Thank God for Women

I recently shared thoughts on the family in one of my Sunday morning sermons. One important aspect of the family that we talked about was God's crowning achievement of Creation in the creation of Eve.

One important point from the Creation narrative is the fact that men are mud and women are palaces. That might seem like a strange statement so let me explain.

We have to turn to Genesis 2 to get perspective of this statement.

Genesis 2: 7
7) the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.

The word used here in verse seven for Formed is the Hebrew word, YATSAR and it literally means to build with bricks, earthenware, or pottery.

In other words we are mudpies.

Genesis 2: 22
22) The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man.

The word used here in this verse for the building up of the woman is a completely different word.

It is the Hebrew term, BANAH, and means to build a temple or a place.

This is a special term to show that woman was the crown jewel of Creation. This final Creation of God would be something special.

Husbands, do we treat our wives in such a way to reflect this term? Do we treat our wives as God’s palace or the special place that she has in Creation as God’s crowning jewel?

God saved the best for last with the creation of woman.

The Dividing Wall

The sin that once separated us from God is best illustrated in the architecture of the Jewish Temple.

In the Temple the most central part was the Holy of Holies and this was the most sacred space of all.

It was kept separate from the people to illustrate the point that God is Holy and they are not. Their sin has kept them from fellowship with Him.

Outside of this Holy of Holies was a court in which the Priests performed their priestly duties.

Outside of this court was one in which Jewish men that were not of the priestly class could inhabit.

Outside of that court was the Court of the Women in which the Jewish women were allowed to go.

And outside of this was the Court of the Gentiles. Separating the Court of the Jews and the Court of the Gentiles was a wall of separation.

On this wall hung a sign that explained to the Gentiles that they would be killed if they entered the Court of the Jews.

In this picture of the Temple we see how man is separate from God and segregated in a way that God never wanted to happen.

God has always wanted fellowship and a familial relationship with man.

Paul takes this image of separation in the Jewish Temple and drives home a point about Jesus.


WALL OF SEPARATION

Ephesians 2: 12-19

12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR ; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household



Through the fleshly body of Jesus and His sacrifice He took on the curse of the Law.


The Scripture tells us that Jesus came to uphold and fulfill the Law.

It is best understood as God’s Law being a consuming fire. Just like the burning bush.

Israel was consumed by this fire of God’s holiness because they could not fulfill the requirements. Jesus stepped into that fire of God’s Law and stood strong and was able to do what Israel could never do. Not only did He fulfill the Law perfectly but He also took on the curses that we could not endure. He bore it perfectly and destroyed that barrier.

