercy to all who fear Him (Luke 1:50); she remembers that He performs mighty deeds with His arm (Luke 1:51). She praises God for remaining faithful to His covenant with Abraham, blessing all the nations of the earth (Luke 1:55, see Genesis 12:3). She praises God, Who faithfully fulfils His covenant with Abraham and his descendants even though they – even though we – were faithless over and over again (Romans 3:3,4). Mary’s life is not easy. And Christmas is coming. Her son will be born after a long way from home and placed in an animal’s feeding trough. Her son will grow up and eventually suffer a state execution at the hands of her country’s occupiers and at the urging or her own religious leaders – Christmas is coming.

Mary is singing her song of praise to God in this circumstance. There is another interesting part of Mary’s song of praise that I think merits attention here in that it refers to either just before, just after, or at the very moment when Jesus returns. We have spoken about Christmas and waiting for the birth of the Messiah, the incarnation of Christ, but we are also waiting for Jesus to come back. Mary says that at that time – when he returns the rulers of this age will be brought down (Luke 1:52). There will be no more corrupt politicians. There will be no more election fraud scandals; there will be no more bribery scandals. There will be no more handing people over to be tortured. We will not have Prime Ministers who hate the poor or Presidents in our world inventing weapons of mass destruction or picking up peace prizes en route to escalating wars against some of the poorest people on earth. The rulers of our age – it says in verse 52 – the rulers of our age will be brought down from their thrones. Corrupt Presidents and dishonest Prime Ministers will be replaced by the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful (Isaiah 9:6-7).

We will no longer be subservient to brutal economic systems in which one man get rich as over 25 000 children die every day and where today nearly 1 billion people have not even been taught how to read a book when the Lord has provided more than enough recourses for the whole world to be fed and clothed and otherwise taken care of many, many, many times over.[6] These systems of oppression will end. Mary and the Bible says the rulers of this world will be brought low. We will no longer see a situation where people become millionaires for appearing on a screen or playing baseball while others cannot afford to clothe themselves. In our world today there is pornography, which horribly is North America’s most lucrative pastime. In the United States, pornography revenue is more than all money made from professional football, baseball and basketball combined. The money made by US pornography exceeds the revenues of all their major TV networks combined. Child pornography alone generates in excess of $3 billion annually:[7] all while thousands upon thousands of people are dying of malnutrition. The systems and rulers who oversee all of this will be brought down. This will come to an end.

The greatest in this world shall become the least and the least shall become the greatest. Jesus is the great equalizer. When he comes back those in power and luxury (which may be many of us here) will experience His justice and those who are hungry and humbled here will be lifted up and be fed.

Advent is about waiting and this is what we are waiting for and this is what we are praying for as we drive through the smoke of the forest fires of corrupt leaders and their world and all of the trials and tribulations that accompany it. And as we are waiting, as we act in faith doing our part like the sheep in Matthew’s parable of the sheep and the goats by giving the hungry something to eat, giving the thirsty something to drink, inviting in the stranger, clothing the naked, looking after the sick and visiting those in prison (Matthew 25:31-40); we look forward to the day when Christ returns and all of the injustice is finally set right. Jesus’ Advent 2000 years ago was a foretaste of the justice and mercy that lies ahead when he returns. And as we show mercy to our neighbours, we show that we belong to His world that is to come rather than to this present evil age – and this is important because as sure as Christmas is coming, Christ is coming back – so as bad as things may seem as we are driving through the smoke of the forest fires of our troubles that make it so dark that maybe we cannot even see, we must remember that just as Jesus was dwelling in Mary’s womb as they were eagerly waiting for him to come, so too now as the Holy Spirit is indwelling in us as we are eagerly waiting for Jesus to come again; the world is in its ninth month, the smoke is clearing, Jesus is coming and Jesus is coming soon and when He does, everything will be alright. I promise. Christmas is coming.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Cf. Strong's Greek Dictionary

[2] Cf. NT Wright and James Dunn. An Evening Conversation on Paul with James D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright Available online at: http://www.thepaulpage.com/an-evening-conversation-on-paul-with-james-d-g-dunn-and-n-t-wright/

[3] Cf. Culpepper, 51. Lenski, 69, Ellis, 75.

[4] Now betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony. They did have a public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year. Cf. E. Earle Ellis, 71 and R. Alan Culpepper, 51. See also Captain Michael Ramsay, Luke 1:26-37: Do You Believe? Presented to the Nipawin Corps 14 December 2008. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/luke-126-37-do-you-believe.html

[5] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Matthew 1:18-25: Do you believe? Presented to each Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 24 December 2007 and CFOT chapel in Winnipeg, December 2006. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe.html

[6] Global Issues: Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All. Cited December 15, 2009. Available on-line: http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats

[7] Christian Technology Solutions, Pornography Industry Statistics. Cited 21 November, 2009. Available on line: http://christiantechnologysolutions.com/content/view/18/24/