Posted on by Cheryl Norman

God’s Grace versus Cancel Culture

Pastor Sherry’s Message for 8/30/2020

Scriptures: Ex 3:1-15; Ps 105:23-26; Ro 12:9-21; Matt 16:21-28

Recently I came across 2 examples of our current “cancel culture” at work. With the “cancel culture,” you are only as good as your social media account messages are PC.  Step out of line and your reputation is destroyed, while your future is threatened.

The first concerned a Jordanian-American named Natasha Tynes.  Tynes had researched and written about threats to free speech and a free press in Egypt and then had faced persecution in Egypt for it.  Back in the states again, she was riding the DC-area subway, the Metro, when she saw a transit worker eating in the train.  There are signs posted everywhere prohibiting this behavior, so Natasha confronted the worker and pointed out that she was violating the rules.  The worker rudely blew her off! Natasha said she frequently rides the subway hungry and so was frustrated that a person with the power to fine her for eating was herself violating the rules.  As a result, Natasha wrote a letter of complaint to the transit authorities, asking that they take some disciplinary action.  

She probably should have left the matter there, but she also “tweet-shamed” her by calling the woman out on line, including a picture of her eating on the train. Some 45 minutes later, Natasha rethought what she had done and deleted her tweet.  She also apologized on line for her actions, admitting she had responded out of a “short-lived expression of frustration.”  In addition, she wrote the transit authority to ask them to overlook her complaint.  But the Twitter Mob turned on her, calling her “Metro-Molly.”  Ms. Tyne’s publisher learned of this “temptest in a teapot” and decided not to print her latest book. They claimed she had done “something truly horrible” and excused their decision to renege on their contract because Natasha “had threatened the transit worker’s health and safety.  What?

The second incident concerned that vocal young man from the Parkland high school shooting, Kyle Kashuv. We saw him interviewed on TV a number of times.  He received several offers of scholarships to college and turned them all down to attend Harvard.  Later, word got back to Harvard, via some of his classmates that Kashuv–a Jewish conservative–had made anti-semetic and racist comments in a private online chat back when he was 16 years old.  The young man apologized publically.  He even wrote a Harvard dean to admit his responsibility and to ask for forgiveness.

David French of the National Review reported that Kashuv did “everything we want a young man to do when he’s done something wrong.”  Nevertheless, Harvard believed his email remarks from several years younger were too egregious to forgive, and rescinded his admission.

 Recently, Kellyanne Conway resigned as advisor to the President when her 15 year old daughter “tweet-shamed” her and her husband on line.  I am not trying to draw in politics here.  Rather, I am making the point that people feel all too free to call one another out on line.  This teen has hurt her parents very publically by defaming their reputations.  I wonder how she will feel about this when she is 25 or 35, or a parent herself. Sadly, this child has not learned to live out Paul’s admonitions from Romans 12: V.14àBless those who [you believe] persecute you; bless and do not curse; v.16àLive in harmony with one another; and v.17+àDo not repay [even perceived] evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

This is where we are now.  A mistake, a lapse in judgment, can cost you everything today.  Thank God our Lord does not operate by cancel culture rules!  Let’s look at two He could have chosen to cancel, but didn’t, in today’s scripture passages:

First, we have Moses (Ex 3:1-15).  Last week, we saw this Hebrew slave kid rescued from the Nile, to be raised in Pharaoh’s own household.

By this week, he has advanced to the age of 40, and realized God has tapped him to champion his people, the Jews.  Without waiting on God’s direction, however, he kills an Egyptian overseer for beating a Hebrew slave. His own people, seeing him dressed as an Egyptian, fail to trust him, fearing he is an Egyptian murderer.  Furthermore, Pharaoh hears of the incident and wants to arrest him.  So Moses flees Egypt into the desert.  By attempting to do what he thought he should do, He finds himself driven away.

 He reaches Midian and rescues the 7 daughters of Reuel who were also doing what they were supposed to do—watering their sheep.  Moses observed some rowdy male shepherds attempting to push them aside to water their animals first.  Moses rescues the ladies and sends the ruffians packing.  Subsequently, he marries the eldest, Zipporah; soon has a son, Gershom (whose name means “sojourner” or “alien”—kinda suggests how Moses feels about living in Midian); and tends sheep, for another 40 years. Like King David, later, he is going to be called from tending a flock of animals to shepherding God’s people.

 In today’s passage, he encounters God (the preincarnate Christ) in aburning bush that does not burn up.  He is told to take his shoes off becausehe is in the presence of God, which makes the ground they are on holyindeed.  God calls him by name twice (make no mistake, our God knows our names!).  God also reveals who He is:  The God of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God shares that His name is, I am who I am; or, as some translations say, I will be who I will be.   In other words, as the passage states, He is the God who sees, thinks, hears, knows,remembers, and intervenes for His people.

God also reaffirms Moses’ call to deliver the Hebrew slaves from Egyptian bondage.  Notice, God has not canceled him due to having murdered an Egyptian.  Instead God has hidden him out, in the back of the beyond for 40 years, so that the Pharaoh who sought to arrest him has had time to die and be replaced.  Additionally, those Israelite slaves who witnessed the murder have also passed on. God has made sure it is safe for Moses to return to Egypt.  And Moses has learned to wait on God.

Our Psalm mentions how God sent Moses, His servant, to set His people free.

 Now, let’s jump to our Gospel lesson from Matt 16:21-28.  Last week, we read how Peter confessed what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him:  that Jesus was/is the Messiah.  This week, Jesus begins to educate the Twelve regarding what God’s Messiah will do.  Despite their personal beliefs and expectations of Messiah, Jesus says He will die on a Roman cross, condemned by His own; He will die to redeem those very folks and all the rest of us too.  Like Moses before Him, Jesus is a shepherd, our shepherd and a deliverer, our deliverer.  Understandably, Rocky (Peter) is horrified! Like Moses, he gets ahead of himself.  Rather than taking in what Jesus is saying, he tries to talk Him out of it.  YIKES, Peter!  We don’t get to tell God what to do.  Jesus has just praised Rocky, but now he really tears into him—

He calls His dear friend Satan!  He rightly accuses him of interfering with God’s plan.  Whether he or we like it or not, God’s plan appears to require that we (v.24) deny [ourselves, our self-will], take up [our] Cross and follow [Jesus].  Like so many of us, Peter hears from God but he is also motivated by selfish self-interest and perhaps beguiled by the evil one.

 We know the outcome of both stories:  Moses leads the people out of Egypt—even though they wander in the desert for 40 years.  And Peter becomes a dynamic, faith-filled leader of the new Christian Church. God had grace, mercy, and forgiveness for them both!

What would have happened to Moses or to Peter—Rocky–if our Lord operated by the rules of cancel culture?  Cancel culture assumes—impossibly—that you can never make a mistake.  No grace or mercy is allowed for immaturity, anger, impetuousness.  Cancel Culture believes, Once a sinner, always a sinner.   You cannot even apologize and be forgiven.  As we have seen in the examples of Natasha, Kyle, and the Conways, judgment is swift and forgiveness is withheld!  Furthermore, cancel culture ruins the person’s future—despite a very productive present–based on one lapse in judgment or a perceived wrong response. 

Aren’t we glad our God does not operate that way?  Our God is characterized by love, grace, and mercy.  He keeps His promises and He forgives our sins.  He reinstates us. He uses us once we realize we cannot work out His program in our own strength.  Instead, we operate in His strength, surrendered to His will.  Thanks be to God that He has such patience, such forgiveness, such mercy for us.

This week, I challenge you to pray for Natasha Tynes and Kyle Kashuv, and any other victims of the media mob and the cancel culture.  Pray for peace and reconciliation between the senior Conways and their 15 year old daughter.  Let’s also be aware of God’s mercy.  And let’s be grateful that there is no cancel culture with our Lord!

 

c 2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Looking to Self or to Jesus?

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 9, 2020

Scriptures: Gen 37:1-38; Ps105:16-22; Matt 14: 22-33

This is a true story:  In early February, a sheriff’s officer clocked a 2020 grey Kia sedan cruising at the brisk pace of 95 mph on Interstate 10 through Florida’s panhandle.  Two men, in their mid-30’s, were headed east towards Live Oak and Jacksonville, then on their way south to Orlando. This corridor is a major feeder for drug trafficking into the Sunshine State, so officers are constantly on the lookout for signs of suspicious activity.