New Sermon Series - The Task of the Church

I started a new series of Sermons this week at the congregation that I preach for. In this series of sermons we will look at the life and work of the local Church in God's plan of redemption and rescue for this world. Sunday we began this series with pointing out that God chose the Church as his vehicle for bringing the message of salvation to the world and chose to make his manifold wisdom known to the world through the Church. The first sermon in this series focused on a topic that divides many Christians and that is the topic of baptism. An act that was meant to unify a broken and divided humanity in Christ has become a subject that has divided Christianity. When we say that baptism puts us into the Church it becomes very confusing as to what we mean. Does it mean a local denomination that one is placed in by baptism? Let us define what we mean by the term Church. To understand the Church we must repudiate the reduction that many people have tried by likening it to the Classical Greek Ekklesia. The term Ekklesia is where we get the English term Church. In the Classical Greek world the ekklesia was a body of land owning men that were called to an assembly to make decisions for a particular city state. This assembly was not open to slaves, women, or children. This term is a bad visual picture for the church in the NT because the earliest Christian assemblies were composed by many women, slaves, and people that did not own land. The idea of the Church in the NT is more like the idea of the Assembly of God in the OT known in Hebrew as the Qahal. The Qahal is a term used in the OT in Deut 9:10; 10:4; 18:16, et al, in regards to the Assembly of Israel. This assembly was the people of God that were gathered together to hear the reading the Law and assent to a covenant with God. These were truly God’s people formed by Covenant. If we understand this concept of the Qahal it makes sense of the act of baptism and what it means to be the Church. In the Exodus story the Israelites were lead out of Egypt and the came to the Red Sea. God miraclulously parted the Red Sea and they crossed over on dry land. At that moment on the shores of the Red Sea the people made a decision to be God’s people and never look back. Paul likens the crossing in I Corinthians 10:1-2 to baptism. Paul speaks as to how this going through the sea was like a baptism ‘INTO’ Moses. It was at this point that God lead them to Sinai and they became God’s ‘qahal’ or the Assembly of God. The Hebrew writer nails home this theme in Hebrews 12: 18-24 where he compares the two Mountains of Sinai and Zion. We, as Christians, are the new Assembly but now we assemble at Mount Zion. We are gathered there at this new Mount because of Jesus work on the Cross. We are brought into this assembly of God out of the slavery of sin through baptism. In Romans 6 Paul makes it clear that this is through immersion. That by the very act of baptism we reenact the very dying and rising of Christ. Romans 6 also draws the parallel with that Exodus event by pointing out that we are now free from slavery because of our burial in baptism. Because of our baptism we are now free from the slavery of sin and are now ‘IN CHRIST’. We are identified with Christ and not the old way of slavery. God’s kingdom is open to all that are willing to put down all personal agendas and completely rely on Him. Out of all the themes that Jesus uses in the NT to describe His kingdom one of the most common is the theme of God’s family. To understand this motif we must look at what Jesus said about becoming like a little child. Jesus made it clear in His teachings that one must humble themselves and become like a child to enter the Kingdom.Matthew 18: 1-41 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.Luke 10: 2121 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.Children have an attitude of dependence and it is that attitude that Jesus hammers home to his Disciples. One must loose all of the selfish ambition and self reliance if they want to inhabit this Kingdom of God.One way that the Scripture coveys this point is by describing baptism as a type of new birth. In John 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus and Jesus teaches him this truth about baptism. Nicodemus comes to Jesus and tells him that he knows that Jesus is a teacher that came from God. In this passage we see Jesus response to Nicodemus.John 3: 1-51 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.Jesus specifically tells Nicodemus that one must be born of water and Spirit before he can enter the Kingdom. He likens this birth of the water and spirit with being ‘born again’ or more specifically in the Greek being ‘born of above’. Many say that this passage is not talking about water baptism in this passage and that He is talking about ones natural birth and then a spiritual birth. They way that the ‘water’ of the passage refers to the amnionic fluid of a birth. The only problem with this proposal is that there is no ancient records that show that people used the expression, of ‘breaking water’ in regards to natural birth. This is a modern anachronism that is propping up a bias against water baptism. The context of this passage most naturally fits water baptism because just previously we learn that John was baptizing in water in John 1 and later in chapter 3 verse 23 we witness that John was baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there. The immediate context of this passage fits that Jesus conception of water in this passage would be Christian baptism.Also, the earliest Christians interpreted this passage to refer to water baptism. The point that Jesus is making is that one is to become like a child and enter into this kingdom through the new birth of baptism. All human power games, status, money, and selfishness have no place in this kingdom. Baptism becomes the great equalizer in which this fractured human family is grafted and adopted into the true family of God. The greatest example of a union of Heaven and Earth is in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the ultimate intersection of Heaven and Earth. But there are glimpses of Heaven and Earth coming together in other places. Baptism is on of those events when the veil between Heaven and Earth is rent. At the event of Jesus Baptism we see an event that is sign post of what is to come for those that baptized into the name of Jesus.Mark 1: 9-109 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens: In this passage we see term in the New Testament that is used in one other place in the NT. The term used for ‘heavens opening’ literally means that the heavens were rent open. It is the same term for the tearing of the veil in the Temple that separated man from the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The message is simple, that in the work of Jesus the dividing wall of Heaven and the blessings of Heaven have been torn open by Jesus.In our baptism we are connected with those blessings from the Heavenly realm. Acts 2:38 calls is forgiveness of sins.I Peter 3:21 calls is salvation.Colossians 2: 1212 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.RAISED UP WITH CHRIST IN BAPTISMThis idea of being raised up with Christ is not emphasized much when people speak of baptism but it is a Biblical concept. Ephesians 2: 4-74 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.Paul points out in this majestic passage that we are ALREADY in a sense raised up with Christ. In the same way the Hebrew writer says that all things are subject to Christ in Hebrews chapter 2 but it doesn’t seem that way at the present. It may not seem like it now but a transaction has taken place between Heaven and Earth in our baptism. We, through the work and grace of God, have been raised up with Christ as a signpost to the world what is to come.

