Category: Different Scriptures

Posted in Different Scriptures, Uncategorized

intro to a covenant reminder…

Posted on by Wick

(My sermon this past week began with this story, leading to God reaffirming his covenant with Abraham.)

“He was 99 years old. He’d had a rough day, and needed a laugh. His son was turning 13, and becoming a man. Abram could hear people whispering at the celebration. There was talk of this being an illegitimate son. Every year at this time, the memories returned. Memories of his servant Hagar, and the shame of knowing what he’d done. How she’d gotten pregnant, and ran away. But mostly, the curious things she said when she came back.

An angel had said to her “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.” She made sure Abram had heard that much, and he felt odd.

For 25 years now, God had been speaking to him. Speaking about covenant. Saying that he will bless Abram, and make his family a great nation. That through his family, all the families of earth would be blessed. That his descendants would be given all that God had made, and be so numerous they could not be counted, as the stars are in the sky.

Sure, there was a warning about a period of time where his descendants would be aliens in a land not their own. They would be slaves, even, for 400 years. But God was to bring them out with great possessions, and return to the land as God promised.

Sometimes, after dinner, his eyes would meet Sarai’s. He’d been sharing with her what God had been saying. She would smile, saying a thousand words in a simple grin. Her gentle demeanor always made him smile. She was truly a wife worth a thousand rubies. Somehow, God had chosen him, and together, they shared this promise of God.

He hasn’t seen that grin in over 13 years. Sure, they were still married. But her eyes had changed. He wished things had happened differently. She was an amazing woman, raising this boy as her own. But surely, this wasn’t what God had in mind, was it?

Was this boy really the beginning of God’s promise? He hadn’t heard from the voice of the Lord since it was spoken in promise to his slave-girl, Ishmael’s mother. Over 13 years, and he still couldn’t forget the tears welling up in Sarai’s eyes when she heard from the slave-girl. Humbled by God’s promise to make the girl fruitful, while Sarai continued barren.

Like I said, he was 99, and was in need of a laugh. Little did he know what God had in store…”

To hear what happened next, check out Genesis chapter 17, verses 1-7 and 15-16!

Posted in Different Scriptures, Different Thoughts

order.

Posted on by Wick

I’ve confessed before, I’ve got a bit of OCD.  Just enough, that I enjoy an orderly room.  That’s probably not saying enough, though.  I cannot kick back and relax in a room, unless I’ve tidied it up a bit.  Sometimes that’s annoying or offensive to my wife, as she’ll think I’m doing it with grumbles…but usually I think of it as my way of contributing to the home.  I’m generally at work for many of the days hours, while she does just about everything and then some.  And there’s just something tasty about bringing order to chaos.

Over time, we’re hoping to teach that same appreciation to our daughters.  This can be seen as teaching them responsibility, or teaching them chores, or obedience.  But it can also be seen as connecting them with the heart of God.  Not to say that God is a bit OCD, although sometimes the clouds do line up just so.. 🙂

“In the beginning, God created…”  (Genesis 1:1)  Verse 2 goes on to say that the earth was “formless and void”.  The Hebrew word here is “Tohu wa-bohu”, which is hard to explain, other than saying a great confusing chaos of nothingness.  A churning, orderless place, before God begins to speak into it.  When He speaks, order is brought into chaos.  He continues to do this, as his human creations begin to live their own way, bringing their own bits of chaos once again.  He introduces the “Law”, and brings order to the ways of human existence.  We’ve been created “in His image”, and He is constantly at work to restore that image – not just for our sake, but for the sake of all creation!

It’s easy to think that Jesus is doing just the opposite.  That he was sent to turn everything upside down, bringing about a new kind of “holy chaos” to the ordered world.  But as we read the scriptures, we see that the ordered world that was existing, was not founded on any kind of order that God created.  God’s own people had begun to live by systems and orders that were very much centered on themselves.  Jesus wasn’t simply about “deconstructing” the world as it was known.  As we see in the beatitudes of Matthew chapter 5, Jesus is announcing a new order as he continues to declare himself as Lord.  The citizens of this new Kingdom will not make much sense according to the orders and systems of this world.  But they are learning the new order, and ways of living being offered to new creations who desire to live with Him forever in a renewed creation.

Not that I’m advocating saying to the kids, “Now Junior, do you think God is happy when you leave your dirty socks on the floor?”  This isn’t about learning a new path to manipulating their behaviors.  But it is about pointing out, as we guide our kids towards bringing order to chaos, we are connecting them with a deeply embedded connection to their Heavenly Father.  It exhibits self-control, which also just happens to be a part of the fruit of the Spirit.  May God be with us as we pick up dirty laundry, collect the dishes, and straighten up all the cups in the cupboard….err….you know what I mean. 🙂

Posted in Different Scriptures

dad?! Daddy? Dadda? Daaa-aaaddy!!??

Posted on by Wick

“And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” – Mark 2:4-5

Any parent is familiar with the common pleading:  “Mom. Mommy.  Momma.  Mooo-oom.  Moommmmmmyyyy?   Moooom!?  Dad?  Daddy?  Daaa-aad?  Daaaaaddaaaa?!  Dad!? (etc.)  Our kids consistently give us examples of what it looks like to be desperate for someone else to pay attention to us.  As they tug at our clothes, smack our legs, throw whatever they want at us, etc.

The men in this verse were not all desperate for the attention of Jesus.  They were desperate on behalf of their friend, who was a paralytic.  We don’t get the full story, but we can only imagine the sort of impact tearing a hole in someone’s roof might lead to.  It seems a bit extreme, to be sure…but it also speaks to the level of their desperation on behalf of their friend.

This is the sort of desperation I believe we are called to have on behalf of our children.

These men could’ve simply been good friends, by walking the roads that Jesus walked.  But going with the crowd, and following whenever they traveled some place new.  By being close enough to hear the words of Jesus as he spoke.  Carrying their friend through the paths being walked by all of his followers.  By getting in line with their friend, but at the end of the day saying “Well, we’re very sorry.  We waited and waited, but there were just too many people being healed today.”  Their friend would’ve looked up, after having his hopes dashed on the rocky shore of reality, as a few tears welled up in his eyes, responding “That’s okay. I’m blessed to have such great friends.  Thanks for bringing me here today.”

But his friends were not content to simply give him an experience of being near Jesus.  They wanted their friend to actually meet and experience transformation that could only come from Jesus!  In the same way, we as parents should not be content to have our children come near Jesus.  We can easily become a family “bus service”, taking our kids to and from church.  Dropping them off, each going our separate ways, and as we head to lunch we check that off of our “What Christians do each week” checklist.

We want more than this for our children.  We want our kids to actually meet and experience transformation that can only come from Jesus!  Someday, I want my children to look back on growing up and not just say “My parents were good Christian parents. They took me to church twice a week!”

I want my kids to be able to say, “Yes, we went to church and that was a blessing.  But my parents ripped holes through the roofs of what was expected in order to bring me right into the presence of Jesus himself, and my life is forever changed by those moments!!!”

Of course, that may make the roof-owners upset.  I think we’d be okay with that…