Recognizing the Voice of God

Friends,

Dennis Marquardt offers this -- A hunter had a very unusual dog and decided he wanted to show it off to one of his not so up-beat friends.  As they waited, a flock of ducks finally flew overhead and the man shot one.  It fell into the water and the man told his friend, "Now watch this remarkable dog of mine fetch that duck,” he snapped his fingers and the dog took off. The dog ran on top of the water all of the way out to get the duck...and all of the way back!  Certain that his negative friend would be amazed he asked him, "What do you think of my dog now?"  The fellow replied, "Dumb dog…he can't even swim!"

Nothing grips the heart more than misery.  And as the saying goes, misery does love company. Sometimes people, including you and me, are tempted to fall into a trap of living in “unbelief.”  It is one thing to need some “blessed assurance” from time to time in our lives. But, living lives of doubt and negativity can lead to greater mental and spiritual maladies, such as depression.  We talked about this last time in relationship to what Elijah was going through in his life. (1 Kings 19:1-8)  Depression is a crippling disease for many people, and believers are not immune to it. It can be a physical issue that leads to depression.  But so often, it is the result of one of Satan's most effective tools against believers, and this is discouragement, which can lead to many sins.  This, or it at least incapacitate believers to be unproductive, resentful toward others, and angry at God and man.  When this happens, rather than drawing closer to God and His people, such ones tend to withdraw, which is the most damaging thing that they can do.  We do not need to give in to the temptation to isolate ourselves, but learn even more so to trust in the Lord.

When we last left Elijah, he was about to begin a long journey of about two weeks on foot from Beersheba in southern Palestine to Mt. Sinai.  He may have been in a hurry to flee from the wicked queen Jezebel, but he must have made a number of pit stops along the way, as it took about forty days. (19:8) It is likely that the Lord was directing his steps to lead him to places where he needed to minister and to rest.  And there may be something symbolic in the fact that the 40 days could represent the 40 years that Israel spent in the same wilderness region.  It is also probably not so ironic that it was Israel’s unbelief that caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 13-14)…and it is Elijah’s unbelief and fear that have led him on this journey.  And did I also mention that the Lord also spent 40 days in the wilderness when He was tempted? (Matthew 4:2) We can understand that there is some spiritual, symbolic significance to all of this.

At some point, Elijah comes to a cave where he waits on the Lord. (1 Kings 19:9-14) This is something of a “retreat” center – a retreat from the realities he is facing.  The Lord shows up and…He does not rebuke him or instruct him…but he asks him a question – “What are you doing here?”  The prophet’s reply doesn’t really answer the question.  The indication is that Elijah is not necessarily “retreating” in order to solve some problems and get closer to the Lord.  In reality, he is depressed and willing to give up his calling and his life.  Elijah says he has experienced many trials and hardships in ministry, but that he has been faithful to the Lord.  Elijah’s reply seems to reveal a certain pride and self-pity.  God commands him to stand on the mount at the entrance to the cave, but it doesn’t appear that he does this until v.13. Or, he may have stepped out of the cave, only to flee back into it when the Lord shows up with manifestations of His power.

“The Lord passes by” reminds us of Moses’ experience on the mount (Exodus 33:21-22).  All Elijah needs is a fresh vision of the power and glory of God to get him going, right?  First, the Lord causes a great wind to pass by, a wind so strong that it breaks the rocks and tears up the mountain.  Then, the Lord causes a great earthquake that shakes the mountain, and finally the Lord brings a fire.  The technical word for these manifestations of power is “theophany”, which means “God appears”.  But, there is no direct message from the Lord in any of these manifestations.  What does God seek to do in Elijah’s life by means of these awesome and frightening object lessons?  For one thing, he is reminding His servant that everything in nature is obedient to Him…He doesn’t lack for a variety of tools in order to accomplish He work.  Yet, after the dramatics, there is a “still, small voice” which is translated, “a gentle whisper, or a tone of gentle blowing.”  This reference might remind us of Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus, concerning the power and working of the Holy Spirit. (John 3:1ff)  In fact, “still, small voice” is still a reference to the Holy Spirit that we use today.

