Matthew 26:6-13
6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
Two incidents of my high school and college days stand out in my mind as I read this passage from Matthew. One instance was with a family member of mine who was very excited about my becoming active in my church youth group. She was excited about my faith, but cautioned me, “I don’t want you to become a fanatic.” This was discouraging, as one might imagine, coming from one of the people I thought of as a believer in my family.
The other instance involved a comment that a minister’s wife once made to me. As I talked with her about some of the exciting things that we were doing in our collegiate ministry, she said to me with that tone of voice that denotes a pat on the head, “You’re young; you still think that you can change the world.” Splash. The cold water came pouring down, again from a source that I expected to be excited about the work of God.
But I’m not the only one to have ever experienced that feeling. In fact, having well-meaning people try to calm you down about your faith and about your sacrifice has been around ever since the days of Jesus. In the passage above, we see a woman who gave more than anyone could have ever imagined to simply worship Jesus. The men around her rebuked her, coming up with more practical uses for her funds than the “wasteful” way that she just poured out her life savings over Jesus.
Look at how Jesus responded to the woman’s gift. Jesus rebuked the complaining disciples and praised the woman. This woman, who had made what many would call an unwise, naïve, fanatical decision had actually honored Jesus more than the men around him who had been following him around for 3 years. This woman, rebuked by the disciples, will, in the words of Jesus, be remembered for as long as Jesus’ story is told.
Here is where I want to be careful. Many people are daily approached by con artists and charlatans who want them to give their time and money to “gospel” causes which contain no gospel and no glory for Christ. We must be wise and careful. We must be sure that we are following Jesus in line with his commands in the word of God.
Once we know of a way to glorify Jesus with our lives, it honors Jesus for us to go all out. Be a fanatic. Believe that God can change the world. Join him in his work. Pour out your life, every last drop, for the sake of Jesus’ glory. Others around you might call you crazy. So what. They called Jesus crazy too. The fact is, Jesus is worthy of your entire life. He is worthy of your entire wealth. He is worthy of everything you have. If you give your all to glorify Jesus, you will never regret that gift. But I assure you, if you keep what you have for yourself instead of giving it for the glory of Christ, you will regret the holding on. Pour out your life for the glory of Christ.
Center Your Family on the Glory of God (Nehemiah 13:23-29)
Nehemiah 13:23-29 (ESV)
23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”
28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
God commanded the people not to intermarry with the pagans in the land so as not to have families that are led away from him into idolatry. In chapter 10, the people promised that they would not intermarry with the people of the land. Well, are you surprised to hear that, by chapter 13, they were once again intermarrying with the people of the land? One of the priests’ relatives was even married to a daughter of Sanballat, the ultimate bad guy in this book.
So, what does Nehemiah do? He says, “And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, ‘You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves’” (Neh 13:25). How’s that for church discipline? He curses them. He beats them. He pulls out their hair.
Why is Nehemiah so harsh? King Solomon broke the nation of Israel in half because of his love of foreign women who led him into pagan religion. God commanded parents to teach their children his ways. These folks were letting false religion into their homes, and they were teaching false religion to their children. They were willingly sending their children to hell, and Nehemiah did what he had to do to show the people how serious this issue was.
What about you? Where in your household is Christianity being subverted? Parents, what are you doing that might lead your kids away from Christ? What are you doing that might show your kids that Christ is not all that important? What do you let them watch or hear that paints them a picture of a world where God is not real and does not matter? Where are you showing them that God’s laws are bendable for you?
It is crucial, absolutely crucial, that our homes, our families, our marriages are centered on the glory of God. Nehemiah’s actions against those who missed this point show us how severely God hates it when our homes are not Christ-centered. Center your family on the glory of God.
Foreigners in the Temple (Nehemiah 13:4-9)
4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. 6 While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king 7 and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
There was a period of time that had passed from Nehemiah 12 to 13. During that time, Nehemiah had to return to the king. When Nehemiah made his way back to Jerusalem, he saw how much the people of God had disobeyed God’s commands to guard his worship and to protect the purity of the people of God. The people had actually allowed Tobiah, an Ammonite, to move into a room in the temple of God.
