Greater Than Moses

Hebrews 3:1-6

For many years I lived right near Oak Park, Illinois, a prominent suburb of Chicago, and also the home for many years of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  I have seen many of the world-famous houses he designed, along with his famous studio and home.  His style of design was so admired that many other architects tried to copy it.  What made his houses and designs so admired and famous?  Was it because of who lived in them, or was it because they were designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright?  It was his name that mattered, not that of the tenant.  As we look into our Scripture for today, we see that same idea - which is more important, the one who built the house or the tenant or caregiver of the building.  Let’s see what the Lord teaches in this passage.

As our Scripture opens, the author urges us to consider the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (vs. 1).  To consider Jesus is to fully observe Him, what He said and what He did, which is recorded in the Gospels.  Even though we may desire to follow Jesus, our life can get off track if we are not careful.  We need to constantly fix our eyes upon Jesus, to consider and follow His path (Hebrews 12:2), following Him every step of our life.

Our Scripture now brings to our consideration the great Old Testament leader, Moses.  Moses was one of the most important people in Israelite history.  He was the faithful messenger of God, the instrument through which the Law was given, and the one who established the Levitical priesthood.

As important as Moses was, Jesus is superior.  Moses was faithful as a servant (vs. 5).  Jesus was faithful as a Son (vs. 6).  Moses was a witness to what God would speak in the future (vs. 5).  Jesus was the message (Hebrews 1:1-2).   Moses was faithful in God’s house (vs. 2).  Jesus was the Builder of the house, and faithful as Son over God’s house (vs. 6).

While being the caretaker of a building can be very important, the builder of the building has greater honor.  Without the builder, there would be no building to take care of.  Moses was the caretaker.  Jesus was the Builder.

This is not to denigrate Moses.  He was a very faithful and devout servant of God, and the Lord used him in a mighty way.  However, he cannot even approach the majesty of Jesus, the Son of God.   Moses was the servant, Jesus is the Son.

The houses and other buildings that Frank Lloyd Wright built aren’t famous because of who lived in them.  For some of these buildings, only real Frank Lloyd Wright experts even know who they were.  Others might have been well-known in their day, especially since one had to be rather wealthy to afford a Wright-designed house, but now they are forgotten to history except for the fact that they once had or lived in one of his houses.  It was the designer and builder of the house that was important, not the caretaker or tenant.

Let us devote ourselves to following the Builder, the Lord Jesus Christ, and not anyone else.  Let us fix our eyes on Him alone, considering Him and following the path that He has laid out.

Over In The Blink Of An Eye

Psalm 90

When one is a child, time seems to go by so very slowly.  Each school year, September to the end of May or early June, seemed like a lifetime.  As the end of the school year approached children might count down the days until summer break.  Those days would drag on and on.  It was the same waiting for Christmas to come.  Opening up those days on the Advent Calendar seemed like a whole year!  Now that we are an adult, time seems to just zip by like a flash.  The new year has started, and in a blink of an eye, it has passed.  This observation, and that of the brevity of life, are the topic of this week’s psalm.

Psalm 90 was written by Moses at the end of his life.  He lived to be 120 years old, dying shortly before the people of Israel would enter the Promised Land.  As he looked back over his life, these words were some of the observations that he made, words which were a prayer to the Lord God.  Moses’ life can be easily divided into three parts.  The first 40 years were spent living in the palaces of Pharaoh as a prince, living in luxury and ease.  Then he had to flee to the deserts of Midian where he spent the next 40 years as a shepherd.  At age 80 the Lord called him to go back into Egypt and lead the Hebrew people out of slavery, and Moses spent the remainder of his life leading them through the desert.  Through all of this, days of ease and days of trouble, Moses knew that God was with him.  He called the Lord God his “dwelling place” (vs. 1).  A dwelling place should be sturdy, providing shelter and giving safety.  As Moses found, God is our secure shelter.

