All But Love is Not Enough

 July 24 2022

Revelation 2:1-7

One of the good things about social media is that there is perhaps more accountability for goods and services. I mean, we just take it for granted that anything you might want to buy has ratings and reviews on Amazon. If a manufacturer tries to sell an inferior product, it’s a pretty safe bet that they will be found out by customers all too willing to tell others of their bad experience. Jennifer and I host an AirBnB site in our basement and we too are reviewed by the people who stay with us. So far, our ratings have been good enough that we have achieved the status of Superhost. Of course, we also get to rate the people who stay with us so that other AirBnb sites can know something about the people wanting to stay at their place. We also have the option of deciding one time with some guests was more than enough and we have a couple of times made it clear that certain guests don’t need to come back. So, this accountability that we now have is a really great thing because now if we want to buy something we can have some idea of what we are getting and if we have something to sell the good word of people who have used what we sell is out there as well.

I was thinking about this idea of accountability because, in a way, this is what is happening as John writes down what Jesus has to say about the seven different churches that he is addressing. What you find then is that this book of Revelation is really a letter that has within it seven separate letters which makes it rather odd. What this means then, is that just like the same way the whole world can see a review on Amazon, all of the churches could see how Jesus reviewed these seven different churches. Yet, this isn’t quite as bad as it seems because what must be kept in mind is that the number seven is a number in the Bible that conveys the idea of wholeness or completeness. So, Jesus isn’t just speaking about these specific churches but rather he is addressing the whole church. We also know that Jesus is not just addressing what is going on in these churches as if to point out that this is what a bad church looks like and this church over here is doing what a good church is supposed to do, but rather what Jesus is addressing is particular mindsets which need to be changed and other mindsets which need to take their place. We know this to be true because with the five different churches that are missing the mark with the way they are acting, Jesus again and again calls these churches to repent. The Greek word translated here as being “repent”, actually means to have one’s thinking transformed after being confronted about one’s behavior. While Jesus does point out many different wrong actions that these various churches are doing, his call for repentance lets us know that what first needs to be changed is the mindset behind those actions. If a church just decided to start doing different actions without first addressing just why they thought the wrong actions seemed like a good idea at the time then sooner or later these churches were going to end right back where they started.  Jesus then, through these seven churches, is really getting at wrong ways of thinking about the situations that all churches find themselves in.

One more thing that we have to understand before we dive into these seven reviews of the seven churches is that the basis for having a right or wrong mindset is tied directly to our being now thought of as a kingdom of priests. I think too often, we, as the church, just rush by this statement of who we are as if it’s a trivial matter however only as we rightly think about who we are can we rightly think about just what it is that we are to do as the church. So, what does it mean for us to think about ourselves as being a kingdom of priests? I think if you read about who we as humanity were created to be in places like the eighth Psalm, what you find is that we were created to be mediators between God and his creation. God called the people of Israel, who he also had called to be his priests, to bear his name out into his creation so that through his people the world might know that the God who created this world is a God whose unchanging character is steadfast love and faithfulness. They as priests were also called to love God with all that God has given to them, the abundance they enjoyed, even their very life, all of this was to be a means to serve and worship God.  It begins to be clear then, how being a priest affects how we think about just what it is that we are supposed to do and say.

Keeping our being priests to God front and center then, we begin to look at just what Jesus has to say to us about the mindset that had gripped ahold of the church at Ephesus. In all of these addresses to the various churches, there is a consistent form as to how they are set up. Every address begins with John being commissioned to write not to the church itself but to the angel of each specific church. After the commission of John to write down what Jesus is saying to him, we then have a title of the glorified Christ which is one aspect of the vision of John recorded in the first chapter. After this description of the glorified Christ, we hear Christ speak positive words to the church he is addressing. This is why these letters to the various churches remind me of reviews because most all of them are doing something right. Yet, for most of the churches, Christ cannot give them a five star rating and he gives his reasons why but unlike the reviews we find on Amazon, Christ gives a solution to the problem which each church is facing beginning with a call to have a change of mind. If the churches think that they can simply ignore what Christ is telling them, then he in no uncertain terms states that he will be making a visit. Wrong behavior is not something to be taken lightly. Lastly, Christ finishes up with a call for each church to remember that they are more than conquerors through him, this is who they are and will be if they but listen to his voice speaking to them through the Holy Spirit.

So, to the church at Ephesus what we find is that John is told to write to the angel in Ephesus. The word ‘angel” means a heavenly messenger and it perhaps points us to the new reality that Christ has brought about, one where heaven and earth are at last one. John is told that the words he records are those of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and the one who walks among the seven lamp stands. What does this tell us about Christ? Well, it tells us that Christ holds the entire cosmos, symbolized by the seven stars, in his right hand, the hand of power. Without a doubt we are to know that Christ is the all powerful one. Christ also walks among the seven lamp stands, lamp stands which represent the seven churches. Christ then is not only all powerful but he is present in the everyday life of the churches. This is the one who is speaking to the church at Ephesus and he did have some good words to pass along to them. Christ knew of their hard work, how they were weary yet they were hanging tough through it all. This was a church that would not bear with those who are evil and they were smart enough to know how to tell false apostles from the real thing. This patient endurance that the church at Ephesus had, their willingness to bear under the weight of constant evil, this was all because they were a church that was willing to bear the name of Christ. When we hear this phrase, “bearing the name”, this should make our ears perk up, because this meant that they were at least attempting to be the priests that Christ expected them to be. They were living out the unchanging character of Jesus in their everyday life and they paid the price for doing so. It is hard for us to imagine that Christ would find fault with such a church but, something was wrong. Their problem is that they had got up and left behind something that they used to have in the beginning of their relationship with Christ. This something is love. Now, once we figure out that what has been left behind is love what we cannot do is to think that what was lost was some emotional fire in their heart. No, what Christ tells them is that, yes, they had abandoned their first love but what they needed to do is to get back to doing the works that they had done at first. Let’s not forget that to love is to work. This word, “work”, actually helps us figure out the root of the problem with this church at Ephesus. Christ tells them that if they don’t get back to work then he was going to remove them from the lamp stand. So, this tells us that there is a connection between the work that they used to do and their being able to be a light. It isn’t hard to hear the words of Jesus who taught his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount. As we find it in the fifth chapter of Matthew, Jesus teaches that “we are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light an oil lamp and then put a basket over it. No, when they light a lamp they set it on a stand so that it gives light to all of the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they might see your good works and give God glory who is in heaven.” This teaching then does tell us that it is those who make up Christ’s church are the very light of the world. In this light the world will see our good works and the those in the world who live in darkness will end up testifying to the victory of God.  Of course, we are left wondering just what is it that the world will see demonstrated by us when we are living as the light of the world? A good place to start to figure this out is at the end of the eighth chapter of Romans where Paul writes that “God works all things for good with those who love God, those who are called to his purpose.” What Paul is telling us here is that God is the one who is working all things for good and those whom he calls, those who love him, God invites them to join him in working out his goodness in the world. Now, there is one more thing that we have to understand and this is something Paul writes in the twelfth chapter of Romans where he instructs us that “if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals upon their heads. Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil by good.” Here at last, I think, it is becoming clearer just what the problem is with the church at Ephesus.  Yes, they were bearing the name of Christ out to the world and they paid the price for doing so. When they proclaimed that Christ and not Caesar was the ruler over all the universe, over all rulers, over all kingdoms, those who worshipped Caesar as a god made sure that the Christians at Ephesus paid dearly for their outrageous beliefs. So, they withdrew from the world and hunkered down but in doing so they left behind God who is at work in the world. They considered themselves to be those who loved God and if so this meant that they were to be working with him as he worked at bringing his goodness about in the world. To love God with all that he had given to them meant that they were to take the abundance God has given to them and do the good which overcame the evil in the world. Where evil caused one to be hungry, they were to feed them. If the evil in the world left someone without a place to live they were to share their home with them. If evil had left one alone and vulnerable they were to come along side of them and encourage them. This doing of good, as Paul said, is to be done even to the one who might oppose us in bringing good about in the world, doing good to those who do evil just so it is not forgotten that good always overcomes evil. You see, it is these good works, good works done even to those who oppose the good, this is what brings those who witness such good works to glorify God. What this means is this: the people who bear the brunt of evil day in and day out, those who see no end to the misery and injustice that is all around them, they are wondering is there an answer to the rampant evil in the world? When we who love God join him in doing good, those who live in a dark world will see a light, a difference, they will see the truth that evil will not have the last word but is in fact something that can be overcome by good. This is when they will praise a good God for his victory over evil.

