Thursday, December 30, 2010

Responding to an Unexpected Announcement...

This week we have been looking at the Christmas story from a letter in our Bibles called the gospel of Luke. Yesterday, we discovered how unexpected it would be for a shepherd to receive the announcement the God was sending His Son to enter into humanity.

We stopped to ask the question as to we would do if the angel of the Lord and the glory of the Lord showed up and made that kind of announcement to us? Probably what the shepherds did, which we read as Luke continues the Christmas story:

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us."
Notice the shepherd’s response here. There was no doubt that the shepherds believed that they had an encounter with God. The shepherds recognized that they were given an opportunity to participate in God’s activity in the world because God had chosen them to be the first to hear of His entry into the world. And as they watched the angels return to Heaven, this unexpected announcement to this unexpected group of people created an uncontainable passion to God’s entry into the world that had been proclaimed to them.

This uncontainable passion to see the evidence of God’s activity and entry into the world caused them to go straight to Bethlehem. No time to find someone else to watch the sheep; not time to tell family and friends where they were going; just a desire that is focused on encountering God and experiencing and participating in His activity in the world. And it is God’s activity in the world and in our lives that can change the desires, the focus, and even the trajectory of our lives. Luke then shows us how God’s unexpected announcement to the shepherds changed the trajectory of their lives:

So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.
The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and began to search for the baby wrapped is clothes, lying in a feeding trough. So they went through town asking “have you seen him? Have you seen a baby in clothes in a manger? Is he here? Where do you keep the animals in town?

I imagine that many in Bethlehem would probably be wondering "Why are you looking for a baby in a manger?" Can you imagine how they would respond to the shepherds response? "We are looking because this baby will be our rescuer, our deliverer. We are looking because this baby is the Lord God who entered into humanity”. And all in Bethlehem who encountered these shepherds looking for a baby in a feeding trough were amazed and impacted by the shepherd’s uncontainable passion as they searched for a baby in a feeding trough.

I mean how unexpected would it be for shepherds to be searching for the Messiah, instead of religious or political power players. And when they found the baby, in a cave, in a feeding trough, any hesitation or doubts were removed as to what they had seen and heard that night. For Mary, however, there was a different response:

But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
Mary responds to this unexpected announcement by making another page in the mental scrapbook that she was creating about the role that God had given her in His huge story. This morning, wouldn’t you like to look at that scrapbook? Can you imagine what Mary’s scrapbook would look like as she placed treasured moment after treasured moment of the evidence of God’s amazing activity in her life? Luke then reveals for us how the shepherds responded to all that they had heard and seen:

The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
The shepherds, after seeing God entry into humanity as a baby in a feeding trough, return to the sheep and to the field. The shepherds returned to their relatively mundane lives that most would view as being of little importance and as having little impact on the world. However, the shepherds were forever changed as a result of accepting God’s invitation to see His Son.

Luke tells us that the shepherds went back glorifying God for all that they had heard and seen. And it was these shepherds who God gave the role to announce to the world that they were not just a part of the Christmas story, they were the point of the Christmas story. God had an unexpected announcement that was given by unexpected announcers to an unexpected audience. Instead of announcing the fulfillment of God’s promise through a prophet, priest, or king, God announced the fulfillment of His promised through a most unexpected announcer- a shepherd.

And for 2,000 years, God has continued to announce His offer of the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that we were created for by believing, trusting, and following Jesus through unexpected announcers. Announcers like a fisherman named Peter who denied Jesus three times. Announcers like a religious zealot named Paul who had earlier persecuted Jesus followers. Announcers who had flawed and scandalous pasts prior to meeting Jesus. Announcers who once had a label that they could not shake. Announcers who questioned how God could love them after they had stumbled and fallen in horrible ways. Announcers like me; Announcers like you.

You see, the shepherds were not just a part of the Christmas story; the shepherds were the point of the Christmas story. And in the same way, we are not just a part of the Christmas story; we are the point of the Christmas story.

So how have you responded to the unexpected announcement of the unexpected invitation that God has extended to all humanity through the Christmas story?

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

An Unexpected Announcement...

This week we are looking at the Christmas story from an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Yesterday, we discovered that Jesus entry into humanity was a most unexpected way for the Messiah to enter into His story. And if that was not unexpected enough, there was an encounter that was about to occur in the Christmas story that would be most unusual and unexpected. Let’s look together at what happens next:

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
You think? Of course they were frightened. Wouldn’t you be frightened? It’s not every day that the angel of the Lord, who was God’s personal servant, named Gabriel, just shows up. And if that was not frightening enough, Luke tells us that the glory of the Lord shown around them.

When Luke refers to the glory of the Lord, he is referring to the awesome presence, splendor and radiance of God displayed for others to see. This is God in His greatness revealed. Throughout the Bible, when we read about the glory of the Lord, we usually discover two things. First, we discover that humans usually cannot handle being in the presence of the glory of the Lord. Usually, people respond to being in the presence of the glory of the Lord by falling on their face or fleeing.

Second, when we read about the glory of the Lord, we usually read about God’s glory being revealed either in the tabernacle or the temple in Jerusalem, which was the only church in Mary and Joseph’s day. The glory of the Lord did not just show up in a field in the middle of nowhere. And the glory of the Lord did not show up around shepherds. The glory of the Lord may have been revealed to kings or priests, or to really religious people; but not to shepherds.

Shepherds were blue collar, lower class people who earned their living taking care of flocks of sheep. Shepherds were peasants who were located on the bottom of the scale of power and privilege. So of course the shepherds were frightened; this was most unexpected and frightening; “what’s going to happen to us now” was what they probably were thinking. Luke tells us what happens next:

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid;
To which the shepherds probably thought “easy for you to say”…

for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
The angel says “I have good news for you, which is for you to tell all the people. Down the road from you has been born the savior; you know the promised one that you have heard about since you were a child that is coming to rescue you and your people from your selfish rebellion and sin. You know the Christ, the Messiah. And this Savior, Christ, that has been born, oh by the way, He is God. Now go and check it out for yourself. This is how you will know; Your God, your Savior, your Messiah, He’s in the cave on the edge of town, where He is wrapped up in clothes in a feeding trough”.

Now imagine yourself as a shepherd. What would you be thinking? What questions would be running through your mind? Here’s what I think was running through their mind. “Why would God send an angel to tell us? Why us? Why not tell the priests in Jerusalem? Why not tell the religious people like the Pharisees or Sadducees? Why not tell those in positions of power or influence? Why not tell the rest of Joseph and Mary’s family who are in Nazareth?

Instead, the news of God fulfilling His promise of rescue and deliverance comes to lowly peasants. While the shepherds were frightened and were pondering all that they had heard, there were others who had a much different response:

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
Can you imagine what that must have looked like? Can you imagine what it must sound like to hear a multitude of angels worship God in one accord without anyone being off key? So what would you do if the angel of the Lord and the glory of the Lord showed up and made that kind of announcement to you?

We will look at how the shepherds responded and the timeless truth that it reveals about the Christmas story tomorrow...

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

An Unexpected Entrance...

For the past several weeks, we have been looking at the Christmas story from an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew and discovered that the Christmas story reveals that God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. We discovered that God’s faithfulness is to keep His promise to offer the opportunity for the forgiveness of our sin and the relationship with Him that we were created for through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has absolutely nothing to do with us.