Federal law permits officers to stop those who are breaking the law, issuing arrests and tickets accordingly. But the Fourth Amendment prohibits the search of vehicles without probable cause, or reasonable suspicion. One lawyer explains it this way:   “Basically, a law enforcement agent’s hunch without proof of illegality isn’t enough for him or her to look through a car legally. Before rummaging through a vehicle, the officer would have to observe something illegal. Examples of this are seeing or smelling an illegal substance. An admission of guilt by the person driving the car is another situation in which an officer can legally examine a car.”


When the officers pulled this vehicle over, they noticed— right in plain sight–two plastic zip-locked bags. Both were clearly labeled “Bag Full of Drugs.” This sight, needless to say, provided sufficient probable cause to warrant a search of the carand of the bags. Inside, Santa Rosa County Sheriffs found a treasure-trove of methamphetamine, GHB, cocaine, fentanyl, MDMA tablets, and various drug paraphernalia. Both driver and passenger were booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail without bond, on charges of drug trafficking. Later, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office posted the following message to Facebook:


“Santa Rosa K-9 Deputies recently assisted [Florida Highway Patrol] on a traffic stop on I-10 where a large amount of narcotics were discovered. Note to self — do not traffic your illegal narcotics in bags labeled ‘Bag Full of Drugs.’ Our K-9’s can read.”

Law enforcement must abide by the 4th Amendment, but to our God–who knows all–words like probable cause and reasonable suspicion are meaningless. He is omniscient. We may attempt to hide our sins, or at least not place them in bags labeled “Bags full of wicked things,” but still He sees. He sees when the door is closed. He hears when the windows are shut. He knows even when our browser history has been completely wiped clean. 

We have a very similar event recorded for us in Genesis 37—as well as its antidote in Matthew 14.  Let’s examine them more closely.

Genesis 37:1-36 records for the backstory behind the enmity of Joseph’s brothers toward him.  Thus far, in each generation of the founding family of the Israelites, God has chosen the younger sibling over the elder:  God chose Abraham’s son by Sarah over the older son, Ishmael;God then chose Jacob, deceitful though he was, over his elder twin, Esau;once again, in this newest generation, God choses the baby son, Joseph, over all 10 of his strapping elder brothers.

Joseph, the son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, is also Jacob’s favorite.

Reuben was the 1st born, but he disqualified himself by sleeping with his stepmother, Bilhah.  Not only is this icky to consider, but it says to his father, in effect, “I wish you were dead.”  The next two eldest, Simeon and Levi, prove themselves to be violent men lacking in integrity.  They violate a treaty their father had made with the King of Shechem.  They are rightfully incensed when their sister, Dinah, is raped by the prince of Shechem.  They expect swift retribution, the prince’s death.  However, their father forges an agreement with the king which would allow Dinah and the prince to marry, provided all the male Shechemites submit to circumcision (i.e., become Jews). The brothers think this is weak on their father’s part, and that he does not sufficiently value their sister’s honor.  So, they sneak into the Shechem at night and kill all the males recovering from circumcision surgery, including their sister’s fiancé.  Father Jacob/Israel is now royally angry and disgusted with all of them, except Joseph.  He fears they have demonstrated to the Canaanites that Jews do not keep their word and violate legitimate treaties.  By this point, Jacob clearly favors Joseph over all of them.  He unwisely uses him to spy on them as they graze their father’s flocks.  He also increases their jealously and enmity by giving Joseph a special garment, in effect saying that Joseph—not any of the other 10–is the heir.

 Naively, Joseph doesn’t help make himself more popular with his siblings when he shares 2 dreams in which it appears he will one day rule over them.

In today’s passage, they stop short of killing him; but instead sell him to Ishmaelite (remember Ishmael, 1st son of Abraham?) traders bound to sell him into slavery in Egypt.  They concoct a plausible story for their Father, not anticipating the depth of his grief.  And they essentially invoke the death penalty upon their brother—as few people in that day survived long as a slave.  Scholars say that ½ of the later Roman Empire consisted of slaves.  They had no pay, no days off, and no rights, so many died early deaths.

 Joseph’s ordeal is memorialized in our Psalm (105:16-22) today.

The jealous and hateful brothers never appear to check out their feelings, or their actions, with God.  They are filled with murderous rage and they act on it.  But our psalmist reminds posterity (both the Jews & us) that God (v.17)...sent a man [Joseph] before them [into Egypt, all of Jacob’s other sons and all their families]—Joseph, sold as a slave.  The equivalent of a prince of his family suffered, being encased in shackles and irons;

He did serve as a slave for 14 years, until…(v.19)…what he had foretold [the two dreams] came to pass, til the word of the Lord proved him true.

 We know the rest of the story:  Pharaoh, nudged by God, appointed Joseph over all of Egypt to superintend the storage and distribution of grain during a 7 year famine.  As a result, he then becomes the means of saving his extended family—including those jealous, murderous brothers—from starvation.  God redeems Joseph, and his brothers and their families.

How might the story have been different if the brothers had consulted God? How might the story have been different if they had prayed for Joseph—and their father, Israel—instead of acting on jealousy, rage, and vindictiveness?

The 10 elder brothers together provide a vivid example of how not to be.

 

For an example of how to be, let’s look at our Gospel lesson, Matthew 14:22-33.  The context is that Jesus has fed the 5,000 + women & children.  He then sends the disciples out to sea in their boat while He trudged up a mountain to pray.  Apparently He prays all night.  He comes walking toward them during what the Romans referred to as the 4th watch, 3-6:00am.  It must have been pretty alarming for them to see Him striding toward them on the waves.  1st they mistake Him for a ghost. He responds (v.27) àTake courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.  He knows they aren’t expecting to encounter Him this way.  He understands their fear, and He compassionately reassures them.

Peter has sized up this unusual situation and desires to walk on the water too.  I don’t blame him—wouldn’t you jump at the chance to defy Physics, or to do something with our Lord that was unheard of?  We observe that Peter did fine, until he took his eyes off Jesus.  There’s the lesson for us all:  Keep our eyes on Jesus!  When we follow hard after God, He holds an umbrella of protection over us.  But when we say in effect, that’s OK God, I don’t need you.  I’ll do this myself, we step out from under that umbrella of protection.  Bad things, scary things, unjust things, stupid things, even evil things happen when we place our attention on ourselves only–like Joseph’s jealous and murderous brothers; or like the 2 drug runners traveling I-10 in the Kia.  Bad things, scary things, unjust things, stupid things, and even evil things can also happen when we put all our attention on persons or activities that divert us from  Christ. 

 Like the old hymn says, we need to “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.”

 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus…

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

 

O soul, are you weary or troubled?

No light in the darkness you see…

There’s light for a look at the Savior,

And life more abundant and free.

 

Through death and into life everlasting

He passed and we follow Him there.

Over us sin no more hath dominion

For more than conquerors we are.

 

Jesus keeps us afloat. Jesus lifts us up and out of ourselves, out of our difficult situations, and into the safety and security of His tender care.  This week, let’s try to remain safe and sound under His umbrella of protection.

 C 2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams>

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Surrender … but hold on!

Pastor Sherry’s Message for August 2, 2020

Scriptures: Genesis 32:22-31; Ps 17:1-7

Can you remember how you felt when you knew you had to face some pretty unpleasant event?  I can think of two such events when I was a kid and even one as an adult.  When I was going into the 7th grade, my dad was transferred to Hawaii.  This was in the late 50’s when the islands were still a territory, not yet a state.  So we had to endure a series of painful immunizations.  I dreaded the days we had to present ourselves for those shots.  The anticipation was far worse than the actual event.  In another example, my brother and I had misbehaved badly for our mother.  When our abusive stepdad went out to sea, we both felt like the clamps had come off and I am sure we manipulated our mother something fierce.  One particular time, she threatened, “Just you want ‘til you dad comes home!”  She marked the days on the calendar.  We got more and more distressed as the weeks sped away and the date of his return loomed before us.  I am sure my brother and I were the only ones on the dock, as the ship came in, who were not celebrating its return.  He did beat us, rather severely.  I was only about 9-10, but I remember recognizing that my mother was a weak disciplinarian who never should have left the job to another.  Interestingly, she never seemed to be able to figure out why we didn’t love him better or have happier memories of our childhood.

As an adult, I had stood up as the lone dissenter in a vote for a new pastor.  The rest of the committee got very angry with me as we decided everything by unanimous vote; they perceived that I was holding up the process.  We eventually decided the matter by drawing lots—an old Biblical tradition—and the guy I felt so strongly about won the job unanimously!  Later the new pastor (who thought I was the lone holdout against him) told me I had to be reconciled with each of the other 11.  I did so, and believe me, I approached each individual appointment with anxiety.  The whole experience was an exercise in humility.