While our life may seem to pass by in a flash, Moses contrasted that with the eternal God.  We look around us and see things that have been around for seemingly forever, such as the mountains and hills.  However, as old as they may seem, God existed before they ever were, as He is their Creator (vs. 2).   Yet there are some people who, even knowing that those mountains were there long before they were born, still act as though they themselves will live forever.  However, we know that no one will.  We will come and go like a flower (vs. 5-6).  As we see with so many people we know or hear about, we are here one day and gone the next.  Life is short, hard, and ends in death.

Yet in comparison, God is eternal.  To Him a thousand years are like just one day (vs. 4) (II Peter 3:8).  There are approximately forty generations that pass in a thousand years, yet for God that is the blink of an eye.  After the days of the Patriarchs in the Bible, Moses said that most people’s lives would be seventy to eighty years (vs. 10).  With modern medicine today, that has extended by just a bit, but living to 100 is still a notable accomplishment.  The longest documented life-span outside of the Bible was 122 years.

So now, having been reminded of the brevity of life, what lessons should we learn?   Moses reminds us that first we need to be aware of our iniquities and secret sins, as God has kept track of them (vs. 8), and to repent and seek His forgiveness.  Secondly, Moses tells us to number our days, and spend the brief time we have with wisdom (vs. 12).  We need to live wisely, making the most of our time (Ephesians 5:15-16).  Have we been wise with how we’ve spent our time in life?  What about with how we plan our remaining days?  Time passes in a blink of an eye.  We have not been put here on earth to make money and then retire in style, but to tell others about Jesus, and show them His love.  So then, we need to wisely use the opportunities that God sends.

In closing, Moses reminds us all that our life will not go on forever.  No one knows how long they have.  Your life may yet have quite a few years left.  For others, only a few.  Some may not make it to the next year, and some may not even make it to tomorrow.  Psalm 90 tells us to number our days.  In other words, make each day count for the Lord.  He has counted them.  He knows our first day, and He knows our last.  They are all in His care.  Make them count for the Lord, so that at the end of our life we may hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

God Knows What Is Going On

Amos 5:6-15

Today’s Scripture passage from the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer comes from a rather obscure passage from the minor prophet Amos.  Traditionally, the twelve prophets in the Old Testament from Hosea through to Malachi, have been called “minor”, but that was not because their message was any less significant or important than the others.  They were called “minor” only because their books were shorter in length than the other books of prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, which are significantly longer.  The prophet Amos was from the southern Kingdom of Judah, but his message from the Lord was primarily for the northern Kingdom of Israel.  As mentioned before in earlier blogs, Amos was not an ordained member of the clergy, with multiple theological degrees, but was both a shepherd and a farmer.  People may think that only “qualified” ordained clergy with fancy seminary degrees can bring a “proper” message, but God will use whoever He chooses, including a shepherd or a farmer.

Amos’ time of ministry was brief, from around 760 - 755 BC.  Over the many centuries from the death of Joshua, the general who led the people into the Promised Land, until Amos’ time, the people had drifted into apostasy and outright idolatry.  Many had succumbed to the worship of the gods of the surrounding pagan nations, including many of the kings and religious leaders.  As a matter of fact, all of the kings of the Northern Kingdom had forsaken Yahweh for pagan gods, and a majority of the people followed.  It was to them that Amos came to bring God’s message.

Amos brought his message from the Lord, calling on the people to seek Him, and they would live (vs. 6).  Return to Yahweh, follow and obey His Word, or He would bring judgment on them.  The Lord warned that He would break out like a devouring fire, that no one in Bethel could quench or stop.  Bethel was one of about six villages that had a School of the Prophets, a type of Old Testament seminary.  Amos warned that even these seminarians-in-training would not be able to save the people from the judgment of God for all of their idolatry.

Not only had the people fallen into idolatry, but they perverted justice and cast aside righteousness (vs. 7).  In ancient times, the civic leaders would hold council at the gates of the city, and many matters between people would be settled there.  People would hope to find justice there, but as Amos stated, all too often they didn’t.  The people scorned and hated to hear anyone who would rebuke their unjust behavior (vs. 10).  They wanted to continue to take advantage of all that they could, oppressing the poor through their taxes, including taxes on the very food they ate.