This should cause you to gasp with horror. An enemy of God was this Tobiah. He was one of the two men, along with Sanballat, who most vehemently opposed Nehemiah in his work to rebuild the walls. Tobiah was not a child of God. He was not a convert to the faith. Yet the people thought so little of the holiness of God or the importance of his worship that they actually gave him an apartment in one of the temple’s storerooms.
When Nehemiah made it back to Jerusalem, he threw all of Tobiah’s stuff out of his little apartment and cleansed it. He fumigated the room, and then had it put back into proper temple service.
Is there a lesson here? Dear me yes. Even though we are not Jews; even though we have no ethnic distinctions of who is allowed into God’s kingdom; even though we are not serving God in a temple like in the Old Covenant; we can learn that the holiness of God and the purity of our worship is greatly important.
You might be someone who does not yet know God. Maybe you have never confessed your sin to God and asked Jesus to be your Savior. If so, you cannot truly worship God. You have only two things that you can do. You can either sin against God and ultimately receive his wrath for your sin, or you can come to him, look to Jesus, and ask him to save your soul. But do not deceive yourself, you cannot worship God or please God without first placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
But Christians, you too need to protect your purity in worship. Your church building is not the temple of God. We, the people of God, are temples of the Holy Spirit. So, are you allowing things into your heart, into your life, into your soul that dishonor God? Are you entertained by things that Christ died to forgive? Are you wasting your time on things that do not edify you at all? Do you embrace what God hates? This will hinder your worship. Your life will be fruitless. Your faith will feel empty. Your worship will feel hollow if you continue to allow into your life things that God says to get out of your life.
Christians, let me urge you right now, ask God if there is anything in your life that is a foreigner in the temple. Ask God to show you if there are places you go, people you admire, shows you watch, or music you listen to that should not be in your life. Ask God if your thoughts, your actions, your words make him look big or look small to the world around you. Then, ask God to help you to fight with all you’ve got to clean those things out of your life so that you can worship the Lord in holiness.
God Loved Women in the OT? Yes. (Numbers 27:5-7 (ESV))
Numbers 27:5-7 (ESV)
5 Moses brought their case before the Lord. 6 And the Lord said to Moses, 7 “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.
Many times you will hear it said that the Bible subjects women to men as slaves or as personal property. I can even recall hearing that comment made by a Christian woman in a class. When I challenged her on this idea, arguing that the Bible actually freed women and valued women far more highly than did the surrounding culture, the lady responded to me with a statement that boiled down to, “Well, maybe in the New Testament it does, but the Old Testament still treated women as property.” As you might imagine, this conversation had a few more turns to take before it resolved.
In this passage in Numbers, however, we see a great example of how God showed women as far more valuable than did many of the cultures that surrounded the Israelites. Yes, in our culture, it seems foreign to think in this way, but it can help at times for us to think from the point of view of those in whose culture the statement was made. In that time and place, it was unheard of to allow women to own property. None of the Canaanite cultures around Israel would have considered such a thing. However, when Moses asked God what to do in the case of these five ladies who were the only children of their father, God said to give them their father’s inheritance and to keep the name of the family alive.
To some, this argument will prove nothing of the kindness of God or the value of women in Old Testament times, but to others, this will be a helpful passage to remember. If you are willing to think back to the time period, however, you will have to agree that God, in this passage, elevated the rights of women to a level that went far beyond the surrounding cultures. This is because God has never devalued women. God created both men and women in his image and for his glory (Gen 1:27), and he does not value one over the other.
The danger I am running now is that someone else might read this and attempt to do away with any of the biblical role distinctives between men and women. Nothing is further from my purpose. God created men and women both in his image. God also assigned men and women differing roles. Neither is more valuable, but neither should pretend that they are the same as the other. Humanity will be happiest when we realize that men and women are of equal worth, but with differing and complimentary roles to fulfill.
A Picture of Jesus in a Snake on a Pole (Numbers 21:4-9)
Numbers 21:4-9
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
On Sunday morning, I used several Old Testament passages as pictures of the work done by Christ on the cross. We saw how the substitution of the Passover lamb is like Jesus who died to protect us from eternal death. We saw how the blood of Jesus is like the blood of the covenant in Exodus 24:1-11 which allowed the people to enter into relationship with God. We saw how Isaiah 53’s picture of the suffering servant who would become a sin offering is a perfect picture of Jesus, the Son of God, who was punished for our sins, making atonement for us.