This is essentially the situation the patriarch Jacob faces in today’s OT Lesson, Genesis 32:22-31. He is returning to the Promised Land after 20 years of exile.

Recall that he was named “Jacob” (which meant heel grabber, deceiver) as the younger of a set of twins.  He later manipulated his slower, less cerebral brother, Esau, out of his birthright:  The lion’s share of their father’s property & livestock; but also the Covenantal relationship with God.  This is bad enough, but—with his mother’s complicity—he tricks/deceives his blind father into giving him his blessing!  His mother, Rebekah, should have known better.  God had told her that the older twin would serve the younger.  She should have remembered and waited on God to see how He meant to work this out.  Instead, the wily Jacob and his mother demonstrate no respect for Isaac, no love for Esau, and no faith in God.  Jacob gets the blessing, fraudulently, but he earns the murderous rage and hatred of his only sibling.  This forces him to flee the country—never to see his mother again.

As our passage from last week indicated, Jacob is taken to the Spiritual Woodshed by his mother’s brother, Uncle Laban (Let us all hope we never encounter an Uncle Laban in our lifetime):  Jacob agrees to work 7 years for the lovely Rachel, only to be given the less attractive, older sister, Leah, on his wedding night.  The deceiver is deceived!  Uncle Laban justifies his trickery with the custom that older daughters must marry before younger ones.  Once Jacob recovers from his shock and anger, he agrees to work another 7 years for his true love.  The two “sister wives”compete over who can give Jacob the most sons.  The ladies add two more “sister wives” to fuel the race.  Leah, the less valued wife, ends up with 6 sons and a daughter of her own, and two sons by a surrogate.  The favorite wife, Rachel, struggles with infertility, but has two surrogate sons and, finally, two sons of her own (dying as she gives birth to #2 after Jacob has settled in back home).

Once Jacob’s term of 14 years is up, he is forced to indenture himself to Laban for another 6 years, so as to amass sufficient resources to support 4 wives & 12 children.  Meanwhile, the jealousies, resentments, envy and animosity of the “sister wives” and their children continue to fester.  Laban keeps changing the terms of his contract with Jacob (10 times!), trying to cheat him.  We are talking a highly dysfunctional family here.  By the time of today’s lesson, Jacob has been out of the “Promised land” for 20 years.  Jacob, the “Trickster,” has been repeatedly tricked by an even cannier trickster.  I picture him as exhausted, harried, and burnt-out.

Now Jacob knows God has called him to return home, but what about the vengeful Esau?  When Jacob had last encountered his brother, Esau had been intent on killing him.  So Jacob has finally escaped one enemy—Uncle Laban—only to face another, Esau.  Just prior to today’s passage (Gen 32:9-12), Jacob prays a powerful prayer to God:  (1) He acknowledges how God has blessed him; (2) He reminds God that it is He who has called him home; and (3)He asks God to save him from his brother’s wrath.  He then sends his wives & family across the Jabbok (Wadi Zarqa, 20 mi. west of the Jordan).  Alone, he is suddenly grabbed by God!  He struggled all his life to prevail, no doubt thinking, “I can determine my destiny.”  1st, he had contended with Esau; 2nd, with Uncle Laban.  Now, he wrestles all night with the pre-incarnate Christ–Hosea 12:4-5 reports, He strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and sought His favor.  He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with him—the LORD the God of hosts, the LORD is His name.

Now, finally Jacob realizes, God holds my destiny.  Actually, God is wrestling with one hand tied behind His back.  But Jacob won’t quit.  Jesus wants to go so He won’t be recognized.  Jacob has surrendered his will to God but he won’t let go of Him.  Jacob has become a perseverer.  Graciously, Jesus will not overrule Jacob’s will, so instead He puts his hip out of joint.  Jacob wisely asks for a blessing from the Divine Logos.  Jesus, who knows everything, asks him a rhetorical question, What is your name?  The Lord then changes his name from Jacob (Deceiver) to Israel (He who contends with God and men and overcomes).

By changing his name, Jesus is indicating that Jacob’s character has been purified. Jesus is also letting Jacob know that his future successes will result (Zechariah 4:6), ”Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.

Israel wants Jesus’ name but the LORD will not reveal it to him.  We cannot overcome or control God; instead, we yield and hold on!  This is both a spiritual victory for Israel and a demonstration of human frailty in the face of God.  God will superintend the reconciliation with his brother.  As my prayer partner likes to say, God rules and overrules the hearts of men and women.  The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, …He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  God had begun a good work in Jacob.

The spiritual woodshed was intended to transform him, mold and shape the deceptiveness out of him through adversity.  In wrestling with him, Jesus was saying—without words—your brother, Esau, will not overcome or kill you.  You do not need to fear him, because I and the angel armies are with you.

Among the many lessons of Jacob/Israel wrestling with God are these:

  • God accepts us as we are, but loves us too much to leave us that way. He doesn’t overrule our will, but He will discipline us.  Until we are transformed by this discipline, often the things we most want are what elude us.
  • Nevertheless, He will persist with us, giving us enough lessons to bring us

around.

  • When we finally do surrender to Him, He then blesses us.  Jacob/Israel re-entered the Land with 11 sons and 1 daughter, lots of servants, huge numbers of sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys and camels—enough excess to offer reparations to Esau—or at least “to sweeten” their first meeting.
  • I tell the clients I work with at Honey Lake Clinic, “If you want God to heal you, you have to set aside your ideas of how you will be healed and let God be God.” That is true for all of us. Not my will but yours be done, Oh Lord!  When we are dealing with God, our proper attitude needs to be one of surrender; surrender, but hold on!

 

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

 

 

 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman · 1 Comment

The Original Sister Wives

Pastor Sherry’s Message for July 26, 2020

Scripture: Gen 29:15-28

Have any of you watched the reality TV series, “Sister Wives?’’  I’ve not watched it nor am I recommending it.  It apparently follows the lives of Kody Brown, his 4 wives, and their combined 18 children.  They call themselves practitioners of “Plural Marriage,” better known to the rest of us as “Polygamy.”  They claim they decided to film the show to explain their beliefs and to benefit their children—and to make some money!  Some say it has demonstrated the friendship bonds of the wives; while others contend it exposes the jealousies and hurts one would expect in such an arrangement.  It seems the first wife has infertility issues, and has had only one child.  Wives #2 and #3 have had 6 children each.  Wife #4 has three kids from a previous marriage and two now with Kody.  Their unusual lifestyle makes me wonder if they are aware of today’s Old Testament lesson.

Genesis 29:15-28 was written about 4,000 years ago and concerns the patriarch, Jacob.  In Genesis 25, you may remember that he talks his brother Esau into trading his birthright (the rights of his inheritance as the first born) for a pot of stew.  This exposes Esau as impulsive, a man ruled by his fleshly appetites.  It reveals that Esau had no regard for the Covenant Promises God had made with his Grandfather, Abraham or with his Father, Isaac.  Esau is contemptuous of his spiritual inheritance.  He is a non-believer, a man of little faith in God.  And it demonstrates that the quiet homeboy, Jacob, was capable of setting an effective trap for his brother, the hunter.  Perhaps Jacob was smarter that Esau?  By Genesis 27, Jacob poses as his brother and deceives their now blind father, Isaac, into giving him his blessing as well.  Their mother, Rebekah, collaborates in this deception.  They demonstrate no respect for Isaac and no love for Esau.  They also display no faith in God to provide a way to work out His own prophesy.  Jacob gets his father’s blessing, but also his brother’s enmity.  He has to flee the Land for his life (remember, Esau is an excellent hunter).  His mother, it will turn out, will never see Jacob again.

Now, in Chapter 29, we find Jacob outside “the Land,” seeking a wife from among his Uncle Laben’s (Mother Rebekah’s brother) people.  Jacob doesn’t yet know it, but he has entered God’s spiritual woodshed, and is about to be severely disciplined.  He sees the beautiful Rachel at the well.  Like his mother Rebekah, she was providing water for the flocks.  Jacob sees her and it is love at first sight!  Uncle Laben invites him into the extended family and offers to pay his for his work.   Jacob offers to work for 7 years in exchange for a marriage to Rachel.  Laben has many flocks of sheep, goats and cattle.  He also has two daughters:  Leah, the elder one, whose name means “COW,” and Rachel, the younger, whose name means “EWE.”  Leah was said to have weak eyes.  Her eyes may have been lovely and blue, but it appears she was otherwise unattractive.  Rachel, on the other hand, was lovely in form and beautiful.  Simply put, she was a knock-out!