You see, Christ knew that the church at Ephesus had faced persecution. They could not bear those who were evil but what Christ also knew is that the church is called to do more than be against evil, it is, in fact, to be those who overcome evil with good. If the church does not witness to the fact that good does indeed overcome evil, then what answer is there for all those living in an evil world? We must be people who live to tell the story that, yes, there is evil in the world but no matter the depths of the evil that we see, God’s goodness is greater. This is the message of the cross where the evil that was wielded by the most perfect form of government, the Romans, joined with the evil wielded by the perfect religion, the people of Israel and came against the one who was God’s goodness in the flesh, whose name was Jesus. They did their very worst, causing him to suffer and die at their hands allowing them to falsely believe that their evil was the greatest power. Three days later, the power of the goodness of God was revealed when Jesus walked out of the tomb, the evil of death defeated forever. This is what we believe to be true, and this is what our hope rests upon. When we remember how God overcame the evil of this world through the goodness of his grace, and not just the evil of the world but the evil in us, how God overcame our evil through his goodness, then perhaps this gives us a clue as to what is meant in this warning to the church at Ephesus when they are told to “remember the love they had at first”. There is a lot of speculation about this phrase, whether it means that the church should begin again to love God or others as they had done in times past but what if, instead, the real meaning is that the church at Ephesus is to remember that they love only because God first loved them. Before they were even aware that there was a salvation to believe in, God loved them. God did not just love them in some emotional way but he loved them and the whole world and he demonstrated that love by giving the most precious gift of his Son. God gave his Son Jesus to not overcome just the evil of the world but Jesus has overcome our evil, the evil that we could not overcome on our own. God set us free from the slavery of sin which held us and he did so through the goodness of his love and grace. Perhaps this is the love which we had at the first that Christ calls us to remember. You see, what compels us to go out and join God in doing the good works which overcome the evil of this world is this extravagant, overwhelming love which we had never known before we had met Jesus. Perhaps it is this love, this love of God, the love with which we were first loved like never before, perhaps, it is this love that we are called to remember, to remember how God did not merely bear with the evil of this world but instead God sent his Son into the world because only in that way could the goodness of heaven come and conquer the evil of earth. Christ tells the church at Ephesus that those who once again respond to the love God has for them by loving him in return, loving God not with sheer emotion but with action, joining God in doing good, these are the ones Christ calls, “Conquerors!”. Yet that is not all, Christ also says to those who conquer that they will be granted to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. This mysterious blessing points us back to the garden of Eden, back to the disobedience of our first parents who were chased out of paradise, an angel of heaven guarding the entrance to paradise with a flaming sword lest Adam and Eve attempt to reach the tree of life and live forever. Yet now, Christ is saying that the angel and his fiery sword are gone, the way has been opened but only for those willing to join God in his work of overcoming evil with good. You see, by joining God we now claim that we at last know that God alone is good, and because of his first love for us, we, in response to God’s good love for us, we, unlike our fore parents, listen and obey God, using all that he has given us in overcoming the evil of our world. This is what Christ tells the church at Ephesus; only you can say just what Christ  is telling you! May you be among those he calls, conquerors! Amen!

Looking Back, Going Forward

 June 17 2022

Revelation 1

For Father’s Day this year my daughter Elizabeth invited me to go with her to see the latest Jurassic movie, Jurassic World: Dominion. Now, she had throughly prepared herself for this event having watched all of the previous six movies in the Jurassic realm. The whole Jurassic franchise began in 1993, so its about as old as Elizabeth, and its all about mad scientists who find a way to bring dinosaurs back to life; I mean, what possibly could go wrong? Well, in the first three movies the dinosaurs are kept in a park and in the last three movies we see how the dinosaurs are at last set free to roam the earth; again, what could possibly go wrong? Now, the movies Elizabeth and I went to see, Jurassic World: Dominion, brought back the cast from the original Jurassic movie which was pretty cool and knowing this, then everybody assumed that this latest installment would be loaded with what are called, “Easter eggs”. These are little subtle nods in one movie which pay homage to a movie which had came before. This is partially why Elizabeth watched all of the other six movies in the Jurassic franchise because she wanted to be able to point out all the Easter eggs, those subtle, or not so subtle, parts of the movie which were a tip of the hat to the movies which had gone before. Since I have trouble even remembering what I had for breakfast, I ,needless to say, missed most of the Easter eggs in the movie!

This idea of Easter eggs, those hidden little gems that are snuck into a movie which, if you are aware of them, point back to an older movie, this idea is perhaps a way for us to understand this strange vision of Jesus that we read about in this first chapter of Revelation. You see, all of the various ways that John, the writer of the book of Revelation, describes Jesus in his vision are Easter eggs pointing us back to the Old Testament, what we might call the prequel to what we call the New Testament. You see, only as we understand that what John is describing here is really the promises that are fulfilled in Jesus will we begin to wrap our minds around what can only be considered a mind-blowing experience that John has had one Sunday morning while worshipping God.

John has found himself far from his home, and his church family. He has been ripped out of the comfort and peace of his old familiar way of life, hauled off to live on a small island where he no longer could personally call on the members of his church to remain loyal to only Jesus Christ, the one, John refers to as being the ruler of kings on earth. John, in his letter, refuses to give any credit to Caesar  for his being banished to this small island but instead would witness that he was where he found himself only on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. It may have been Roman soldiers who had forcibly removed him from his home but his circumstances had not caught God unaware but they were rather just another moment when the will of God would be worked out even if it wasn’t possible to see how it could be so at the time.

So, John finds himself in a strange place, unsettled, trying desperately to adjust to this new reality that he has found himself in. The anchor that remains his constant is the structure of time, because every seven days, the Lord’s Day comes around even if one is far removed from all that used to be part of their world. What we know about the worship of these early followers of Jesus is that their worship was centered around the reading of the Word of God and the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup in celebration of the Lord’s supper. 

