Proverbs 10: September 2013

I’ve been inconsistent, and I feel it. Not just in the posting, but the reading and the growing. I was out of town, which excuses the posting—it was intentionally put off. The personal discipline is the bad part.

Proverbs 10 reinforces the overall Solomonic construction of the book. Again, you need a good nerd-book to chase whether or not Solomon personally sat around and wrote all of these or if he was mainly the compiler. I think there’s room for him to have compiled wisdom from many locations and improved it, then kept it.

 

Proverbs 10:10 is about those who are deceptive and sneaky. Those who communicate one thing with their words and another with their actions are not wise. They are going to come to no good end.

 

Proverbs 10:9 should have been first, but that’s the way my brain has been rolling today. Walking in integrity is crucial. It’s not an option, and those who try and shift from honesty will be found out. In an honorable society, that being found out will bring negative consequences to the dishonest man. In a dishonorable society, well, it goes differently, doesn’t it?

 

Proverbs 10:19 ought to be memorized by every preacher. And it ought to be cited when any political speech goes longer than 14 minutes, and then the speech ended.

 

Proverbs 10:29 is reality, even though we may not see it. The way of YHWH is strength and security for eternity. Only the wicked falter at it.

Witnesses Abound: John 5

Again in this chapter, we see the arbitrary nature of the chapter divisions of the New Testament. In all honesty, I’d argue that the chapter divisions, except for the Psalms, are useful only for locating material. They have no actual meaning—and sometimes are filled with disparate ideas.

With this, we turn to John 5. Where do we go in this chapter? Should we take a look at the healing at Bethesda? Perhaps dip into how we once even called the National Naval Hospital here in the United States the Bethesda Naval Hospital, but politics consolidated it into the Walter Reed Army Hospital and thus we froze out the name?

Should we take a look at our old friends the Pharisees and other religious zealots, who are more concerned with a man carrying a mat than with him having not walked for 38 years? How they have not given two hoots for him as he lay, near healing and near exhaustion, just around the corner, but now worry about his “sin” of carrying a mat?

There are a great many ways to consider the story that occupies the first half of this chapter. I think we could learn a lot from considering what our preoccupation is: healing and the work of God or self-preservation and rule-keeping? I’m all for people sitting still and listening to sermons, but that’s not the most important thing every time. Sometimes, it’s more important to feed the truth over the chaos than to spend time eliminating the chaos.

And if someone were saved and delivered from addiction problems, who are we to trouble them about wearing shoes to church instead of flip-flops? Does that really matter?

Beyond this, though, I think the higher point of John 5 is the second half of the chapter. Jesus, as He answers the charges regarding His working on the Sabbath, makes the central claim of His purpose. John 5:17-19 record that Jesus called Himself equal with God. This was not a matter taken lightly by the religious establishment of Israel.

Jesus goes on through the rest of the chapter to speak of the witnesses to this fact. He does this, not because He needs proof of who He is, but to show just how clear God had made the Truth. There is the witness of John, the witness of the works Jesus did, the witness in those works of the Father’s approval, and the witness found in Scripture.

Dear reader, that’s a lot of witness to the Truth. The Law required two witnesses to establish something, and Jesus gives twice that number. These four provided are of different characters, and they all provide different forms of testimony. This is one of my favorite parts of the Gospel:

Jesus does not leave us with just one point of information. It is true that our current, primary source of information is the Bible, but that records multiple streams of information. Additionally, there should be a few other witnesses that we live alongside the Word of God. Our works should also witness the truth of Jesus Christ.

Further, looking at the four witnesses of John 5, we see differing witnesses that will resonate with different types of people. The activist sees Jesus’ works, the spiritual person sees the Father’s witness, the non-conformist sees John the Baptist’s testimony, and the bookworm searches the Scriptures. Across this spectrum, it is hard to not see the one group that rejects Jesus: the religious traditionalist.

We have to be careful with this. People have been following Jesus for two millennia. That’s a long time. Every generation adds traditions while pruning others, every culture adjusts for itself. These are not all bad, but we must be careful that these traditions are not taken to be more important than the idea behind them: that we follow Jesus with all we are.

That is where the Pharisees had gone wrong in the first half of John 5. Rather than remembering the Word of God or seeing the witness of the works of Jesus, they only saw tradition violated. Their reaction is troubling, but we cannot change theirs. We can only watch out for ours.

Are we doing so?