Maybe Laben thought that someone else would offer for Leah in the meantime, but he makes the deal and Jacob works off his 7 year commitment.  In fact, Scripture tells us (v.20), So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.  (Jacob had fallen hard!)

The time for the marriage ceremony arrives and Jacob says, Give me my wife.  My time is completed and I want to lie with her.  Yikes!  He’s pretty clear on what he wants, isn’t he?!  Some commentators say he should have been more specific:  He should have said, Give me Rachel.  No one had offered for Leah in the interim, so wily Label gowns and veils her and stuffs her into the marital tent under the cover of night.  We assume Jacob consummated the marriage, believing he had in his arms his heart’s desire, only to wake the next morning and discover Leah in Rachel’s place!

Let’s think for a moment about how each player in this drama may have felt:  Laben was no doubt happy to have gotten his less desirable, elder daughter off his hands.  But what about Leah?  Did she sense ahead of time how Jacob might have blamed her?  Did she love him?  Had she hoped he could come to love her?  Or was she mainly a pawn of her Father’s and ashamed of the duplicity?  What about Rachel?  This was to have been her wedding.  Was she disappointed?  Relieved?  Jealous?  Angry at her father?  We don’t now.  She may have perhaps been proud because Jacob immediately agreed to work another 7 years to gain her.  What of Jacob?  Was he disappointed?  Aggrieved?  Furious!  Did he feel resentful and bitter toward Laban?  Resentful and bitter toward Leah?  Determined to marry Rachel whatever it took?  Did he understand that God had allowed the trickster (him) to be tricked?  It is after all no accident that the elder preceded the younger.  It was also no accident that though he had stolen his brother’s birthright and blessing, he now had to work hard for 14 years to earn what he desired.

Ah, but the woodshed experienced didn’t end at the conclusion of 14 days and 2 marriage feasts:  No, we see the impact of unrequited love and a lack of appreciation.  Now we see the rivalry for Jacob’s love by the original “sister wives.”  (The reality TV series has nothing on this story!)  The Lord pities Leah because she is not loved. He blesses her with 4 sons:  (1) Reuben–the Lord sees affliction.  She says, (v.32) It is because the Lord has seen my misery.  Surely my husband will love me now. (2) Simeon–the Lord hears.  She explains (v.33), because the Lord heard that I am not loved, He gave me this one too.   (3) Levi (the priestly tribe)–hope for attachment.  Believing Jacob must surely come to love her now, she exclaims (v.34) Now at last my husband will become attached to me because I have borne him three sons.  (4) Judah (the royal tribe)–Praise for the Lord!  She then declared, (v.35) This time I will praise the Lord.  It appears that 4 sons later, she has given up on Jacob to affirm her worth and has learned to trust the Lord more.  She has become the truly more faith-filled wife.

Meanwhile, Rachel, the favored wife, is barren and envious of her sister.  She blames Jacob, but he seems to have no problem impregnating her sister.  So, like Grandmother Sarah, she gives her servant, Bilhah, to Jacob as a surrogate mother and 3rd wife.  Bilhah proceeds to bear two sons:  (5) Dan–God has vindicated.  Rachel celebrates his birth by saying (30:6), God has vindicated me.  He has listened to my pleas and given me a son.  (6) Naphtali–a mighty struggle.  Rachel exclaims, (v.8) I have had a great struggle with my sister and I have won.  Leah appears to have perked up at this time, and re-enters the contest:  She offers her servant woman, Zilpah, as surrogate wife #4 to Jacob—just as in the reality TV program.  Zilpah bears two sons:  (7) Gad–good fortune.  Leah says (v.11), what a good fortune!  (8) Asher–happy one.  Again, Leah is delighted and says (v.13), How happy I am!  The women will call me happy! 

It’s the top of the 9th inning, and the score is Leah 4 sons +2 surrogates vs. Rachel’s 2 surrogates.  Leah proceeds to bear two more sons and a daughter, Dinah:  (9) Issachar–God has given me my reward; (10) Zebulon–God has endowed me with a good dowry.  Having borne him 6 + 2 sons, Leah sadly asserts (v.20), This time my husband will treat me with honor because I have borne him 6 sons.  By this point, God has taken pity on Rachel and opened her womb.  She already has the two surrogate sons from Bilhah, but now actually bears (11) Joseph (his father’s favorite and the Old Testament character who most closely represents Jesus).  His name means, May He add/increase.  Rachel has just given birth and she is already looking forward to another son!  She declares (v.24), God has taken away my disgrace.  May the Lord add to me another son.   He does allow her to conceive (12) Benjamin, but dies just after giving him birth.  Jacob names him Son of my right hand.

Move ahead 20 years later, Jacob returns to “the Land,” with large flocks and 12 sons, but what has he learned (and what have we learned)?

  • He has learned that God will not allow His people to secure His blessing through deceptive and manipulative means. What goes around comes around, or as Scripture puts it, we reap what we sow.  If we treat others with deceit, someone will eventually deceive us.  If we abandon others, we will in turn be abandoned.  If we betray someone, we too will eventually be betrayed.  I have seen it happen again and again.
  • God’s plan for marriage is one man and one woman because “Plural Marriage” doesn’t work (See Leviticus 18:18). It leads to heartbreak. There is a real danger in thwarting human affection.  Isaac’s and Rebekah’s favoritism; Jacob and Esau’s lack of love for each other; the sister wives’ jealous competition with each other; the enmity and jealousy between the sons of Leah and the sons of Rachel each result from unloving behavior and attitudes toward one another.  This plural arrangement leads to jealous, unholy competition, and family discord.  Jacob’ family is a train wreck!  TCL or reality TV can spin it any way they want, but you will not convince me that Polygamy or “Plural Marriage” works.  Truthfully, marriage is difficult enough with only one partner!   Jacob’s family saga demonstrates that God’s plan is the best plan!
  • Finally, the real message of grace here, though, is that God has mercy on the unloved wife and blesses her. He also eventually blesses the favored, but dishonored, beloved wife.  Lastly, He redeems their duel by using the 12 sons to create the 12 tribes of Israel.  Praise God we truly do serve a God who can and does redeem our messes.

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Jacob’s Ladder

Pastor Sherry’s Message for July 19, 2020

Scriptures: Gen 28:10-19a; Ps 139:1-12, 23-24; Ro 8:12-25; Matt 13:24-30, 36-43

 Some years ago, I read a story in Christianity Today about a woman in India, who lived in a concrete sewer pipe with her husband and two kids.

Her name is Shivamma.  She was a member of the Dalit caste, the lowest of the low, pretty much untouchable—except for rape.  She remembers she was barren.  A Dalit Christian named Bangarraju prayed for her in her home and she conceived and bore two children, a son and a daughter.  The girl child became badly jaundiced.  Bangarraju returned, prayed, and the child was healed.  Shivamma became a Christian.  She says she accepted Christ  because, I realized that Jesus is the living God.  We used to drink and everyday we would fight, fight, fight.  Jesus Christ brought peace to our family.  I have no fear, because I have come to know the living God.  I trust Him.  God met her in her need, and she now trusts Him.

 In another story, there was a debate between a Christian and an Atheist.  The Atheist began his presentation by writing on a whiteboard, God is nowhere.  When the Christian speaker stood up to make his arguments, he erased nowhere and used the same letters to write, God is now here.

Let’s look at what our Scriptures have to say today about the twin themes of God’s presence and God’s knowledge of us.  In our OT lessonàGenesis 18:11-22, we encounter the patriarch, Jacob.

He is the younger of the twin boys born to Isaac and Rebekah.  He was named Jacob (which means heel grabber because he was born grasping his older twin’s heel; but it also carries the sense of deceiver, schemer.  God had told his mother, when pregnant, that the older will serve the younger.  In other words, God was reversing the usual order of things.

Even from the womb, God had determined that Jacob would be the one to carry out His plan of redemption from Abraham and Isaac.

Nevertheless, Isaac favors Esau, so Rebekah and Jacob collude to rob Esau of both his birthright and his father’s blessing.  Esau is furious when he discovers this, so Rebekah invents the pretext of needing to go abroad to find a suitable wife to help Jacob escape his brother’s wrath.  Jacob leaves the family compound.  Notice none of them bothers to check in with the Lord: Not Mama Rebekah; Not brother Esau; Not Papa Isaac; Not even the culprit, Jacob.  This does not appear to be a family of very firm faith!