The Christmas story is about God’s faithfulness to keep the promise that He made not only in spite of our rebellion; The Christmas story reveals that reality that God is even faithful to keep the promise that He made through our rebellion. And we see God’s faithfulness to keep His promise that we know as the Christmas story revealed and recorded for us in another account of Jesus life in the Bible, which is called the gospel of Luke. And in this account, we see another unexpected aspect of the Christmas story. So let’s look at it together beginning in Luke 2:1:

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.
Like any great story, Luke begins the Christmas story by providing us the context for the story. At this time in history, the land that belonged to the Jewish people was under the control of the Roman Empire, which was the dominant military and political power in the world. And as part of their military and political dominance, the Roman Government required that every person who lived in the Roman Empire over the age of 20 pay a tax that was called the poll tax.

And to make sure that they were receiving the maximum amount of taxes that they were able to gather, the Roman Empire called for a census. This census required every Jewish family to travel to their ancestral home town to register for the census so that they would be counted for tax purposes. Every Jewish person, in essence, needed to travel to the place where their family tree was planted. And for Joseph and Mary, that meant traveling to Bethlehem, as Joseph came from the family tree of David, who as we saw last week was the most famous king to ever ruler the Jewish nation. So Joseph and Mary left Nazareth and made the trip to Bethlehem.

Now to understand the significance of this trip, we first need to understand some things about this journey. First, the distance between Nazareth and Bethlehem was about 80 miles. Second, there were no planes, trains, or automobiles to make the trip in. Instead, Joseph and Mary walked 80 miles, which would take approximately five days for an average person to travel.

But as Luke tells us, Joseph and Mary are not average; Because Mary is with child. When Luke says that Mary is with child, she is with child. Delivery could occur at any moment. Most scholars believe that this trip would have taken at least one week to accomplish. And as we see next, however, Mary is not just with child:

While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
After arriving in Bethlehem, Mary discovered that she was not just with child; it was time to have the child. There was a problem, however. You see, Bethlehem was not a bustling metropolis filled with hotels and motels; Bethlehem was a small rural community that was busting at the seams as a result of all the out of town visitors that were required to come to register for the census. Bethlehem was not a destination that up and coming people moved to in order to start their careers; Bethlehem was a departure point that people left as soon as they grew up.

So there was no place for people to reside, unless there were close family that still lived in town. Bethlehem was so crowded that the only place that they could find for Mary to give birth and stay in was with domesticated animals. Most likely this was in a cave on the outskirts of town where animals where kept for their safety. Instead of a crib, all Mary could lay her newborn in was a manger, which was a feeding trough for animals.

Now imagine yourself as Joseph and Mary. How would you be feeling right now? You are in a cave, 80 miles from home, where you have placed your firstborn son in a box that a few minutes ago, farm animals were slobbering in as they ate. And if that is not enough, your son is God in a bod. God, who has taken on flesh, is lying in a feeding trough. And where do you think they got the cloths to wrap baby Jesus in? How would you be feeling? What would you be thinking?

I imagine that for Joseph and Mary, one of the thousands of thoughts that were running through their minds would have been "What an unexpected way for the Messiah to enter into His story. What an unexpected way for God to enter into humanity".

And if that was not unexpected enough, there was an encounter that was about to occur that would be most unusual and unexpected. We will look at that tomorrow.

How would you expect God to engage humanity? Would you expect God to enter into and engage humanity as a baby?

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A Promise Made and a Promise Kept...

This week, we have been looking at the story of David and Bathsheba. Yesterday, we saw that David's selfish rebellion that led him to have an affair and commit murder caused not only incredible embarrassment, but also devastating consequences for his family and the Jewish people.

And after David's selfishness and rebellion, I believe that David was confronted with a fundamental question that many of us have experienced. And that fundamental question is this: “will God still keep His promises to me when I blow it?” For David, he could not help but wonder whether or not that amazing promise that God had made to him was now null and void. David finds the answer to these questions and doubts a short while later, in 2 Samuel 12:24:

Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved him and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the LORD'S sake.
The Lord answered David’s question and doubts about His promise through a son, named Solomon. And to leave no doubt, God sent the prophet Nathan, the same prophet who confronted King David with a message of justice and judgment for his selfishness and sin. This time Nathan had a different message from God for the king; a message of grace. A message of “I am a promise maker and a promise keeper” for the sake of my name, for the sake of my plan.

And some years later, another recipient of grace, Matthew, wrote the following in Matthew 1:6:
David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
You see, David and Bathsheba are not a part of the Christmas story; David and Bathsheba are the point of the Christmas story. The point of the Christmas story is that God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. And God’s faithfulness to keep His promise to extend an invitation for the opportunity for receive the forgiveness of our selfishness and sin and the relationship with God that we were created for through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has absolutely nothing to do with us.

Just like David and Bathsheba, all of us have a part of our story that we are embarrassed of and that we wish would disappear. And just like David and Bathsheba, we are the point of the Christmas story. The Christmas story is not simply about God’s faithfulness to keep the promise that He made in spite of our rebellion. The Christmas story reveals that reality the God is faithful to keep the promise that He made to us through our rebellion. God is able to take our selfish rebellion and turn it to shine a light on him and bring people to Him. And regardless of your past, regardless of the parts of your story that are embarrassing and that you wish would just disappear; God extends that same promise to you.

The Christmas story is all about God extending the most unexpected of invitation’s to all of humanity to recognize their need for forgiveness and to respond to His most unexpected promise of forgiveness by believing, trusting, and following Jesus. The only question is how will you respond to God's most unexpected of invitations.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A Promise Compromised...

This week, as part of the Christmas story, we are looking at King David, who was a part of the family tree of the Messiah. For the Jewish people, King David was not just a king: King David was the King. Yet, there would be embarrassment for the Jewish people when Matthew, the writer of the account of Jesus life designed to prove that Jesus was the fulfillment of this promise brings up the name Bathsheba.

There would be embarrassment because of what happened between King David, their greatest leader, the man after God’s own heart and Bathsheba. The type of embarrassment that would make a person wish that a part of their story would never be brought up. Because just like you and me, the Jewish people knew about a part of King David’s story that they wished would simply disappear. We read about this chapter of King David’s story, which occurred only a few years after God had made an incredible promise to the King, in 2 Samuel 11:1:

Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant."
King David, the man after God’s own heart, the man who was their greatest military leader, instead of doing what he was supposed to be doing and called to be doing, decided to do what King David wanted to do. And what King David wanted to do was have a little fun with someone else’s wife, who was doing what King David was supposed to be doing. What King David did not plan for however was that Bathsheba would become pregnant.

So King David had to try to figure out how to get out of this horrible and embarrassing situation. King David comes up with a plan, which we read about in verse 6:

Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing."
Well that did not work out how King David planned it. So King David comes up with another plan:

Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord's servants, but he did not go down to his house.
Uriah was a man that seemed to possess more of a heart for God than King David did at this point. Now, imagine yourself as King David. You grand plan has not worked. How are you going to fix this mess that you have made? We see the king’s final solution recorded for us in the verses that follow:

Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die." So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David's servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died.
Just when you think the story cannot get any worse, it does just a few verses later in verse 26:

Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.
You think? Now can you see why the Jewish people would want this part of the story of the Jewish people to simply disappear? Can you see how the names of David and Bathsheba in the same sentence would be so embarrassing? Not only was King David’s sin embarrassing; King David’s sin was devastating. King David’s sin, like ripples that form when a rock is dropped in a pond, had devastating consequences to his family and the nation. King David’s sin proved the principle that there is not such sin as private and personal sin. Our selfishness and sin affects and impacts all who are in our sphere of influence.