When Elijah hears the voice, he steps out of the cave to meet the Lord. The mighty power and great noise of the previous displays did not stir him, but when he hears the still, small voice, he recognizes the voice of God.  And now, Elijah hears a repeat of the same question that the Lord posed in v.9 – “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  And Elijah, once again, repeats the same evasive answer. In essence, God seems to be saying to Elijah – “You called fire down from heaven, you had the prophets of Baal slain, and you prayed down a terrific rainstorm, but now you feel like a failure.  But, you must realize that I don’t usually work in a manner that is loud, impressive and dramatic.  My still, small voice brings the Word to the listening ear and heart.” This is an important message to consider.

In this day of mammoth meetings, loud music and high pressure everything, it is difficult for people to understand that God rarely works by means of the dramatic and the colossal. When he wanted to start the Jewish nation, He sent a baby – Isaac; and when He wanted to deliver that nation from bondage, He sent another baby – Moses; and when He wanted to teach His people a lesson in faith and trust, He sent a young boy named David to defeat a giant named Goliath. And, when God wanted to save a world, He sent His Son as a weak and helpless baby.  This offers some perspective for us when we consider God’s work among humankind.

Clashes at Ferguson, ISIS, Ebola, wars and rumors of wars…there is certainly plenty to occupy people’s thinking and give them reason to worry.  But, the environment we live in today in America, particularly, still does not approach the vile nature and culture of what Christians had to deal with in the first century.  Even in places in the world today where it seems that things are spinning out of control, much as Elijah thought his world was spinning out of control, there is still only one solution that truly matters – listening the God’s still, small voice.  What if God does want our attention?  What if God just wants to speak to us from the ruins that are left after disaster has passed us by?  What are you doing here in a nation that is fast forsaking its God?  What are you doing here when there is talk about removing the nativity from Christmas? What are you doing here in a nation that is so consumed with the rights of every religion that Christianity barely has any right at all?  The still, small voice calls out to you and to me -- "What are you doing here?"  One thing is certain -- listening to God, trusting in His Son, and being led by His Holy Spirit is the only way to peace and spiritual prosperity, whether we are in a disaster or in the calm.

Blessings, Don

Resting His Case, pt.2

Friends,

Yep, this is one of those types of stories -- A Roman Catholic priest, a Christian pastor and a Jewish rabbi were talking one day about their belief in miracles.  The Roman Catholic said that he believed in miracles and illustrated it by telling of a recent incident when he had flown to Durban. As the aircraft began its final approach, a tremendous storm broke, the rain was pouring down, there were loud claps of thunder and the plane was being tossed about. The priest had prayed for a miracle and "for a hundred yards all around the plane there was a great stillness and the plane landed safely."  The pastor too said that he believed in miracles. When on a vacation in Cape Town, South Africa, he and his wife had taken the trip out to a nearby island.  On their return to Cape Town harbor, however, a great wind suddenly rose and the waves were very soon many yards high. They feared for their lives and the pastor prayed for a miracle, and "for a hundred yards around the boat there was a great stillness and the boat arrived safely in the harbor."  The rabbi said that he had come to believe in miracles through an event that had taken place the previous Saturday.  During a Sabbath service, a visitor from America had arrived with a suitcase full of ten-dollar notes which he chose to give to the synagogue.  According to the traditions, there was a problem concerning how to count all this money on the Sabbath? So, I prayed for a miracle, and “for a hundred yards all around the suitcase it was Wednesday!"  (Adapted from Andy Barnard's Sermon "Keep the Sabbath")