Our passage today finds Jacob has put 40 miles between himself & Esau by the time he stops for the night.  He was “booking it” to get out of Canaan! How must he have felt? No doubt he was anxiously looking over his shoulder for his murderous brother.  He must have felt alone.  Perhaps he was worried about the long, potentially dangerous journey ahead of him, uncertain of his future.  Can you identify?  Maybe you find yourself in a dark & lonely place right now; perhaps you too are filled with uncertainty.  Maybe, like Jacob, it’s even your fault that you find yourself “out there, on your own.”  Well, this story was made for you (and me), so read on!

Jacob falls asleep (not the sleep of the just) and dreams of a ladder or a set of stairs reaching to heaven.  The Lord is at the top (“the Voice from top of stairs”), and Jacob, realizes he is sleeping, at the bottom.  Angels are traversing the ladder, some going up, others coming down.  The Lord reiterates to Jacob the promises He has made to Grandfather Abraham and Father Isaac:  I am giving you Propertyàthe land; Progenyàlots of descendants to populate the land and to bless all people of the earth; PresenceàGod would be with him; and ProtectionàGod says  I am with you and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you…. Notice:  God does not require anything of Jacob.  There is no if…then clause.

God has chosen an unlikely patriarch.  Even though, as Psalm 139 affirms, God knows his every thought and scheme.  There is no place Jacob can go where God might lose track of him (or of us).  Not departing the Promised Land for Haran (Syria); not getting lost in NYC or the Amazon jungle; not even by participating in a Witness Protection Program, in Minot, ND, where our names and ID’s are changed; Not living in a sewer pipe outside some remote Indian village—these are just issues of geography.

Not even struggling alone with a job loss, the death of a loved one, declining health, financial setbacks, or troubled relationships. Our God knows where we are emotionally and spiritually, besides.  He is the with us God, Emmanuel.  He knows our names.  He is always present to us.

Now do you notice Jacob’s response to God?  He doubts.  He has chutzpah, vowing to follow the Lord if God goes with him; if God protects him; if God provides for him; and if God brings him safely back to the land again.  To his credit, He sets up a memorial stone (and names it Bethelàhouse of God) to commemorate his encounter with the pre-incarnate Christ.   And he promises a tithe, a 10th of all God gives him.  But the schemer is bargaining with God.

I don’t’ know about you, but I take a great deal of comfort from the Jacob story:  Jacob is not of man of strong or good character.  He’s a liar;a trickster.  He’s not even a strong believer.  God has promised him 4 P’s without strings, but he puts conditions on his commitment to God.  He’s not perfect, but still God loves him.  We could say God goes out of His way to comfort Jacob.

If we follow Jacob’s story thru the next 22 chapters of Genesis, we find that the Lord does take Jacob to His woodshed/the Refiner’s Fire:  The deceiver is himself deceived, by wily Uncle Laban. He spends 20 years outside the land, working off debt to his Uncle; building up a family (12 sons, 1 daughter); and acquiring herds and wealth with which to support them.  He flees his Uncle when he returns to the Promised Land.  He fears a hostile reunion with the brother he wronged. His favorite wife dies in childbirth. His only daughter is raped.  His sons cause him grief.  They jealously sell his favorite son into slavery and lead him to believe Joseph is dead.  And, upon entering the Land, he wrestles all night with the pre-incarnate Christ, Who leaves him crippled, but changes his name from Jacob to Israel—he who struggles with God & men, and overcomes.

It’s a heck of a journey, isn’t it?  Jacob’s story makes me glad I am not him!  But it also assures me (and you) that God never deserts us; that He loves us even if we are Scallywags; and that He cares for us, faithfully.

Do you know that scholars believe Jacob’s Ladder is really an image, a prediction of Jesus?  Jesus, you see, mediates between us and God.  Jesus is our only way—our ladder, if you will–to heaven.

So what are the lessons we can draw from Jacob?  (1) If we think God doesn’t know where we are, or what we are thinking, we are grossly mistaken!  (2) Our God appears to enjoy overturning human convention and Human expectations.  He can do great things with the least likely.  He’s not discouraged by our rebellion, sinfulness, or unbelief.  (3) He clearly sees us as we are—there’s no hiding from Him, or fooling him–as well as who He wants us to become.

 There is an ancient Hebrew poem that I think sums this up very well:

Wherever I go…only Thou!

Wherever I stand…only Thou!

Just Thou!  Thou, Thou,

Thou!  When things are good,

Thou!  When things are bad…

Thou!  Thou, Thou, Thou!

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Truth Stranger Than Fiction

Pastor Sherry’s message for July 5, 2020

Scriptures: Gen 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67; Ps 45:10-17; Ro 7:15-25a; Matt 11:16-19, 25-30

A nine year old boy was asked by his mother what he had learned that day in Sunday School. “Well mom,” he said, “our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely.  Then he radioed headquarters for reinforcements.  They sent bombers to blow up the bridge after the Israelites were saved.   Pharaoh’s chariot guys all drowned.

Mom asked, “Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?”

“Well no, Mom,” the boy declared in exasperation, “but if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!”

 

Today, we have another Old Testament story that defies logic, unless you believe in a God of miracles.  Remember Isaac, the miraculous “child of promise,” born to parents aged 100 and 90?  Last week, we examined how God demanded that Abraham sacrifice this child to Him, but also rescued Isaac at the last minute by providing a ram to take his place.

Isaac is one of the 4 patriarchs of our faith, but Scripture only gives us a very few glimpses of him.  Nevertheless, we can infer that he was a good son, because he was obedient to his father Abraham—even given the threat of death.  And today’s passage reveals him as a man of faith, praying to God as his bride arrives on a camel.

Let’s examine the story in more depth, as I believe it reveals some principles we can live by today.  Abraham is concerned that Isaac have a wife…(v.1) now Abraham was now old and well advanced in years….He calls his trusty servant (Eliezar?) and tells him to journey to NW Mesopotamia (Syria) to find a good woman from among his extended clan (the people he left behind to follow God).  He does not want Isaac to marry a pagan Canaanite woman.  Nor does he want Isaac to journey outside the Land.  The servant prays to Abraham’s God and suggests a fairly complex sign by which he might recognize God’s choice of a bride for Isaac:  (1) She will offer him water to drink; (2) She will even draw water for his 10 camels; And (3) She will offer traditional ancient middle eastern hospitality including water for the feet; food/refreshments; and overnight accommodations for him and his animals.

When he arrives at the appropriate village, the servant encounters a beautiful young woman who does exactly that.  She gives him water.  She draws water for his animals.  She invites him home to meet her family and to partake of their hospitality.  This woman is Rebekah, Abraham’s great-niece, the virgin granddaughter of his brother.

Now of all the towns the servant could have visited, what are the chances that he would run into Abraham’s kin?  What are the chances that they would still even be alive?  God has clearly superintended this journey.  The servant recognizes this and offers praise and thanksgiving to God: (v.26)–Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, ”Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master.  As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my masters’ relatives.”

This woman, Rebekah, is clearly God’s choice for Isaac.  The servant tells her the story of how he decided to approach her—he’d asked God for a sign.  She doesn’t seem to have difficulty believing him. And he gives her a ring and two gold bracelets, as proof of Abraham’s wealth.  Her brother, Laban, shows up, hears the story, and also invites the servant home.  Once again, the servant shares his instructions with everyone.  Probably Rebekah is somewhere, outside the tent, listening in as the story is retold.  Everyone seems to agree she is God’s choice of a bride for Isaac.  Additionally, the servant has also filled them in on Isaac’s miraculous birth and his divine rescue.  The family appears to be impressed with the costly gifts he has bestowed on the maiden, signifying that Abraham is indeed as wealthy she the servant has claimed.  The bride-price is agreed upon, but by the next morning the family appears to back off a bit.

In an intimation of things to come—Uncle Laban will later renege on his agreement with Jacob, Rebekah’s as yet unborn son–the family urges the servant to wait another 10 days before departing.  Maybe they want to drive the bride-price up a bit.  No doubt concerned for Abraham’s age and health, the servant urges an immediate departure, with no delay.  Interestingly, the family suggests that Rebekah be consulted.  From what she’s heard and experienced, the young woman is ready to go! Maybe she fears her wily brother will somehow interfere with her opportunity.  Whatever the case, she is prepared to go off with a servant she barely knows, to a country she’s never seen, to meet a husband she’s only heard of.  What a brave young woman and what an adventure!