And for King David, as a leader who represented not only the Jewish people but also represented God, his sin gave the enemies of God an opportunity to ridicule and reject God. So God’s response to David’s sin was swift and severe for David, Bathsheba, and the son that came from their relationship. While David confessed his sin and received forgiveness for his sin, he and his family would have to live with the consequences of their sin, which included the death of their son, for the rest of their lives.

And at about this point in King David's story, I believe that King David was confronted with a fundamental question that many of us have experienced. And that fundamental question is this: “will God still keep His promises to me when I blow it?” Maybe you are a follower of Jesus, and for you the question is “will God still keep His promises when I do something that grieves Him, that wounds Him, that rebels against Him?” Or maybe you are far from God, and for you the question is “how could God keep His promise of forgiveness and relationship with me in light of all that I have done”?

And for King David, he could not help but wonder whether or not that amazing promise that God had made to him was now null and void. David finds the answer to these questions and doubts a short while later.

So, what decisions have you made that you felt devastated your relationship with God? Tomorrow, we will see how God responds to King David's doubts and fears.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

An Unexpected Promise made...

During this Christmas season, we have been looking at the Christmas story from one of the four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible. This account, called the gospel of Matthew, was written to prove to the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah that God promised would come to rescue and restore the Jewish nation as His chosen people.

So to prove that Jesus was the long promised Messiah, Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy to show that Jesus had the proper family background to be the Messiah. But as we discovered, for a Jewish person, who was so familiar with the history of the Jewish people that is recorded for us in the Old Testament, reading this genealogy, or family tree of Jesus, would not seem very convincing and would even be very confusing. For the average Jewish person, the family tree of Jesus would not seem to represent a strong family tree; instead Jesus family tree seemed to be filled with flawed and broken people who one would not expect to be in the Messiah's family tree.

So let’s pick up where we left off last week and continue to look at the Christmas story as a Jewish person would have read in, beginning with Jesus family tree at Matthew 1:5:

Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.
Now a Jewish person reading this genealogy, at this point would cringe in embarrassment. They would cringe in embarrassment because every Jewish person was familiar with the story of David and Bathsheba. To understand why this is so significant; to understand why a Jewish person would respond this way, we first need to understand who King David was and the role that he played in the Jewish nation. King David was known as the greatest king that ever led the Jewish people. It was King David that led the Jewish armies to conquer their enemies. It was King David who captured Jerusalem and established it as their capital city. It was King David who established the Jewish nation as a military and political power in the world.

And it was King David who was described in the Bible as a man after God’s own heart. And as a man after God’s own heart, it was King David who desired, at the apex of his power and prominence, to honor God by building what would later be known as the temple in Jerusalem. We see David’s desire and God’s response recorded for us in 2 Samuel 7:1:

Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains." Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your mind, for the LORD is with you." But in the same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, "Go and say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD, "Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? "For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. "Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, 'Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?'"' "Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. "I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. "I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you. "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. "I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. "Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."'"
Now, this morning, imagine yourself as King David. What do you say to this? We see his response in 2 Samuel 7:18-20:

Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, "Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? "And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord GOD. "Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord GOD!
I mean how else would you respond when God says that one of your descendants will be the Messiah who will have an eternal kingdom. David asks one thing from God, in 2 Samuel 7:29:

"Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord GOD, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever."
King David simply says "God, just please keep your promise. Please keep this amazing promise that you have made to me and my family, that I would be a part of the family tree of the Messiah". For the Jewish people, King David was not just a king: King David was the King.

So imagine their embarrassment when Matthew, the writer of the account of Jesus life designed to prove that Jesus was the fulfillment of this promise brings up the name Bathsheba. There would be embarrassment because of what happened between King David, their greatest leader, the man after God’s own heart and Bathsheba. The type of embarrassment that would make a person wish that a part of their story would never be brought up. The type of embarrassment that would make a person wish that a part of their story would just disappear. The type of embarrassment that maybe you feel when you think of your story. Maybe as you look at a part of your story, there are pieces that are so embarrassing and shameful that you wish would disappear.

And just like you and me, the Jewish people knew about a part of King David’s story that they wished would simply disappear. We will look at that story tomorrow.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

An Unexpected Label...

This past week, we have been looking at a lady in Jesus family tree who carried a label that followed her everywhere; a label that she could not shake. This lady, named Rahab, was a prostitute who lived in the city of Jericho. We have seen Rahab respond to the evidence of God’s activity through the Jewish people by recognizing that the Lord was the one true God. Rahab responded by recognizing that the label that she bore placed her on the lowest rung on the ladder as part of this wicked culture and that she was worthy of punishment and in need of rescue. And Rahab responded by swimming against the current of the culture she lived in that devalued human life by protecting the spies from the Jewish people that she viewed as representatives of the one true God.

Rahab then demonstrates her belief in who God was and her need for rescue by doing something that many would view as incredibly risky and even stupid, as we see in Joshua 2:12:
"Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death." So the men said to her, "Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you." Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. She said to them, "Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way." The men said to her, "We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household. "It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. "But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath which you have made us swear." She said, "According to your words, so be it." So she sent them away, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
Now place yourself in Rahab’s shoes. Would you have responded the same way? Would you hide spies from a nation that is bent on destroying your people? Would you provide a way of escape to ensure their safe return with all the information necessary to overcome the defenses of your city? Would you trust the word of two spies that they would spare your life?

Remember, you are a harlot, a prostitute; you probably have been lied to hundreds of times. How many times have men failed to come through on their promises to you? And what would happen to you and your family if the rest of Jericho found out what you did? Rahab responded to who she was and who God was by trusting these men, who represented the Lord, to keep their word. Rahab exercised and demonstrated faith by placing her confident trust in the fact that these two men, who were God’s representatives, would keep their promise to her, in spite of the label that she wore.

And for weeks, Rahab watched and waited. For six days, Rahab watched from the window of her house that sat on the wall of Jericho as the Jewish nation silently marched around her walled city. Rahab watched, waited, and trusted God to look past her label and to her faith. A few chapters later, in Joshua 6:22, we see how God responded to Rahab’s act of confident trust that swam against the current of the culture she lived in:

Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the harlot's house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her." So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. However, Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
God responded to Rahab’s act of confident trust that demonstrated her faith in Him by giving her a new label as part of His people. And some 1,400 years later, we read Matthew to see that Rahab, who once had a label as a harlot, not only received a new label; Rahab became a part of the family tree that God would use to bring His son Jesus into humanity in order that we would have the opportunity to receive a new label. A new label “forgiven; healed; repaired; restored; loved; valued; child of God; follower of Jesus;”.

As Matthew revealed to the Jewish people, and to us here today, God gave Rahab a new label and a new role in the kingdom mission that He has given His people. Because this morning, Rahab is not just a part of the Christmas story, Rahab is the point of the Christmas story. The Christmas story is about people like Rahab, who have a label, receiving a new label as part of God’s family and as part of God’s kingdom mission. People who wear unexpected and unflattering labels like Rahab. People who have wore unexpected labels like me; people who have worn unexpected labels like you.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Meet the Lady with the Label...

Yesterday, we began looking at a story in the Bible which records how God, after 400 years of extending grace brought the Jewish people to the edge of the land that God had promised to give them after being freed from slavery. And Jericho, being a border city a short distance from the Jordan River, would be the first city that the Jewish nation would encounter. And as the Jewish people prepare for their first battle against the nations that lived in the Promised Land, their leader Joshua sends spies out on a reconnaissance mission.

