ABC Extra – The Power of Peer Pressure
This weekend in worship and ABC, we discussed the family fiasco of addiction. The statistics pertaining to various addictions are startling:
- 23% of adults consume more than five alcoholic beverages each day.
- Each year, nearly 35 million people try to quit smoking. Less than 7% are successful.
- 25 million Americans visit cyber-sex sites between one and ten hours per week. Another 4.7 million spend in excess of 11 hours per week on these sites.
Clearly, we are a culture trapped by our addictive behaviors.
Sadly, these addictive behaviors often start when a person is young. Teenagers are drawn into habits of smoking, drinking, drug use, and sexual immorality, usually because their friends pressure them to engage in such activities. Consider these statistics:
- The Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base reports that 30% of teens are offered drugs in middle and high school.
- According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 74% of high school students have tried alcohol at the encouragement of their friends.
- The Kaiser Foundation reports that 50% of teenagers feel pressured to engage in sexually promiscuous relationships.
Peer pressure is clearly alive and well among our youth. Indeed, it is thriving. The problem is, peer pressure coerces many of our kids straight into harmful addictions.
One of the myths about peer pressure is that it is a relatively new phenomenon. In another survey, teens were asked whether or not peer pressure affected people 100 years ago. 46% of the respondents said that peer pressure affected teens “significantly less” than it does today while another 16% said that peer pressure didn’t affect teens at all a century ago.
In reality, peer pressure is nothing new. In our text from this weekend, we encounter an instance of peer pressure when the Israelites “gather around Aaron and say, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us” (Exodus 32:1). Notably, the word for “around” – when the Israelites gather “around” Aaron – is al. Al is a notoriously ambiguous preposition and can be translated as everything from “upon” to “beside” to “beyond” to “towards” to “against.” In other words, it is a catchall preposition. Many scholars believe that, in Exodus 32:1, al is best translated as “against.” That is, the Israelites gather against Aaron to put some pressure on him to cast a false idol. In a phrase, the Israelites place Aaron under the weight of “peer pressure.”
Tragically, Aaron caves to the Israelites’ al. He builds their false idol. And, just as in a case of addiction, the Israelites become enslaved to this idol as they worship it even as a drug addict is enslaved to heroin or a food addict is enslaved to sweets. And it all begins with the Israelites’ peer pressure on Aaron.
How do you respond to peer pressure that would lead you down a dead end road to sin? Do you cave in as Aaron did, or do you take a stand even when people are against you? Another famed biblical character, King David, knew well the heartache of having people against him. He cries out to God, “O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me” (Psalm 3:1). But unlike Aaron, David does not cave to peer pressure. For David knows, “You, O LORD, are a shield around me” (Psalm 3:3). David remains steadfast, even in the face of the menacing al of his foes. My prayer for you this week is that when the world would come against you with its addictions, you would stand steadfast in Christ’s righteousness.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – The Divorce Debate
Divorce. Just the word is enough to make some people cringe, especially when this word is uttered in church. After all, some topics are so tender and contentious that people just assume public discourse on these issues be disallowed so that people’s thoughts and feelings on these subjects can echo privately and undisputedly in hallways of their hearts. This way, people do not have to suffer the cumbersome bother of articulating and defending a controversial position in public. Contrary to the prevailing zeitgeist, however, I would contend that issues such as divorce do need to be addressed publicly – precisely because of all the contention and confusion which surrounds them. For public discourse, when done intelligently and charitably, can lead to clarity concerning some of life’s most confusing riddles. This is why we chose to address the subject of divorce at Concordia this past weekend. And this is why Jesus chooses to address the subject of divorce in Matthew 19.
The scene is rife with tension. Jesus leaves Galilee and goes “to the other side of the Jordan” (verse 1). This region was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch who divorced his wife so that he could marry the younger, prettier Herodius. When Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, calls Herod’s divorce into question, the ruler has John thrown into prison and later beheaded (cf. Matthew 14:6-11). It is with this episode looming in the background that some Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason” (verse 3)? The verbiage of the Pharisees’ question alludes to a heated debate between two different rabbinic schools of theology in that day – the Hillel school and the Shammai school. The center of the debate swirled around Deuteronomy 24:1: “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house.” The rabbis of the Hillel and Shammai schools heavily debated the phrase, “something indecent.” What does it mean to find “something indecent,” worthy of divorce, in a woman?