These people who had turned their backs on the true worship of Yahweh thought that He did not know how they were living, that He didn’t see, but Amos warned them that was not the case.  God knew their many sins, just as He does ours (vs. 12), how they took bribes, cast aside justice.  Just as in the days of Amos, people may feel confident in their wealth, in their costly homes with large properties and gardens (vs. 11), but God can and would take them away from those who forsook Him.

Amos warned that in case these people felt that Yahweh was not strong or powerful enough to do anything to them, he reminded them that God created the stars in the universe, the Pleiades and Orion, noteworthy constellations in the heavens (vs. 8).  It is He who brings both the day and the night.  He made the sea and directs the crashing waves upon the face of the earth.  He is certainly capable to bring His fury upon sinners and rain ruin upon them! (vs. 9).

God does not enjoy bringing judgment upon people.  He would much rather that they turn to Him, that they would follow after good and not evil, so that they may live (vs. 14-15).  If the people would do so, Amos promised that God would be with them, and be gracious to them.

It is no different today from the days of Amos.  People have turned away from the Lord Jesus, and worship what they choose, whether it is literal pagan gods, or worshiping their own self and pride, their own false intellect, possessions, whatever brings them pleasure, etc.  People still seek to take advantage of each other, the rich trampling over the poor.  Where can the poor find justice today?  It seems no one cares.  God knows what is going on.  He is not blind, nor is He powerless.  People can only mock God for so long before He breaks forth in judgment against them!

Faith, Not Doubt

Mark 11:12-14, 20-26

When you pray, do you really believe that you will receive what you have prayed for?  Many times when we pray, the doubts may creep in, believing that this or that prayer could never be answered, so why bother even praying, especially if that prayer may be counter to nature.  In today’s Gospel reading we will read just such a scenario, and our Lord’s response.  Let’s see what lessons the Lord can teach us in His Word.

As our Scripture opens, it is the day after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the crowds had cheered and waved palms.  Jesus had spent the night with friends in Bethany, and now was reentering Jerusalem.  He was hungry and saw a fig tree up ahead that was full of leaves.  When He looked over the tree, Jesus saw that there was no fruit, and He proclaimed a curse upon the tree (vs. 12-14).   Was this a surprising and rare time when Jesus just lost His temper, when He was hungry and just got angry?  No, this, like everything Jesus did, was a lesson for us.  First, when fig trees in the Holy Land had leaves, that was an indication that there should be fruit.  These fig trees would have two crops of figs each year.  The first crop was in spring, the breba figs which is what Jesus would have been looking for.  They are not the best or sweetest fig, but they are a guarantee of the good ones to come later in the year.  A tree with no breba figs is a tree that will be barren later on.

This was an object lesson.  The fig tree had often been a symbol of the people of Israel.  Like a fig tree that was full of leaves, they looked good from afar.  They had all of the trappings of true religion, but they had lost the point, they had no fruit.  They were about to kill their Messiah.  Jesus cursed the empty, barren tree as a sign that God would bring judgment on His corrupt people.  We may look good from afar, but Jesus comes near looking for fruit that only the Holy Spirit can produce.  Jesus is warning, when God comes looking will there be any fruit?

Then the day after this, as Jesus and His disciples passed by that way again, Peter noticed that the tree that Jesus had cursed had withered down to its roots (vs. 20-21).  He was amazed, but Jesus said that he shouldn’t be.  He proceeded to teach them a lesson on prayer and having faith in God when we pray (vs. 22-24).  Do we believe or have doubt in our heart?  When we pray, speak faith into your spirit, even with the difficult prayers.  Remind yourself of the promises of God.  Remember, God “calls those things which are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17).  Your tongue will either announce your next victory or your next defeat.  Speak victory.  Refuse to open the door for the enemy’s attack with what you say.

Mountain-sized problems and obstacles are part of living in a fallen world.    God is committed to removing only those obstacles that are hindrances to His will.  We must also make sure that we are not the obstacle standing in God’s way.  Jesus said that we would have trouble in this life, but that He had overcome the world (John 16:33).  When our problems seem overwhelming, have faith in God and pray.