And it is in the city of Jericho where we meet the woman who was in the family tree of the Messiah and who carried the label harlot resided. We first meet this woman, named Rahab, in a letter in our Bibles called the book of Joshua, Joshua 2:1:

Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.
Now you may be thinking, why go to a brothel? In the culture of Jericho it would not be viewed as unusual for people to come from out of town and have a little fun with the local prostitutes. This made a brothel the perfect place for spies to hide without drawing suspicion. However, the plan did not work out so well, as we see in the next verses:

It was told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land." And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land." But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. "It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them." But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the fords; and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.
Now you might be wondering, “Why would Rahab lie?” While it is not unusual for people who are far from God to lie about something, especially in a culture as wicked as Jericho was, why she lied seems weird, doesn’t it? Why would Rahab lie and risk her life to protect men that she knew represented the people who desired to destroy her and her people? We find the answer in the story continues:

Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. "For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. "When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
Rahab responded to the evidence of God’s activity through the Jewish people by recognizing that the Lord was the one true God. Rahab responded by recognizing that the label that she bore placed her on the lowest rung on the ladder as part of this wicked culture and that she was worthy of punishment and in need of rescue. And Rahab responded by swimming against the current of the culture she lived in that devalued human life by protecting the spies that she viewed as representatives of the one true God.

Rahab then demonstrates her belief in who God was and her need for rescue by doing something that many would view as incredibly risky and even stupid. We will look at what Rahab did tomorrow...

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Unshakeable Label...

During this Christmas season, we are spending our time looking at the Christmas story from one of the four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible. This account, called the gospel of Matthew, was written to the Jewish people to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, the one God that promised would come to rescue and restore the Jewish nation as His chosen people. The Jewish people were looking for the descendant of Abraham, from the line of David that would be the promised Messiah who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world.

So to prove that Jesus was the long promised Messiah, Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy to show that Jesus had the proper family background to be the Messiah. But as we discovered, for a Jewish person, who was so familiar with the history of the Jewish people that is recorded for us in the Old Testament, reading this genealogy, or family tree of Jesus, would not seem very convincing and would even be very confusing. For the average Jewish person, the family tree of Jesus would not seem to represent a strong family tree; instead Jesus family tree would look like it had some bent and broken branches. And as a Jewish person continued to look at Jesus family tree, they would read the following, beginning in Matthew 1:3:

Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab,
Now whether you were raised in church and regularly attend church or not; whether or not you have read much of the Bible, most people have heard of Rahab. We have heard of Rahab because Rahab had a label didn’t she? Rahab has a well-known reputation doesn’t she? There is a reason most people do not name their daughters Rahab.

We know who Rahab was because of her label, “you know, Rahab the Harlot”. You see Rahab, had a label that has followed her throughout history- Rahab the prostitute; Rahab the harlot. Imagine being Rahab and living life in your hometown, which was Jericho, and being unable to shake that label. “Hi, what’s your name? My name is Rahab. Oh, I have heard of you, you’re the harlot; you’re the prostitute”.

Maybe you can relate to Rahab. Maybe you are here this morning and you have a label that follows you everywhere; a label that you are unable to shake. A label like “Adam the Adulterer; Dave the drunk; Frank the fraud; greedy Greg; Lazy Larry; Nancy the nerd; Paul the porn addict; Tina the two-timer. You know that label that you carry; the label that your identity and significance seem to be bound up in. And for the Jewish person reading the Christmas story and Jesus family tree, they would see the name Rahab and see one thing- the label “harlot”. And once again, a Jewish person would not find the family tree of Jesus very convincing and even very confusing.

But to really understand why Rahab would be a very confusing and not very convincing part of the family tree of the Messiah, we first need to understand the context in which Rahab enters into God’s story in the Bible. You see, Rahab lived in Jericho, which was in a part of the world which was called the land of Canaan. God had promised Abraham that his descendants would live in the land of Canaan, so the Jewish people referred to Canaan as the Promised Land. After being delivered from slavery at the hands of the Egyptian nation, the Jewish people were commanded by God to take over and possess the Promised Land and destroy the all of the nations that inhabited the land.

You see, some 400 years before the story of Rahab and Jericho, God predicted and proclaimed to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, that after being enslaved in Egypt, the Jewish nation would return to and take possession of the land that was promised to his descendants. For 400 years God endured the incredible wickedness of the Amorites, which was the society and that inhabited the Promised Land. God extended grace for 400 years in order to provide that society the opportunity to change their evil ways.

And after 400 years, God chose to use the Jewish people as an instrument to exercise His justice and judgment on the people of the Promised Land, who had refused to change and were left with no excuse or defense for their wickedness. Their selfish rebellion and sin, or iniquity, was complete; they were left without grounds to question God’s justice. You see, the God that is revealed in the Old Testament is the same God that is revealed in the New Testament; a God that extends grace and the opportunity for forgiveness yet will execute His justice on those who are unwilling to change and who are bent on selfishness and rebellion.

So after 400 years of God extending grace; after 400 years of God being gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, but by no means will leave the guilty unpunished, God brings the Jewish people to the edge of the promised land. And Jericho, being a border city a short distance from the Jordan River, would be the first city that the Jewish nation would encounter. And as the Jewish people prepare for their first battle against the nations that lived in the Promised Land, their leader Joshua sends spies out on a reconnaissance mission. And it is in the city of Jericho where the woman who carried the label harlot, Rahab, resided.

Tomorrow, we will look at how this woman, who carried a most unexpected label, fits in the Christmas story. In the meantime, what label are you carrying that follows you everywhere you go? What label are you carrying that you are unable to shake?

Thursday, December 9, 2010

An Unexpected Candidate...

During this Christmas season, we are spending our time looking at the Christmas story from one of the four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible. And to prove that Jesus was the long promised Messiah, Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy to show that Jesus had the proper family background to be the Messiah. Yesterday, we saw that one of the members of Jesus family tree, named Judah was known as the man that came up with the plan to sell his brother into slavery.

And if that was not bad enough, Judah was involved in one of the most scandalous stories in the Bible, where he ended up sleeping with his daughter-in-law Tamar. So as you might imagine, a Jewish person reading Matthew's letter would view Judah as a very unexpected candidate to be in the line of the Messiah. And they would not be impressed with Judah. However, there was a timeless reason as to why Judah and Tamar are a part of Jesus family tree. And this reason is revealed for us as we see Judah reappear, beginning in Genesis 43:1:

Now the famine was severe in the land. So it came about when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, "Go back, buy us a little food." Judah spoke to him, however, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.' "If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. "But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'" Then Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother?" But they said, "The man questioned particularly about us and our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' So we answered his questions. Could we possibly know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down '?" Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. "I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame before you forever.
Instead of being the brother who suggested a plan out of selfishness and greed, Judah suggests a plan that selflessly places his life as a life insurance policy for the Jewish nation. And as the story continues, we see this policy nearly cashed in, as Joseph placed his brothers through one final test to see if they had changed. And it is in this context that we Judah’s response to the test, beginning in Genesis 44:18:

Then Judah approached him, and said, "Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh. "My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father or a brother?' "We said to my lord, 'We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.' "Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.' "But we said to my lord, 'The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.' "You said to your servants, however, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.' "Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. "Our father said, 'Go back, buy us a little food.' "But we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' "Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces," and I have not seen him since. 'If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.' "Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. "For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.' "Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.
Judah responded to Joseph’s final test of his brothers by offering his life so that his brother would survive. And some 1,700 years later, a descendant of the scandalous story of Judah and Tamar, named Jesus Christ, became a life insurance policy for all humanity by allowing Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived His perfect life.