What principles might this story hold for us today?  1st, we note the faithfulness of the servant.  He’s given his word to Abraham to do his best; but otherwise he has no stake in the outcome.  Nevertheless, he works hard to fulfill his word.  He prays for the Lord’s favor.  He diligently repeats his instructions from Abe.  He obviously does not want to mess up!

This servant also moves at the leading of God, rather than his own fleshly desires or his fears.  He is willing to carry out the task his master, Abraham has given him and he appeals to Abraham’s God for help.  This is the antidote to our sinful fleshly desires, as given expression by Paul in Romans 7:15-25a.  The antidote to our self-will is obedience—obedience to Christ, cooperating with the transforming power of His Holy Spirit.

The example of this unnamed servant is about 4,000 years old.  2,000 years later, Jesus will say, Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no.

We are to keep our word.  Like Eliezer, we are to say what we mean and mean what we say.  This is the kind of behavior that helps others to trust us.

Second, I am struck with the willingness of Rebekah.  She doesn’t know Abraham from Adam’s house cat.  She is looking at marrying a dude she’s only just heard of and never seen. She will be making her home far away from her family, probably never seeing them again.  What convinces her to take the risk of leaving everything she has ever known?  Perhaps it was hearing the servant relate the miraculous nature of Isaac’s birth. No doubt she also heard the story of his almost-sacrificial death, and been impressed with the fact that—while he could have overwhelmed his father’s strength, and taken himself off the altar–he instead chose to be obedient to and respectful of his father.  Maybe she rightfully understood that Isaac was special to God and wished to link her future to such an esteemed man.

And, if she were a woman of faith, she might have been able to see and understand how God had indeed chosen her to be Isaac’s mate.  After all, the servant had asked for a complex set of signs; and, without any prior knowledge of them, she had fulfilled each one.

I don’t know if you have ever experienced God providing you a sign, but I have.  My best buddy in seminary came from the Chicago area.  She was trying to verify if God was truly calling her to seminary.  She was walking the shores of Lake Michigan and asked God to affirm her call by proving a green rock among all the gray ones.  She was amazed and delighted to minutes later encounter a green rock—the only green rock–on the shore.  Not only that, the green rock was shaped like a triangle.  She understood this mean she was to attend Trinity out of the other 10 seminaries in our denomination.  Similarly, I asked God for direction as to which seminary He wanted me to attend.  I was living in Tallahassee, Florida, then.  Rarely does anyone in Tallahassee ever hear of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Trinity is located.  For weeks, my daughter and I were inundated with what we called our “Pittsburgh signs”:  PA license plates, bumper stickers for the Steelers or the Penguins; movies we rented that had been filmed in Pittsburgh or which featured the city; and magazine articles in doctor’s or dentist’s offices on some aspect of life in Pittsburgh. We laughingly told God we got it and He could stop the signs anytime. We were not too surprised when they dried up immediately!

Several years after arriving at seminary, my best buddy and I attended a healing conference.  We shared a motel room while there and I awoke one night to hear her crying.  She was in crisis, doubting her call, and worried she would graduate with a Masters of Divinity, but be unable to locate a Bishop willing to ordain her.  By this time I knew her well, was convinced she was called to ordained ministry, and—coming under conviction–told her she was not to look to the left or the right, or to listen to the opinions of people, but to keep her eyes on the Cross of Christ  She was to trust that the Lord had indeed called her. The next morning, while serving us communion, the lead pastor of the healing ocnference spoke directly to her and said, “You are not to look to the left or to the right, or to listen to the opinions of people, but to keep your eyes on the Cross of Christ.  You have been called into ministry and Jesus will see you through.”  She felt affirmed by this marvelous sign and so did I.  These experiences taught me that we can ask God for signs and He will and does respond.

Our Genesis lesson today has a happy ending.  It’s actually a love story!  Rebekah gets on her camel and rides to Israel and to Isaac.  The evening she arrives, Isaac is out praying.  He sees her and is intrigued.  She sees him, leaps off her camel (she’s impressively energetic, isn’t she?), and wraps herself in her veil, thus indicating she is a single woman.  The servant then relates the entire saga to Isaac.  Isaac obviously sees Rebekah as God’s answer to his prayers (& his father’s plans).  Verse 67 tells us, Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah [now dead], and he married Rebekah.  So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

In a number of ways, this story is stranger than fiction, but I believe the lessons are pretty clear:  (1) We want to be faithful to God; (2) We can ask Him for a sign; (3) We want to say yes to whatever He arranges for us; and (4) We can trust that there is a reward for our obedience.  Our God is good.  He desires our love and devotion to Him.  He takes good care of those who love and obey Him.  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!  Alleluia! Alleluia!

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

My Way or God’s?

Pastor Sherry’s Message for June 28, 2020

Scriptures: Gen. 22:1-14; Ps 13; Ro 6:12-23; Matt 10:40-42

It appears that this has become the my summer of sermons beginning with songs. For example, two weeks ago, I cited a great hymn about the Trinity. Then last week, I quoted the lyrics from the theme song to the TV show, “Friends.”  This week, I want to remind you of the old Frank Sinatra hit, “I did it my way.”  You may remember that the song is a retrospective view of a man’s life as he considers his mortality:

For what is a man, what has he got? 

If not himself, then he has naught.

                                    To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels.

                                    The record show I took the blows, and did it my way.

These are the words of someone who is totally self-possessed, totally self-reliant, and very proud!  These are the words of a person who has decided to live life on his own terms, without regard for God.  The song is from the 1970‘s—in fact, Sinatra quipped that it was our real national anthem in 1974.  Upon reflection, we realize it could easily still be so today.

If we let those lyrics sink in, we realize they celebrate a God-less perspective.  Last week, I talked about how Abraham faced a difficult choice:  Honor God (and his wife, Sarah) and run off Ishmael; or disobey God and keep his first born son close by (and ultimately threaten Isaac, the “child of promise.”  Abraham passed the test (and God took care of Ishmael).  This week, our Old Testament passage has Abraham face another test, his 4th.  YIKES!  In his 1st test, God told him to leave his home and family, in Ur, and go where the Lord would lead him. His 2nd test was Lot’s request that they divide the land to accommodate their growing herds, whereupon Abraham allowed the choicest land to go to Lot. The 3rd test was to set aside Ishmael to protect Isaac.  And now, almost beyond belief, is God’s demand that he sacrifice that same child.

Doing life his way must have looked pretty good to Abraham by this point.  He is now about 136 years old, and Isaac is either about 15 or some scholars believe he is as old as 30 (as Christ was when He began His public ministry). There will be no more children after Isaac from Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham is also probably aware that child-sacrifice is abhorrent to God.  Who knows what he was thinking as he and Isaac trudged toward their destination?  Nevertheless, amazingly, Abraham submits his will to God’s.

Would we be so faith-filled or so obedient, do you think?  This Old Testament lesson (Genesis 22:1-14) is again a rich fore-shadowing of Jesus:  God sends Abe and Isaac to the region of Moriah.

This is the same ridge as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (constructed much later).  It also appears to be the same ridge as Golgatha, the site of the Crucifixion. There is to be a sacrifice of an only, precious son.  It is a 3 day journey for them,  as would be Jesus’ journey from death to resurrection.

God, at the last minute, provides the sacrificial animal.  This is a male sheep, fully grown (a ram) because the Bible records only one “Lamb of God,” Jesus Christ!  This story vividly demonstrates Abraham’s faithàvv.7-8àIsaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”  “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.  “The fire and the wood are here,” Isaac said, “But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”  It also establishes the precedent for substitutionary atonement, wherein Jesus took our place as He paid the penalty for our sins.

The test was “Will you do what I ask even if it costs you. What is most precious to you?”  Remember last Sunday Jesus said (Matthew 19:37) we cannot love any person more than we love God?

Abraham is the Father of our faith because he—like Jesus later—did exactly what his heavenly Father asked of him.  It should be obvious that this was a gut-wrenching choice.  It should also be obvious that many of us would not have been willing to submit to God’s will in that situation. Many Biblical scholars hypothesize that Abraham believed God could resurrect Isaac–if it came to that—or somehow restore him.  Actually, he had implied to the two servants that he and his son would meet back up with them.  And he trusted that God would keep His promise to bring forth many nations from Abraham’s and Sarah’s bodies.

This is the best response to any test God may send us.  It is to trust in what you know about God’s nature, even if you don’t understand what He is doing or why.  Our best response is to trust in who God and in what He has promised us.