As we return to a group of people including Jesus, His disciples and some Pharisees, once again, we see how Jesus deals with the Pharisees concerning how they have interpreted the Sabbath.  As we discussed previously, the Sabbath law was given to Israel as a mark of her relationship with God (Exodus 20, 31:13-17, Nehemiah 9:12-15).  The Pharisees, who sacrificed to obey their Sabbath laws, thought that they were serving God by adding a number of regulations to what was already sufficient doctrine and practice.  When they accuse Jesus and His disciples, they believe that they are defending God. (Good thing folks today are not guilty of such actions). :-)

By declaring Himself, “Lord of the Sabbath,” Jesus affirms equality with the Father who gave the Sabbath.  In Mark’s account we see that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27), so Jesus continues to teach, train.  The context and background for all of this information is that the Sabbath was originally designed for man’s good.  Jesus comes to this place and time in order to point out that the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees concerning the Sabbath actually run counter to and diminish the principle and law of the Sabbath itself. And so, as Jesus came to fulfill the Law, the legal purpose of the Sabbath…in being a part of the Law…was fulfilled and abolished.  Therefore, Christians are no longer under the authority of the Jewish Sabbath. By making the statement recorded in Mark 2, Jesus implicitly challenges the whole Sabbath theology of the post-exile Jews.  As indicated in the last message, to require man to deny his own needs in order to keep the Sabbath was to pervert the institution…men were to be free from the burdensome restrictions in keeping the day.  Jesus declares man’s freedom from the rabbinic Sabbath with all of its traditions in as much as He is Lord of the Sabbath.  All of this allowed Him to have the authority to do healings and perform other ministry on the Sabbath day, as we have seen.  So all of this is why the next part of the story makes more sense. 

Following the first discussion (Matthew 12:1-8), Jesus now actually goes to their synagogue, the Jews place of worship. This serves to reveal the growing tension between Jesus and Jewish religious establishment. A man is there who has a withered hand, which means that it is dry, lifeless…perhaps paralyzed.  The Pharisees quickly seize upon the situation and ask Jesus if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath?  Jesus’ response is not to assert His own authority in any way, nor to quote some example from the Old Testament, but to point out the inconsistency of their own practice.  The religious leaders are strict in prohibiting the healing of someone with a malady, but not where their own property is concerned.  The irony being that they would make rules to save an animal, but would not waive them in order to save a man…so, I guess we now recognize these folks as the original tree huggers. ;-) 

Jesus serves by healing a man with a withered hand, which is almost incidental to the story behind the story.  But, the command for the man to stretch out his immovable hand illustrates that the healing is connected to the man’s faith…which is not unlike how Jesus handles some other healings.  The Pharisees see the healing as a deliberate challenge to their Sabbath traditions. A single infringement upon the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees would not seem to be sufficient to warrant the reaction that they now display.  But, this second “transgression” taking place in such short order appears to be more than they can bear. So, the Pharisees plot together to consider how it is that they can destroy Jesus.  The Lord, understanding their hearts and their nefarious plotting, withdraws from there.

Ross Cochrane offers this -- yesterday, I got rid of some thorny weeds growing like trees in the back garden. The thorns were now like razor sharp nails and so it was difficult to get to the roots without punctures, scratches and a bad attitude. I knew that if I didn’t get to the roots, they would just grow again so I used the mattock. A mattock is a hand tool similar to a pickaxe, particularly suited for digging. Unfortunately, I am not! It took forever to dig around the roots and pull out the bulbous, deformed hand of the root system with its disfigured fingers reaching out insidiously in all directions. Hebrews 12:15 (NLT) warns us "...Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many." There were some poisonous, thorny people that Jesus had to deal with that day in Matthew 12. They were razor sharp in their responses to Jesus and just as destructive. The clawed fingers of their law system were distorted, malformed and particularly difficult to uproot. It is not at all surprising that Jesus uses a man with a deformed hand to illustrate what needed to be done if ever they were to be healed of a deformed heart.  This verse says something about Jesus. He didn’t back away from weeding God’s garden. He meets me on my turf. He confronts me about my legalism in the place where I am more deformed on the inside than this man’s withered hand, in the synagogue of my own making