As Matthew revealed to the Jewish people, and to us here today, God used the unexpected candidates of Judah and Tamar to advance His kingdom mission. Because this morning, Judah and Tamar were not just a part of the Christmas story, they were the point of the Christmas story. The Christmas story is about unexpected candidates being a part of God’s family and a part of God’s kingdom mission. Unexpected candidates like me. Unexpected candidates like you.

So do you view yourself as an unexpected candidate? Do you view yourself as the person that would be the least likely candidate to receive an invitation from God to be a part of His family? Do you view yourself as the least likely candidate to be a part of God’s activity in the world? Because, as Matthew reveals for us in Jesus family tree, unexpected candidates are not just a part of the Christmas story; unexpected candidates are the point of the Christmas story.

The Christmas story is about God inviting and rescuing those who we would least expect to receive the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that they were created for. Just like Judah, the Christmas story is about unexpected candidates like you and me being invited into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that transforms our lives and involves us in God’s activity in the world. So, how have you responded to the unexpected invitation that God is extending to you through Jesus?

Now you may be wondering “how do I accept this invitation and become a follower of Jesus?” The answer is quite simple and can be summarized in three simple words: believe, trust, and follow. First, you need to believe that you have done selfish things that have hurt God and others and are in need of forgiveness and that Jesus was who He said He was; that Jesus was God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived His perfect life.

Second, you need to trust that Jesus death for your selfishness and sin provides forgiveness and the relationship with God you were created for. And third, you need to follow Jesus as Lord and Leader. If you desire to accept God’s invitation to enter into the relationship with Him that you were created for, you simply need to express to Him that you believe, trust, and desire to follow Jesus as Lord and Leader. There are no magic words, prayers, or formulas. Just talk to God and express that desire.

May we keep in mind that Christmas is about God giving what was closest to Himself to rescue what was furthest away. God is in the business of inviting unexpected candidates like you and me into a relationship with Him and a role in His story.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Unexpected Scandal...

During this Christmas season, we are spending our time looking at the Christmas story from one of the four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible. And to prove that Jesus was the long promised Messiah, Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy to show that Jesus had the proper family background to be the Messiah. Yesterday, we saw that one of the members of Jesus family tree, was known as the man that came up with the plan to sell his brother into slavery. So as you might imagine, a Jewish person reading Matthew's letter would not be impressed with Judah.

But, for a Jewish person, there was another story about Judah in the Bible that made him even more unimpressive, which they would be reminded of in the very next sentence of Jesus family tree:

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,
In the Bible, there are probably few stories that are as scandalous as the story of Judah and Tamar. And the average Jewish person, for reasons we will soon see, was very familiar with the story of Judah and Tamar. To understand the story of Judah and Tamar, let me first give you some background.

Judah had married a Canaanite woman who did not believe and worship God. As a result of this marriage, Judah had three children who the Bible says were wicked in God’s sight and failed to follow the Lord. Judah’s first born son, named Er, married a Jewish women whose name was Tamar. Er was so wicked, however, that God ended up killing him for his wickedness. In the culture of the day, Jewish fathers were responsible to provide and care for their daughter-in-laws in the event that their husbands died. Part of that responsibility was to ensure that Judah’s son’s family name would continue.

Judah’s second son, named Onan, however, failed to fulfill that responsibility out of selfish rebellion and greed, which led to his death at the hand of God. Judah, who had raised these two wicked children who rebelled against the Lord, responded to what occurred by failing to fulfill his responsibility to care and provide for his daughter-in-law Tamar, which led to what we read in Genesis 38:12:

Now after a considerable time Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. It was told to Tamar, "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." So she removed her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face. So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, "Here now, let me come in to you"; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?" He said, therefore, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She said, moreover, "Will you give a pledge until you send it?" He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" And she said, "Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and departed, and removed her veil and put on her widow's garments. When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. He asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?" But they said, "There has been no temple prostitute here." So he returned to Judah, and said, "I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, 'There has been no temple prostitute here.'" Then Judah said, "Let her keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her."
Now right about now you are thinking what every Jewish person already knew when they heard Judah and Tamar in the same sentence “What a messed up story. That is a disgusting and scandalous story”. I told you the Bible was not boring. It gets even better:

Now it was about three months later that Judah was informed, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is also with child by harlotry." Then Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!" It was while she was being brought out that she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "I am with child by the man to whom these things belong." And she said, "Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?" Judah recognized them, and said,
Uh oh, busted! Not exactly. This is exactly what Judah said:

"She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he did not have relations with her again.
Now at about this point, you may be thinking “well neither one of them seem very righteous to me”. And that is exactly what a Jewish person would be thinking as they remembered this story. And this is why Judah would be such an unexpected candidate to be in the Christmas story as part of the family tree of the Messiah.

For a Jewish person, Joseph was the righteous brother who had the qualifications to be part of Jesus family tree. Joseph would be the expected candidate because Joseph was the one who was faithful to God and always did the right thing when it came to following God, despite the consequences that came upon him. Joseph was the brother who rose to become second only to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. And it was Joseph who saved the nation of Egypt, and the Jewish people from starvation as a result of His faithfulness to God and his leadership abilities.

You see, when the famine became severe, Joseph’s brother’s had to come to him to receive food. And while Judah and his brothers did not recognize Joseph, Joseph sure recognized them. And the amazing thing is that while Joseph had every opportunity and had the right to exercise vengeance and pay back his brothers for selling them into slavery, Joseph did not take that opportunity. Instead Joseph tested his brothers to see if they had changed by accusing them as being spies and commanding them to return with their youngest brother, who did not make the initial trip. And this is where we see Judah enter back into the story.

Tomorrow we will see not only what happens: we will also see the timeless reason as to why Judah and Tamar are a part of Jesus family tree.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

An Unimpressive Candidate...

During this Christmas season, we are spending our time looking at the Christmas story from one of the four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible. This account, called the gospel of Matthew was written to prove to the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah, the one God that promised would come to rescue and restore the Jewish nation as His chosen people.

So to prove that Jesus was the long promised Messiah, Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy to show that Jesus had the proper family background to be the Messiah. But as we saw last week, for a Jewish person, who was so familiar with the history of the Jewish people that is recorded for us in the Old Testament, reading this genealogy, or family tree of Jesus, would not seem very convincing and would even be very confusing. So let’s look again at the beginning of the Christmas story as a Jewish person would have read it, beginning in Matthew 1:1:

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Now as we talked about last week, a Jewish person reading this letter from Matthew would stop and pause here. They would stop and pause here because every Jewish person knew that Judah was not the most famous of Jacob’s twelve sons. Joseph was the famous son of Jacob.

Even if you are not very familiar with the Bible, while you probably have never heard of Judah, you may have heard of Joseph. Joseph was the guy in the Bible who had a fancy, multi-colored coat. And a Jewish person reading Matthew’s gospel would know the story of Joseph, which we find in the first book of our Bibles, called the book of Genesis. You see, Joseph was not just one of the twelve sons of Jacob, who was the father of the Jewish nation; Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob, who he spoiled.

