Ezekiel and the Valley of the Dry Bones

[caption id="attachment_442" align="alignright" width="339" caption="Ezekiel preaches to a tough audience.... "][/caption]
Cool title... I just need a sermon. Sunday I'll be looking at the message of Ezekiel... now here's a guy that God really messed with! "Eat this scroll", "Lay on your side for a year", "Shave your head", "Eat this over a fire of human dung"... what was he thinking? Of course, Ezekiel being the faithful prophet of God that he was... always did just as God commanded. (Actually he did protest having to eat his meals cooked over human poop, so God made an allowance and told him that he could use cow manure instead... I'm still not sure that was any better, though.)
Anyway, as eccentric as Ezekiel was... what was his message? I love the task he was given in ch 37... "Go and preach to a bunch of rotting skeletons in the valley of dry bones." Woo hoo! I've preached before some dead audiences before, but THIS is ridiculous! Actually it was a huge object lesson for Ezekiel and for Israel. God is giving the people a message of hope in the midst of despair and telling them that He can bring forth life from their destroyed and "dead" nation. And if God can bring life to dead bones, and if God can bring life back to Israel after their total and utter destruction... wonder what else He can do?
Thoughts for Sunday???

Jeremiah

Jeremiah is famously known as the "weeping prophet" but why? I just finished reading through Lamentations (which most ascribe to Jeremiah) and Brad did an excellent job last week preaching from Jeremiah itself. What a dismal message the poor guy had to deliver! Wow...
Still, I've got an affinity for the guy. Here he is... a prophet of God... called to preach God's Word to the doomed nation of Judah and he hates it! He absolutely hates his job. No matter what he does, he can't win. When he preaches what God wants him to... the people hate him. But when he doesn't, he can't stand himself. There's a "fire in his bones" that he just can't contain. The only thing Jeremiah hates worse than preaching God's Word is NOT preaching God's Word.
I guess I've had those days... certainly not to the degree Jeremiah did. Still, I've got to admire him. Here he is preaching away... for 40+ years... and nobody ever listens. The people don't listen. His family doesn't listen. The kings don't listen. At one point the king even burns all the man's sermons and he has to start all over! There are times when I feel like nobody is listening to what I'm saying... and yet Jeremiah pressed on. He was faithful. He kept preaching... in season... out of season... despite hardship... despite persecution... despite apathy and despite outright hatred. (you'd cry too if it happened to you!) He kept on. A good example to consider, I think.

On Job...

My brain has been a little scattered here lately (okay, more so than usual).  I'm in the middle of preparing Sunday's sermon on the story of Esther... a great and uplifting story, but my mind is already jumping ahead to Job which will come next week.  I just finished reading through Job again in my 'cover to cover' reading and I'm again struck by the central theme of the book:  How can a loving God allow the innocent to suffer?

It's an age-old question, which is why the story of Job is probably the oldest one in Scripture.  Mankind has been wrestling with this one for a long time.  If God is all-powerful (as Scripture claims) and CAN stop suffering, then why doesn't he?  Is he just cruel?  If God is all-good (as Scripture claims) and does nothing, does that mean that he is powerless to do anything about it?  I can't accept that.  Don't we believe that he both CAN and WOULD prefer for the innocent NOT to suffer?  Then how do you explain drunk drivers robbing children of their daddies?  How do you explain children starving to death in poverty-stricken Rwanda?  It's a conundrum to be sure.  What were your thoughts as you read through Job?  What is God's answer to him?  What were his friends telling him?

I can't help but think about the crowd that I'll look at on the Sunday when I bring the message from Job.  There are so many hurting families and individuals right now in our church family.  Some of them are much like Job, having lost so much in recent months.  I'm not sure what I will be able to say to them that might help.  My fear is that I'll come across like one of Job's friends, with empty words and unhelpful advice.  One thing is for sure after reading Job... I'm a lot more cautious in trying to speak for God!  What would you say?

Any thoughts...?

A Family Legacy

I really intended to be blogging a lot more on my thoughts as I read through the Old Testament this year... I've had tons of them!  I can't believe all of the things that have jumped out to me... things that I've never noticed before.  Its almost been as if I'm reading this incredible story for the first time, though that's not the case.  I've read these stories before... its just that in the context of reading it straight thru from "cover to cover" I am seeing it unfold as one, grand story in a new and fresh way.  I hope your reading has produced similar results.

One thing that has struck me this week as I've read again the story of Rehoboam and the division of the kingdom in prepping for Sunday's message... is the legacy of Solomon.  Rehoboam was proud, pompous, arrogant and an unwise, inexperienced king... true.  His hasty decision to side with his buddies rather than the wiser elders of Israel, men who had served in his father's administration, led to the alienation of the northern kingdom and their rejection of him as their king.  Subsequently the nation split in two with Rehoboam holding on to only a fraction of the nation he had come to lead.  Yet, it wasn't all his fault.  This was in large part due to the unfaithfulness of his father, Solomon, who had chosen not to walk in HIS father's ways and instead to embrace the pagan cultures around him.  God brought judgment against Solomon and told him that this was going to happen.