We have to guard our hearts.  We don’t want to become like the Pharisees, making laws and regulations which bind the hearts and actions of men.  Unfortunately, this practice is still all too alive and well today in many places.  But, we must understand that Jesus comes to set us free from these matters.  Remember the beginning of last week’s message – He does not come to add burdens to our lives and spirits, but to give us rest for our souls. (Matthew 11:28-30, see also 1 John 5:1-4)  This principle of rest should follow times of service, as this is what keeps us fresh, energized and avoiding becoming weary or burned out. We do tend to think that we are invincible, however, and that we can work, work and work some more…but, it can and will catch up to us in physical, mental and emotional distress.  There was a very important purpose for the Sabbath from the very beginning, as the Lord planned it.  And it was intended to be man’s servant, not his master, as the Pharisees had made it.  As I mentioned previously, we need 30 hours in a day to sort everything we have going on, which is all the more reason why we must work at resting.  Granted, we do not keep an actual physical “Sabbath” in the literal sense.  But, in a very real, spiritual sense, we need to make and take time for ourselves, and with our families, not to mention some time for the Lord.

Blessings, Don

Resting His Case

Friends,

Alan Smith offers this -- I heard a story about a young mother with three children. The phone rang one day and a voice on the other end of the phone said, "Honey, it's Mom. I called because I know that you're busy with the kids, and I want to give you some help. I'm going to stop by to clean the house, take care of the baby, and prepare dinner for when the boys get home from school. "I want you to get ready to go to my beautician, I've paid her already, and she's going to give you 'the works,' your appointment is at 1:00. Give George a call at the office and tell him that you'll meet him at Olive Garden for dinner, it's on me..." At that point, the young mother interrupted and said, "George, who is George?"  "Your husband."  She said, "My husband's name is John."  "Oh. Is this 365-3212?"  "No this is 365-3213."  The caller said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I've got the wrong number."  After a pause, the young mother said, "Does this mean that you're not coming over?"  Do you ever feel like you could use a phone call like that? Do you ever find yourself wishing someone would just come along and take care of things for you so that you can have a little rest?  I remember back in the 1970's, there was a big concern that computers and technology would radically change how many hours a week people would work.  In fact, there was testimony given to a Senate sub-committee forecasting that within 20 years, the average American would be working only 22 hours a week.  They said, "The great challenge would be figuring out what to do with all the excess time."  Now here we are, 40 years later, after major advances in technology – and how many of us are wondering what to do with all the excess time on our hands?  Our world has become the world of the Red Queen of Alice in Wonderland, who said, "It takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that."

Rest is a theological principle that should lead to a practical principle, but it seems hard to come by.  It is interesting to note that this section of Scripture immediately follows Jesus message from Matthew 11:28-29, which says…"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."  When Jesus says, "I will give you rest", I believe that He is talking about more than just heaven.  Keeping the Sabbath was a sacred principle for the Jews under the Old covenant…it was an integral part of the fabric of their culture and religion. As we are probably aware, commandment #4 of the Top Ten was, “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8ff)  The theological foundation for this principle concerning “rest” is that God created the heavens and earth in six days…and on the seventh, He “rested.”  So God’s people were to consider the seventh day, Saturday as it would fall on our calendars, as a rest from their labors. God intended for this to be a “spiritual principle” that would be beneficial to His people so that they could be restored.

Yet, by the time of Christ, a couple of millennia down the road, the Sabbath was no longer the spiritual/practical principle that God intended for His people.  It had become representative of the many legal traditions that the Jews were now imposing on themselves and others.  They made what was supposed to be a “spiritual principle” a heavy laden burden of rules and regulations that it was never intended to be.  So, it is from this perspective that Jesus presents His case concerning not only the Sabbath, but the entire Jewish “legal” system of regulations. In fact, as we see, Jesus deliberately violates the Sabbath “traditions” on several occasions…here, Luke 4, Luke 13, John 5 and John 9.  From the time that Jesus spent with the people teaching them from “the Sermon on the Mount” up to now, He was teaching them that mere external laws could never save them or make them holy. True righteousness has to come from the heart!