The Hebrew for “something indecent,” is erwat dabar – erwat, meaning “nakedness,” and dabar, meaning “a thing.” The Hillel school took this phrase, erwat dabar, as offering two separate and distinct reasons that a man could divorce his wife. On the one hand, a man could divorce his wife for erwat, that is, “nakedness,” which the rabbis interpreted as a circumlocution for adultery, meaning that if a man caught his wife naked in bed with another man, he could divorce her. But then, on the other hand, a man could also divorce his wife for dabar, meaning “a thing.” Well this isn’t very specific! Thus, the rabbis of the Hillel school capitalized on the generality of this word dabar and taught that a man could divorce his wife for adultery on the one hand and for anything else on the other! In other words, the rabbis of the Hillel school taught that a man could divorce his wife for “any and every reason.” Here, then, is the background to the question that the Pharisees ask Jesus.
Not everyone agreed with this liberal interpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1, however. The rabbis of the Shammai school took the phrase erwat dabar as a single reason for divorce. That is, they interpreted this phrase to mean that a man could divorce his wife for “the naked thing,” that is, adultery. Thus, the Shammai school said that only adultery was an appropriate grounds for divorce.
So who’s right? It seems as though those in the Hillel school were allowing what they wanted to be true trump what they actually read to be true. In other words, they were allowing their desire to get an “any cause” divorce trump a more reasonable reading of Deuteronomy 24:1. In Hebrew, the word erwat is in a form called “construct.” A “construct” form in Hebrew is loosely analogous to a genitive, or possessive, case in more standard grammatical systems. Thus, from a sheer grammatical standpoint, the word erwat possesses the word dabar. Thus, this phrase refers to one reason for divorce, not to two. Literally, this phrase may be translated as, “the nakedness of a thing,” the “thing” being a person. Thus, this text is warning us things to “keep our clothes on” with people to whom we are not married.
Jesus, as a man who takes the biblical text seriously, upholds the interpretation that erwat dabar refers to one thing when responding to the Pharisees’ question: “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery” (verse 9). But Jesus actually takes His interpretation a step farther: “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning” (verse 8). In other words, even divorce because of erwat dabar is not God’s ultimate plan. God’s ultimate plan is that a sinner repents, is forgiven, and receives a new tender heart toward their spouse. Divorce, if it can be avoided, is to be avoided.
Other challenges in a marriage that have the potential of leading to a divorce are outlined elsewhere in the Scriptures. These include abandonment by a spouse (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:15-16) and abuse, often considered to be a form of abandonment because it is a dereliction of marital duties (cf. Exodus 21:10-11). But whether the problem be adultery or abandonment or abuse, the root of all these problems is the same – a hard heart. And sadly, these hard hearts sometimes shatter marriages. But other times, miraculously, these hard hearts are softened and marriages are reconciled. And this is Jesus’ hope. This is Jesus’ plan.
And so, if you are trapped in a marriage that is loveless, cold, and draining, let me invite you get help. See a counselor. Share your experience with a pastor. Confess your sins and receive God’s forgiveness. For God’s forgiveness can crack even the hardest of hearts. And even if your marriage ultimately fails, you can rejoice in the promise that you are still party to a marriage that will last:
Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, both small and great!” Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.” (Revelation 9:5-7)
You are the bride of Christ. And your marriage to Him is a marriage that lasts – even into eternity. And in a world where marriages sadly and sometimes break, this is a marriage in which we can always rejoice and trust.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – One Barley Harvest From Redemption
Depression is epidemic in our world. According to the latest statistics available, major depression affects approximately 15 million American adults, or about eight percent of the U.S. population. And these statistics pertain only to people 18 years of age and older. This does not take into account the severe depression that plagues four percent of adolescents. Interestingly, the fastest growing demographic for anti-depressants is toddlers. Experts estimate that at least four percent of toddlers – over one million tikes – are clinically depressed. Yes, depression is a major problem in our world.
