aSacredRebel

aliens and transients

gl1_body Then David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly; David said: “Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of our ancestor Israel, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might; and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all. And now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name. “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are aliens and transients before you, as were all our ancestors; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. I know, my God, that you search the heart, and take pleasure in uprightness; in the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. Grant to my son Solomon that with single mind he may keep your commandments, your decrees, and your statutes, performing all of them, and that he may build the temple for which I have made provision.” Then David said to the whole assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the LORD and the king. (1 Chronicles 29:10-20, NRSV)

For we are aliens and transients before you…

You see all of us are foreigners and do not belong here before God. And God has given us everything we have.

Think about that for a moment…

My spouse…

My children…

My pets…

My home…

All of my money and possessions were given to me by God.

Everything is His and I am merely a steward or manager of His resources.

So how do I live my life in a way that I am using His resources to make His will be done?

Faith and Possessions

151011 Faith and Possessions As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” (Mark 10:17-31, NRSV)

This is a scary passage if you take it at face value.

Jesus said you have to sell all of your possessions and give the money to the poor. Now I did not have much growing up, and still don’t, but to sell what I have and give it to the poor is a hard thing for us to do.

That is why Jesus said it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. So it is impossible! I mean how can a camel fit through the eye of a needle?

But wait you say, this is the gate in Jerusalem that is the smaller gate in the big gate that was shut after dark, where merchants had to remove all the wares from their camels and the camel had to crawl unencumbered through the smaller gate. Yes this is a story we have heard for about the last 200 years. But there is no proof that this is true. There is no proof that a gate called the eye of the needle exists. This is a way to spiritualize the passage and show that we need to come to God on our knees unencumbered by anything in our lives, so that God is first. Not a bad idea, and something we need to do, but not what Jesus said.

So what does this passage mean?

Do we need to sell all of our worldly possessions and give the money to the poor?

If the answer to that question was yes, what would you do?

Would you walk away?

Because God does want us to come to Him unencumbered.

And it is easier for a camel, an actual camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a person who worships his possessions to go to heaven.

You see everything we have belongs to God anyway and everything we have was given to us by Him. There is no separation in our lives of faith and possessions. There is no separation in our lives of faith and anything.

If you can not see God in your possessions, then your focus needs to be changed.

If you can not see God in all of your life, then your focus needs to be changed.

With out God in all aspects of our lives, our salvation is impossible, because it is only possible through the faithfulness of the grace of God!

Not because of what we do, but all because of what He has done.

So center yourself on Him and know that He will make the impossible possible if we let Him have the control He should have.

Out of the mouths

O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
(Psalm 8, NRSV)

Out of the mouths of babes and infants will come a bulwark that will silence the enemy and the avenger.

Children will speak words that will bring down Satan and the foes of God!

We are all Gods’ children and according to Jesus we must enter the kingdom os little children.

So if we can be God’s children and look upon our lives as that of children, then we will be used to say things to thwart the enemy!

The majestic Lord will use you if you will be but a child and let Him.

talking about them

Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshiping them, for then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you. You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:16-21, NRSV)

We want our kids and young people to grow up as wonderful citizens that add to society.

We want professionals to teach them the things they should know.

That is why we send them to school, to learn from professional teachers. But as someone who worked as a 4K teaching assistant in Texas, where I had no special training, but a love for kids and wanting them to succeed, I could tell the difference in the kids that had parent interaction at night and those who didn’t.

The best teacher in the world can not teach your child anything that will stick if you as a parent are not involved.

And in the church we expect the professionals to teach our kids the faith. Sunday school teachers, who are all volunteers, know just as much as you do. And the pastor while a great helper to the ones who should be teaching kids about faith, will do as good a job as the professional teacher at passing along the faith to children if you the parents are not involved.

You see we want our kids to learn, but we have to teach them. We have to show them how to live. We have to show them faith. If the only time they hear us mention God is Sunday morning, then they will see and learn that God is not important.

We need to live our lives in such a way that the gospel seeps out of everything we do, and Jesus is seen in all of our actions.

Talk to your children at mealtime and bedtime about God. In the car ask them where they saw God today.

Live your faith out loud so your children catch it.

