September 29, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“’I will strengthen them in the Lord and in His name they will live securely,’ declares the Lord.” (Zechariah 10.12)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Let’s further consider the closing statement of Friday’s reflection on Zechariah 10.8 about the hope of “America being a nation of Christians more than a Christian nation.” We can start from the biblical reality that there will never be a place on earth that will be 100% faithful to God as it exists now. I do not mean as the Kingdom of God exists but as humanity exists on earth. There will always be at least two sides to the reality of human life as we understand it from a biblical perspective.

On the one hand, we will have those who are passionate for the life of righteousness which we have seen modelled in Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ. Perhaps one of the most vital understandings of the title “Jesus of Nazareth” was spoken by Nathaneal when told by Philip “Come and see. We have found the Messiah. His name is Jesus of Nazareth.” Nathaneal replied “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” We have probably had something similar said about us based on our geography of origin or some similar identification from our past. I know I was told I had no place in serving a congregation “in the north” because I was from the south. I remember walking into a mall in a nearby town looking for new shoes and went into a store bearing the name of a popular shoe store from “back home.” When the sales person heard me talk and asked by where I was from to which I answered “Texas,” she said “We don’t serve your kind around here.” I also remember being told there was no way I was a pastor because I wore a cowboy hat and a beard (not that they were mutually exclusive.) We might be able to hear some of the angst expressed by Nathanel who was from Judea (in the south) about a “Messiah” who was from “up north.” What may have been worse is that He was not only from “up north” but from some backwater, one-horse town called Nazareth. The deck was stacked against Him in the eyes of certain elements of “decent, God-fearing” society. It didn’t take long before allegiances began to change and what set Jesus apart was not his earthly origin but His heavenly one. “Only a son of God could do what You have done. Surely this man is of God.” Of course, there were those who claimed Jesus to not be “of God” and so the exercise of miracles and casting out demons would identify Him as a “son of a serpent, son of Satan, the Father of lies.”

This would help to identify the “other hand” which were people passionately against the life of righteousness which was modelled by Jesus of Nazareth. The teaching of Jesus about righteousness conflicted with the teaching that had been popularized by the Sanhedrin and Teachers of the Law and politicized by the Pharisees. It became a religion within Judaism that alienated and isolated populations of Jews within Israel and within the nations surrounding Israel where communities of Jews had lived for centuries following the great exiles. The application of the word “neighbor” which was first intended to mean those who lived within Jewish communities (both Jew and non-Jew; as there were no Gentiles in the days before the exiles just foreigners) became known as representing foreign communities. Such “kindness” was a political application of the Law in order to derive agreements and treaties with those foreign nations. The purpose of those agreements was to guarantee the survival of Israel. It was built on trusting human conventions more than God-driven intentions. Those who saw righteousness in any other way were deemed dangerous with skepticism of trying to subvert the will of the king and thus threaten the nation of Israel politically, socially and economically. Jesus’ teachings often ran contrary to the teaching of man but fully in line with the revealed Word of God as in the Law and the Prophets.

Of course, many will say there are “other” sides to be represented. To this we must fervently disagree. While the world (humans and human governments/systems) may believe that taking a middle ground position is safer and more politically-correct, Jesus reveals the failure of it. In Revelation, Jesus tells John in a word to be shared with the faith community in Laodicea “Be either hot or cold. Never be lukewarm or tepid for to such I will spew from My mouth as distasteful.” (Revelation 3.14-16) Many will believe that neutrality or compromise is the most expedient and peaceful way of living. The attempt, or reasoning behind such an attempt, is the desire to please all people. The hope may simply be to not antagonize many people and thereby putting one’s self in a prosperous or powerful position. I fear we are seeing such thinking bearing bitter fruit in our country at this time. Worse, I believe we are seeing it in the life of the modern Church. We are living in dangerous times where the truth of conviction may more be as I say someone quote the other day “The Church cannot be the salt of the earth is the gospel it practices tastes more like cotton-candy.” If you consider how cotton candy is made, you might see the similarities between it and the Church. Sugar sweet made by heat and filled with air; hot air, no less. We can dress it up in any color of choice but the nature and character of cotton candy remains the same: temporarily satisfying to the taste but of no nutritional value. We certainly don’t send “cotton candy” overseas to starving people, do we? (Although, sending ingredients for authentic nachos is preferable because they represent a perfect protein! Consider that WHO!)

Is the situation as “black and white” as all that? It should be. Even within the confines of the Church our focus should be more fully defined and delineated than it is currently. So should the issues we are facing in today’s world. Even with the impending election. What is the true focus of the electorate? Is it God-aligned or self-inclined? Some will say, as was considered in a recent discussion on the right to vote, that it is better not to vote because neither (or any) or the candidates are worthy. Our place as Americans is to exercise the right to vote. That does not mean the right to “not vote.” To not vote is taking that middle ground which will prove unsatisfying and ultimately unviable. The right to vote means to choose. Our choices should not be based on human factors such as age, gender, ethnicity or finance. Remember how the nation of Israel cried out for a king like the nations around them? They rejected godliness (Samuel the priest and judge of Israel stood on that side) and desired one who “looked like a king.” What was their template for consideration? It would have been the Philistines who were ruled by warrior-kings who rose like giants among the people. (They were reported to be descendants of the Nephilim- fallen angels.) As Saul was “a head taller than all Israelites,” he was chosen. They drug him out of a pile of luggage where he cowered in fear of being chosen. So, did they want someone who looked like a giant but was so afraid he would do whatever the people wanted? Quite a conundrum! But God let them have their way in order to see God’s way was better. God didn’t focus on the person but the real issue of “God-willingness.” What are our understandings of the issues today as aligned with “God-willingness”? Is that not how we should vote and put our trust in God for the one who most aligned with it? Isn’t it asking us to be hot or cold on the issues in such alignment? Isn’t it directing us to embrace the truth as it was revealed in Zechariah 10.12 “‘I will strengthen them in the Lord and in His name they will live securely,’ declares the Lord.” See what is being said. The LORD God declares the restoration, reconciliation and renewal of Israel will be governed by the strength of the Lord (who is the Messiah, God’s Son) and who will provide security in that Lord’s name (which is Immanuel, God with us.) Maybe what we might consider as members of the Church today in America is that we desire a nation which honors God as followers of Christ, instead of a Christ-worshipping people. Jesus never desired our worship and accepted our praise only in that it glorified God. Now the choice becomes clear: either we honor the One True God or the one who is not truly God.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.