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Reflecting on Exodus 14:10-31

Your heart is revealed by what you fear. Will you fear what man can do to you, or will you fear the living God? ‘Intrepid’ is an adjective that can only legitimately be used of a Christian believer. Only the Christian God has conquered the grave. And so we can say with the sweet psalmist of Israel, “Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” (Psalms 56:1-4 ESV)

Reflecting on John 4:27-38

Jesus is intent not only to reach the Samaritan woman and her townsmen, but he is intent to teach the disciples. And so he encourages them to open their eyes to see the fields about them, ready for harvest. And he encourages them to work in the fields they see.

As disciples, we are those who know the grace of God. Like all of mankind, we know what it is to sin. We know the mire that so easily traps our feet and bogs us down. But we also know the deliverance that Jesus offers. We know the liberation that forgiveness brings. And so, having been loved, we are to love. Jesus would have our hearts warmed to compassion for those around us who do not know that mercy and grace that the gospel offers.

When the woman’s heart was warmed, she immediately thought of those in her town. Even though she had spent years avoiding contact with them -- because she was ashamed --, even though they were far from friends to her, the mercy she found, the relief that forgiveness brings lit a flame in her that would not rest until she shared the good news with those around her.

There are many, many, many lost souls who do not know Jesus. They are all around us, and they are across the world. A healthy disciple is one that is actively engaged in the fields around him, but also aware of and looking toward the harvest of the fields far away.

Contrasts at Christmas

The Christmas story is one of contrasts. Specifically, it is the response of men to the incarnation of the son of God that is contrasted. And the Christmas story involves more than just that one night in a Bethlehem stable. The wise men seem to have come two years later, but they are properly included in the infancy of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

But notice the contrasts. The angel appears to shepherds, not to nobility. And the priests and scribes, who surely knew of our Lord’s birth -- they even explained it to Herod --, the priests and scribes didn’t even go see the Lord, let alone worship him. And Herod, fearful of what the birth of Israel’s true king would cost him, sought to put him to death. The shepherds, on the other hand, went to see the Lord, and the wise men travelled from a long way off just to bow the knee before him. Simeon and Anna spent their lives waiting hopefully for these events, but the earthly powers lived in fear of them.

How will you respond to our Lord’s incarnation? Will you celebrate it, worshipping the king who stepped down from glory to take on the infirmities of human flesh, or will you ignore it, treat it as insignificant. You cannot be neutral. To ignore the Lord is no better than to persecute the Lord. He who is not with us is against us; he who does not gather to Jesus scatters.

The angels gave a two-fold declaration when they appeared to the shepherds. They extolled the glory of the heavenly king, and they proclaimed peace among men. But this is no simple resolution of conflict, this peace is a wholeness to our entire being. And it is not showered indiscriminately upon mankind. It is specific to those who are favored by God. As john says in the opening of his gospel, “to those who believed, he gave the right to become sons of God.”

How will you respond to Christmas? Will you be a favored one, receiving the gospel with joy and faith, together with its consequent peace? Or will you allow the world to choke out the awe that Christmas should inspire? God himself, king of the universe, creator of all that exists, has humbled himself to be our servant, that we might be kings, and that we might have peace with God and peace with each other. Praise the Lord and Merry Christmas.

Reflecting on the Incarnation

John 1:14

John is very subtle and yet so very clear. The ‘Word’, by which he means the second person of the eternal Trinity, the creator of all that is, seen and unseen, stepped down from his lofty and glorious perch to humble himself in a radical way. The omnipotent and independent and omnipresent One stooped to take on a human nature, complete with all of its infirmities, being dependent on food and drink and nurture, being limited by location in space, etc. It would be impossible for us, creatures that we be, to fathom the gravity of the humiliation that is involved in the incarnation. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our savior, remember that it is not just what he would do that should take our attention. The gospel involves the manger no less than the cross and the crown. Already in the incarnation, the Son had exhibited his glorious grace.

His glory was concealed in the humble form of a baby, but the glory was there nonetheless. And at the transfiguration, John, the author of our text, had beheld his glory. Surely even in the transfiguration that glory was muted, as John lived to tell the tale.

So as you celebrate this year, remember that, as you picture the cozy and sentimental picture of a darling child in his mother’s caring arms ..., remember that there was, in those swaddling clothes, the Sovereign Lord of the universe, graciously stooping, taking the form of a servant ... coming not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

That fragile child was the very One who spoke the world into existence. That fragile child is the very One who calls you brother and friend. And it is to Him that you owe your all. Merry Christmas.

Reviewing Romans (through 4:12)

Paul has been eager to preach the gospel in Rome. He hasn’t gotten there, yet. And now, he’s writing to the church there, hoping that, when he gets there, they’ll help him on his way to Spain.

Now Paul knows that he’s a controversial figure. His preaching is often misunderstood -- or at least mischaracterized. His gospel has some pretty radical implications, but people frequently caricature it, and give it all the wrong implications. So, in preparation for his visit to Rome, he wants to set forth for them, very plainly, what exactly it is that he is preaching.

And as he began to go into it, saying that he’s not ashamed of this gospel, since it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes ... Jew and Gentile alike ... as he says this, he knows that he needs to build the case slowly and carefully. So, he begins by pointing to the universal need for the gospel. After all, if what he’s going to be saying is that there is one God, who relates to Jew and Gentile in exactly the same way, he needs to make sure he’s not misunderstood.

So he launches in against the pagan rebellion that suppresses the truth as best it can against this God who will not let himself be completely covered up. He shows very clearly that the gentiles play a deadly game of pretend, pretending not to notice this God who presses in on their senses and on their minds. The cannot avoid him, but they are determined to. It would be comical, if it weren’t so deadly. Rather than thanking the God who gives them rain in season, they worship nature instead. And this game of pretend has consequences. Having severed themselves from the source and standard of all that is good in the world, they quickly degenerate into all sorts of wickedness. And all the while they know ... they KNOW ... that their actions are worthy of death ... but they are committed to their game.