Recently, as I walked through Numbers in my daily reading, I saw one more beautiful picture of Jesus in the Old Testament. Jesus himself, in John 3:14-15, draws this parallel out into plain sight.
John 3:14-15 (ESV)
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
The story is simple. The people of God spoke out against God and rebelled against him. God then allowed the people to suffer death because of their sin by sending poisonous snakes into the camp (remember, the wages of sin is death according to Romans 6:23). Then the people pleaded with Moses to help them to be forgiven by God. God told Moses to make a bronze “fiery” serpent and put it on a pole. If a person who was bitten by a snake simply looked at the serpent on the pole, he would be healed of the snakebite.
This story reminds us of Jesus in two ways. In one very simple way, the serpent put up on a pole reminds us of how Jesus was hanged up for the world to look upon. Jesus described his crucifixion as being “lifted up.” So, there is a similarity.
The greater similarity, however, is the aspect of looking for salvation. The people who had been bitten by the snakes simply had to look at the bronze snake to be healed. They did not have to go and get some magic ointment. They did not have to perform some religious ritual. They did not have to say some particular prayer. The moment that a snake-bitten person had the faith to turn his eyes to the serpent on the pole, he was healed.
In the same way, Jesus saves us, not as a result of our religious work, but simply by his grace through faith. We are not saved by performing religious rituals. We are not saved by repeating a particular type of prayer after some conference speaker. We are not saved by walking an aisle. We are not saved by baptismal waters. We are saved, forgiven of our sins and brought into right relationship with God, when we trust God enough to look to Jesus for forgiveness.
Obviously, looking to Jesus for forgiveness will entail much change in our lives. A person who will look to Jesus has already had his or her dead heart made alive by God. A person who will look to Jesus will necessarily turn away from his or her sin and self reliance to look to Jesus; thus repentance is part of the process. A person who looks to Jesus will then participate in religious rituals such as baptism, communion, and worship services because that is what a follower of Jesus does. But none of those acts are at the heart of how we are saved. We are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This is wonderful news, for if there were any other, any greater, requirements, none of us would ever be saved. Praise the God who saves us when we look to Jesus in faith.
The Rebellion of Fairness (Numbers 16:1-3)
Numbers 16:1-3
1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
“It’s just not fair.” This complaint comes out quite often in our world. Children who notice one child with a nicer or newer toy than they have declare it not to be fair. Teens who do not have the freedom of others among their peer groups declare it not to be fair. Maybe even adults will clamor for fairness if they feel that someone has an advantage over them in some arena.
In Numbers 16, the cry of “It’s not fair” could be heard in the Israelite camp. A group of disgruntled men come before Moses with the approval of many others, and they declare that it is simply not fair that Moses is acting as the leader and the authority of the people. If you look at the logic used, Korah declares that all of Israel is equally holy to God, so how dare Moses act as though God has given him anything special.
Now, in our modern, fairness-worshipping culture, the argument of the rebels in Numbers 16 rings true. It’s not fair that God would select Moses for a special cause and not someone else who is just as good. Our culture would say that Moses should only be allowed his special position if he were somehow head and shoulders above the rest in his righteousness and fitness for his task. But this was not true. Moses was a murderer who was raised in an Egyptian’s home and lived as an Egyptian until age 40. Moses was a runaway who lived in the desert for 40 more years, and even married a non-Israelite wife. Now, by age 80, Moses was a much more faithful follower of God, but if one watches Moses’ life, one will see the feet of clay that mark many of our own lives.
So, if God chose to use Moses, it was not because of anything particularly special in Moses. No, if you look at the story of Moses’ life, what it appears is simply that God set Moses apart from birth (perhaps before) for a special calling. Could God have chosen Korah to follow Moses’ path? Certainly God could have. God could have even molded Korah’s heart to be even better than the heart of Moses.
Here, however is the point, God did not choose Korah for Moses’ task. God chose Moses. God was with Moses. God anointed Moses. Moses was the leader. The question of fairness was irrelevant to God. God created all the people of the world. If God wants to choose one for a special task while not allowing others access to that task, that is God’s prerogative.
It would be good for us to lose our fairness arguments and stop sounding like the rebellious Israelites who followed Korah in his rebellion. We dare not ask God for fairness, for fairness means we all get exactly the same thing. If we all get the same thing, we all get hell just like Jesus who suffered the perfect wrath of God on the cross. You want fair, you go to hell; it’s just that simple. No, we do not want fairness in salvation, and we ought not clamor for fairness in other avenues of life. God will do what is right.
