As you have done, it shall be done to you

Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. (Obadiah 1:10-16 ESV)

Have you ever rubbed someone’s face in their defeat?

Or look at it from the other side, has someone ever pushed your loss back into your face? Not fun is it…

I tell my girls it is not whether you win or lose, it is how bad you stomp their heads into the ground… But they know that I am kidding because we talk about that. It is no fun to be on the losing end when the winner is gloating. And you know what we are on the winning end!

I’ve read the story and got an inside scoop that we are going to win in the end! God is the winner and we are on His side, so we are the winners!!!

So does that make playing even more special when we know we are going to win? It should make it easier for us to help those who aren’t on our team to see how good life and the game could be. To not gloat about their situation or tell them that they are losers and need to get it straight before they can come back.

We shouldn’t hold them in their distress or their sin and keep it over them like something they will never over come, because we were there, and God brought us out of it.

Do not cut them off and keep them from coming to our side.

Because the day of judgment is coming, and it is not about how bad you stomped their heads into the ground to get them to change. It is about how much you loved them where they were and allowed God to work in and through you to help them see how much fun the game can be.

What you have done will be done to you. Treat others with love, and you will be too.

Integrity!

Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O LORD, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds. O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes. But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the LORD. (Psalm 26 ESV)

Vindicate me Lord for I have walked with integrity…

How many of us can actually say we have walked with integrity? Are we sound in everything we do, tested and true to the values that we say we uphold? Do we say one thing and do another? Do we espouse to be inclusive and accepting of others, and then turn around and say that someone is not welcome until they change an aspect of their behavior? Can our lives stand up to the judging we will all have to face? Are we truly people of integrity?

This psalm tells of a man who does everything in his power to be a man of integrity. Not dwelling with evil doers and keeping himself away from those that might cause him to stumble. He proclaims the word of the Lord and tries to walk the narrow path of righteousness. Obadiah tells us of a different story in his vision of the humbling of Edom:

The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD. (Obadiah 1:3-4 ESV)

The pride of your heart deceives you. You think you are higher than you are, but no matter how high you think you can soar, God can bring you down. We can not get away from the integrity that God will hold us to. We have to be ready to move at a moments notice however and whichever way God tells us to move.

You see it is not about us thinking we have it all together and following after what we believe we have to do. It is about us living the life that God has called us to and being ready to go when He calls us, and doing what He commands us. Even when that is contrary to what we have been taught is how we follow God, or is following the rules.

When the final testing comes will God see you as a person of integrity, following where He leaded, or a person who upheld the traditions and rules of men to make yourself look good in the eyes of those who will not matter when God comes to judge each of us?

Look for your integrity from the one that will make the judgment on your eternal placement. Worry about what God thinks about you and no one else will ever matter! Have integrity with God and everything else will fall into place.

What is your Idol?

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:17-31 ESV)

Ever wondered about this passage? There is an awful lot here to chew on this week… Maybe the camel reference is to help us chew on what Jesus is telling us…

First there is a man who kneels before Jesus and calls Him good and asks what he must do to get into heaven. Now be honest, how many times have you wondered what that magic thing is we have to do to make it to heaven. I mean I know there is nothing I can do, but that is just our interpretation, right. There has to be a magic thing that allows us access to heaven. And that is what this man wanted to know. What must I do to get into heaven? And Jesus answers him by asking why do you call me good, only God is good. Wait a minute isn’t He God? But the rich man doesn’t know this, or does he? He thinks He is a good teacher, but does he know that Jesus is God? But I digress…

Jesus then asks if he knows the commandments. And then Jesus tells him the commandments, “‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” Uhm, Jesus I don’t know if that is right or not. I mean do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness and honor your father and mother are commandments, but I really don’t remember this do not defraud, are you just testing me… But the rich man does not get that, he has the audacity to say, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Wow. How many of you can say you have not broken a commandment? If we go without Jesus’ expansion of them, I can say I have not broken some of them, but not all of them, and I’m just talking about the 10 commandments. I am human. So this man says I have kept them all since my youth. Then Jesus looks at him and loves him. Jesus looks deep into his eyes into the depths of his soul and sees what this man lacks. He has an idol and it is his wealth. So Jesus tells him to get rid of his idol. Which we have turned into money is bad and wealthy people will not get to heaven. If we take this section literally, then all of us have to sell everything we have and give it to the poor to follow Jesus. This man had a problem with his wealth controlling his life, what would Jesus see if He looked into your soul?