And Paul’s Jewish readers are going to be very excited at this point. “Yes, YES! That’s what we’ve been saying.” And so Paul, intent on showing the same need among the Jews as among the gentiles, as well as the same solution, turns his attention to them.

Paul: And what about YOU, my dear Jewish friend ... Are you so wise? Are you prepared to teach these ignorant masses? You who teach others ... do you not teach yourself? Aren’t you guilty of just the same sort of madness? Here you are playing your own game of pretend. Here you are boasting of your relationship with this righteous God, all the while insulting his righteousness. You go on sinning as though you’ll be given a pass ... as though God doesn’t have to treat everyone with equal justice under his law ...

Indeed, a true Jew is not merely circumcised in the flesh ... if you’d been reading God’s word you’d have known this. Circumcision was always a symbol of something greater. It was a seal of a spiritual circumcision. You’re trusting in the flesh, but you aren’t cut to the heart. You aren’t repentant of your own sins. You’re trusting in yourselves for righteousness. You think that the God who created you to reflect his glory is going to be content with a mere show of obedience, when your hearts are as black as coal ...

Shame on you.

Jewish Interlocutor: So what’s the good of being a Jew? Are you telling me that circumcision is worth nothing?

Paul: No ... Not at all, my friend. God did indeed choose the Jews. He gave them special care and training. He gave them his WORD ... Sure, the gentiles aren’t ignorant of God, he won’t let them be. But they only have God’s WORKS to look at. And there’s no hope in that. The gentile looks around and sees God’s power and his righteous standard of judgment. That’s it. That’s not very good news for a sinner. The murderer who knows the judge he’s about to face is beyond corruption has no reason to hope.

But the Jews were given the GOSPEL. They were not only told the rules of the game explicitly ... They were not only told what God desired from his people, they were also told that God had a substitute in the works. Yes, the wages of sin is death. But God will accept the death of another in your place.

There’s TREMENDOUS value in covenant membership. It puts you in contact with GOOD NEWS!

Jewish Interlocutor: But if many, if not most of those who are circumcised are not going to be saved from this coming wrath, hasn’t God sold the Jews a bill of goods? Hasn’t God himself been unfaithful to his people?

Paul: Not at all! If God’s people do not embrace the promises, God hasn’t been unfaithful. They have! If I promise you a dollar if you’ll get me a drink of water, and you never do ... I am not unfaithful if I don’t give you the dollar. God has always held out this promise to be embraced through repentance and faith. If the Jews choose their own righteousness over that provided by God, God isn’t to be blamed ... THEY are!

Everyone is sinful. And God is glorified even in the punishment of sinners. It shows forth his righteousness.

Jewish Interlocutor: Ah ... then doesn’t he need me to sin ... without my sin, he’s not righteous ... is he?

Paul: Oh, you foolish man ... Don’t you realize that his righteousness belongs to who he is. He doesn’t need you to establish it. All you do by being condemned is DEMONSTRATE his righteousness ... you don’t establish it.

But it doesn’t have to be this way ...

God has revealed, in these last days, the fulfillment of his promise. He’s provided a righteousness, available to all, Jew and Greek alike ... available through FAITH, and faith alone.

God has given us this Jesus ... his eternal Son made flesh. God has poured out his wrath on Him, that he might not need to pour it out on you. All you need to do is trust him.

God did this so that he could be merciful to you without going against his own righteousness. He wanted to be both just and the one who justifies the ungodly.

So you need to get off your high horse ... stop trusting in your bloodline, and start trusting in his blood. There’s no boasting in the kingdom of God. Boasting would require that you be special somehow, in yourself. You can’t boast in what you’ve been GIVEN.

Does this mean that the law is irrelevant? NO! It’s still a revelation of the character and will of God! It’s only in the gospel that the law is upheld. And that, for two reasons. The law requires blood for sin. The gospel provides that. The law requires righteous living. The power for that is only available through the gospel.

Jewish Interlocutor: Now wait a minute, Paul ... You seem to be overturning a whole lot of history. You seem to be making awfully little of several thousand years of our history. From the very beginning, we’ve been the people of the LAW! It has always been about Torah! Our circumcision binds us to the LAW, and now you are telling us that our God, whom we’ve always followed in terms of his law, offers a righteousness apart from his law ... it strains credulity.

Paul: Does it now? Isn’t it, in fact, true that our standing before God has always been a matter of faith, and not of works? If you want to talk about our origins as a people, we need to go back before the giving of the law. Let’s take a look at Abraham. What did Abraham earn before God? Nothing. What does the scripture say? It says that Abraham believed God and that was counted to him for righteousness. And David, who comes long after the giving of the law, corroborates this truth. Our blessedness has always consisted in the imputation of Christ’s righteousness and the non-imputation of our own sins. Our sins are counted to Christ, and his righteousness is counted to us. It’s always been this way.

And circumcision doesn’t establish a relationship with God or earn right standing before him any more than wearing a ring marries you. Circumcision pointed to the work that Jesus would do to create and sustain this relationship; it didn’t, itself, establish the relationship. In pointing to the work of Christ, it sealed the promise. It, like all sacraments, served to keep the gospel before God’s people in a sensible way, as an encouragement for our faith. It’s God’s stamp of authenticity, promise and guarantee. But it points to and guarantees something that was already true for Abraham. He believed God and that was credited to him for righteousness in Gen. 15:6. He wasn’t circumcised until Genesis 17!

My dear Jewish friend, don’t confuse the sign with what it signifies. Don’t look lovingly at your engagement ring when your fiancee is standing at the door.