Our other passages today provide essentially the same message:

This is what David is saying in Psalm 13.  He is weary of being pursued by a murderous King Saul, so he turns to God in prayer, admitting he is afraid even to sleep.  But, by vv.5-6, he has reassured himself of God’s goodness and trustworthiness, and we get the sense that he relaxes.

Paul, in our Romans 6 lesson, reminds us that we all must choose whom we will serve.  He says we either serve ourselves—our sinful nature—or we serve God.  Additionally, if we choose to serve God, we cannot, by our own strength, successfully live a Christian life style.  We need to approach the task with faith like Abraham’s.  We need the assistance of the Holy Spirit at work in and empowering us.

Jesus, in Matthew 10:40-42, also commends the role of faith and obedience.  We participate in God’s work when we do even small acts of service to others.  Additionally, we are not to be overwhelmed by the size of the task.  Instead, we recognize in faith that God has called us to a given task; then we recognize in faith that God will enable us to do what He has called us to.  Finally, trusting in the Holy Spirit rather than in ourselves, we partner with Him to put forth our best effort.

Think today of the times and ways that God has tested you:

Perhaps you have given back an overpayment at the cash register.  Maybe you have held yourself back from taking from social services or the government what you know you don’t truthfully deserve. Possibly you are scrupulous abut providing a full day’s effort for a full day’s pay.  Or, perhaps

if a group of folks were looting the Dollar General Store up the road, rather than joining in with them—even if you thought the police wouldn’t arrest you—you gather friends to intervene and prevent further unlawful mayhem and destruction.  And we are all presented with the choice, aren’t we, to cheat on our taxes or our spouse?

There appear today to be many, many opportunities to do

the wrong thing.  But as followers of Jesus Christ we don’t go the way of the crowd.  We don’t even do it “my way” (according to our will, our flesh).  No, to please our loving Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ, we choose to do things God’s way.  This week (and always), let’s pray for the strength and courage to make choices, every day, that please our God.

©2020 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Faith: The Antidote to Fear

Pastor Sherry’s Message for March 29, 2020

Scripture Readings: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:5-11; John 11:1-45

         Wow!  The fears that are being expressed across our nation, during the current threat of the Chinese Coronavirus, are just about overwhelming, aren’t they?  If you watch the news for any length of time—or check into social media–you will find your heartbeat accelerating, your sense of dread rising, and your desire to begin to hoard supplies snowballing. Along with this is a growing tendency of many to lose hope.  I spoke this week with a relative who lives in Seattle.  This person does not appear open to believing in God, but trusts in science and in the government to keep her safe.  She feels that neither has done so; thus, as a result, she is very angry and very frightened.  But for those of us who trust in God’s love and His power (rather than exclusively in science or in the efforts of humankind), we realize that our God is the God of all hope—and, as a result, we do not need to lose heart or hope, even in these perilous times.

         Our Scripture lessons appointed for today all stress this truth:  We can believe that our God can do something about every situation about which we feel powerless.  Take a look at the Ezekiel passage.  (You may want to read it now.)  The prophet Ezekiel is foretelling the restoration of the nation of Israel.  At the time of his writing, the Israelites had been taken captive by the Babylonians and had been exiled away from the Promised Land.  God is saying through His mouthpiece that He intends to revive them spiritually and to bring them home.  In a sense, they are dry, desiccated bones lying about in a disconnected disarray.  But God has the prophet speak life into them, and miraculously they reassemble in stages, from scattered fragments, to cadavers (reunited bodies, but without life), to a restored and living army or assembly.  Notice, it is God who gives them life.  He works through commands He gives to the prophet to relay, but the work of reviving life is His.  Our God has the power over life.  Should we really worry about a virus taking us out?  No!  And even if it does, we have eternal life and will simply cross over into an existence so much better than what we experience now.

         As Paul relates in his letter to the Romans (chapter 5, verse 6), The mind of sinful man [and woman] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.  In other words,we are unable—without divine assistance—to overcome sin in our lives.  Or, as Peterson writes in his modern paraphrase, Those who think they can do it on their own [overcome sin by their own efforts] end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life.  Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God!  Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open into a spacious, free life.   Again, God can do in our lives—when we trust Him—immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us….(Ephesians 3:29).  So, we want to be smart.  We want to follow the recommendations that have come down to us from our President and our Governor about how to minimize our risk of infection now.  But, we do not want to lose heart!  We do not want to panic!  Those of us who know and love Jesus have… the peace of God which transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7).  This peace is not centered on what is going around in the world or in our country, but upon our relationship with the Rock, who is Christ Jesus.  He is our peace and He longs to give us His peace.

         Our psalm (130) encourages us to bring our fears to the One who can do something about them.  In verses 1-2, he says, Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; O Lord, hear my voice.  Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.  As you read or recite this, don’t you get the sense that the writer knows that our Lord hears his cry?  It is true that He knows and hears our pleas for safety and health in this current crisis.  We can convey those to Him with faith.  Like us, the Psalmist recognizes he is a sinner who has been forgiven through God’s grace.  He trusts that God hears, attends, and will answer and protect him.  In verses 5-6, he describes waiting on the Lord’s answer, not in an anxious, worried way, but with hopeful expectation.  I believe we can similarly await effective treatments for this dangerous virus, and may already have found several.  We can pray for a hedge of God’s protection around our healthcare workers as they contend with ameliorating symptoms and attempting to save lives.  Like Israel, we are to put our hope in the Lord (v.7),…for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption….

         Finally, our Gospel lesson gives us an example of a person (one of three mentioned in the New Testament: Jairus’ 12 year old daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and now Lazarus, Jesus’ friend) who had died and was raised from the dead by Jesus.  A number of Christian scholars point out that these folks were not truly “resurrected” because when that happens the body is actually transformed or transfigured into something immortal in preparation for entering into eternity.  These three—and there may have been more not cited in the Gospels—were brought back to life, in this world, in their normal, everyday, mortal bodies.  And, sadly for them, they faced death again, at a later time, because those bodies came with expiration dates.  In verse 4, Jesus tells His disciples regarding Lazarus’ demise, This sickness will not end in death.  No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.  In other words, the Father meant for Jesus to demonstrate to the large group of Jerusalem Jews grieving with Mary and Martha that Jesus had the same power over life and death that the Father has.  What this strongly suggests to us is that nothing—not even the Chinese Coronavirus—comes into our lives without God’s permission; and, if God permits it, it is somehow going to be for His glory.  I believe God is already at work, inspiring talented doctors and scientists to develop treatment protocols and medications to control and defeat Covid-19.  Further I believe that when this is said and done, we will be able to look back and see God’s hand at work in ways we might not have anticipated.  Already, commentators are projecting that the pandemic will permanently alter the way we deliver college education; bring back “supply chains” of important resources to America from abroad; and draw families into closer, face-to-face communication.   With so many manufacturing concerns voluntarily retooling from their usual products to those required by hospitals and clinics now, there may be a resurgence of American patriotism and a renewed sense of togetherness despite our differences.  No one wants anyone to die, but I do believe there will be God-ordained benefits to be derived from this that will serve the greater good.

Jesus tells Martha (verses 25-26), I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die…. If we have Jesus, we have life! The great author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, learned this firsthand and it permanently changed his life. As an educated young man from a wealthy family, he flirted with communist and revolutionary thought in czarist Russia. Czar Nicholas 1st learned of his leanings and had him arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by a firing squad. Dostoevsky was blind-folded, dressed in burial clothes, bound, and led into a public square where he was tied to a post. The young writer next heard the rifles being cocked. The order was given, “Ready, aim,” but just at that moment—when the command “fire” was expected–a message arrived from the czar to commute the death penalty to 4 years of hard labor. Dostoevsky later wrote that he never totally recovered from this experience. On the train to prison in Siberia, an unnamed Christian gave him a copy of the New Testament, which he devoured. He then turned his life over to Christ. Despite witnessing great evil among some of his cellmates, he developed the belief that humans are only capable of loving if they believe they are loved. His greatest works are all novels which treat the issues of sin and repentance, grace, and forgiveness. In other words, coming so close to death radically altered his sense of what is important in life. How would you change your thinking or your life style if you knew you only had a moment or days to live? Dostoevsky has left us a record of how he changed. Wouldn’t you love to know how Lazarus was impacted by a second chance at life?

         Our God intends for us to live each day as persons who do not fear death or viruses.  We are to live as persons who know that God’s love is more important and more powerful that anything this world can throw at us.  Our faith in God is our antidote to fear.  Can we try to live this week and beyond—despite news reports and what others may say or write—as if we truly believe this?  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Copyright Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 2020

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Fear Not!