But the disciples don’t get it… Jesus explains that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy man to get into heaven. Now again with the money, but understand that in Jesus’ day that if you had a lot of money you were blessed by God. Those that had were blessed and were first in society… OK maybe not just in Jesus day, do people with wealth think they get to be first, and are to be looked after more than those who do not have. Now that is a stereo type and I know some wealthy people who are are very generous and help in so many ways… But if you are blessed then you should be in heaven, but Jesus is saying that those who think they are blessed because of their possessions do not get it and won’t get in. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle also does not refer to the gate in the city walls which were called needle eyes, which would allow a camel to go through, but the rider had to get off and baggage had to be removed. These gates were named this long after it was recorded that Jesus said this.

Then Peter says, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” And Jesus responds, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” So if you have left something to follow Jesus you are going to have many more houses and brothers and sisters and children and mothers and land. Meaning you will have many more things to take care of. Mothers and children are those who needed families to take care of them. They were the least of these, and we will have more of them to take care of. But with all of these things, will come persecutions. We get persecuted with the possessions we get. We get more stuff and have to take care of, and we get persecuted in the process.

So are you ready to be persecuted as Jesus asks you to let go of your idol?

Honor God…

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew 15:1-9 ESV)

What is more important following God or following the rules?

One might say they are one and the same. You have to follow the rules to honor God. But does God get more honor out of you washing your pots according to the law or from someone who is hungry eating with dirty hands?

Is it more important to follow all the rules than to make sure the needy are taken care of? You see by saying we can’t help them because the code forbids it means that the code is not honoring God. Did God say, “I’m sorry Jesus didn’t die for you because you did not follow the ritual of cleansing your hands correctly…” No Jesus came so that all might be saved, not cleared to follow the rules.

So see that your heart is following God and the rest will fall into place. Do not try to follow the rules to make God happy, because it just won’t work…

Hear God

“These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
“And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess. (Deuteronomy 5:22-33 ESV)

Have you ever wished that God would just give you a clear answer to a question or request in an easy to understand voice? Kind of like a phone call, where God calls and says “Hey it’s me God, you need to go to the store and get some milk and take to 104 East Street.” If only God’s thoughts were this clear to us… Or maybe like the picture here shows, God asks you what He should do. Would you know how to answer if God did this?

Well we did have that access to God. In the reading from today, the Israelites heard God delivered to them orally the 10 commandments. He spoke to them. And they realized what was happening, and the fear of the power of God over took them. Kind of like when God passed by Moses and Moses saw God’s backside because if he would have seen God’s face he would have died. Like the angels in Isaiah 6 that cover their faces with 2 of their wings, because to see God is death…

So the Israelites heard God speak to them, and said, “No More!” Let Him not speak to us or we will surely die. He can speak to you and you to us for Him.” So they set up the prophets, who they said did not really hear God and did not know what they are talking about. And we do this…

We say we want God to speak to us, but f He actually did we would be so scared that we would not know what to do. Am I saying God does not speak to us? No, He does. Directly even I believe. And He also speaks to us in many and various ways. Through His word, in Jesus, and the Bible and extra biblical books. He speaks to us through friends and family, through strangers. He speaks to us through nature and circumstances that impact our lives… God works in and through everything to speak to us every day.

So do you hear God? Or are you too busy to be quiet long enough to actually listen…

What do you want…

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:12-17 ESV)

Have you ever felt like this? The person in the picture out in the middle of no where with no one around…

All alone, and wondering when God is going to come to your rescue?

That is what these verses in the psalm for today make me think about. How long O Lord will you leave me here, come and give me what I want. Have pity on me and fill me with your steadfast love, and make me feel good so that I can be happy and rejoice because my life is good and I have no problems…

Is this what we really think about God? That He will establish the work of our hands? That what we want will be given to us, when we want it?