Faith of Christ

I recently heard John Ortberg talk about Michael Novak's categories of the types of convictions that people have. He pointed out that there are three types of convictions. The first type is our public convictions that are characterized by what we say that we believe when we are around other people. They sometimes indicate what we really believe and many times we don't mean them at all. For example, I may ask my wife if I have started to gain weight. She may answer, "You look great." Deep down she may really think that I have put on weight and look a lot different (my wife would never do this because she is brutally honest!). We say things many times that we really are not convicted about. The second type of conviction that Novak points out is our private convictions. Private convictions are ones that we believe but can be convinced otherwise. I at one time thought I could play professional football. After my college football career was over I attended a rookie tryout camp. At that camp I came to the conclusion that my belief of my ability was a false belief. It was made painfully obvious that I was not good enough to continue my football career. Lastly, Novak points out that many people have core convictions. These are convictions that will not change. My belief of gravity does not need to be re-verified every day of my life. My love for my children does not need to be re-committed to each day. These are unchanging beliefs. Ortberg points out that Jesus had no incongruencies in any of these beliefs. His public, private, and core convictions were all in alignment.

My question is, "How do we come to the type of faith of Jesus?"
We many times talk about having faith 'IN' Jesus but I would purpose that the faith 'OF' Jesus is what we should be shooting for.
Many of the earliest followers of Jesus had faith in Jesus and trusted in Jesus but it was not until they came face to face with the risen Christ that those convictions became CORE convictions. In other words, their trust 'IN' Jesus changed to the faith 'OF' Jesus.

Mary Magdalene came face to face with Jesus in the Garden and thought He was the gardener. Her faith was transformed into action when she realized that Jesus had risen from the dead. She quickly became the apostle to the apostles.

Thomas at one point in the gospel narrative proclaimed that he was ready to go to Jerusalem and die with Jesus. It wasn't long after that he was telling the other followers that Jesus would have to prove to him that He had risen from the dead. In the account that John gives us we see Thomas face to face with the risen Jesus and he proclaims, "My Lord and and my God".

Peter is a great example of this transformation. Peter proclaims faith in Jesus but later denies Him. We see Peter go through his crisis of faith and later be told by Jesus to "Feed My sheep". After this we witness Peter acting with the type of faith that Jesus had. Peter goes from having faith in Jesus to having the faith of Jesus.

How do we accomplish this?

We trust in Jesus but we also live like Jesus lived. When we live a cross formed life of self sacrifice we will be introduced to the resurrection. The message of the Scripture is that New Creation began at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As a sign post of what is to come in the New Heavens and the New Earth, God has established a kingdom of NEW people. We are the advanced sign of the resurrection to come by our changed lives in the shape of Jesus Christ.

Church and State Relations

How many times have we heard, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."? Many people use this sentence to justify a sharp Church and State separation. We see this interplay of Church and State in two extremes in the example of Emperor Theodosius I. Theodosius was raised to be a Christian and was an emperor in post-Constantine Rome.
One particular story illustrates how the Church's influence over the most powerful is used in a positive way. On one occasion Theodosius was angered at an uprising in Thessalonica. The Governor of the city was killed in a riot and the Emperor ordered the killing of 7000 people that were supposedly implicated in the murder. The Bishop of Milan, Ambrose, heard of this action and was outraged that a Christian Emperor would order such a thing. He blocked Theodosius from Communion and ordered him to do penance. Ambrose had such a strong influence over Theodosius that the logistics of how he could carry out the death penalty was altered and a 30 day wait period was instituted before the Emperor could carry out an execution. Ambrose was famously quoted as saying, "The Emperor is in the Church and not above the Church."