In Adult Bible Class this weekend, we tackled the problem of depression and looked at the story of Naomi. There can be hardly a doubt that Naomi was a depressed woman. In the first five verses of the book of Ruth, Naomi has to move from her hometown of Bethlehem to the foreign and pagan land of Moab where she loses her husband as well as her two sons. If I lost my home and family, I would be depressed as well!
Naomi’s depression manifests itself first in the way in which she treats her two widowed daughters-in-law. She, as a worshiper of the true God of Israel, actually encourages her daughters-in-law to return to their former paganism (cf. Ruth 1:15), a suggestion that would have shocked and revolted any ancient Israelite. Moreover, Naomi blames God for her tragic plight. She declares, “The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me” (Ruth 1:21). In the Latin Vulgate, the Hebrew word for “Almighty” is Omnipotens, from whence we get our English word “omnipotence,” a word which references the all-powerful nature of God. Thus, Naomi is accusing God of using His omnipotence not for her welfare, but for her harm. Indeed, the Hebrew word for “misfortune” is ra’a, meaning “evil.” Naomi, then, goes so far as to accuse God of being the author of evil in her life.
As I mentioned in Adult Bible Class, Naomi’s response to hardship is not exactly the pinnacle of piety. Her response to trouble differs vastly from Job’s more famed response to his trials: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21). Job’s response, in the opinion of most people, seems to be the more dignified and pious response to affliction. And yet, our responses to suffering more often mirror Naomi’s than they do Job’s. I know that mine do.
Still, there is hope. For just as God restores the fortunes of Job, He also restores the fortunes of Naomi. He does this not on the basis of her faithfulness to Him – for she acts faithlessly – but according to His grace and care for her. Indeed, even as Naomi is accusing God of bringing evil on her, the biblical text clues us into the fact that God is working behind the scenes to care for this desolate and despondent widow: “So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning” (Ruth 1:22). It is at this barley harvest that Naomi’s daughter-in-law Ruth meets a man named Boaz who is exceptionally kind to both her and her mother-in-law, providing them with food, and eventually marrying Ruth and providing an heir to carry on Naomi’s family name. While Naomi is complaining about God, God is all the while working through something as inauspicious as a barley harvest to redeem Naomi’s tragic circumstances. Naomi was only one barley harvest away from being redeemed by God – and she didn’t even know it.
Interestingly, the barley harvest in ancient Israel was also known as the Feast of Firstfruits. The Feast of Firstfruits was an opportunity for the Israelites to bring the first and best of their harvest before God in thankfulness to Him (Numbers 15:17-21). Notably, this was also the day on which Jesus rose from death, for He too is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). The Feast of Firstfruits, then, was a time to celebrate the redemption of God and, finally, how that redemption is expressed fully and finally in Christ, even as Paul writes: “Christ was delivered to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). For on the Feast of Firstfruits, Christ, risen from the dead, redeemed us from sin, death, and the devil.
In Ruth 1:22, the barley harvest is beginning. And though Naomi cannot yet see it, she will soon be celebrating the redemption of God, just as she should be at the Feast of Firstfruits. She is only one barley harvest away from having her tragedy redeemed by her Lord.
In your times of trial, do you believe that God can redeem you out of tragedy? You should. Scripture exhorts us to “wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). There is a Day coming when our Lord will appear and redeem us out of all our trouble, heartache, and pain, for the older order of this sinful world will pass away. This day is the Last Day of Christ’s return, sometimes pictured as a harvest (cf. Matthew 3:12). Thus, like Naomi, no matter what we face today or tomorrow, and no matter how much depression it might bring us, Scripture promises that we are only one harvest away from redemption. I hope you hold fast to this precious promise.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
“There’s Truth In That Thar Text”
This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of leading our terrific Concordia youth in a discussion on Philosophical Relativism using Focus on the Family’s “The Truth Project.” Philosophical Relativism is the skeptical stance that the truth of a proposition lies only in that proposition’s interpreter. In other words, “Truth,” with its offensively bombastic capital “T,” is not and cannot be external to an interpreter. It resides only within the individual.