God is not a cosmic vending machine there for us to call to to make all of our troubles go away. We can not call on Him when everything is bad and expect what we want to be given to us. That is not how it works. God is not a beck and call king of creator. Yes He loves you, but He wants more than your requests. He wants all of your life, and if you hand Him your life, and follow after Him, those moments in the desert, when it feels like your life is falling apart, will not be alone. You will be walking hand in hand with Jesus, not because you have your life together and you are doing the right things all the time, but you are living a life in relationship with Him! You are living in relationship with God, and that is why you are not alone. Not because you follow all of the rules and do everything right. God knows you can’t do that but He loves you any how.

It is like any other relationship. You can not not talk to a friend for years and then pick up the phone and ask them for a kidney. It doesn’t work like that. But someone you have lived with through thick and thin and been there for the ups and downs, when you get that call for the kidney, it is a longer pause, and a possibility. God will never let you down. Don’t treat Him like a vending machine just giving Him your requests, but spend time, and then you will never be alone.

If you wanted me…

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
(Matthew 5:27-36 ESV)

I think of the song If You wanted Me by Todd Agnew when I read this text. One of the verses/chorus of the song is:

And I’ll admit I’m glad I’m not King David
Ruling over everything I see
‘Cause I think I’ve fallen for more than Bathsheba
Your creation’s a temptation for me
If you wanted me to love you only
Why’d you make the moonlight sparkle in her eyes?

I mean really if we were suppose to love only God, why did He make everything so beautiful and great to look upon? Really Jesus, it is not enough to not actually commit adultery  but now I can’t even look on a woman and think anything lustfully… Well I think every person is in trouble on that one… I know of no person who has not had a lustful thought for someone. If you have to think about whether this includes you or not, remember that God knows all of your thoughts and everything you have ever done… We are all guilty of committing adultery with this new expansion on the commandment…

And do not swear an oath… Pinky swears count in this? Or cross my heart and hope to die stick a needle in my eye… How many of us did something like this as a child and while it was simple playground banter, it is something that Jesus said we shouldn’t do… So here again we are all in trouble.

And included in this sandwich of making all f us adulterers and putting us on the spot for swearing oaths… is Matthews version of the divorce text.  So what does all of this mean?

It is all about us thinking about the other, and not ourselves. If we are thinking lustful thoughts of another we are putting our selves in a higher position than them, making them subservient to us. In the eyes of God we are all equal. No one is higher than anyone else. We can not think that way, for how we think becomes how we act, and we need to hold others in a high place in our minds, so we treat them that way.

And to swear on something we can not control, puts others in a bad position. We merely need to make our yes be yes and our no be no. And this means we are honest with ourselves and everyone else. Do not say you can do something you know you can not do. And be helpful by doing that which you can, even when it is inconvenient.

And divorce causes issues in relationships through out the community. It is not about us being happy or always getting our way. It is about living in the relationships that we are in and building up the community. It is how we think about the other.

And here is the video of the Todd Agnew song. Hopefully it will make you think…

Community is built on relationships…

To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:10-16 ESV)

If you have a wife keep them…  We are on a role of texts from the Bible that talk about marriage relationships, are are really about much more than that. We have discovered over the past few days that these texts talk about relationships, not just marriage, but all relationships.

See today Paul tells us that as believers if we are married with an unbeliever, then we make that person holy, by association. We live in a relationship with them, accepting them as they are even though we have changed, we stay with them, and by doing this we are allowing them to take some of our faith/grace/holiness and have it as their own. It is like in the Lutheran church when a child is baptized as an infant, and the faith of the parents and the sponsors (God parents) is usurped by the child and used as their own faith until they are confirmed and answer the same questions again, but this time for themselves. (OK this is not how it really happens but it is a good analogy and way to think about it.)

You see we all live in relationships with each other and we lend our faith and grace sometimes, and sometimes we borrow. It is community, living in a communal lifestyle. That is really what faith is about, and when one relationship is broken, then all the relationships in the community will suffer because of that.

You see it is about us not being selfish and thinking about ourselves. We can not end a relationship simply because we are no longer happy in it, or it is not what we signed up for. It is not about us, it is about the other.

So look out for the other and think of others before yourself. That is what God did for you, and asks for you to do for each other!