What is to happen when the Lord’s supper is participated in, is that the one who has revealed himself to us through his opening of the scriptures to us is now known to be present with us as the bread is broken and the cup is taken. This is all made possible for those in worship because of the presence of the Holy Spirit who speaks the words of Jesus to us and who gives us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet in the earthly elements of communion. So, it is no surprise that we are told that John is in the Spirit on the Lord’s day because when we worship Jesus we do so only in and through the Holy Spirit. Yet John’s ordinary day of worship was soon interrupted when on this Sunday, John hears a voice which sounds like a trumpet. What does it mean that this voice sounds like a trumpet? Certainly this must mean that the voice is loud but why, we must ask, is this mention of a trumpet even included here? Well, here is one of the many Easter eggs that John has placed here which points us back to the first covenant, the covenant God made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. God brought these former slaves up out of Egypt and he brought them to his holy mountain to enter into a covenant relationship with them. As we read in the nineteenth chapter of Exodus, he first gathers his people together and tells them that now they are God’s treasured possession and they would be for him a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. When we hear this then we know why John has already in the first chapter of this book of Revelation stated that Christ loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood and he has made us a kingdom of priests. Just as the people of Israel were set free from their slavery so also have we have been set free from our slavery to sin. In both cases the reason for our freedom is that we are to be a kingdom where each member is a priest to God.

Well, as we read further in the nineteenth chapter of Exodus, we find that God instructs the people to consecrate themselves and when they heard the sound of the trumpet they were to come to the foot of Mount Sinai because it was there that God would speak to his people about the covenant that they were about to enter. So, this moment that announced the speaking forth of the terms of the old covenant is found here in this moment where Jesus is speaking to John as if to say here God is going to speak to his people, the people who were the new Israel, his church, about the new covenant. It makes sense that it would happen here, as John has drunk from the cup, the cup which represented the blood of the new covenant. In this moment Jesus blows the trumpet as if to say that he is calling his people to him to speak about what is expected from those who have entered into this new covenant with God.

The book that John is to write is to be sent to seven churches, the church at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.  When we read that John is writing to seven churches we must remember that the number seven was thought of being a number, throughout the Bible, that conveys the meaning of wholeness and completeness. Thus, I believe that, although what John writes is to these seven churches he does so with the intention that the message he is given is actually for the whole church, every expression of the one body of Christ throughout the world. A right understanding of the number seven also helps us figure out just what John means by telling us that we have grace and peace through the seven spirits. Again, the number seven points to the wholeness or completeness of the Holy Spirit who as Isaiah teaches us in the eleventh chapter of his book is the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. There is one Spirit but he is experienced by us in different ways so that the Spirit is for us all that is necessary for us to be in a relationship with God through Christ.

So, as he is in the Spirit, John hears a voice while in worship, a voice which is like a trumpet summoning God’s people to him to hear the requirements of the new covenant, and as he turns to see the voice we are told that John sees seven lamp stands. In the midst of those lamp stands, John saw an image of Jesus. Once again, we have to ask just what is with the lamp stand? The answer is, as any good Jew of John’s day would have known is that the lamp stand was part of the inner workings of the Temple in Jerusalem. The lamp stand, or menorah, had one center lamp and off of this center lamp branched off three branches on either side, to resemble a tree. This lamp was a continual light within the inner holy chamber of the temple, the same place where there was an altar for burning incense and a table to hold twelve loaves of bread called the bread of the presence, one for each tribe of Israel. Now, it may be that John here is giving us another Easter egg, because by recalling this inner holy room with his mention of the lamp stand this means that perhaps John also meant that Jesus, representing the people of Israel, is the new bread of the presence, the bread of heaven as John writes in the sixth chapter of his gospel account.

As John gazes upon Jesus this is what he records that he sees, “there was one like a son of man, clothed in a long robe and a gold sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool. His eyes were like flames of fire, his feet were like burnished brass refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. Now, in this very brief description, John has given us a string of Easter eggs, little subtle nods back to various passages from the Old Testament. In the seventh chapter of Daniel we listen in on the vision God gave to his prophet which states, “behold, there with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man and he came to the Ancient of Days.” Here was one of us, one out of our humanity who is able to stand unafraid in the very awe inspiring and terrifying presence of Almighty God. Now, what may not be also apparent is that this term,”Son of Man”, is itself an Easter egg, a subtle nod pointing us back to the eighth Psalm where the Psalmist asks God, “What is man, that you are mindful of him?What is the son of man, that you care for him? Yet you made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and majesty! You gave him dominion over the works of your hand. You put all things under their feet…” When we remember this Psalm then we aren’t surprised when Daniel goes on to tell us in the seventh chapter that the Ancient of Days has granted this one like a son of man, dominion and glory and a kingdom because this is what God has desired for us, the people whom he has created, a life where we are able to be crowned with glory. So, what John is saying is that Jesus is the person who lives as God has always intended humanity to live. 

John goes on to say that the one who appeared before him had hair that was white like white wool, and eyes that were like flames of fire which again is yet another Easter egg that is found in the seventh chapter of Daniel. There before Daniel sees the one like a Son of Man, he looked and saw that the Ancient of Days took his seat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like white wool; his throne was fiery flames. So, John is telling us that, yes, Jesus is the perfect human as God intended but he is also the one who is the Ancient of Days, the everlasting and Almighty God. In the man, Jesus, the ancient of Days is fully revealed to us in one who is completely like us.

When we understand these two aspects of this vision that John has of Jesus, then when we hear John tell us that Jesus wore a long robe with a sash around his waist we know that this is another Easter Egg, pointing us this time to the eighth chapter of Leviticus where we read of how God instructed Moses to wash his brother Aaron because Aaron was the high priest and then Moses was to put “the coat on Aaron and tie the sash around his waist and clothe him with the robe…” So, John obviously wants us to understand that Jesus now is the High Priest of the new covenant. The theme of Jesus being our High Priest is prominent in the book of Hebrews where in the seventh chapter of this book we read that it is “indeed fitting that we should have such a High Priest as Jesus who is holy, innocent, untainted and separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens, He has no need to daily offer sacrifices for this he did once for all when he offered up himself.” This is what John sees when he sees Jesus in the sash and the robe, the one who is our High Priest, the one who goes before us to demonstrate the work of the priesthood to us. This work of the priest that Jesus lived out is that he took and offered God to the world and he also took the part of the world that God had given to him, his very life, and he offered this life back to God. The God that Jesus revealed to the world is the God which is pointed to by the very feet of the Jesus seen by John. John states that the feet of Jesus were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace and once again, here is another Easter Egg, this time pointing us to the tenth chapter of Daniel where Daniel was deeply distressed because of his being in exile in Babylon. As Daniel fasted and prayed, he had a vision of a “man clothed in linen and wearing a sash around his waist, whose eyes were like flaming torches and whose feet were like burnished brass who stood before him and he told Daniel that “he was greatly loved, a man whose words had been heard by God, and because of this Daniel was to fear not, but instead Daniel was to have the peace of God and be strong and of good courage.” This is who our God is, the God who comes to us in our suffering, the God who is ever present and faithful to us. This faithfulness of God is also heard in the reference John makes to the voice of Jesus which he says is like the sound of many waters. This points us back to the forty-third chapter of Ezekiel where the prophet Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord returning to his Temple, the sound of which was like that of many waters. You see, God’s glory is returning because now his Temple is made of people, living stones, who have been restored to their proper status of priests through the High Priestly work of Jesus.