The Hebrew word – sabat means, “repose” or “rest.”  This explains why Matthew introduces these Sabbath conflicts at this point. (12:1-8) To satisfy your hunger from your neighbor’s field was lawful (Deuteronomy 23:24-25), but to do it on the Sabbath was a breach of the Law…according to the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees.  This would mean having to do work.  Jesus’ response is poignant and powerful.  The consecrated bread was to be eaten only by the priests, yet David and his soldiers at it. If David “broke the law” and was not condemned, the Lord would be guiltless for breaking man’s traditions.  Surely the Son of David has the right to eat His Father’s grain from the field!  The Old Testament priests had to offer a given number of sacrifices on the Sabbath (Numbers 28:9-10), and yet were not condemned.  Their service was in obedience to the Law given by God, which suggests that man’s traditions about the Sabbath ran in contradiction even to God’s own law. Finally, the great quote from Hosea 6:6, “I desire compassion and not sacrifice,” reveals Jesus’ heart on this matter. (He also quotes this in Matthew 9:13).  Once again, it is all a matter of the heart. Sabbath law was given to Israel as a mark of her relationship to God (Exodus 20, also 31:13-17, Nehemiah 9:12-15).  But, it was also an act of mercy for both man and beast, to give them needed rest each week.  Any religious law that would be contrary to mercy should be considered with concern and even skepticism – God desires mercy, not sacrifice…love, not strife over traditions and words. We will come back to this later.

Diane Eaton shares this -- As a piano teacher, my job involves training students to work less.  It sounds like a contradiction, but it's not. For example, overworking arm muscles interferes with finger development. The student must "make every effort" to train the arms to relax so that the fingers can work freely and expressively. Unchecked tension causes the music to sound forced, weak, and unsteady. It can eventually cause pain, injury, and even the end of a musical career.  I see a spiritual parallel. Christians are cautioned to "make every effort to enter [Christ's] rest". This is not a passive affair. It takes "every effort" to cease from fruitless striving and enter into Christ's rest. As we come to rest in Him, then He can make beautiful "music" through us.  Concerning the beginning piano student: At his first lesson, he discovers that his fingers are so weak that they may make no sound at all — especially the pinky finger. His reaction is predictable. Instinctively, his arm pushes down on the hand in an attempt to compensate. With such force bearing down on it, it merely collapses on the keys. A little finger cannot develop its potential until the bigger muscles learn to rest. This really does take "every effort" — involving intentional and careful practice.  Do you see yourself as an over-functioning muscle? Are you habitually overworking? I'm not referring to physical work. Perhaps you strain your mind with anxiety and doubt. Perhaps you work too hard trying to prove your love-worthiness, or you are habitually working to absolve your sense of guilt. All these besetting habits deplete your energy and squelch God's Spirit.  Perhaps you have a habit of overcompensating for weaker "muscles": You do what others should learn to do. Perhaps you do the thinking for them, or the worrying. Such efforts merely hinder them from growing into maturity. In the long run, the entire Body of Christ suffers.  Just as for piano students, it takes "every effort" to surrender fruitless habits and to adopt new, effective life habits. Really, it's a joint effort involving support, encouragement, mentoring, faith, prayer, and so forth. This is how we come to function harmoniously — and make beautiful "music" together — displaying God's glory to a fallen humanity.

This is the challenge for each of us…finding ways to rest in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life.  Finding ways to work hard at working less from the correct perspective is a challenge, but also a blessing.  So, while we may not keep a “literal” Sabbath rest in the religious sense, we can and should do so from a practical and spiritual perspective, because the original principle is still important as it relates to how we live, move and breathe.

Blessings, Don