Faith is caught not taught. Show them your faith!

bind

Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children’s children, may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9, NRSV)

Bind them to your hand and as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house.

And here it is, a scroll on the door, that contains the Shema. The Shema is the central prayer in the Jewish prayer-book and is taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

So bind the words to your hand and your forehead. Bear them into all the world.

Bind your life and remember the Lord God is one and observe the commandments diligently.

bind them to your life!

provoke

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—this is the first commandment with a promise: “so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4, NRSV)

I know I am not the best parent in the world, because I mess up. I try to be a good and loving father and to raise my kids in a good way.

I do however provoke my children to anger. Sometimes even on purpose, and I admit that. Sometimes I am playing with them, and sometimes not.

So how do we raise children to be good citizen and to honor their parents. It is very difficult.

But we can not get hung up on being bad parents. Because we more than likely are just being hard on ourselves.

Because I can see in my children wonderful people who despite my provoking are becoming wonderful women, and will be a wonderful part of what is to be in God’s Kingdom.

despise

“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. (Matthew 18:10-14, NRSV)

Do not despise one of these little ones.

Who is a little one?

Wouldn’t we all be little ones? Not just little children, but all of us.

Jesus said else where that unless you enter the kingdom of God as a little child you will not enter.

So do not despise anyone, or be in the way of God coming to them.

Because God rejoiced when He found you, and He rejoices all the more when someone sees the life they can have in Him and they follow.

So do not get in God’s way, but let Him use you to find the lost sheep!

Who is greatest?

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:1-6, NRSV)

I’ve learned that you never ask a question you don’t want the honest answer to. And usually the answer to a question like the one the disciples asked is not going to go they way they hope.

I mean they asked that question to hear, “You will be.” That is what we all want to hear.

But we are not the greatest. Jesus told us, whoever wants to be first must be last. So we have to serve all and be humble about it. We can’t be last in order to be first.

We can not cause anyone of the followers or those who might follow to stumble. We must open ourselves to Jesus and be humble and follow where He leads. Allowing His light and grace and mercy to shine through us.

So don’t think you’re the greatest, but be humble and follow where He leads.

a helper

Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:2-16, NRSV)

Is it lawful to divorce?

I have preached on this passage and the parallel in Matthew, that Jesus says it is a sin to divorce. Hard words to say, but it is there in black and white.

But does that mean the couple should always stay together?

And I know several divorced and remarried people who are living a wonderful life with their new spouse.

In fact I have married some people who have been divorced. And some of the couples I have married have gotten divorced.

I also know people who will not marry or be in a relationship again because they are divorced and do not want to cause others to sin.

But you see here is the thing, no matter how you read the divorce thing, this passage, all of it with the part about children included, says we are to be in a relationship.

We can not navigate this world alone. Even if we never get married we need to be in relationships with others. We are connected as God’s children in His body. We are one.

That is why the two become one. The relationship binds them together, and even through divorce, they are still bound to each other.

That is why I love this icon of the Holy Trinity by Andrei Rublev.

If you look at it closely there is a huge amount of detail.

But it is first of all of the Trinity. Showing that God by God’s self is a relationship. Father to Son, Son to Spirit, Spirit to Father, and all to each other. There is a continual relationship happening there.

But then if you look at the bottom of the icon, between the Father and the Spirit, there is a slight opening. Now I’m not sure is Rublev did this intentionally or not, but I believe or see that opening as an invitation to you to join this relationship.

You see God as the Trinity is not complete without you, and you are not complete by yourself.

You were created by a God, who is perpetually a relationship, to be in relationship to Him!

And by being in relationship to Him, to all of His children. And therefore surrounded by a great cloud of helpers!

So go and be in relationship!

Integrity of heart

I will sing of loyalty and of justice;
to you, O LORD, I will sing.
I will study the way that is blameless.
When shall I attain it?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
I will not set before my eyes
anything that is base.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
(Psalm 101:1-3, NRSV)

I will walk with integrity of heart!

Oh that all people would do things for others and not for selfish gain.

If we would be honest at all times and uphold the values God has called us to.

To love God and our neighbor.

To not set our eyes on anything other than Jesus, and to fix our gaze upon Him so that we will always follow God.

Oh to have a life of integrity of heart!