John continues with his description of Jesus by telling us that in the right hand of Jesus there were seven stars. The stars represented the heavenly realm which is firmly within the powerful grasp of Jesus. Yet even though Jesus rules over the vastness of the cosmos, John says, that he speaks to us here on earth because we are told that from the mouth of Jesus comes a sharp two-edged sword. This strange image is very similar to the one described in the eleventh chapter of Isaiah where we hear Isaiah tell us that the one on whom the Holy Spirit rests, this is the one who will judge in righteousness for the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth and he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. In this context then it is easy to see what John is trying to convey to us, which is that Jesus is not only the one who commands all of the stars in the heavens yet, at the same time, he is the one who stands with the lowly of the earth, the poor and the meek. It is Jesus who is the one whose word will bring those who afflict the poor and meek to judgment. Finally, John records that the face of Jesus is like the sun, shining in full strength. In hearing this, how can we not hear the blessing of Aaron the high priest who when he blessed the people of Israel assured them that the Lord would make his face shine upon them and be gracious to them, that the Lord would rejoice at the sight of them and give them his peace. You see, the God we know, the God we offer to the world as his priests, our God is a God who can hold the whole cosmos in his hand yet he is also a God who seeks righteousness for the poor and meek of earth. The God we witness to is a God who desires that we live in his presence, before his face which shines upon us, to live in his presence where there is much joy and where grace and peace abound. This is the one in whose presence we hear the words, “Fear not”.  We can live victorious over our fear because Jesus is the one who is victorious over death. By his love he has broken the very power of sin and death. Now, because of the blood of Jesus, we have at last been set free from sin and its power so that we can offer God to a world which so desperately needs to know him and we can offer all of ourselves to a God who deserves the giving of all that we are. This is the hope written of in the Old Covenant that is fulfilled in Jesus who calls us to be faithful in our living out the truth of the New Covenant. To God be the glory! Amen.

Making a Great Love a Good Habit

 July 10 2022

1 Peter 5

As I get older, I understand the importance of having a morning ritual. I can remember, as a kid, staying with my Grandma and knowing that the one thing that I could count on was that when I entered the kitchen for breakfast that she would have a big, steaming pot of oatmeal ready and waiting for me. You see, this was my Grandma’s morning ritual; it was as if the day had not properly begun until the oatmeal was made. My morning ritual is to fill the two bird feeders that stand next to the woods. I find that if I get up and move and walk to the garage where the bird seed is and then fill both feeders that by that time the stiffness in my back is at last tolerable enough that I can eat breakfast without too much trouble. My wife Jennifer, as part of her morning ritual, starts her morning with a nice hot cup of mint tea. So, it goes without saying, most people probably have some kind of morning ritual, something that they can do without much thought, because let’s face it, thinking first thing in the morning can be a challenge. Its nice just to wait a little bit to switch on the brain before we tear into the day. 

What is interesting is that God knew of the importance of having a morning ritual because when the people of Israel were getting ready to enter into the land that God had promised them, God instructed Moses that every morning and every evening they were to say what is called in the Hebrew language, Shema, which merely means, “hear”. This hearing was the beginning of what they were to recite, a small prayer with which to begin and end their day which as recorded in the sixth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy states, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all of your soul, or life and with all you have been given.” So, imagine that as you rise and shine that you begin your day saying that you were going to begin this day that you have been given, listening to the words God is speaking. You are going to pay attention to God because you love him. You love him with your heart, the very center of your will, and you love him with your soul, the essence of your life and you love him with all that he has given to you. Can you see how this very small prayer would have a very big impact on how you order your day?

I think that God insisted that his people pray this simple prayer at the beginning and end of their day for the very purpose of bringing order into his creation through those who love him. If we live our lives without a proper love of God then we might say that the world is out of order. If we look around our world we can see how true this statement is. Now, some people might say, well, this was in the Old Testament so this prayer is obsolete yet this is far from the truth,. Jesus  states in the twenty-second chapter of Matthew that the greatest commandment in all of the Law is that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all of our soul and with all of our strength. So, yes, what we find in Deuteronomy still applies to those of us who follow Jesus. Yet, what is important is that it is Jesus who is the one who makes the possibility of a life fully loving God a reality. 

You see, in the first letter of Peter, we read of how the forefathers of Peter and those who were reading his letter, they ended up with a life which did not bear fruit. This empty life is the life which came up empty even though they were people who every morning prayed that they would hear God’s word and then take and love God with their heart and soul and strength. What Peter writes about then in his letter is how Jesus saves us from a life which bears no fruit, the fruit of loving God with all of our heart, with all of our life and all of our strength because even though we are no longer in slavery to sin we still stand in need of knowing just how we can now love God with all of our hearts, and with our life and with all of our resources.

Peter frames his letter by using what is known as the parable of the sower  because the parable of the sower is the way Jesus explains just why it is that people failed to love God as they should. The parable of the sower is the story of a farmer who went out to sow some seed as found in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. There we hear Jesus tell his disciples that “a farmer who went out to sow some seed and some seed fell upon the path and the birds came and devoured that seed. Other seed fell upon rocky ground, where there was not much soil, and immediately the seed sprang up since they had no depth of soil but when the sun rose the little seedlings were scorched. The little seedlings had no roots in them so they withered away. Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked the little seedlings. Other seeds though, fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred fold, some sixty, and some thirty.” Jesus would go on to explain this story as being a story about those who were faithfully doing the prescribed morning ritual of listening and loving God but failing miserably to end up with a life that bore the fruit of God’s love. Jesus told his disciples that when anyone hears the word of the kingdom, the word of the king, who is God, this word is like a seed. If one hears this word and takes it to heart, loving God with all of their heart but does not understand the word, if they  do not understand the plan of God, which is that as our God is one God so there must be one humanity, if this is not understood then the devil, who seeks to steal, kill and destroy, comes along and devours the word. So, when we don’t understand the ways of God then our loving of God with all of our heart is simply not going to happen. Jesus goes on to speak of the seed on rocky ground which represents those who hear God’s word and receive this word with joy yet they have no root in themselves. When these people experience trouble or persecution on account of the word of God they fall away just as fast as they first received God’s word. These are those who fail to love God with their soul or life. They allow their circumstances to be the determining factor as to the faithfulness of God. They fail to anchor their life in the very faithfulness of God, to trust that God will sustain them through any drought and storm and thus fail to love God with their life or soul.

Then Jesus speaks of the seeds which fell among the thorns. These are those who hear the word of God but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and the word fails to produce fruit. The abundance that God supplies becomes a false god which is worshiped and served thus separating a person from the very God in whom there is life and life more abundantly.

So, in this story of the sower Jesus is saying that people do not end up loving God with all of their heart because they do not understand God and his ways. When they fail to understand then the devil is able to come along and take the word of God from their heart. You see, if we understood God then we would know that he desires that all of humanity be united in their love of one another and so reflect back to God the very love with which he first loved us. This is what Peter writes about when at the end of the first chapter of his first letter that now that Jesus has cleansed us from all sin we are to have a sincere brotherly love, loving one another earnestly from a pure heart. What Peter goes on to tell us in the second chapter of his letter is that God is building a house, a house where people serve God and give their lives to bring about the purposes of God. This is the right understanding that we were given by Jesus, a right understanding that we must not let the devil take from us.  Jesus went to the cross because he refused to follow the ways of the devil, he would not steal, kill or destroy because Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. Christ shed his precious blood for us upon the cross, because he knew that love  is the power which defeats death, the power of sin which destroys God’s good creation. Now that we have been set free from the enslavement of sin we must in love join God in building up, no longer letting what we say and do tear down what God is creating. So, to say that Jesus is our Savior is to say that we have been saved so that we might love one another with abandon. Peter is making it clear that not only is that it is Jesus the one who has redeemed us by his blood but Jesus is the one who has also done everything necessary for us to at last love God with all of our heart.