The rest of Jacob’s sons, however, were so jealous of Joseph that they hated him to the point that they would not even speak to him. And Joseph did not help himself when he shared dreams that he had in which he ended up ruling over his parents and his brothers. After sharing these dreams, Joseph’s brothers became even more jealous and resentful of him. Later in this story, we read that Jacob sent his favorite son Joseph to check up and spy on his brothers while they were at work. We read next what every Jewish person knew, beginning in Genesis 37:18-28:

When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer! "Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, 'A wild beast devoured him.' Then let us see what will become of his dreams!" But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, "Let us not take his life." Reuben further said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him"-- that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? "Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh."
Here we see Joseph’s jealous brothers having he following conversation over lunch, as Joseph is stuck in an empty pit that was used to store water: “Should we sell him, or should we kill him? What works out better for us?” And in the middle of this discussion, it is Judah that suggests that they should sell him. We then see what happens next:

And his brothers listened to him. Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.
So, the brothers of Joseph, at Judah’s suggestion, pull Joseph out of the pit and proceed the sell him as a slave for 20 shekels. Can you imagine how Joseph must have felt when his brothers looked at him and sold him into slavery? Can you imagine how much jealousy, hatred, and hardness you would have to have to sell your own brother into slavery, despite his pleading cries to the contrary? And the man that came up with the plan was Judah. So as you might imagine, a Jewish person reading Matthew's letter would not be impressed with Judah.

But, for a Jewish person, there was another story about Judah in the Bible that made him even more unimpressive. We will look at that story tomorrow.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Why Jesus Extends An Unexpected Invitation...

Yesterday, we looked at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible where different people responded to a seemingly unexpected invitation by Jesus to someone who was far from God to follow Him. As this story continues, however, we see Jesus overhear the rebellious response of religious people to His unexpected invitation. Jesus then enters into the conversation between religious people and His disciples and reveals for us a timeless reality when it comes to the Christmas story:

But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. "But go and learn what this means: 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:12-13 NASB

Jesus responds to the religious people of His day and their criticism with a metaphor to explain his actions. You see, a physician, whose whole purpose is to cure physical ailments, does not spend a lot of time while he is at work seeing healthy people. And we intuitively know this, don’t we? I mean, you usually do not go to the doctor because you want to, do you? You usually don’t say “I know what I’ll do today; I like going to the doctor so much that I’ll make an appointment to go today, even though I am healthy”. No, almost always, we go to the doctor because we have to. We have to go because we are ill, or have been ill, or need a check up to prove we are not ill.

Jesus then takes this metaphor and applies it to his actions and to the Pharisees religious lack of action when it came to those who were far from God. Jesus enters into this conversation and commands these religious people to read their Bibles again. Jesus quotes a section of a letter in the Bible written by the prophet Hosea where God had condemned the Jewish people for focusing on religious rituals instead of focusing on displaying a faithful devotion to God and to those around them who were far from God and were lost, hurting and broken.

Jesus then explains that just like a physician, His focus was for those who were far from God and were separated from Him. When Jesus states that He did not come to call the righteous, He is explaining that He did not come to invite those who are right before God. Instead Jesus states that He came to earth to call sinners. Jesus entered into humanity to call those who were far from God and were outsiders back to God. You see, Jesus did not enter into humanity to see those who were close to Him; Jesus entered into humanity to rescue what was furthest from Him, the outsiders.

And as Matthew looked back on his encounter with Jesus; as Matthew sat down to write, by God’s inspiration the letter that is now a part of our Bibles, Matthew recognized that he was not simply a part of the Christmas story, he was the point of the Christmas story. As Matthew sat down to write the divinely inspired account of Jesus life that we have in our Bibles today, Matthew wanted to communicate to us today that the reality is that the Christmas story is not something that we are simply a part of; the reality is that the Christmas story is all about us; we are not a part of the Christmas story; we are the point of the Christmas story. Jesus came to earth to pursue and rescue those who were far from God. And as Matthew wanted readers of his letter to understand, the Christmas story is the story of God giving what was closest to Himself to rescue what was furthest away.

And to prove to the Jewish people that they were the point of the Christmas story, Matthew reveals for us that Jesus came from people who were flawed, broken, and far from God. And this morning, we are the same way aren’t we? This morning, that is who I was apart from Christ. And this morning, that is who you are apart from Christ. Jesus came so that He could bring those who were far from God back to God.

And as we will see in these weeks leading up to Christmas, Jesus family tree was filled with those who needed to be brought back to God; who needed to be rescued and restored back to the relationship with God that they were created for. And as we go through this series, Jesus family tree represents our family tree. We can identify with our selfishness, our sin, our flawed and broken nature, because we will see those same characteristics from those in Jesus family tree.

And we will see that Jesus came to earth not because He was the point of the story; Jesus came because we are the point of the story; The Christmas story is about bringing rescue and repair. Because this morning, some 2000 years later, we are not a part of the Christmas story; we are the point of the Christmas story.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Some Responses to the Unexpected Invitation...

Yesterday, we began to look at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible where Jesus extends a seemingly unexpected invitation to someone who was far from God to follow Him. We talked about the fact that Jesus extends that same invitation to all of humanity to follow Him. And just as it was 2,000 years ago, people respond to Jesus' unexpected invitation in different ways. We see some of the reactions of those around Jesus to His seemingly unexpected invitation as the story continues:

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. Matthew 9:10 NASB

Matthew, after receiving this unexpected invitation to follow Jesus as His disciple, invites other tax collectors and sinners over to his house for a dinner party to meet and hang out with Jesus. Matthew responded to Jesus unexpected invitation by providing an unexpected invitation for his tax collector and sinner friends to meet and hang out with Jesus.

And what is interesting is that they accepted the invitation. There was something about Jesus that made people who were far from God comfortable enough to hang out with Son of God. While Jesus never lived a life that was marked by selfishness and sin, people who were far from God felt comfortable enough to engage and interact with Him.

If you are a follower of Jesus, could the same be said of you? If you are a follower of Jesus, would people who are far from God feel comfortable engaging and interacting with you? So as Matthew’s house began to fill with those who were far from God, others were attracted to what was happening. We see this as the story continues:

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?" Matthew 9:11 NASB

While the tax collectors and sinners were drawn to and felt comfortable hanging out with Jesus, there were others who were not quite as comfortable. Another group of people, called the Pharisees, responded to Jesus unexpected invitation by disengaging. And so often that is what religious people do, isn’t it?

As religious people so often do, the Pharisees viewed these tax collectors and sinners who were far from God as “unclean”, as "freaks". And just like religious people, the Pharisees would not enter into the house and engage those who were far from God; instead, they called Jesus disciples out of the house to ask why Jesus would consider associating with such people. “Why is your teacher hanging out with tax collectors and sinners? Doesn’t he know who they are? Doesn’t he know who that Matthew lives there? Doesn’t he know who he is?”

Jesus however, overhears the conversation and responds with a timeless reality when it comes to the Christmas story. We will look at that reality tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Jesus and His Unexpected Invitation...

Whether you are here a follower of Jesus, or you are skeptical about the claims of Jesus and the Bible, almost every person recognizes that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, who is perhaps the most influential person in all of human history.

In the Bible, there are four different accounts of Jesus life, which are called the gospels. What is so interesting is that these four different accounts of Jesus life, which were written to four different types of people, complement one another in a way that provides us a vivid picture of the life of Jesus and what drove Him to live the life that He lived. And in two of these accounts are recorded for us the events that surrounded the birth of Jesus.