There are a couple of points to remember when we pray, and in expecting answers from God.  Just because we add “in Jesus’ Name” at the end of a prayer doesn’t mean that the prayer, no matter what it is, will be granted.  First, one must have a saving relationship with God.  Then, we must request only what is consistent with Jesus’ character.  If it is, God is able to do whatever is in His will.  God won’t say yes to prayer that will hurt us or derail His purpose.  Is our goal to glorify God and let others see Him?  Is our motive selfish, greedy, or impure?

Jesus continued teaching on prayer with the admonition that it is important to forgive others if you want to have God hear and answer your prayers (vs. 25-26).  Don’t waste time holding onto anger towards someone who has wronged you.  Forgive that person today.  Whatever reason you have for not forgiving someone, it isn’t listed in the Bible as a condition that you don’t need to forgive.  God knows your situation, and He has still called you to forgive, no matter the circumstances.

In closing, realize that doubt tears down what faith tries to build.  Doubt nullifies what faith desires to bring to pass.  As you pray, lift up faith and not the problem.  Lift up faith and not the obstacles.  Lift up your faith in God, and not the circumstances.  There is nothing greater than God!

Our Big Brother

Hebrews 2:9-18

Picture a family that is wealthy beyond all measure.  Then the head of that family decides to adopt, to bring into the family, a child from a terribly poor and destitute background.  The child is in rags, filthy, and even smelly.  It would not be too surprising that the natural-born son might resent this child, the fact that this beggar child, this vagrant, will now get a portion of the inheritance.  The now older brother is not happy, and he is ashamed to be seen with his new sibling.  Why, they don’t even know how to dress properly, to talk or enunciate properly!  He doesn’t want to be known as this scoundrel’s brother.  In a different, and admittedly probably less common scenario, we might see the older brother lovingly welcoming this penniless beggar child into the family.  We see this, though, in our Scripture for today, with our older Brother, the Lord Jesus.  Let’s look at what lessons the Lord can teach us from this portion of the Book of Hebrews.

One key theme of the Book of Hebrews is that Jesus is greater than many things the Jewish people held important, including Moses, and here mentioned, greater than angels.  Though when Jesus became man He was a little lower than the angels, but after He suffered death for us, Jesus was crowned with glory and honor, much greater than any angel (vs. 9).

The author of Hebrews calls Jesus the Captain of our Salvation (vs. 10).  A ship’s captain, in a time of a disaster, will ensure that every passenger and crew member has been rescued before he leaves the ship.  If need be, the captain will “go down with the ship”.  Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life for His family.  He is our Captain, the One willing to give all for us.  He is the One we need to look to, as well, just like a captain of one’s team.

As we continue, we read that Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brethren, His brothers and sisters.  Each of us, without exception, were sinners before we were saved, covered with the filth of our sins.  Yet in this awful condition, the Lord reached out to us, and when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, He brought us into His family, cleaning us up giving us the righteousness of Jesus, and our inheritance with Him.  Jesus loved us while we were still sinners, still covered with the filth of this world, and He is not ashamed to call us His family.  He is our Big Brother (Romans 8:29).

Jesus, the Son of God, became man, took on flesh and blood, just as we are (vs. 14).  He did this so that His death on the cross would destroy the devil, who holds the power of death, and we would be set free from the fear of death, and the bondage that it holds (vs. 15).  Jesus did not do this for the angels, but for us (vs. 16).

Jesus had to be made like His brethren in all things so that He could be a merciful and faithful high priest (vs. 17).  One thing that some people who have a nice older brother have stated, is that they like that their older sibling went through some of the difficulties they have beforehand.  They went through school, each grade, before us.  They went through the same scrapes and struggles.  The older sibling can relate to us.  Jesus enters into our lives, and experiences our pain, hurt, and guilt right along with us (Hebrews 4:15).  Jesus can identify with our circumstances, and He feels every single thing that we experience.