Peter, uses the parable of the sower, to address just why those who receive God’s word with joy end up withering before their lives can bear fruit. He begins his letter by writing about the foreknowledge of God, his plan, the plan revealed to the prophets who spoke of the coming of Jesus, and of his sufferings and his glory.What was revealed to the prophets is the very good news that is given to us through the Holy Spirit. This good news is that God had a plan to bring salvation to our world, a plan he revealed to the prophets through the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who came and who suffered just as the prophets foresaw and who rose from the dead just as they also knew. It is because Jesus has risen from the dead that we now know that the power of sin has been defeated, sin no longer reigns. God’s plan to bring about a world where love is the rule has happened just as God said it was going to happen. Through Jesus we have the certainty that God is faithful to his word. Now, we can know that we can trust God with our very life no matter what the circumstances, in our joy or in our sorrow, all because of Jesus. Through Jesus we can know God as our faithful source of life which can sustain us in the worst of times. Can we love God with all of our soul, our life? We absolutely can love God with our life because we know through Jesus that God is the ever certain fountain of life that we can sink our roots deep into and find life eternal.

Well, it should come as no surprise that Peter goes on to speak about how the cares of the world, the anxieties of life and the deception of plenty can choke out the word of God. Peter begins the fourth chapter of his letter by reminding us that now that Christ has redeemed us from sin that no longer should we think that our life is to be one long moment of indulging our desires. What Peter goes on to teach us is that when Christ suffered in the flesh he demonstrated to us how we now are to live in a world where overindulgence is the norm. The security that we seek by always feeding our human passions is to be found instead by yielding our life to God, and in that security, using our time to do his will. This is what we learn from Jesus, who with arms outstretched upon the cross cried out to his Heavenly Father, “Into your hands I commit my spirit!” This is how we now are also to live, knowing that our life is being held secure in the hands of God. No longer do we have to let the cares of this world make us anxious, divided in our loyalty to God. No longer do we have to falsely believe that life is somehow more secure with a stock pile of worldly riches. No, our security is found in the same way that Jesus found his security which is by yielding his life into the arms of his Heavenly Father. So, because of Jesus, because we can know the security found by being held in the arms of our Heavenly Father, we no longer have to allow the abundance that God has supplied us with to become for us a source of idol worship. We can instead take all that God has given to us and use it to glorify him, the one who securely holds our life in his hands.

So, yes, Jesus our Savior, who through the shedding of his blood, has redeemed us from a life of being unable to bear the spiritual fruit that God has always created us to have in our lives. But Jesus is more than just our Redeemer because now, because of Jesus we can hear the word of God and love him with all of our heart, with all of our soul and with all of the abundance God has given to us. All of this has to be understood before we can dive into the final words of Peter’s first letter. Peter begins the fifth chapter by speaking about the role of those he calls the elders. Peter is speaking to the elders as an elder, one, as he says, was a witness to the sufferings of Christ and a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. These words of Peter echo the same words he wrote in the first chapter when he wrote of the prophets who through the Holy Spirit predicted not only the sufferings of God’s anointed one but also his subsequent glories. It seems then that what Peter is speaking about is of the very faithfulness of God, how the plan of God has always been to bring the world back to him through a Savior. Through the one we know as Jesus, through his death upon the cross, God took care of the sins of the past. Through the raising of this servant, God has brought the power of new life into the present so that we might know the faithfulness of God in his giving to us eternal life. This hope of eternal life is what sustains us even if we are called to give our life sacrificially to God.

Peter also instructs those who are elders to exercise their oversight of those who are less mature in their faith not under compulsion, not for worldly gain but rather willingly and eagerly. Then Peter tells them that they are to not be domineering which is very similar that Jesus taught to Peter and his friends. In the tenth chapter of Mark, Jesus says, that those “who are considered rulers of the nations lord it over them and the great ones of the nations exercise authority over their subjects. But it shall not be so among you for whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” So, what Peter is saying in so many words is that those who are elders must consider themselves the servants of those who they are watching over. They were to remember that the way of Jesus, is the way of the servant, the way that Jesus showed his love to his followers as we read in the thirteenth chapter of John’s gospel. The elders, then, were to demonstrate that they understood that God’s word demands that all walk in the way of love.

Peter goes on to say that they should all clothe themselves with humility, a word which speaks of knowing the need to rely upon God. You see, it just makes sense that God opposes the proud because it is the proud who are just fine without God. Only as we are willing to admit that we desperately need God, that we need a chief Shepherd to watch over us, to give us the grace of his presence and power, only then are we able to live in peace. What Peter is speaking to here is knowing life as coming not from the power of our hands but rather to humbly know life as only being secure in the hands of God, where we can receive his grace. This is how Peter knows that we can keep ourselves by being overwhelmed by the cares of this world, from being deceived that our souls can find rest only if we just have enough riches to fill up our life.

So, Peter here in his last words, has simply gone over what he has already taught us about Jesus throughout his letter, about how Jesus has made it possible for us to fulfill this call of God to love him with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our strength. And then he does so one last time, I mean are you at last hearing this same framework that he has used throughout his letter? Cast all of your anxieties upon God because he cares for you, do you hear how Peter is once again addressing the problems we have loving God with all that he has given to us? When the anxieties of this world make us into hoarders, Peter says throw those cares of yours onto God, don’t you know that he cares for you, I mean, after all, he has given his very Son for you. Peter continues, be sober-minded, have your wits about you; in other words hang on to your understanding about God’s love and his plan for the world. We have to have our thinking caps on because the devil is roaming around seeking to snatch the word of God from our hearts. And lastly, Peter says be firm in your faith, even if you have to suffer. And how are we able to do this Peter? It is, God, Peter tells us that will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish us, through never letting us forget that he is the one who has dominion over this world forever. His plan will happen, you can build you life upon this promise, because Jesus is the yes to all of God’s promises. Amen!

God Alone is the Victor

 July 3 2020

1 Peter 4

A couple of weeks ago our annual assembly for the East Ohio District of the Church of the Nazarene was held. I was very blessed by participating in it. Our General Superintendent, Dr. Gustavo Crocker, brought much needed encouragement for the churches of our district who have been, to say the least, experiencing a couple of rough years on account of Covid. Dr. Crocker used scripture verses from the forty-third chapter of Isaiah to bring to us a message of hope, because we are to see that God is indeed doing a new thing. He spoke of how the Covid epidemic did not catch God by surprise but rather God knew of its coming and God was there for us in the epidemic and God is able to use this experience to bring about something new, something that will bring newness and growth within the church.  If God is doing a new thing then, Dr. Crocker, stated that we as the church, we must be ready to join God in this new work that he is bringing about. One of the things that keeps the church bound to the old ways of doing things is that we make sacred cows out of the methods that we use to do our ministry of the church. When Dr. Crocker told us this I could not but help to think of what someone has called the last seven words of a dying church, we’ve never done it that way before. We hold on to the old ways of doing things because we like the comfortable way those methods make us feel. As Dr. Crocker also said, the only one who likes change is a baby with a dirty diaper! So true!

As I meditated on what Dr. Crocker has conveyed to us, I also thought that another reason why we resist change in the church, especially in our methods, is that most of us who make up the church don’t really know just what is our purpose as the church. If we simply keep on, keeping on doing what we have always done, then we don’t have to stop and think just what is the purpose for what it is that we are doing. I think that the Covid epidemic though made a lot of people pause and reflect on just why it is that they were part of this thing called the church and unfortunately some of those people couldn’t come up with a good answer. So, if I were to ask you to write down on a piece of paper just what is our purpose as the church of Jesus Christ just what would your answer be? Perhaps you might say that the church is the place where people can hear the gospel so that they might experience life transformation. This would be very true but even that response is not the ultimate answer. You see the church is not just about right beliefs or the right way to live as good as those may be, and it isn’t just about making disciples or being a witness to the world around us as important as those two actions are. No, the ultimate purpose of the church, (drumroll, please), is to glorify God. To glorify God is the ultimate purpose of every believer, period. I mean, I gave you the answer to what the church’s purpose is in our scripture that I read from in the fourth chapter of Peter, where this best friend of Jesus tells us “in everything God is to be glorified through Jesus Christ for to him belong glory and power for all time. Amen.” Now, just so that you are certain that Peter is not alone in his emphasis on our glorifying God, we also read this same thing in the book of Romans. There, Paul lays out God’s entire plan of salvation, and he sums everything up at the beginning of the fifteenth chapter stating that what he prayed for this church at Rome is that the “God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together with one voice you glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, here again, we hear from Paul that as a church we are to be united together in our glorification of God.

Now, we probably would all agree, that, yes, glorifying God is our ultimate purpose as a church yet we, in the same breath, might also be hard pressed to explain just what does it mean for us to be a church that brings glory to God. What may help us figure out just what does it mean for us to glorify God is for us to look at the Hebrew word for glory, kabod and what we find is that its roots are found in words like weighty or heavy. This seems to be a bit strange until we consider that in battle those who had the heavier shields, these were the ones who would be victorious. So, there is a sense in this Hebrew word for glory, not just of honor, and exultation but that this comes about because of victory.

It is this sense that God’s glory is directly tied to his victory, that helps us understand what the prophet Isaiah writes in the eighth verse of the forty-second chapter. There we read, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” What God is saying here is that it is he and he alone who is victorious. God is not going to allow the victory that he has rightfully won to be claimed by anyone else especially something people held to be a god which was nothing but a figment of their imagination. The point that God is making here is that when people worship idols they are seeking to claim a victory for themselves when the victory is rightfully God’s. People worship these so called gods only so that these gods might serve their needs and their desires because this is what the worshipers of false gods think life is all about. If these worshippers of false gods end up with all that they desire they think that their life is secure, that their gods have won the victory but we have to ask ourselves does such thinking really make sense?

You see, this is what Peter is getting at when he tells those who read his letter that they are to no longer to “live their remaining days in the flesh concerned about human desires”. Here we begin to understand that a life built on our desires is the only victory that some people want.Victory to them is nothing more than to stay alive, to determine one’s life as one sees fit through the power of one’s own capabilities. Yet it is exactly this idea of a victorious life that Peter is warning us against. You see, it is this mindset that Peter goes on to tell us is what the rest of the world is involved in, a mindset whose outcome is as Peter tells us is a life marked by a “life without limits, a life of unrestrained appetite, a life of excessive passions and partying and revolting worship of idols.” Peter goes on to say that this is a “flood of debauchery” which probably is pointing us back to the days of Noah. What Peter is addressing is this idea that we can live life on our own terms, that all life is is a seeking after our most basic desires so that we are comfortable and satisfied. Now, what cannot be forgotten is that Peter is not just speaking about the people in the world but rather Peter is speaking to us, we are the ones Peter points the finger at and tells us that we are the ones who must no longer live our remaining days in the flesh concerned about human desires. In doing so, Peter is once again pointing us back to the parable which has provided a framework for his letter, the parable of the sower. This parable is found in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew and it is there that we hear Jesus tell his disciples, which included Peter, a story about a farmer who went out to sow some seed. Jesus said that some of the seed fell along the path and the birds quickly came and snatched up the seed. Some of the seed fell upon rocky ground where it quickly sprouted but because it had no root, when the sun came up, the seed was scorched and withered away. Some of the seed also fell among the thorns and the thorns grew up and choked out the little seedlings. All was not lost though for some seed did fall upon good soil and some of that seed produced one hundred fold, some sixty fold and some thirty fold. The portion of this story that we need to focus on today is the part where the seed fell among the thorns. Jesus goes on to explain to his disciples that this was the one who heard the word of the kingdom but the anxiety of this age and the deception of plenty choke the word so that the word bears no fruit. You see,  Jesus has paid for our ransom, not with silver or gold, but with his precious blood and it would be a tragedy if we ended up with a life that did not end up bearing fruit. This is what will happen if the anxiety of this age and the deceitfulness of the plenty that we have, chokes out the word of the kingdom, the good news of Jesus Christ. This is why Peter is adamant when he tells us that we must not, in the time we have left, be those who live in the flesh concerned with human desires.

What is interesting about this parable that Jesus told is the word we translate as “choke”. We are told that the anxieties of this age and the deception of our riches choke the word which is in us. This word, “choke”, is a word which means to be joined with something which sucks the life out of you. This is a powerful description for what Jesus is describing. The anxieties of this age cause us to be divided in our loyalty to God. When life becomes difficult we begin to doubt and worry even though we know God is faithful. To ease our fears we store up our treasures believing, falsely, that this is the way that we can find some peace. The truth is that all that happens when we have treasures is that we fuss and fume about whether or not something is going to happen to them and we actually end up more anxious than we were when we first became anxious. So, we just keep on accumulating more stuff and when we become so dependent upon the stuff that we have accumulated, thinking that all of it is the source of our life, then we are drawn away from God who is the only true source of life. If we become so convinced that the way to an anxious free life comes about because of what we do, that the security of our life is determined by our smarts and our strength, then we are going to look for ways to manipulate the forces of the world so that they work in our favor; this is where false gods come into the picture. You see, when we think that because we come every Sunday and worship God, and we give him a little of what we got and we say a few prayers then God will help us in our pursuit of more stuff, what we consider is the perfect life, this is, in fact, nothing more than the worship of a false god because the one true living God never serves us to secure the victory we desire; no, we are to serve him in the power of the victory he has already won. So, it is abundantly true that when we seek a life apart from God, we are really choking to death because we have cut ourselves off from the one true source of life.

When we begin to understand what Jesus is teaching us in the parable of the sower it isn’t hard to hear the words from the fourth chapter of Zechariah, which says, that “it is not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord.” Life is not by our effort or our strength; life is not about the power that we might wield in order to survive. No, life is by the very Spirit of God. This is what Peter is telling us when he begins this fourth chapter of his letter by stating that “since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself with the same way of thinking so that the one who has suffered in the flesh is finished with sin.” Here, Peter is referring to something that he had previously written at the end of the second chapter where he tells us that “Christ has suffered for us, leaving us an example, so that we might follow in his steps.” In these words, we cannot help but think of Peter’s first encounter with Jesus where Jesus told him to come and follow him. Peter goes on to tell us that “Jesus committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but continued trusting himself to him who judges justly.” So, just what is this way that Jesus thought about life that we are to follow, a way of thinking that we can arm ourselves with against being consumed with a concern for our human desires?This way of thinking is that Jesus continued trusting the one who judges justly, his Heavenly Father. The image that the original Greek word translated here as “trusting” gives to us is that of a person who allows themselves to be held in the hands of another. When we know this, then we are taken to that moment, recorded in the twenty-third chapter of Luke, where Jesus is there dying upon the cross and with a loud cry exclaims, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”! The spirit of Jesus is his life, so here he is saying, “Father I lay my life in your hands.” This is how Jesus was able to be reviled yet not revile in return. This is how Jesus was able to suffer at the hands of others and not respond with threats of violence because Jesus knew that he was held safe in the hands of his Heavenly Father and his Heavenly Father would bring about the justice for the injustice done against him. Jesus knew that it was not by his strength, nor by his power but his life was living by the Spirit, the very Spirit by which he offered himself as a sacrifice without blemish to his Heavenly Father. This is why that John, in his gospel, writes that Jesus understood that when he was crucified that he would glorify his Heavenly Father as we hear in the seventeenth chapter. There on the cross the Heavenly Father was glorified because there the world saw the victory of our God, that a life held in the hands of the Father is eternally secure; this is the message confirmed by the resurrection. Jesus knew that victory happens when we yield our life into the hands of our Heavenly Father and he gives us this hope of victory in the tenth chapter of John when he tells us “I give you eternal life, and you will never perish, and no one will snatch you out of my hand. My Father, who has given you to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch you out of the Father’s hand.” You see, this is when God is glorified when we live knowing that our life is securely held in the hands of our Heavenly Father.

When we live knowing that our life is eternally secure in the hands of our Heavenly Father then our hands are free from grasping tightly to all that we think we need to live so that now are hands can reach out to serve others. In the hands of God we are set free to love with abandon. Such love offers grace, and mercy and forgiveness so that the destructive power of sin can never rear its ugly head. In the hands of God we can reach out our hands to welcome the stranger never having to be concerned about whether there will be enough for all. When we are held in the hands of God we can take the gifts that God has given to us and give them to those who need them and receive from others the gifts that God has given them. This is what it means for us to live in the household of God each one sharing with their brothers and sisters the richness laid out for us on the table our Heavenly Father has set for us. So, as we speak, we are to speak the very words God has given to us to build up and encourage one another. As we serve, we serve in the strength God supplies. This is a life that witnesses to the victory of God.

Peter goes on to tell us something that seems a bit strange to our modern ears, that we are to rejoice when we suffer. Why would he tell us such a mixed message? The point that Peter is making is that when we share in the sufferings of Christ this is when we once again become keenly aware that our life is not victorious through our strength, nor through our power but only through the Spirit of God. This is what Peter tells us, that it is when we share in the sufferings of Christ that we have the certainty that the same Holy Spirit through which he offered himself into the hands of his Heavenly Father is the same Holy Spirit resting upon us, laying us into the hands of the one with whom we can trust our very life. When we suffer for God, then, there is no disgrace because it is then we are witnessing to the victory that is ours in the name of Christ. This is when we do the will of our Heavenly Father doing the good we know to do, safe in the knowledge that we can trust the God who created us to hold us safe in this life he has given to us. So, God alone receives the glory; his alone is the victory. If we know this to be true then let us live as it is true. To God be the glory! Amen!

What are you sowing?

 June 26 2022

1 Peter 1:22-2:12

My wife, Jennifer, just recently got a new IPhone as her old one ended up having issues with the battery, surprise, surprise. It’s a great phone, and it probably has more features than she will ever know about but the weirdest part of the phone for me is that you can now change Siri’s voice. I am so used to Siri being a woman’s voice so it kind of freaks me out to hear an Australian male voice coming from the kitchen as if Crocodile Dundee himself is out there answering all of my wife’s questions.What is probably even more strange is that we think nothing at all about carrying on a conversation with our phones, I mean, we do it all the time. There is also Alexa, the voice activated device that you can speak to and it will do pretty much whatever you ask her to do. Through our voices we find the whole world at our fingertips. Who knew our common ordinary speech could have such power?!

This power of words, of ordinary common talking, this is what saturates this part of Peter’s first letter that we read today. God speaks a word and we when we hear that word and treasure that word we find that indeed that this word has power. Through this word that God speaks we discover that we are living life in a new place, a place of a very different existence, so very different that this existence can only be called new. This is the power of a word.

So, throughout this section of Peter’s first letter, we find a lot about words, words that we should put away, like malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander and words we should pick up and most definitely say like the words which speak of the exalted wonder of Jesus. Peter also speaks of the evildoers who speak against us, those of us who have been made new through the word of God and how through the goodness brought about through the word of God living in us, the foolish people living in ignorance will end up finding themselves without words to speak. Thousands of years before Alexa ever came along, the notion that our words have power, power to create new worlds and bring down old ones was something Peter knew all so well.

Peter describes the living and abiding word that God speaks as being a seed that is imperishable, always abounding with life. It is not hard to imagine that Peter, in describing the word of God in this way that he is thinking back to the days when he walked with Jesus beside the Sea of Galilee. Peter would have remembered the story Jesus had told him and his friends about a farmer who went out to sow seed and some of the seed fell upon the path where the birds came and devoured these seeds before they even had a chance to grow. Some of the seed fell upon rocky ground and the seeds quickly sprouted but when the sun came out in full force the seeds were scorched because they had no root in them. Then some of the seed fell among the thorns which choked out the little seedlings. Yet all was not lost because some of the seed did fall upon good soil and produced grain, some a hundred fold, some sixty fold and some thirty fold. Now, the part of this story which we need to understand for today is this part which concerns the birds which snatch away the seeds before they can ever sprout. Jesus goes on to explain that the seed that is sown is the word of the kingdom. If the word of the kingdom is not understood, Jesus tells us, the evil one comes and snatches away this word which is sown in a person’s heart just as birds come and devour seed which lays upon a stony path.

So, this word that Peter speaks of as being an imperishable seed is the word of the kingdom, the kingdom of God which is at hand. This is the same word spoken of in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah where God tells Isaiah, that “just as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater so also, God says, my word that goes out  from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty. My word shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed for the very thing for which I sent it.” Jesus tells us that this word that God speaks is the word of the kingdom, a word that God speaks forth from heaven to bring his rule and reign here upon earth. We know what this word speaks to us because Peter tells us that if we are obedient to this word then there will be a sincere love between us as brothers and sisters in Christ, a love that seeks the best for others above what is best for oneself without worrying about how much is too much. The word used for “obedience” here means to give authority to this word which is heard. Another way to look at this then is to say that we heed this word of God because we treasure what God has spoken to us. This is the very same sentiment that we find in the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm where the Psalmist tells us that “he has treasured God’s word in his heart so that he might not sin against God.” The reason why we treasure the word of God which speaks forth of the love of heaven is that God first treasured us. This is what Peter spoke about before he speaks of obeying the word of God, that God has, through the precious blood of Christ, set us free from our slavery of sin. When we were held captive, in possession of the power of sin, God paid the ultimate price so that we might be his possession, his treasure. So, as God treasured us in so great a measure that he sent his Son from his heart to come to earth to set us free so now we, in response to such an act of love, are to treasure the word of God in our hearts.

This word that God speaks is that we are to love as he first loved us. As Jesus has done everything necessary so that we might share in the love relationship he has always had with his Father, now we can know and love God as our Father and love each other as brothers and sisters. As God sought our welfare above the welfare of his own Son so we too love others seeking first their welfare over our own. We can love with such abandon knowing that the God who loves us is also the God who is also faithful, the one who guards our imperishable inheritance that awaits us beyond this life.  This is what the new birth is all about, living our life now in the certainty of our tomorrow. Even if we love to the point of death we know that God is faithful and he will not let his servants see corruption. As we know that the word of God abides forever so we know that the God who speaks with us will abide with us forever and we will abide with him. This is our living hope.