Today’s Nerd Notes:

1. Grab a good reference work on textual criticism (or a good commentary) and check out the background on why most modern translations bracket or footnote John 5:3-4. I’m not going to track that whole discussion here, but I do find it worth contemplating. It is less important how the man was not healed, the story is about how he was healed.

2. It is not uncommon to encounter the argument that Jesus never claimed to be God. How that survives this chapter is a mystery to me. The Jewish leaders are angry because He claims to be equal with God. Rather than say “No, that’s not what I meant,” He says “Indeed, and here’s the proof.” Seems good to know.

3. John 5:39 is a little fun in the Greek. The verse could be translated as the KJV does: “Search the Scriptures,” or as the NASB does “You search the Scriptures.” It could be a command or an observation on their behaviors. I’m inclined to think the ambiguity is actually correct. Jesus could be affirming their diligent searching of the Scriptures while also commanding they go look again. Of course, many make the argument that all of the dialogue would have been originally in Aramaic, so Greek nuances take on different questions.

Sermon Wrap-Up for September 8

These are the sermons from this past Sunday. We had a presentation from the Gideon’s International, so the morning sermon was shorter than normal.

Morning Audio

Morning Outline:

September 8 AM Almyra FBC Joshua 1:8

Central Idea: the centrality of the Word

I. In times of transition: focus on the Word

II. In times of need: focus on the Word

III. In times of ease: focus on the Word

IV. In times of plenty: share the Word

 

Evening Sermon Audio

Evening Video:

Die, Rebels! Numbers 16

Here we go: rebellion against authority brings death. This is the clear message of the narrative in Numbers 16 as we continue through the whole Bible. God has anointed His workers, and one dare not get in the way of that!

Except that is not the whole of the passage. It is true that there are several rebellions against the Moses and, by extension, God, in this chapter. Yes, indeed, we find people struck down for these rebellions. Or, in the case of Korah, we see the ground open up and swallow the rebels.

The key part of this passage, though, is none of those. We can already count the Israelites in this portion of the narrative as folks not to be like. They have accepted the negative report of the spies and turned their back on the Promised Land. Why would we think any of this is recorded to tell us to not be like the Israelites?

Instead, this passage serves an even greater example for us to learn from. It’s found in Numbers 16:46-48. At this point in the passage, there is a plague upon the people, and Moses sends Aaron to make atonement for the people before God. Verse 48’s “he took his stand between the dead and the living” gives us the image of Aaron standing at the line between where the plague has killed and where the plague is going.

And the plague stops. What do we take from this?

First, we cannot miss who takes the stand to end the plague: it is the very men who are being rebelled against. The next time you, the leader, start thinking that people need struck down for opposing you, you need to reread this. God’s leaders take their stand to preserve people for grace. That stand comes from the very leader that the rebellion is against.

Second, we cannot miss who brings the plague: Moses never asks for it. God brings the judgment in His own way. That is His business, and not ours. Why? Because we have to be aware of the possibility that the leadership we exhibit is wrong. We have to acknowledge our own need for rebuke. If, in hindsight, we see God cleared the way for our leadership, then that is another matter.

Third, we cannot miss the shadow of Jesus falling across this passage. Ultimately, without making this eschatological, all people are reflected in the Israelites of the wilderness. We all have gone astray from God’s commands, and we all have rejected His promises at times. We rebel. We rebel against the rightful King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Yet who stands between the dead and the living? Jesus does. He stands there, above the cross and beyond the empty tomb, to make atonement and stop the plague of sin.

Do you see that? Do you see that ultimately, we are all rebels against God and that His Own Son died in our place to stop the plague? Catch that here. Grab hold of this truth for all eternity.

Today’s Nerd Note: There’s a relationship between Korah and the “sons of Korah” or the Korahites mentioned frequently in the Psalms.

Don’t lose this: the worst traitors and rebels can become the greatest worshipers of the Lord God Almighty. So there is hope for you. There’s even hope for me.

Proverbs 5: September 2013

Proverbs 5: the warning to avoid immorality. We have a song in our home, called “Children, Don’t Touch the Hot Pan.” It’s part of my forthcoming album of titled Melodies for Kitchen Safety, and it goes something like this:

 

Children, don’t touch the hot pan

It will burn you

And you’ll cry

Oh, oh

Children,don’t touch the hot pan

It will burn you

And you’ll cry.

 

That’s the chorus. The verses need work. It’s a common refrain around here, and we’re adding a few other songs. Like “Don’t use your sister’s arm to test the sharpness of the knives.” But those need a good chord progression.