When we encounter some particularly difficult temptation, we can turn to our Older Brother Jesus, as He, too, went through similar temptations.  There is no sin in being tempted, but there is sin in yielding to temptation.  Jesus was tempted just as we are, by the very same sins into which we fall.  Jesus was tempted, but He never sinned.  In His power we may also flee from sin.  Jesus bore the load before us.  The Blood-stained footsteps of the King of Glory can be seen along the road that we travel.

When we feel that no one understands or can help us, we are reminded that Jesus gave us Himself, and He knows exactly who we are, and what we are facing.  Jesus fully shared our humanity.  He is our loving Big Brother, there to help us when we call on Him.

Strong Family, Strong Nation

Psalm 128

Imagine the horror of a homeowner if he went down into his basement, or underneath the crawl space beneath his house, and as he looks at the support beams and cross beams he discovers that there is a terrible termite infestation.  The formerly strong and sturdy beams have been eaten away, and crumble in his hand.  If enough termite damage is done, the whole structure could be in serious danger.  That is why it is important to be sure that one never allows termites to get in, as the house, the structure’s stability, strength, and safety depend on it.  Our psalm for today speaks of the family, and by extension of the family, the nation.  It speaks of the importance it is to have a good, strong, god-fearing family, and the blessings that will bring.

Our psalm this week, Psalm 128, is a short one, whose author is unknown.  It is also one of the Songs of Ascent, which are a group of fifteen psalms (Psalms 120 - 134), which Jewish pilgrims would recite or sing on their way to Jerusalem for the holy days.  The six verses of this psalm speak of the blessings that one who fears God will receive from Him.

To be called a “God-fearing” person used to be considered a compliment.  That’s what most people would have aspired to be.  That was what every father and mother wanted to raise their children to be.  Today few people have any fear of the Lord or of the coming Judgment Day.  Today people would wonder which god should be the one which people should show “fear” or show reverence to, and they would question why anyone should show any fear of God, anyway.  Fearing God has been displaced by modern human reason.

The author of this psalm speaks about families, possibly thinking about his own wife and children, or remembering back to his childhood with his own mother, father, and siblings.  The psalmist in a poetic style, describes the parents and children as two different types of plants (vs. 3).  He calls the wife a fruitful vine.  When we think of vines, especially in the Holy Land, we might think of grape vines.  At this time of year here in the U.S. we might think of pumpkins.  Tomatoes and beans also grow on vines.  Then the psalmist calls the children olive plants.  Olives are the fruit from an olive tree.  Vines and trees, two different types of plants.  Children are not little identical clones of their parents.  They are uniquely created individuals.  Just because the father is an athlete doesn’t mean that his son will be, too.  And just because the mother is artistic doesn’t mean her daughter should be, as well.  Parents need to let their children blossom with whatever talents and abilities the Lord has blessed them with.   As parents, we should direct our children to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and give training in the principles of Scripture, to raise them to become God-fearing people.

Continuing our thoughts about families, we can see that strong, stable families make for a strong and stable community.  And strong communities help to build a good, strong, and safe country.  When the family unit breaks down, when there is not a good and godly father or mother in the home, when there is fighting or indifference between the two, or one or the other has walked out, or when the parents are never there and the child is basically raised by sitters or caregivers because the parents are too busy at their jobs or their own social activities, the family will inevitably suffer and it will crumble like a termite-infested building.  And like a pebble tossed on the water, the ripples will be felt all over.  The communities will start to deteriorate and become crime-ridden, and eventually the nation will start to crumble.  A nation remains only as strong as its families.  A crumbling family life is one of the signs of a crumbling culture.  The breaking up of a home eats like termites at the structure of a nation.

Our psalmist wanted to see God’s blessing upon both his family and his nation, in particular the capital city of Jerusalem.  He knew that would only come when his family feared, obeyed, and worshiped Yahweh.  The same is true today.  Do we want God’s blessing upon our family and upon our nation?  As our psalm instructs us, let’s fear the Lord and walk in His ways.