On the flip side we observe the opposite of Church and State relations with Theodosius making the Nicene Creed and dogma the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD. No longer would paganism be the official religion of the Empire but now Christianity becomes the only religion recognized by the Empire. This would lead to many unsavory things that Theodosius probably never expected.

We look at the example of Theodosius and see the two visions of Church and State relations. This is a very complex subject that I definitely do not have the ability to answer. It is something that I have thought a good bit about because of the recent elections and many social issues that have come to the fore. Issues such as sanctity of life, justice for those less fortunate, and the struggle over all people being treated as if they are made in the image of God.

Going back to the original comment about Rendering unto Caesar and the popular perception of modern day people's thinking on how Jesus thought about the Church and State may be useful.

Jesus had just cleansed the Temple and wheels were being put in place that would take Him to the cross. The Temple cleansing act would have been a very Messianic act to the Jews and highly controversial. The two groups that come to Jesus only have one thing in common and that is their common goal to trap Jesus. The Herodians were in the back pocket of the Romans and had compromised with the pagans. The Pharisees were the Puritanical bunch that one day would side with the rebellion in AD 66 that would see the utter destruction of Israel. Two completely different agendas are trying to trap Jesus. If Jesus answers soft on the question then He basically sides with the pagan sympathizers and will be discredited with all of the people. If he answers as a revolutionary and says, “hey stick the thumb in the eye of the Romans”, they would have immediately gone to the Roman authorities and shared the info with them. His answer is radically different and they are just floored by it.

1^st of all – having the coin itself is against the Jewish Law. Even Herod Antipas would not have his own image put on a coin because of the prohibition against the elevation of oneself by the image. But this coin is even more over the top. The Roman Denarius would have an image of Tiberius Caesar and would say the ‘son of Augustus.’ Augustus was a divine title given to the Caesar by the Senate in 31 BC. to Octavian.

We have a false impression by Jesus comment, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's.”

From a Jewish mindset they would know that Jesus was quoting and augmenting a statement by Mattathias Maccabeus some years before.

We find in the 1^st book of Maccabees a statement by Mattathias right before his death.

“Pay the Gentiles what is their due, and obey the commands of the Law”

By this statement Mattathias meant to rebel and expel the Greeks from Palestine and Judas his son took up the banner and did just that. The people went through a rigorous time of returning to the Torah and taking up the sword.

Jesus is cryptic on purpose. This statement could not be used by either groups for their advantage. At face value the Romans would not see this statement as a threat.

Is Jesus saying rebel against the pagan power? Yes. But not like the Jews wanted to do.

Jesus' Kingdom is more real than any other and the ones of this earth are mere shadows and caricatures. Jesus is calling out both mindsets. Jesus would see both the Herodian stance as compromise and also the eventual violent revolution as compromise. By taking part in a violent revolution they would play right into the hands of the way Rome does things. Compromise on both fronts.

I don't know if this blog brings up any points for discussion but I would like to know what others think about this debate. I am still working through all of this and I find Christ constantly calling me into account and I am reminded of His Kingdom and the fact that we are to pray, "Thy will be done in Heaven as on Earth."

If God were in charge how would He run this show?

Return From Exile

One cannot read the beautiful passages of Isaiah chapters 40-55 without being moved by the wonders of God's plans for Israel and the return from Exile. Isaiah paints a picture of God renewing Creation and sending forth a Servant that would accomplish His purposes. Isaiah 55 also gives us a picture as to how powerful God's word really is. Isaiah tells us that God's word will go forth and accomplish His purpose.
We know from history that Israel returned from Babylonian Exile after the Persians took over, but at the time of Christ many Jews were wondering if they had truly returned from Exile. Many read the passages of Isaiah and saw that they were still under bondage in their own homeland. Just a look at the Roman garrisons in Jerusalem would quickly remind them of this. Many of these 'Return from Exile' passage had not been fulfilled yet and many saw themselves as still in a state of Exile.
With this in thought we see the coming of Christ. In this post I would like to propose that John chapter 1 is a passage chocked full of connections to Isaiah's vision of the Return. John presents to us that Christ is the true Return from Exile that all of the Jews had anticipated.