I wonder what kind of legacy we are leaving for our children?  Solomon's legacy destroyed a nation.  What will mine produce?  What kind of example am I leaving behind for my boys?  What kind of mess am I going to leave behind for them to clean up?  Will they be able to tell their boys that their grand-dad "walked in the ways of their father, David?" or will they just roll their eyes and say, "Well, you know grand-pa... ?"  I wonder how the decisions I make today, the associations I involve myself with, and the way I  interact with them... will affect their lives tomorrow?  Hm.... something to ponder today.

National Tragedy

In my Bible reading this morning, I came upon this heartbreaking phrase, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10 NIV) How could this happen, I wondered? This came right after Joshua’s death after the children of Israel had finally taken the land that they had dreamed about for years. They had been blessed beyond measure. God had done so much for them, how could they forget? Slaves in Egypt… crying out to God. He heard their cry and brought them out into freedom. He took care of them, sustained them and dwelt with them in the wilderness for an entire generation, teaching them the way to live and thrive! He empowered Joshua to lead powerful military campaigns into the land, defeating the dirty, rotten Canaanites and establishing Israel in this promised land, fulfilling a centuries-old promise first made to Abraham. After all of this, how could they so easily forget? How could they so easily turn away? How could an entire generation grow up and NOT know what God had done for them?

I heard it said one time that Christianity is always just one generation away from extinction. That may seem a bit alarmist, but isn’t it true? It is the responsibility of every generation to make sure that the faith and the truths of God’s Word are passed on to the next generation. That was why God was so adamant in Deuteronomy 6 when he said, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up…” The goal was to insure that the precepts and principles established in His Word were passed along to the next generation… and the generation after that… and the generation after that and so on.

I don’t want to boast or get a big head or anything, but I really do think that this is something this church has done very well for a long time… instructing our children in God’s Word. We’ve got an incredible group of Bible school teachers and volunteers working with our children’s ministry. All of them love our kids and want for them to know God in a deep and meaningful way. It’s not that there aren’t things we might be able to do better. There always are and we are always looking for new ways to improve… but every Sunday morning and every Wednesday night our children’s classrooms are filled to the brim with eager, enthusiastic young people who are being taught (by word & example) what it means to follow Jesus. This could not be done without our wonderful teachers and adult volunteers. If you think you might be able to assist them and help out in this great ministry (if even ‘behind the scenes’) know that YOU are needed! Consider how you might help. Together with God we are insuring that our young people will grow up knowing the God who created the seas… who rescued Israel… who sent his only Son… and who doesn’t want to spend one day in eternity without each one of us!

Keeping up... cues on reading the Old Testament Law

Wow… if the last couple of weeks in Leviticus and Numbers haven’t been a little weary on you, then maybe its just me.  I have been reminded why these books are so difficult to plow through.  They are filled with rules, lists, and detailed descriptions of the Levitical priesthood… it has absolutely boggled my mind!  How difficult it must have been to abide by all of these rules and regulations.  Can you imagine having to offer up the sacrifices to God that were required in Leviticus on an ongoing basis… with little relief in sight?  If you, like me, have struggled over the last several days in our reading and in understanding what the purpose of the Law was… let me suggest another Bible reading cue that might help.

 

Bible Reading Cue #3:  The Old Testament Law should point us to Jesus

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia about the place of the Old Testament law.  This is what he said in 3:24 & 25, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that   Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”  Do you imagine that keeping the law perfectly must have been a difficult task?  Good, you are supposed to.  It was difficult.  In fact, it was impossible.  Nobody ever did it perfectly… until Jesus, that is.  I think that was part of the point.  God always intended his people to be justified or to be made right by FAITH.  It was the people’s faith in God that led them to offer the sacrifices in the first place.  It was their faith in God that sustained them in the wilderness wanderings.  It was their faith in God that led them to the land of promise.  It was all about faith… from the beginning.  So, why the law?  It was all about pointing the way to Jesus!

 

Did you ever wonder why God allowed the people to suffer in slavery in Egypt before being delivered by Moses?  Could it be that he was trying to teach them that we all are captives (to sin cf. Gal. 3:22) and in need of a deliverer… Jesus?  Ever wonder why God demanded all of those animal blood sacrifices?  It was to point the way to Jesus, whose blood sacrifice on the cross would forever remove the stain of sin and make perfect forever those who are being made holy (cf.  Heb. 10:14)!  Ever wonder why God asked them to build a Tabernacle so he could “dwell” with them?  It was to make the way for the presence of Jesus in their lives through the indwelling of God’s Spirit (cf.  1 Cor. 3:16).  How it all makes sense… seen through the prism of Jesus.

 

I wonder if the Israelites fully comprehended what God was doing?  My sense is that they didn’t.  God was teaching them step by step.  They were learning as they went and didn’t always get it.  God’s desire was simply for them to trust him.  Sometimes they did better with that than at other times.  What about you?  How are you at trusting in God?  Even when he asks you to do something that doesn’t make sense to you?  Its always easier to see God’s hand working in our lives in retrospect than it is to trust in him for the future.  That’s because we can see the past… but what God wants is for us to trust in him when we cannot see what lies ahead.  Isn’t that what faith is all about (cf. Heb. 11:1)… its an exciting journey, isn’t it?