The ascendency of philosophical relativism has birthed many a methodological cousin, one of which is the unfortunate “Reader Response Criticism,” still practiced in English classes across this country and trumpeted by some teachers and professors as if it’s the Holy Grail of hermeneutics. Reader Response Criticism focuses on the reader of a text and his or her response to that text rather than the text itself, stridently eschewing any notion that the text itself could contain or, in its more radical forms, would even bother to try to communicate, meaning to its reader.
Sadly, this kind of methodology has been used not just on standard fare English class texts like Moby Dick or Catcher in the Rye, it has also been used on the Holy Scriptures. Indeed, the proliferation of downright weird readings and interpretations of Biblical texts which have long since drifted away from their socio-historical and theological moorings find their moorings, at least in part, in the Reader Response methodology. This is dangerous both because it fails to take God’s Word seriously as divinely revealed Truth and because it leads us astray from the Gospel, the very message our salvation. That is, such a methodology not only leads us down the path to interpretive idiosyncrasy and “weirdness,” it leads us down a path to damnation because it makes us, rather than God, Truth’s creator and arbitrator. This is serious business.
It is with this in mind that I wanted to share with you a quote from Francis Watson. In his book Text and Truth: Redefining Biblical Theology, he offers a trenchant rebuke of Philosophical Relativism in general and Reader Response Criticism in specific:
A Christian faith concerned to retain its own coherence cannot for a moment accept that the biblical texts (individually and as a whole) lack a single determinant meaning, that their meanings are created by their readers, or that theological interpretations must see themselves as non-privileged participants in an open-ended, pluralistic conversation. Such a hermeneutic assumes that those texts are like any other “classic” texts: self-contained artifacts, handed down to us through the somewhat haphazard process of tradition, bearing with them a cultural authority that has now lost much of its normative force, yet challenging the interpreter to help ensure that they will at least remain readable, and continue to be read. (97)
According to Watson, the problem with Reader Response Criticism is that it calls us to “save the Bible,” as it were, making it relevant by means of our own responses to it, lest it quickly fade into the recesses of history as some antiquated and rotting curious cultural artifact. The difficulty with such a stance is that the Bible is in no need of saving. Rather, the Bible is inspired of God so that we might be saved.
In the 1840’s, M.F. Stevenson, then the assayer of the Dahlonega Mint in Dahlonega, Georgia, was working hard to keep his boom town from going bust as more and more people were moving west to join in the California Gold Rush of 1849. He sought to persuade his town’s residents that Georgia still had its own share of gold to be mined. “There’s gold in them thar hills,” he told his miners.
Like in the hills of Georgia, we, as Christians, ought to believe, “There’s Truth in that thar text.” The Bible contains and reveals its Truth apart from any single reader, though it must be believed by its readers to be efficacious for their salvation. The Truth of Scripture is not dependent on its readers. As readers of Scripture, then, it is our calling to responsibly and carefully mine Scripture’s Truth and rejoice that God has pleasured to reveal to us His Truth.
“There’s Truth in that thar text.” I hope you’ll read and believe that Truth today. After all, it’s God’s Truth of eternal life for you.
ABC Extra: Children Who Rebel
Rebellion has become a sort of rite of passage as children move into adulthood. The teenage son breaks his curfew to sneak out with his friends and party late into the night. The teenage daughter secretly dates that cute boy she’s head over heals for in spite of her parents’ strong objections. The Fourth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12), seems of little consequence to many teenagers.
It is a common misconception that it didn’t used to be this way. Children did not used to so headily and so arrogantly rebel against their parents. The truth of the matter, however, is that children have been rebelling against their parents for centuries. Jesus puts it like this: “Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death” (Mark 13:12). Indeed, the rebellion of children against their parents goes back even farther. It stretches all the way back to the Fall into sin.