So, the word of the kingdom, in a nutshell, is love. Love is how the kingdom of heaven becomes a reality on earth and this just makes sense because if God is love and God dwells in heaven then his kingdom simply must be all about love. This Peter rightly understood I believe, and he also understood the meaning of the parable of the sower that he remembered Jesus had explained to him. We know this because after he speaks of the word of God being like an imperishable seed he goes on to speak of how we who are born again through this seed, we are to crave the right understanding of God’s word just as a newborn baby craves milk. The word translated often as being spiritual is better understood as being the reasoning of the word. In other words, we as those who are born again, living in the kingdom now that will come in full in the future, we are to long for and desire more than anything else the logic of love. It goes without saying that to love to the extremes required by God seems to be just the opposite of logical. Paul writes in the first chapter of First Corinthians that the cross was a stone that tripped up the Jews and utter foolishness to the Greeks. As we learn in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, Peter himself, at one time, also did not understand the logic of love. We read how “when Jesus told him that he was going to Jerusalem to carry his cross, Peter got in the face of Jesus and  told him that there was no way that this was going to happen. Jesus responded to this outburst of Peter by telling him to, “ Get behind me Satan! You are a hindrance to me!” You see, at this point in his walk with Jesus, Peter simply did not understand the logic of love. I mean, who would bring about a kingdom without wars and division and fighting? Yet, this is exactly what God has done through his love for us and Peter tells us as people who are born again that we need to grasp just how this word of love does its work so that we remain pure. The word that we read here at the beginning of this second chapter of Peter’s letter as being pure is a word which means “without bait” which I believe is very appropriate. You see, when we understand the way that God’s love works in bringing his kingdom to fruition then we will be people who don’t take the bait, finding ourselves ensnared by the evil one. When we see just what Peter is trying to tell us here it isn’t hard to hear some very similar words that Paul speaks found in the fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians where we read, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on those things which provoke you to anger; give no room for the devil to be in your life.” Yes, we can be angry but what we cannot do is to let those things which irritate us, those things which set us off, to fester and in doing so invite Satan himself to take up residence in our life. No, we have to crave a life free from taking the bait, a life that doesn’t focus on the things that irritate us but instead focuses on the one who loves us and gave his life for us. You see, we don’t want the bait anymore because now we have found that which used to tempt us as no longer very appetizing; now we have tasted the Lord and he is what is good to us. Peter here is quoting from the thirty-fourth Psalm. The writer of this Psalm experienced the goodness of God when in his poverty, he cried out to God and the Lord heard him and saved him out of his troubles. You see, as we grow in our salvation, as the reality of our salvation increases in us, that in our poverty, our weakness of our flesh, when we cried out to God, the Lord heard our words and he saved us out of his great mercy and love for us, this is when we know our God is good. When we taste the sweetness of our freedom, this is when we know the great goodness of our God, this is the goodness that we now crave.

When we understand that it is the goodness of God which now is what we seek it isn’t hard to understand that we are to take off all evil speech like an old, filthy coat. Peter writes that we are to be done with all outward expressions of evil; we are to be finished with defrauding others and deceit; we are to no longer be seeking the ill-will of another person, or to be upset at another person’s good fortune or to find pleasure in another’s pain; we are to put behind us all evil speaking, backbiting, mocking others, reviling others, or seeking to ruin the reputation of another person. Peter here seems to be taking us over to the sink and giving our mouths a good scrubbing with some soap. To understand the logic of love we have to know just why all these wrong and evil ways that we speak to one another need to be left behind us as we grow up in our salvation. The answer that Peter gives us is that what the word of God is doing is building a spiritual house. Jesus, is the first living stone, the precious, chosen, cornerstone of God, the one who is our foundation that sets the course for all those who are built upon him. If God’s word is building up this new spiritual dwelling place, his great and glorious Temple, then if we were to come along and speak malice, deceit, hypocritical words, and if we were envious of others, casually slandering others then we would be tearing apart what God is putting together. Where the word of God, his imperishable seed is sowing unity, our words would be sowing discord. You see, to believe in Jesus Christ is to have faith that his word of love, this is the foundation for our lives, the very rock on which our life is built. When we don’t see this, when we look to some other means to live our life we will stumble over this cornerstone called Christ. When we seek to tear down others through our words, then instead of finding a foundation for our life we will find a rock which makes us fall. This is why Peter once again insists that we must be thoroughly persuaded that God’s word of love is the way of Christ, the rock upon which to build our lives. When we understand that it is on Christ that we build our lives we then become people who turn and build up one another, never tearing them down through the words we speak.

As Peter writes about how Christ is our foundation, the very bedrock of the house that God is speaking into existence, he motivates us to be God’s living stones by reminding us just who we now are. Peter harkens back to the exodus story, when God rescued the people of Israel from slavery down in Egypt. When these people arrived at Mt. Sinai to enter into a covenant relationship with the God who  had saved them, God first spoke to his people declaring to them their true identity. In the 19th chapter of Exodus we read how God told Moses to tell the people that if now they obeyed his voice and kept his covenant they would be his treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is God’s; and they would be to him a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. You see, what God was doing with his people is that now that they had been sent free from slavery they were no longer to think of themselves as being slaves. No longer were they to cower in fear never certain of their fate or their future; no, they were now a treasured possession of God. No longer was their worth to be determined by how hard they could work, or how what it is is that they could do; no, their worth was determined by the God who had rescued them. No longer were they to work for the glory of their masters but instead they would be holy as God is holy, serving him by being his priests who bore his name out into the world. As God has once declared this identity upon the people of Israel, now, Peter states, God is declaring this same identity on all of those that God called out of the darkness of the slavery of sin into the awesome, marvelous, amazing light of the love of God through his word. No more, Peter tells us, are we to think of ourselves as being a bunch of nobodies because we now know ourselves as being somebody to God because of his steadfast love and mercy. Now we can know that God has chosen us, elected us to be his people. Now, we can know ourselves as priests to God, servants set aside for the holy work of bearing the name, the very reputation of God to the world. Now, we are part of a new nation, the holy nation of God, the people who know themselves as the most treasured possession of God. Our worth has been forever determined by our Heavenly Father giving his Son in exchange for us so that we might at last be free therefore we must live as those who are free no longer bound by the power of sin. Now, the Holy Spirit dwells within us as we are now the new Temple of God where the presence of God can be known. Once we are aware of our new identity then once again come new words for us to speak for now, Peter tells us, we are to proclaim and declare how excellent and wonderful is the our Savior, Jesus, whose word has called us into his light. Our desire should now be as the song, “I Speak Jesus” sings to us so wonderfully, “I just want to speak the name of Jesus, over every heart and mind. Cause I know there is peace in your presence! I speak Jesus. I just want to speak the name of Jesus, till every dark addiction starts to break. Declaring hope and freedom! I speak Jesus. I just want to speak the name of Jesus, over fear and anxiety. To every soul held captive by depression, I speak Jesus!

You see, when we live out in the world we need to speak Jesus, living a life which resounds of his goodness because as Peter tells us it is the goodness that we speak and do which will bring those who speak evil of us to come to glorify Jesus when he returns. You see our words matter. By doing good and speaking Jesus we take the words right out of the mouths who do not yet understand the logic of the love of God. We must not forget that words are like seeds. So, just what is it that you are sowing, discord or unity in love? May we keep on speaking Jesus to his honor and glory! Amen!