First, we pick up in John chapter 1:1-3 and verse 14

“ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

4 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

We see here a parallel with Isaiah 55:10 -11

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding {in the matter} for which I sent it.

In John chapter 1 we see the very personification of the Word. We see God incarnate come into our world to accomplish the purposes of the Father in ways that the Jews could have never imagined. God's Word would truly accomplish His purpose by completing His rescue operation by returning man from the Exile of Sin.

Secondly, we pick up on the idea of God's Presence in the Temple. Many pre-exilic prophets envisioned a time when God's Glory would leave the Temple because of Israel's sin. God would leave the Holy of Holies and leave the Jews to the Babylonians. We see in John 1:14 that God's presence has returned in a new and more full sense. John tells us that the Word became flesh and Tabernacled (skene- or Templed) among us. God's presence had truly returned to His people and it was found in Jesus of Nazareth.

Thirdly, we see John the Baptist as the fulfillment of the prophecy of the forerunner. In Isaiah 40:3-4 we see that passage about the one that would prepare a way through the desert for the return. The Jews in Isaiah's day saw this as a literal highway that would be plowed through the desert that separated Babylon from Israel. The path the Jews would normally take to Babylon would have them travel north and then South East. This new path would go directly to Zion. John the Baptist in John 1: 23 tells us that he is the fulfillment of this passage and he is the voice that calls in the wilderness. He is the one that makes the paths straight. It would not be a literal path through the desert but it would be a spiritual path of repentance that would lead people to the true return from Exile through the Christ.

Lastly, Isaiah presents to us a mysterious figure of the Servant that would become like a Lamb to fulfill God's purpose of Return From Exile. This Servant would suffer for the people and be vindicated. He would be punished for Israel's sin. Many people in Jesus' day saw the Servant as the nation of Israel but Jesus would take on the role of the Servant and would represent the entire nation. We see in John 1:29 that John the Baptist identifies Jesus as this Servant by calling Him the Lamb of God. Jesus would be the one that would suffer for the people but be vindicated.

In this post I tried to lay out a case that John 1 is giving us a message of a true Return from Exile in Jesus Christ. This return is God's ultimate purpose to lead us from the Exile of Sin and into a New Creation.

Promise, Prophet, King

In the Great Commission found in Matthew 28: 16-20 we find the wrapping up of three of the great OT themes. The Israelites all knew well of the promise made to Abraham in Gen 22:15 that all nations would be blessed in the seed of Abraham. In other words, a descendant of Abraham would bring about the blessing of all people (Gentiles included). Also, in Deut 18:18 we see Moses' prophecy that there will be a great prophet raised up among the people of Israel. This great prophet would bring teachings that would be adhered to by all. Many of the Jews of Jesus day saw this prophecy as Messianic. We also find the next great OT theme in the promise made to David that a descendant of his would sit on the throne of Israel forever as found in II Samuel 7. Many Jews saw this as a Messianic prophecy in which God's anointed would come to Zion and sit upon a literal throne. So thus far we have laid out the three great themes that are the subject of this post: Promise (Abraham), Prophet (Moses), and King (Davidic).

In the Great Commission given by Jesus we see all three of these. We see Jesus state in verse 18 that all authority was given to Him. With this statement we see the Kingly role of Jesus in that He has authority. Next, we see Jesus state in verse 19 that they are to go and make disciples of ALL nations and this would be the fulfillment of the prophecy to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his seed. Finally, we witness Jesus in verse 20 telling the disciples to teach others to obey His teachings. This would be the fulfillment of His role as the great prophet or teacher.