If, by the way, you feel that this appears to be written by a highly privileged person who wants to protect his privilege with a call to avoid fairness talk, let me say to you two things. First, I am privileged. I was born in the US, and so I am part of the wealthiest people in the world. I’m not at all rich by American standards, but I have more than enough by the standards of the rest of the world. Yes, I have been granted a safe existence, a lovely wife, and two darling children. I had access to an education, and God has granted me the joy of serving him in a variety of places and positions.
I have also been legally blind since birth. I have a wonderful wife and children into whose eyes I cannot gaze. I have lacked many of the opportunities that many people around me have received. I love baseball, but have never been able to play it. I love football, but have never been able to enjoy it as many have. I love to read and to study, but cannot utilize so much material. I love to preach the word of God and minister to the people of God, yet I am limited in my ability to interact visually with others.
Is my life fair? Of course not. But then, why would I expect it to be. I have some privilege and some hardship. So what? God has made me for himself. God has designed me for his glory. God has chosen me to serve him and to know him. I have earned nothing from God but wrath. God has chosen to give me grace. For me to complain that anything is not fair would be for me to call into question the character of the one who is always perfect, always holy, always right. God is not fair according to sinful human reckoning, but God is holier and higher than our reckoning. God is good, and his name is worthy of our praise. His decisions are worthy of our approval. His commands are worthy of our obedience.
Beauty in Wrath (Romans 5:9)
Romans 5:9
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
“People don’t want to hear about the wrath of God. They want to hear positive things, not negative talk.” I’ve heard things like this coming from the mouths of well-meaning folks who think they have good advice for church growth. In fact, their advice might not be pragmatically bad. Certainly, focusing only on the positive will likely draw a crowd to a church building, as people are always eager to hear what their itching ears want to hear.
The sad thing is, we miss, in our neglect of the wrath of God, the beauty of his grace. When we do not know how we are saved or from what consequences we are saved, we will not grasp the true beauty of what it means to be saved.
In many circles, Christianity is presented as simply the best life to live. People tout the faith as a way to live happy, fulfilled, and prosperous lives. Some focus on following Jesus as a way to have stronger marriages and better ethics which will lead to more satisfying lives in many regards. In truth, all of these things can be a part of Christianity; however, none of them are the central focus of the Scripture.
When we see the word of God talking to us about what it means to live as the followers of God, we see it focus us on the glory of God and on the joy that glory brings. We see our part in doing that which will ultimately fulfill us, namely honoring our Lord. And we see, without any blushing whatsoever, our glorious salvation from utter destruction.
Looking at the verse above, notice from what we are saved. We are not saved from Satan. We are not saved from “sin” as if sin had in itself the power to punish us. We are not saved from an unfulfilled life. We do not see the thought that hell is living on earth in sin. No, we see that if we are saved, we are saved from the wrath of God.
Get this glorious truth. We are not only saved by God, and for God, and to the glory of God, we are also saved from God. God is the one offended by our sin. God is the one who rightly must punish our sin in order to continue to be perfectly just. So, what did God do? God chose to allow his Son to bear the punishment for our sins so that he could both punish our sins and rescue us from his own wrath.
You know, when you get how horrifying is the wrath of God, you will begin to embrace your salvation. Sure, it is all well and good to be thankful to God for a happy life, a sweet family, and meaningful existence. But, it is also an amazing thing to remember that this God who gives us all this joy is the very God who was wrathful enough against us to send
us to hell forever for what we had done against him.
Christians can benefit greatly from remembering the wrath of God. It is the wrath of God that reminds us of how great a Savior we have. It is the wrath of God that reminds us that our sin was indeed a big deal, not shrugged off by our Lord. It is the wrath of God toward our sins, our specific sins, that Jesus bore on the tree. It was the wrath of God that has now been satisfied in the blood of Jesus the removal of which enables us to live forever in the glorious, soul-satisfying presence of God.
If you want to see the beauty of a diamond or pearl, you set it against a backdrop that will contrast with the jewel. This is why you often see these treasures placed against black velvet in a jewelry store. Think of the wrath of God as the black background that brings out the shimmering brilliance of the amazing grace of Jesus. No, you would not want a faith that is all black all the time. But do not lose the darkness of wrath, or you will miss the brilliance of grace.