One of these four accounts of Jesus life, called the gospel of Matthew, was written to Jewish people to explain and to show that Jesus was the Messiah that God had promised would come to rescue and restore the Jewish nation as His chosen people. So to prove that Jesus was the long promised Messiah, Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy to show that Jesus had the proper family background to be the Messiah. You see, for the Jewish people, being from the right family, having the right family tree, was essential to be their rescuer and redeemer.

So as Matthew began to show Jesus family tree, they would be very familiar with the family backgrounds of the people that Matthew would talk about that were in Jesus family tree. But for a Jewish person, as they looked at Matthew's account of Jesus' family tree, would not find it to be a convincing argument for Jesus being the Messiah. Jesus' family tree would not be what a Jewish person would expect from a Messiah. This family tree was very unexpected and possibly very unconvincing.

So why would Matthew write this story this way to convince us that Jesus was the Messiah? Matthew wrote this story this way because Matthew knew something that they did not know and that we often do not recognize. Matthew wrote this story this way because Matthew knew his story. And in Matthew’s story we find a timeless truth about our story. We find Matthew’s story in Matthew 9:9:

As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's booth;
In Matthew chapter nine, Jesus had just performed a miracle in the city in which he lived in, which was Capernaum. In this miracle, which we read in greater detail in another gospel, Jesus healed a man who was paralyzed after his friends lowered him through a hole that they had made in the roof of a house where Jesus was speaking. After healing this paralyzed man, Jesus and his disciples left the house and began walking down the street, where they came to a booth where Jewish people were required to pay taxes. Matthew, who was manning the tax booth along with others, was a Jewish man who was a tax collector that worked for the Roman Government.

Now Jews who were tax collectors were hated by their fellow countrymen for two reasons. First, these tax collectors were hated because they would often charge higher taxes than necessary in order to make a profit. Since the Romans did not care what these tax collectors charged as long as they received what was due them, many tax collectors became wealthy by charging over and above what the Romans asked.

Second, Jewish tax collectors were hated and were viewed as traitors because they were working for the enemy. Jewish people so despised tax collectors that they had a separate category for them. There were tax collectors and there were sinners. There were those who sinned and then there were tax collectors. With this background in mind, we see Jesus approach Matthew, this tax collector and sinner, who would later write the letter that bears his name in the Bible and say the following:

and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.
Now, in Jesus day, when a rabbi or teacher asked someone to follow him, this was a call to follow the rabbi as his disciple. So Jesus here is calling this tax collector, who was so despised that they had a separate category, to follow Him.

As a Jewish person steeped in the culture of the day, can you imagine what the disciple’s response to this invitation to follow Him would be? Can you imagine Peter, for example “Jesus, I don’t think that is a good idea; I mean he is a tax collector; he is the enemy”?

What is just as hard to understand, however, is how Matthew responds. Matthew responds to Jesus invitation by leaving his tax booth and job to follow Jesus. I mean at first glance that seems odd, doesn’t it? To just get up and leave your job because a rabbi asks you to follow him seems strange, doesn’t it?

While it may seem strange at first glance, it would not have seemed strange to the crowds at Capernaum. You see, Rabbis were the most respected members of Jewish society. So to be asked to follow a rabbi was a great honor. But Jesus was no ordinary rabbi; he was performing miraculous signs that people had never seen. Jesus, at this point in His life, was viewed as a rock star or celebrity in the region. This was probably not the first time that Matthew had seen or heard about Jesus, they both lived in the same small town.

And just as important to Matthew was that Jesus wanted him: Jesus wanted a tax collector and sinner to follow Him. This invitation would have been unheard of by any other Rabbi to call such a man to follow him as a student. What would be viewed as strange or odd would be why Jesus would want such a person around Him as His disciple.

And in the same way today, Jesus extends an invitation to all of humanity to follow Him. And just as it was 2,000 years ago, people respond to Jesus' unexpected invitation in different ways. Tomorrow, we will look at the reaction of those around Jesus to His seemingly unexpected invitation.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

How Christians Act UnChristian by Failing to Support One Another Financially...

As a church, we just finished looking at a letter that a man named Paul wrote to a group of people who claimed to be Christians, yet lived their lives in a way that failed to reflect the nature and character of God. Paul concluded his letter to the church at Corinth with one final timeless truth that can occur when Christians act unchristian. And that timeless truth is that Christians act unchristian when we fail to support one another.

In Paul’s closing comments to the church at Corinth, which are recorded for us in 1 Corinthians 16:1-24, we see the Apostle address the churches failure to love and serve one another. And in these verses, we see Paul reveal for us the first of three different ways that Christians act unchristian by failing to support one another in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4:

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem; and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.
Paul begins this final section of his letter to the church at Corinth by addressing the first of three ways that the members of the church at Corinth were acting unchristian by failing to support one another. When Paul talks about the collection for the saints, he is referring to churches involvement in a special offering for the church of Jerusalem, whose members were suffering as a result of a famine in the region.

And while other churches were following Paul’s instructions to invest their treasure to meet the needs of the church in Jerusalem, the church at Corinth was failing to follow through on their commitment. And in the same way today, Christians act unchristian when we fail to support one another financially. Paul responds by revealing three timeless principles when it comes to supporting one another financially through the investing of our treasure in the kingdom mission that God has given us as a church.

First, we are to invest our treasure regularly. As part of their worship gatherings on Sunday’s, the members of the church were to respond to God’s generosity by reflecting that generosity through regular giving as an act of worship. As followers of Jesus, we are to thoughtfully place aside a portion of what God has given us in order to invest that portion into God’s kingdom mission so that it can be used to love, serve, and support others.

Second, we see that we are to invest our treasure proportionally. As followers of Jesus, we are to invest our treasure into God’s kingdom mission to love, serve, and support others in direct proportion to what God is providing for us financially. In times of prosperity or in times of difficulty we are to reflect God’s provision by providing for the needs of one another through our giving.

Third, we are to invest our treasure in a way that is above reproach. Paul wanted a representative approach to presenting their offering to the church at Jerusalem so that everything would be fitting, or proper. Paul desired that the financial gift would be handled in a way that was above reproach, where no one could point a finger of accusation as to how the finances were handled.

And today, as followers of Jesus and as a church, we are to strive to invest the treasure that God has given us regularly, proportionally, and in a way that is above reproach in order to advance and support God’s kingdom mission and one another.

So, how are you partnering together to support God’s kingdom mission financially? Are you investing the treasure that God has given you in a way that helps support environments where people can explore faith and experience community? Are you investing the treasure that God has given you in a way that helps support environments where Christ is reflected and revealed locally and globally?

Tomorrow, we will look at a second way that Christians can act unchristian by failing to support one another.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Why People Do Not Attend Church...

This week, I am interested in an having an open and honest conversation about why people do not want to attend church. So to create this conversation, I am asking you to respond to the question that best describes where you are at when it comes to a relationship with God. In addition, some information concerning your age and stage of life, along with the region of the country that you live in would be very helpful...

If you are a Christian who believes, trusts, and follows Jesus as Lord and Leader, why do you think people will not come to church with you? And what have you experienced that leads you to have come to that conclusion?

If you are not a Christian, what makes you not want to come to church? And what have you experienced that leads you to have come to that conclusion?

At the end of the week, I will post about what I have learned from the responses I receive...