 

Back to the Proverbs: you would think a warning like those above would be so self-evident to be unnecessary. But it is necessary. So is Proverbs 5. You might think it unnecessary, but it’s critical. Avoid immorality. It destroys.

 

Proverbs 5:9 speaks of one portion of the price of immorality. Your efforts go to something that you cannot hold, someone that you cannot tame. Destruction follows this: how many years are wasted? How much time? Think of the stories of “I thought he’d eventually leave his wife for me.” or “She was just playing me for a fool the whole 5 years.” Guess what? Immorality wasted those portions of life.

 

And then there’s an extension on building a relationship on immorality that never gets better, even though you try. The sex was great, so you got married. Then the marriage was awful, and years later there is nothing but regret. Hmm…

 

Proverbs 5:19 speaks to the exhilaration that love can bring, that romance can be. It is like a glorious fire. In the right places, at the right times, it is a wonder and a comfort and a cheer. Keep it there and let it be so.

Updating the GPS

We’re taking a little trip, and leaving a half-trained monkey with an assault weapon in the house, this weekend. It’s a trip to my parents’ house, so we know where we’re going, but I’m updating the GPS just because we like to use it for trips like this. It’s fun to play “Race the Tom-Tom” and see if it really does take 4 hours to make the trip. (It doesn’t.)

While I don’t have to do much to get the GPS up-to-date other than plug it in and click “Yes” to the fourteen times the computer asks if I really want to update, it’s still a long process. I’m about 45 minutes in at this point and still waiting. Why does it take so long?

Because every three months, Tom-Tom updates the whole map. It doesn’t correct the map. It deletes the whole thing and starts over. Now, deep in the recesses of Tom-Tom Central, I’m sure they do not actually delete the whole thing. That’s just how it works for my personal GPS unit.

I’m warned that if I don’t keep my maps updated, even though it’s a long process, I may accidentally divert into a pond or drive off a bridge that no longer exists. These are a couple of my everyday fears, so I do my best to keep the GPS updated. Who wants to drive off a non-existent bridge into a pond, anyway?

Except there is something that should stop me from driving off that bridge. It’s those two things behind my glasses and that massive calcium-covered processor that they are wired to. My eyes and my brain should keep me from going off the deep end, literally, with the car.

Yet I keep my extra helper ready, just in case. I think it’s a symptom of a larger problem in our world right now. We rightly know that we cannot trust ourselves in all things. After all, the brain forgets at times, the heart is not always attracted to the right things.

But we are getting more and more acclimated to relying on someone else to tell us everything. We have experts to tell us not just how to exercise but when; not just what to eat but the exact right utensil to cook it with.

The idea that people should store some information in their brains, recall that information later, and apply it with some common sense appears to be passing out of fashion. And that is honestly a scary thought. It’s one thing to not remember every element on the periodic table. It’s fine to not remember Columbus and 1492, especially since he was just coming where Celtic Monks had been for centuries.

It’s not fine to not know poisonous from non-poisonous. Or to not know that you can’t drive in the river. Increased access to information is great, but the accompanying death of common sense does not bode well for us.

So, yes, update your GPS. But don’t let it replace having half a brain.

Proverbs 4: September 2013

Proverbs 4 should show you, if you haven’t gotten it yet, the value of the Proverbs and Wisdom overall. Why? Take a look at the imperatives: GET WISDOM! ACQUIRE WISDOM! These are not fluffy thoughts, but clear instructions.

 

Focal passages:

 

Proverbs 4:9 reminds us that wisdom is evident, and should be treasured like jewelry. One who is adorned in wisdom needs not fancy baubles and or trinkets. Without drawing the parallel too far, take a look at The Hunger Games and see that the people with wisdom are the simpler dressed folks—even Capitol resident Cinna is marked by his eschewing of over-the-top fashion fads. The fools need the trinkets and finery. Even the wicked who are intelligent have a restraint in their apparel—note President Snow.

 

Proverbs 4:19 explains most politicians, news media personalities, and entertainment stars. Life falls apart, and they have no idea why. How about you? Are you stumbling but cannot figure out why? Take a look at whether you are even trying to walk in righteousness. That’s a key in Proverbs (and most of Scripture): while “righteous” is an absolute, the character of God, “the righteous” are not those who have definitely attained it but those who are striving, by the power of God, to live up to that absolute. Be one of the righteous.