Apathy & Atheism Both lead to Destruction (Matthew 22:1-9)
Matthew 22:1-9 (ESV)
1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
If you are a student of the Bible, the above text is fairly familiar to you. In a parable about the kingdom of God, Jesus illustrates by using a feast. A feast is prepared, but the invited guests fail to come at the summons. IN the context, the Jews were the original invited guests who rejected their invitation to the feast by rejecting Christ.
What catches my attention this morning is the two ways in which people made themselves unworthy to attend the banquet, making themselves unworthy to enter into the kingdom of God. One group fought against and mistreated and murdered the servants of the king. Obviously, those evil guys were wiped out by the king’s army and made unable to attend the feast.
It is the other group, however, that has my attention. There is a group of people who were invited to the feast who simply ignored their invitation. There were those who, upon hearing the summons to the banquet, just turned and went back to their lives. Do not miss that ,just like the violent persecutors, these too eventually found themselves outside of the kingdom.
In our modern mindset, we do not have a great deal of trouble saying that those who are cruel and violent might not find themselves in God’s kingdom when all is said and done. However, we have trouble realizing that the apathetic, the folks who just don’t care about religious things, will also find themselves out of the kingdom. God is just as insulted by those who ignore him as he is by those who actively oppose him. In fact, one might argue that apathy toward God is more of an offense than is aggressive atheism. At least the aggressive atheist acknowledges that God is a concept to be dealt with. The apathetic person simply shrugs his or her shoulders and acts as though God is totally irrelevant.
Let’s be clear about this: God will not leave the apathetic unpunished. He will not allow himself to be dishonored by being ignored. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord (Phil 2:10-11), even those who want to pretend that God does not matter at all. If those knees do not bow in life, they will bow in death before suffering God’s wrath for eternity. Make no mistake, that wrath will be well earned by those who constantly reject God and pretend he is a non-factor.
I do not write this from a position of superiority. I would do the very same thing, ignoring or battling against God, had God not done a miracle in my heart. God, by God’s own sovereign power, made me alive together with Christ so that I might have his gift of salvation by grace alone through faith alone (cf. Eph 2:1-10). I write this post, however, as a way to encourage readers and the friends of readers to take seriously the fact that God will not ignore the apathetic. Jesus made this fact plain, and it cannot be ignored.
Are you living in a battle against God? Are you pretending that God does not matter at all? Hear the truth that God commands all men everywhere to repent and to turn to Jesus before it is too late. Stop fighting. Stop ignoring. Be reconciled to God.
God’s Word on Courthouse Walls? (Psalm 50:16-17)
Psalm 50:16-17
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
Should Christians fight to have the Ten Commandments posted in public places such as schools, courthouses, and other such locations? As you know, many Christians have gone to great lengths to battle for the display of God’s covenant rules in prominent places in our nation. However, I wonder if these verses of Psalm 50 might make us look at this topic from another angle.
God, in Psalm 50, tells the wicked, those who live in opposition to his laws, that they have no right to recite the words of his covenant. If the people who would speak the words of God’s law are at the same time those who have no interest in following God’s law, God wants them to keep the words of his law off of their lips. It is highly presumptuous to place the laws of God on the walls of buildings where men and women have no concern for such laws and who break those laws every day.
Of course, I recognize that many Christians who want the commandments displayed wish to do so as a convicting testimony. There are those who would say that the law of God needs to be on public display so that the wicked will recognize that they are living and adjudicating in direct opposition to the commands of the Lord. To such a group I have no objection. But let’s be sure that we are honest about why we want the word of God on the courthouse wall. IF we want that word there as a witness against the evil of the godless courts, let’s say so.
Perhaps some want the law of God displayed on the walls of buildings in order to battle for a continued religious freedom in the US. It is possible that, allowing the courts to sanitize their walls of Scripture could be a step in allowing the government to violate our constitutional freedom to worship. Again, if this is the motivation of those wanting the words on the walls, let’s be sure that this is made plain in our demands.