Friday, November 19, 2010

How the Resurrection Releases Us...

Wednesday, we saw Paul explain that without the resurrection, and without a resurrection body that has been transformed by the Spirit of God, we are unable to experience the relationship with God that we were created to experience for all eternity. We see Paul unpack this timeless truth for us in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49:

So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
To prove the necessity for a transformed resurrected body, Paul quotes a section of a letter in our Bibles from the book of Genesis that describes the creation of the world. In Genesis 2:7, we read that God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

Yet in spite of the gift of life and relationship with God that was given to humanity, all of humanity selfishly rebelled and rejected that relationship to be consumed with self. And that selfish rebellion and rejection of God leads us to do things that hurt God and others, which the Bible calls sin. And as a result of sin, all of creation was corrupted, including our physical bodies, resulting in death and decay.

Paul then explains that God responded to our selfish rebellion and rejection by sending Jesus Christ, the last Adam, who became a life giving spirit. And it is Jesus, as the last Adam, who began to restore humanity and to provide the eternal life and relationship with God that they were created for through His life, death, and resurrection.

Paul unpacks this for the church, and us here today by explaining that while Jesus has rescued us from selfishness and sin, we still experience life here on earth in our deteriorating and decaying bodies. Apparently, some members of the church believed that one you became a follower of Jesus, you immediately received your resurrection body. Paul responds to this error by stating that we follow our first father Adam in that we entered into life made of mortal and physical materials that are corrupted by sin and bound us to earth. Jesus, however, entered into earth by taking on flesh, but has His eternal existence in heaven and is able to transcend the selfishness and sin that bind us to earth as a result of the perfect life that He lived on earth.

And as a result of Jesus willingness to live the life we refused to live and to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life, God raised Him from the dead with a supernatural, resurrected body which transcends earth and is heavenly in nature. And as Paul states in verse 49, those who recognize their need of forgiveness and respond by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader will not only live lives that reveal and reflect Christ here on earth; they will also receive the same form of a supernatural, resurrected body that transcends earth and is heavenly in nature when they are raised from the dead.

Paul's point is that to reject the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to reject the gospel and is to reject the opportunity to experience the relationship with God that we were created for.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Differences and Distinctions of Resurrection Bodies...

Yesterday, we saw Paul reveal that there are distinctions and differences between our earthly and resurrection bodies. As Paul continues his discussion about the resurrection bodies we will receive, he unpacks the specific distinctions and differences when it comes to our physical earthly bodies and our resurrection bodies in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. Let’s look at these verses together:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
In these verses, we see Paul provide four specific distinctions and differences between our earthly physical bodies and our resurrection bodies. First, Paul states that it is sown a perishable body; it is raised an imperishable body. Paul is explaining that while our earthly bodies that are buried in the earth are so composed as to experience decay and deterioration, our resurrection bodies that we will receive when we are raised from the dead will not decay or deteriorate.

Second, Paul states that it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. Paul’s point is that while our earthly bodies are covered with dishonor and disrespect as a result of our selfishness and sin, our resurrection bodies that we will receive when we are raised from the dead will reflect that radiance and splendor of God.

Third, Paul states that it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. Paul is explaining that while our earthly bodies were unable to function as originally designed by God due to our selfishness and sin, our resurrection bodies that we will receive when we are raised from the dead will be raised in the power of the Holy Spirit so as to function effectively as designed.

Fourth, Paul explains that it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. Paul’s point is that while our earthly bodies are physical bodies that are intrinsically are a part of the natural world, our resurrection bodies that we will receive when we are raised from the dead will transcend the physical and are eternal in nature.

Paul then confronts the members of the churches rejection of the resurrection by explaining that you cannot have a natural body without a spiritual body. In other words, to be created in the image of God for relationship with God and one another in community requires the existence of a resurrection bodies.

Without the resurrection, and without a resurrection body that has been transformed by the Spirit of God, we are unable to experience the relationship with God that we were created to experience for all eternity.

Tomorrow, we will see Paul unpack the reasons behind this timeless truth.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Why it is Foolish to Reject the Reality of the Resurrection...

Last week, we saw the Apostle Paul address a group of people, who were not only acting unchristian, they were unchristian. This group of people in the church at Corinth were unchristian because they were rejecting the reality of the resurrection. We were reminded that we cannot claim to be a Christian and reject that Jesus was physically and bodily raised from the dead.

We saw that rejecting the reality of the resurrection results in a denial of the gospel. We discovered that rejecting the reality of the resurrection results in condemnation. We saw that rejecting the reality of the resurrection results in a denial of our future as followers of Jesus. And we discovered that rejecting the reality of the resurrection results in stinking thinking.

The members of the church at Corinth however, still had more questions for Paul. We see their questions about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:35:

But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
Paul begins this section of his letter by continuing to address the belief of some members of the church at Corinth that there was no physical and bodily resurrection from the dead by addressing two skeptical questions that some members of the church had. If these questions were asked in the language of our culture today, would sound like this: “Well if the dead are raised, then how are they raised? If you think the dead are raised, then what kind of bodies do they have after being worm food for years”?

Paul responds to their questions in a very direct and unflattering manner: “You fool”. Well, I wish Paul would share how he really feels. When Paul uses the word fool here, it conveys the sense of disregarding reality. In the Bible, a fool is a person who knows something is true, yet proceeds to live life as though it is not true. Paul then confronts the churches recklessness disregard of God and lack of good judgment regarding their rejection of the resurrection of the dead by providing three examples from creation to answer their questions regarding how the dead are raised and what resurrection bodies will look like.

First, Paul brings the members of the church to the example of plant life which was very familiar in their culture. Paul begins by providing a word picture of a plant seed which decays before bringing forth new life. Paul then explains that the seed that experiences death and decay when it is planted in the ground does not have the same structure as a plant has when it springs to life. Paul’s point here is that our resurrection body will have a different structure and be composed differently in a material sense than our earthly physical body. Third, Paul reveals for us the reality that the reason for this difference is that God divinely designed seed structure and plant structure with a specific purpose in mind. And in the same way, God has divinely designed our earthly and our resurrection bodies with a specific purpose in mind. The members of the church at Corinth were foolish, however, because they were discounting God’s activity and design when it came to the resurrection bodies that we will receive.

Paul then transitions to a second example from creation regarding what resurrection bodies will look like, this time from animal life. When Paul states that all flesh is not the same flesh, he is literally saying that not all animals are covered by the same physical material. There are distinctions and differences between what covers humans, domesticated animals, birds, and fish. Humans do not have feathers and birds do not have scales. Paul’s point is that just as there are distinctions and differences between what covers different animal life, there are distinctions and differences between our physical bodies and our resurrection bodies.

Paul then provides a final example from creation regarding resurrection bodies by looking at the structures and bodies that fill the universe. There are significant distinctions and differences between the structures that reside on the earth and the structures in the universe. In addition, what makes something beautiful and attractive to us here on earth is different than what makes something beautiful and attractive when it comes to what we see in the heavens. What makes a star attractive is different than what makes the sun or the moon attractive. What captivates our heart about the heavens and the universe is different than what captivates our heart about those who we love on earth.

Paul is revealing for us the reality that in the same way, there are distinctions and differences between our earthly and resurrection bodies in terms of their beauty and attractiveness. Tomorrow, we will see Paul unpack the specific distinctions and differences when it comes to our physical earthly bodies and the resurrection bodies that we will receive when we are raised from the dead.