Sin Crouching By Our Door

Genesis 4:1-16

If you leave your house one day, and notice some animal crouching outside your door, what would you do?  If it is a small, harmless critter, you might feed it, possibly even take it into your house.  However, if it is dangerous you will want to do whatever you can to get it away.  You don’t want anything dangerous and harmful around.  It’s good to be warned, as such things left crouching near us are never good.  Our Scripture today tells of someone who did not heed such a warning, and what it led to.  Let’s take a look at the narrative of this person from the Book of Genesis.

As our Scripture opens, we read of the birth of Cain, and then his brother Abel.  The Lord tells us that Abel tended sheep while Cain grew crops, both respectable jobs (vs. 1-2).  Then one day the two brothers bring an offering to the Lord.  Abel brought the firstborn of his flock, while Cain brought some fruit and/or vegetables.  As we read, God accepted Abel’s offering, but not that of Cain’s (vs. 3-5).

The Scripture here doesn’t tell us specifically why God accepted the one but not the other, but there had to be a reason.  We do have a few clues, though.  In the Book of Hebrews we read that Abel offered his offering in faith, which Cain did not (Hebrews 11:4).  Everything we bring to God must be done through faith.  Another reason could possibly be that Abel offered the firstborn of his flock.  He offered his best.  Cain, though, just brought whatever he gathered.  The Scripture does not say that he picked and brought anything special, that he looked over and brought the choicest and best-looking fruit or vegetables.  It is possible that his basket contained bruised, withered, and otherwise fruit that was less than the best.

A third reason could be depending on what type of offering this was.  If this was a sin offering, then it needed the shedding of blood for it to be accepted.  Scripture teaches that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).  If it was a sin offering, then Cain would have needed to trade some of his crops to Abel for one from his flocks.

Whatever the reason, Cain knew of it and instead of telling God he was sorry and would do better next time, Cain just got angry and sullen (vs. 5-6).  God told him that if he did well, he would be accepted, but he needed to be alert for sin, which was crouching at his door.  Sin wanted dominance, but God said he could rule over it if he wanted and tried (vs. 7).  The word “lies” in verse 7 in Hebrew is “rabas”, which suggests an animal which is hunting, crouching as he closes in on its prey, ready to pounce on it.  That is a great picture of what sin is like, ready to pounce on us, overpower us, and bring us down.  Rather than heed God’s warning, though, Cain let his anger boil over into a murderous rage, and shortly afterwards he killed his brother (vs. 8).

Uncontrolled and lingering anger is sin.  We must master it, otherwise it will rule over us, leading to serious consequences just as with Cain.  Sin is a contaminate, like a biohazard, that needs to be kept away and removed before it destroys us.  Sin is a grave and dangerous enemy.  In life we have a choice - to do or not to do what is right.  When we choose to do what is right we choose life and master sin.  When we choose to do what is wrong, we open the door to sin, which leads to disaster.

Just like Cain did, we love to make excuses (vs. 9-15).  We love to blame others - our parents, teachers, leaders.  We cry “injustice”, and never feel sorry for those we have hurt, but only for ourselves.  We demand things we don’t deserve, just as Cain did to God.  Cain was totally self-focused, while God was gracious.  He gave Cain every opportunity to repent.  However, Cain was so full of himself, that instead of confessing his sin and seeing the pain that he caused, he complained that things were unfair for him!

In closing we read that God asked Cain where his brother was, though He knew all along what had happened to Abel.  Cain dared to give God a very sassy, smart-aleck response, and asked Him a question back (vs. 9).  He asks God if he is his brother’s keeper.  He implies that he is not, that he is not responsible to watch over, keep track of, or care for his brother.  The answer, though, is Yes!  We are our brother’s keeper.  In a world of danger, we are called to watch out for others.  Just as Adam was to care for the garden, Cain was to care for Abel.  Throughout the Bible God tells us that we are to keep watch over the vulnerable, and care for the needy.  Unlike Cain, we need to be on the lookout for sin crouching at our door, and we need to care for our brothers and sisters in this world.