It is also possible, to a point , that the law of God made public will help to hold the nation back from sinning to the fullest degree it is capable. In Galatians 3, Paul talks of the law being given because of transgressions (Gal 3:19). It is possible that this verse means that God gave Israel the law to prevent them from sinning to a point of destruction until the promised one came. It is possible then, that putting the law on the courthouse walls can have a governing influence on our sinful behavior in the nation. But again, let’s be sure that we know what we are doing when we fight for that outcome.
With those possibilities mentioned, let’s be sure that we recognize that God is in no way honored when lost people who neither know him nor love him recite his word. He does not speak well of this action in Psalm 50. This is because, as Hebrews 11:6 reminds us, it is impossible to please God without first having faith in God. Thus, we should be very careful wanting to put the words of God in the lips of faithless individuals.
Adding to the mix and stirring the pot, why are Christians so eager to put in writing laws that many of us are unwilling to follow? Let’s face it, many in our churches are not the most upstanding folks when it comes to keeping God’s top ten list. ?What kind of testimony to Christ do we give when we put up words about lying, adultery, coveting, and putting nothing before our God when we are not the best at keeping those rules ourselves? Yes, we have grace in Christ; but that grace is not license to dishonor and disobey God. So, if you are going to fight for the commandments being posted, you’d better be under the grace of Christ and still obeying the clear commands of God.
Should Christians fight to have the Ten Commandments or other religious displays in public places? Maybe and maybe not. For sure, however, Christians need to know exactly why they want such things in the public eye, and be honest with the world as to why it is that they are wanting what they want. Christians’ let’s be thoughtful about what we demand and be sure that we are well reasoned in our petitioning.
Money and Time Given to God (Nehemiah 10:32-39)
Nehemiah 10:32-39
32 “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33 for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. 34 We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. 35 We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; 36 also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; 37 and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. 38 And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. 39 For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.”
To summarize this section, we can say that the people, along with their other commitments from verses 30-31, also committed themselves to give of their time and their money for the ministry of God’s temple. This is not complicated. They committed themselves to tithe, and then to give even more in order to keep the ministry going. They also committed themselves to take a turn gathering wood for the ceremonial fires, to work for the sake of the ministry. This was, of course, in line with God’s commands that the people give at least a tenth of their income to him and to provide for the needs of those who would teach his law.
Recently, a major report was released by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. I want to share with you a couple of lines from page 26 of this report:
Regarding personal biblical stewardship, I stand amazed at research released in 2009 that informs us that the average church member gives only 2.56% of their income away… Christians need to repent of the sin of not honoring God with at least the first-tenth of their income. Can you imagine the spiritual revival that would consume our churches if God’s people would obey God in giving? Can you imagine the opportunities of advancing the Gospel regionally, nationally, and globally if God’s people would obey God in giving? The greatest amount of money that exists for the causes of Christ and the advancement of the Gospel is in the pockets and financial portfolios of our church members.*
Can you believe those stats? God commands us to give freely, generously, systematically, and sacrificially. I think most Christians would agree that God wants you to give at least the first tenth of your income. Yet Christians on average give only two-and-a-half percent away. No wonder churches are struggling to meet budget. No wonder the Spirit of God is so seldom felt in our congregations. If you are walking into the sanctuary fully planning to disobey God’s call to give rightly, how dare you expect that God will bless you or grow his church?
And the people did not only give money. They gave time and service. The people had to commit themselves to go and gather wood for the sacrificial fires. They knew that ministry would not do itself. They knew, if the fires were going to stay lit, they had to go get the wood. The people committed themselves to obey God’s call to serve.
How about you? How are you serving? Do you think that all you need to do is sit in a pew once a week to do what God wants? I assure you that this is not enough. God wants you to make yourself available to him and to his service. There are jobs that need to be done in your church if only people will step forward and express a willingness to do them. We need people to help us to think and plan for missions involvement. We need people to help us think and plan for evangelistic outreaches in the community. We need people to help take care of the property that god has placed in our care. We need people to teach children and serve in the nursery. Lost people need someone to tell them about Jesus. The fact is, God has gifted you to serve him in some way. Are you doing what you are capable of doing to expand the ministry of your church? Christians, there needs to be repentance in our midst.
*Ronnie W. Floyd et al, “Progress Report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention” (February 22, 2010), 26 [on-line]; accessed 26 Feb 2010; available from http://www.pray4gcr.com/downloads/GCRTF_Progress_Report.pdf; Internet.