In Luke 3, the evangelist presents us with a genealogy of Jesus Christ. And what a genealogy it is! It traces the Lord’s lineage all the way to the first man, Adam. It’s especially interesting the way Adam is talked about. In the midst of a bunch of genealogical standard fare – “so and so was the son of so and so, and so and so was the son of so and so” – we come to this: “Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:37-38). Luke says that Adam, like everyone else throughout the course of history, was a son. He was a son of God. And just like every son that has come after him, he rebels against his parents, or, more precisely, his Father. God commands His son Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Adam sneaks off and eats from the tree anyway. The first sin was one of rebellion. And children have been rebelling against their parents ever since.
This weekend in worship and ABC, we studied 1 Samuel 2 and the story of the rebellion of Hophni and Phineas against their father and against God. The author of 1 Samuel is pointed in his analysis of the sons’ character: “Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD” (verse 12). Their rebellion was two-pronged. On the one hand, they took animal sacrifices that were properly to be burned in honor of the LORD and instead kept these animals for private meals (cf. verses 13-15). On the other hand, they engaged in sexual immorality with the women who served at the temple where they were priests (cf. verse 22). Eli, Hophi and Phineas’ father, although he condemns the latter sin, does not condemn the former. We find out why he does not condemn the former sin just verses later when a prophet of God arrives at Eli’s doorstep and rebukes Eli for too partaking of animal sacrifices which properly belong to God! The prophet asks in the stead of the LORD: “Why do you scorn My sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for My dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by My people Israel” (verse 29)?
The Hebrew word for the “choice parts” of the Israelite offerings on which Eli and his sons are fattening themselves is re’shi’ith. Interestingly, this word is most often associated with the practice of tithing: “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God” (Exodus 23:19). The Hebrew word for “best” is again re’shi’ith. Be it Hophni or Phineas or their father Eli, this is a family that is not interested in bringing their first and best before God. And so they receive judgment from God.
Does your family bring its first and best before God? Does your family give the first of its week to God in worship? Does your family give the first of its money to God in finances? Does your family give the first of its day to God in prayer and study of God’s Word? Although the practice of giving the first to God in your family’s life may not prevent those hoary teenage years of rebellion altogether, it is good training in righteousness – for your children…and for you. And righteousness has a mysterious way of repressing rebellion.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – Be Reconciled Today
This weekend in worship and ABC, we continued our series “Five Family Fiascos! Is There Hope For Us?” with a look at the fiasco of familial estrangement. Certainly the scene is familiar: one family member betrays, embarrasses, or even inadvertently hurts another family member and retaliation ensues. But this retaliation does not take the form of a fistfight or of cutting words or of a heated demand for an apology. No, this retaliation takes the form of a cold shoulder – a refusal to speak to, or sometimes to even acknowledge, the other person. And the longer this goes on, the further these two family members drift apart. This is sad story of estrangement.
The story of King David and his son Absalom follows this all too proverbial pattern of estrangement. As we learned this weekend, after Absalom’s brother Amnon rapes their sister Tamar, Absalom becomes furious at his father for not stepping in and meting out justice against Amnon in the face of such shocking wickedness. Absalom subsequently becomes estranged from his father. Indeed, we read, “Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king’s face” (2 Samuel 14:27). Two men, two years, in the same town – and they never so much as catch a glimpse of each other.
Tragically, it’s not as if they didn’t want to see each other. We read in 2 Samuel 13:39: “The spirit of the king longed to go to Absalom.” But David defies his spirit’s yearning. He never goes to see his son. Indeed, he even prevents his son from seeing him. “He must not see my face,” David says just verses later (2 Samuel 14:24).
Eventually, the estrangement between father and son becomes too much for Absalom to bear. He rebels by staging a coup against his father. Battle lines are drawn, strategies are devised, and, in the end, David proves victorious – but only after Absalom is killed. When David hears the news that his son has been killed and the threat to his throne has been removed, a wave of remorse and regret comes rushing over the king: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you – O Absalom, my son, my son” (2 Samuel 18:33). Interestingly, this is the first time that David calls Absalom, “my son.” Before this, he referred to him only as, “the young man” (cf. 2 Samuel 14:21, 18:5, 12, 29, 32). But now he longs for the relationship he could have had. Now he dotingly calls Absalom, “my son.” Now he wishes, “If only I had died instead of you.” But now it’s too late. Trading his own life for Absalom’s life would do David no good. Absalom is already gone.
Certainly one of the weighty lessons of this story comes in the utter tragedy of leaving relationships estranged. Indeed, this story ends on a terribly tragic note – with a wailing monarch riddled by regret. And yet, through David’s tear-choked words, we hear a distant note of hope. For though David cannot die in the stead of Absalom and restore their broken relationship, there is someone who can. And there is someone who has. For when our sins separated us from God, God traded His Son’s life for our lives so that we would no longer be estranged from Him, but reconciled to Him, even as Paul declares: “We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). God is in the business of reconciliation. And His reconciliation is truly the most challenging and most glorious reconciliation of all – for He reconciles imperfect people to His perfect Person. Will you, as an imperfect person, seek reconciliation with other imperfect people from whom you are estranged? Remember, the remorse of estrangement will always be heavier than the challenge of reconciliation. Be reconciled today.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – Too Busy for God
In 2007, the Gallup organization took a survey of the reasons Americans do or do not go to church. According to this study, the number one reason that people go to church is to receive “spiritual growth and guidance.” This is good. But what is the number one reason Americans do not go to church? They don’t have enough time. They are simply too busy to worship the God who created the heavens, the earth, and them.
It saddens me that what the evil one could not do to the Church for thousands of years through persecutions, threats, and ghastly tortures, he does through something as insipid and stupid as busy-ness. For when Satan violently persecutes the Church, it grows. But when Satan draws our attention away from God’s Church and its Gospel and instead distracts us with the things of this world, we seem to fall for it every time.
This past weekend in worship and ABC, we continued our series “Five Family Fiascos” with a look at what happens to families and individuals when they are stretched too thin. In our text for this weekend from Exodus 18, we saw how Moses became stretched too thin when he “took his seat to serve as judge for the people of Israel, and they stood around him from morning till evening” (verse 13). There were simply too many cases for Moses to hear and arbitrate. Blessedly, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, guided his son-in-law toward a saner schedule:
What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. But select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. (verses 17-18, 21)
Long before management gurus peddled the value of delegation, Jethro suggested it to Moses.
In ABC, I mentioned that the Hebrew word for “heavy” in verse 18, where Jethro suggests that Moses’ workload is too “heavy” for him, is chabed. This is the same word that is used for “glory,” and specifically God’s glory, in the Old Testament. It is in this word that I think we find the sinful root of so much of the busy-ness that plagues our lives and our world. Rather than looking to the glory of God, we look to the things that the world considers glorious. Whether these glorious things be a job, or a product, or a leisure activity, or a lifestyle, this world invites us to trade in God’s glory for the glories which it has to offer. And sadly, many people make the trade. Sadly, as the Gallup poll betrays, many people spend so much time chasing after the glories of this world that they’re too busy to worship the glory of God.
The greatest danger in being too busy is that we can easily become too busy for God. And this is a grave travesty. This is why Jesus invites us to reject that which would pack our calendars and starve our souls and instead find rest in Him: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus invites us, rather than being busied by the cares and concerns of this world, to find peace in Him.
So this week, I would challenge you with a little exercise. Beginning today, find one thing each day that you can cut from your calendar and use that time instead to worship and pray to God. I would guard you against cutting any activity that involves time with your family, as those times ought to be honored and cherished. Instead, cut an errand and instead say a prayer. Reschedule a meeting and instead take a walk and praise God for His good creation. Use the time that you would normally check the headlines to instead read your Bible. Take a reprieve from the some of the glories of this world so that you can better focus on the glory of God. And the promise is, you’ll find rest – not just rest from your calendar, but rest for your soul.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – How Could God Allow the Fall?
This weekend, we continued our series in worship and ABC titled, “Five Family Fiascos! Is There Hope For Us?” This weekend’s topic was, “When You’re Caught in Blame.” Blame, as we learned this weekend, is as old as the Fall itself. God gives to Adam and Eve a single command: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). But Adam and Eve transgress this commandment. And when they do, rather than confessing their blame before God, they try to “pass the buck” of their sin:
The man said, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12-13)
Adam and Eve, though they ‘fess up to their sin, refuse to take responsibility for their sin. They are all too ready to blame someone else for their failing. Adam blames Eve. Eve blames the snake. It’s a tragic – if not even a somewhat comical – scene.
One of the perennial questions I receive concerning the story of the Fall is, “If God knew that Adam and Eve would break His command and bring sin and pain and death and despair into this world, then why would God create them – and, by extension, us – in the first place? Why couldn’t God just not have created anything and saved us all a lot of heartache?” Though I would certainly not presume to try to answer every facet of this question, for we are not called to “fathom the mysteries of God and probe the limits of the Almighty” (Job 11:7), there is an answer, I believe, that at least partially and appropriately answers this familiar inquiry. Perhaps an analogy will help us understand God’s willingness to allow us – and Himself – to endure the Fall of Genesis 3.
Before a husband and wife have children, they are no doubt vaguely aware that raising a child can be a burden at times – both for them and for the child! There will be problems which call for a heavy disciplinarian hand. There will be times at which a child feels as though his parents do not understand him. And yet, countless couples have chosen to become parents regardless of the future problems they know they will encounter! Why? Because parents have a strange, truly indescribable way of loving their children before they’re even conceived. The prospect of having a son or daughter excites them. And so they are willing to take on the pain of the future they know they will soon have to endure for the child they love.
So it is with our heavenly Father. According to His omniscience, God knew all about the Fall and all the pain it would bring into our world long before the Fall ever happened. And yet He created us anyway. Why? Because He loved us even before He created us and so was willing to endure the pain and suffering He knew we would cause. As the apostle Paul writes: “God chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will” (Ephesians 1:4-5). God loved us before He made us, Paul says. Indeed, God’s love for us was so deep that He even made arrangements for our salvation from creation. This is reflected in Revelation, where we read of “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). According to eternity, God was planning to send Jesus to be slain to forgive our sins from the very beginning of the world. Thus is the depth of the love of our God.
The Fall of Adam and Eve was truly the greatest fiasco this world has ever known. For from this Fall springs every subsequent fall into sin and fiasco from sin. And living under the effects of the Fall is not always fun. And yet, God’s love for us is stronger than the Fall. And so, when you fall, rather than trying to pass the blame on to others for your sin, pass the blame on to the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. For He willingly takes on your blame and takes away your sin.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
Good Friday
On this Good Friday, the words of the prophet Isaiah are especially striking to me:
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. (Isaiah 53:2-3)
It is important to remember that before Good Friday was “good,” it was ugly. As Isaiah explains, Jesus, in His hours on the cross, because the most ugly, hideous, depraved, grotesque creature this world has ever known – so ugly, in fact, that people hid their faces in repulsion. For Jesus, in His hours on the cross, bore the sins of the world. Martin Luther explains:
God sent His Son into the world, heaped all the sins of all men upon Him, and said to Him: “Be Peter the denier; Paul the persecutor, blasphemer, and assaulter; David the adulterer; the sinner who ate the apple in Paradise; the thief on the cross. In short, be the person of all men, the one who has committed the sins of all men. And see to it that You pay and make satisfaction for them.” Now the Law comes and says: “I find Him a sinner, who takes upon Himself the sins of all men. I do not see any other sins than those in Him. Therefore let Him die on the cross!” And so it attacks Him and kills Him. (AE 26, Galatians 3:13)
History’s most infamous sins were heaped upon the head of Christ. What an ugly Friday this so-called “Good Friday” must have been! What an ugly Christ the people gathered around the cross must have beheld! Indeed, at the cross, it looked as though the ugliness of sin had overtaken the very beauty of God. But then, all the ugly sins of humanity encountered something for which they never bargained. Again, Luther explains:
The sins of the entire world, past, present, and future, attack Christ, try to damn Him, and do in fact damn Him. But because in the same Person, who is the highest, the greatest, and the only sinner, there is also eternal and invincible righteousness, therefore these two converge: the highest, the greatest, and the only sin; and the highest, the greatest, and the only righteousness. Here one of them must yield and be conquered, since they come together and collide with such a powerful impact. (AE 26, Galatians 3:13)
One of these – either man’s sinfulness or God’s righteousness – must yield and be conquered. So which one yields? Which one is conquered?
It is here that we find what’s “good” in Good Friday. For on the cross, a truly bloody battle was waged between righteousness and sinfulness. And righteousness won. This is the good news of Good Friday.
As you gaze upon the ugliness of cross today, remember that God’s beautiful righteousness is hiding there. And righteousness won. And not only did righteousness win, but righteousness is now given to you and me by God’s grace on account of our faith. And this makes this Friday a very good Friday indeed!
Holy Week
The ABC network is currently airing a series called “Flash Forward.” The series kicks off portraying a global phenomenon that causes people to lose consciousness for 137 seconds, during which they see visions of what will take place six months into their futures. Some people see visions of better lives while others see visions of tragedies, heartaches, and betrayals. There are some who see nothing at all – and they fear that this means that they will die within six months.
Though it wasn’t a flash forward full of the kind of science fiction intrigue that marks the ABC series, Jesus has a “flash forward” of his own, rooted in his omniscience as the Son of God. Over the course of his ministry, Jesus is fully aware that he has come to die. Consider Jesus’ words to his disciples: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again” (Luke 18:31-33). Jesus knows precisely what will happen to him. He even knows precisely where it will happen to him – at Jerusalem.
You can imagine how Jesus must have felt, then, at the beginning of this week – a week that the Church has traditionally called Holy Week. Yesterday was Palm Sunday, they day on which Jesus is hailed as a king by an adoring throng. But notice how the story of Palm Sunday begins: “Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem” (Luke 19:28). Jesus is arriving at the city where he will soon be condemned to die. And he knows it! Yet, he rides into Jerusalem anyway. Indeed, Jesus is determined to make it to Jerusalem in spite of his impending doom. As Luke says: “When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). This phrase “set his face” is idiomatic, describing strong willed determination, and echoes an Isaianic prophecy where God’s Messiah says, “I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7).
Why would Jesus be so willing and even determined to go to the place of his death? According to his own admission, it is so that “everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled” (Luke 18:31). In other words, Jesus is determined to orient his life around the Scriptures even when orienting his life around the Scriptures is difficult and even if it finally leads to his death. Jesus will follow what the Scriptures say to and about him so that he can fulfill what the Scriptures have for him.
In what ways do you orient your life around the Scriptures, even when doing so is hard? In what ways do you fall short? As we begin Holy Week, it is important to orient our hearts, souls, and lives around God’s Word not simply so that we can obey what God’s Word instructs, but so that we can believe what God’s Word promises – that God has sent his Son to forgive our sins. To that end, I would invite you this Holy Week to worship our Lord and to remember what he has done for you. You can do so by joining us in any one of our Holy Week services at Concordia:
- Maundy Thursday commemorates the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Services are at noon and 7 pm.
- Good Friday reflects on the price Jesus paid for the forgiveness of our sins. Services are at noon and 7 pm.
- Easter celebrates Jesus’ joyful resurrection from the dead and anticipates that we too will rise from death on the Last Day. Services are Saturday at 6 pm and Sunday at 6:30, 8, 9:30, and 11 am.
If you can’t make it to our services in person, you can also stream them live at www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com.
I would also encourage you, over the course of this week, to read the gospel accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This will help you focus on God’s work of salvation in Christ. The accounts are found in Matthew 26:1-28:10, Mark 14:1-16:8, Luke 22:1-24:12, and John 18:1-20:18. You can also learn more about the history and theology of this week by downloading a free booklet on Holy Week, available here.
May Holy Week be a time of blessing for you as you fix your eyes on Christ and ponder again the wonder of how his death means your salvation!
Pastor Zach's Blog 