Pastor Sherry’s Message 

Scripture Readings: Sam.16:1-13; Ps 23; John 9:1-41

One of my heroes of the faith is a man named Charles Simeon (1758-1836).  He was an Englishman who was about 18 at the time of our Revolutionary War.  An Evangelical, Bible-believing, Anglican pastor and college professor, he had graduated from Eton & from Cambridge University.  Having had an encounter with Christ through his own Scripture readings on Easter Sunday, Charles had converted to Christianity at age 19.  He was definitely a unique person as there were apparently no other Christians at the University for the next 3 years.

Two years after graduating from Cambridge, in 1782, he was appointed by his Bishop to be the lead pastor at Holy Trinity Church–the most prominent church in Cambridge at the time.  Though typically Bishops then appointed clergy rather than their being “called” by individual congregations, Charles was a young man (24) for such an important position. As it turned out, many parishioners there didn’t want him because he believed in Jesus and he preached the Scriptures.  It was the era of the Enlightenment, when many intellectuals in England—and in this university city–had abandoned their faith in God in favor of trusting only in science.  They preferred an associate pastor, a Mr. Hammond, a guy who preached more to their liking.  So unable to get the Bishop to agree with their choice, they began a campaign to run Simeon off. For 12 years,

  1. They locked their pew doors so that anyone who came to services had to

stand in the aisles.

  1. They refused to let Simeon preach the Sunday afternoon service for 10

years.

  1. They slandered
  2. In addition, Cambridge students
  3. Derided his belief in the truth claims of the Bible;
  4. Ostracized the students he did convert;
  5. Disrupted services inside & created noisy demonstrations in thestreets to keep worshippers away;
  6. And threw tomatoes at Simeon as he entered the church yard.
  7. Cambridge University named him Dean for 9 years, even though his peers snubbed/avoided him because he was a follower of Jesus Christ.

What is truly astonishing to me about him is that he remained in that parish for 54 years (ages 24-77)!  He did not appear to be afraid of what they might do to him to drive him off; instead he simply out-persisted his antagonists!  Over the years he was there, he turned many hearts to Jesus through his patient endurance & faithful Gospel preaching (his sermons have been preserved in 21 volumes).  Though they had begun his tenure by hating and reviling him, by the time he died, the entire parish & University turned out for his funeral.  He had become beloved by town, gown, and parish.  He had served as a model of humility and perseverance. What sustained him through the first 12 years of energetic resistance? He never married, so it wasn’t a reassuring, supportive spouse.  So Who or What helped him to patiently persist all those lonely years?  The same Jesus, and the same Holy Spirit, who sustain, protect, and encourage each of us.

Right now, we are in voluntary quarantine due to the Chinese Corona Virus.  Let’s examine what the Scripture lessons appointed for today have to tell us about facing such threats without fear.

  • In our Old Testament lesson, Samuel anoints David King of Israel in about 1025BC. Now Israel had a king already, King Saul; but because he did not have a healthy respect for or a reverence for God, God had rejected him as the leader of His people.  So God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint someone else to take Saul’s place.  Afraid of Saul’s anger and vengeance, Samuel journeys to Bethlehem under a religious pretext.  Notice, the prophet doesn’t know God’s choice; he has to have Jesse parade 7 of his eight handsome sons before him (David was the baby of 10 kids, including 2 daughters).  The 7 older sons are tall and handsome, but God rejects them all.  The Lord tells His prophet, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.  It’s only when David is sent for, that God says, “Yes, this is my choice.”

Why is David God’s choice as King?  We tend to judge people by their looks, how much money they have, and/or their influence or status.  But God is mainly concerned with heart attitudes.  It’s due to David’s heart (his character) that God chooses him.  Later, he proves he is…

a.) courageous by killing Goliath, the giant, with just a slingshot;

b.) humble by assisting/serving the very man he is to replace;

c.) not vengeful because he refrains from killing Saul, even when Saul is

determined to kill him;

  • and commited to God, even though it takes another 15 years before

he actually begins his reign as king.

Please be aware that the prophet Samuel was very worried about going to Bethlehem.  Like us, facing this Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, he had the backing, the fortification, the defense of God’s presence with him.  We do not need to be afraid!  We do not need to panic, even if the culture around us seems to be freaking out.  We know Jesus, so we can know (and feel) peace.

  • In the 23rd Psalm, we learn that King David trusted God to lead, guide, & provide for him. Verse 4 relates to the issue of fear:  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You [God] are with me.  David had experienced God’s protection over and over again, and so have we.  I wonder if,  when we get to heaven, we will learn of the many threats against us–brought about by the Evil One–from which God will have rescued us?  To God be the glory, great things He has done!

 

Additionally, like Charles Simeon 2800 years later, King David spent 15 years in the school of hard knocks.  If you look at the lives of many Biblical Greats, we see the same pattern:

  • Abraham & Sarah anxiously wait 25 yrs. for the birth of Isaac;
  • Moses shepherds 40 yrs. before leading God’s people out of Egypt, then wanders about with them for another 40;
  • Joseph endures 7 yrs. as a slave & another 7 in prison before God raises him to second in command after Pharaoh.

The question is:  Why does God allow this sort of thing to happen to those who put their trust in Him?  We were given the answer in last week’s Epistle reading from Peterson’s The Message:  (Ro 5:3-5):  We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with  troubles [suffering], because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us [patient endurance], & how patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue [character], keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.  In alert expectancy [hope] such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged.  Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives thru the Holy Spirit!  In other words, God allows us to undergo suffering [like the Chinese CoronaVirus and its attendant quarantine] because our patient endurance of it molds and shapes our character.  Unless we get really angry with God, it makes us more dependent on Him.  We become acquainted with the Holy Spirit and we learn to listen to His voice for guidance.  As a result, our faith deepens.  Charles Simeon admitted he had a terrible temper and a sharp tongue prior to his 12 year struggle with the resistance at Holy Trinity Church.

 

3.)Our Gospel lesson relates the story of the man born blind.  What might his testimony have to tell us about facing fear?  For one thing, he’s cheeky, gutsy, and grateful.  Prior to meeting Jesus, he is an adult who has had to beg for his living.  Imagine never, ever having seen colors or dimensions; or not being able to observe the behavior of people or their facial expressions.  What about missing out on perceiving your mother or your father’s faces?  He encounters Christ and receives sight, for the first time ever. Wow!  What joy!  Though he might now have some concerns about how to make a living, on the whole, this is something to be thrilled about!

However, look at the response of the others around him:  Some of his neighbors doubt his identity and his healing.  The Pharisees grill him.  Like police with a suspect under a naked light bulb, they demand to know, “Who healed you?”  “Why was the One who healed you working on the Sabbath?”  In other words, they are trying to discern, “Is Jesus a good guy or a sinner?”  They don’t believe the man’s own account, so they call his parents.  Now, these parents are shrewd.  They know the attitude of Pharisees toward Jesus, and they’ve heard that the Pharisees are throwing Christ-followers out of the synagogue,.  So they refuse to commit themselves and send the issue back to their son:  “Hey, don’t ask us!  He’s a grown up!  Ask him!”  The Pharisees call the man back again, and want him to renounce Christ.  He won’t do it! [Good for him!]  Essentially he says, “This is my story and I’m sticking to it…I’m sticking with Him too!  And then they do excommunicate him.

This man is very brave in the face of economic and social ruin.  Excommunication from the synagogue in those days meant you were a pariah.  You could not talk with practicing Jews; you would not be invited to their homes; you had no way to make a living nor to worship God.  Yet this guy braves it all.  His reward?  He gets to see and he gets to see Jesus!

Truthfully, how much do we have to fear from the Virus?   In Whom do we trust?

When we consider the examples of Charles Simeon, from history, & of King David and the man born blind from our Scriptures, we are encouraged to Take heart!  The spiritual temptation, when we go through hard times, is to cringe,  to withdraw, and to lose faith in God’s power or desire to act on our behalf.  These individuals each urge us to keep our faith and keep our heads!  We want to trust in our God and in His loving protection of us.  We want to remember that our God uses hard times—like what we are going through now–to improve & refine us:

  • He knocks off our prickly edges, and hammers out our imperfections;
  • He molds and shapes us into the image of Jesus;
  • He softens our hearts and helps us to love as He does.

So, as Moses writes (Deuteronlmy 1:29), let us remember, Do not be terrified, do not be afraid [of the virus].  The Lord will fight for you!  Let’s remember to keep the faith and not surrender to fear.  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Copyright 3/22/20201 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams