June 24th, 2007

Difficult Bible Passages, "God loved Jacob but hated Esau" Malachi 1:1-3

Intro: Evan Almighty….(I'd like you all to refer to me as Evan Almighty..)

Today's story is really about God Almighty choosing to bless who he wants to bless.

Text: Malachi 1:1-3

Introduction to Malachi:

When Malachi wrote this book, about 100 years had passed since the return of the Jews to Palestine. There was a period of revival under Nehemiah, however the people and priests had backslidden and become mechanical in the worship.

The people had become lax in their worship and behind in their tithing. Yet, they couldn't understanding how God was dissatisfied with them.

Along comes Malachi to rebuke the people for their neglect in worship and calls them to repentance.

Throughout his book he uses a question/answer method with no fewer than 29 questions in 4 short chapters. This is a dialogue between God and Israel.

Malachi's words start out reminding the people that God loves them. The people are somewhat dumbfounded (maybe because they knew they were disappointing God) and ask: "How have you loved us?" v. 2

This sets up the basis for the contrast that Malachi draws between Jacob and Esau, two brothers who represented two different ways that God works. (Brief review of their story…Gen. 25-27) What seems like deception was actually part of God's bigger plan.

Look back to Gen. 25:19-23. In his sovereignty God chose Jacob over Esau, a choice that was significant to God "hating" Esau.

Romans 9:10-18 Here Paul illustrates the doctrine of God's sovereignty and election. (A very important doctrine to understand) OMNISCIENCE

Here in Malachi, v. 3 describes the result of God's rejection of Esau. His territory, ancient Edom, became a wasteland inhabited by desert jackals.

Gen. 26:34, 27:41. The book of Obadiah is all about the doom, denunciation and destruction of Edom.

God's love for us is an elected love. "Hate" in the story of Jacob and Easu is really more about rejection from a chosen position. It is remarkable that God loved Jacob in view of the person Jacob was, and it is equally remarkable that God hated Esau, because in many ways he was a more likeable individual than his brother. It's almost more amazing the God loved Jacob despite his deception of his Father.

Even though Esau was the first born, God chose Jacob. God's choice for our lives, has nothing to do with "natural rights" or assumed privileges.

Here is something to think about: It could've been that Jacob (and Rebekah, who was behind Jacob's behavior) had faith in the fact that the birthright was intended for him despite cultural norms and his father's actions.

Rebekah and Jacob's "deception" could have been a sign of their faith in God's original plan (Gen. 25:23). Or they may have just been impatient and should've waited for God's blessing to Jacob to come on his own time and terms.

From Esau came the nation of Edom (cursed) and from Jacob came the nation of Israel (blessed).

So why does God love Israel and hate Edom?

We need to be careful comparing God's hatred to human hatred. God's "hatred" for Esau and Edom was not so much about disgust, disdain or seeking revenge. (Human tendencies.) At least not in this situation with Esau.

There are things that God hates: Prov. 6:16-19, hypocritical worship Is. 1:14, Amos 5:21

Hate can be a proper emotion for all that stands against God and his righteous standards.

When you truly love someone and see them hurt unjustly, you can easily experience burning anger against all that is wrong and evil.

In today's story of Jacob and Esau, "Love and Hate" have special meaning. A close parallel to God's emotions expressed for Jacob and Esau is the story of Jacob's response to his wives. Genesis 29:30-33.

In this situation, the "hated" one is the one loved less.

We see the same terminology used in the NT in Matt. 6:24, 10:37, and Luke 14:26

God does not experience psychological hatred with all its negative and sinful connotations. What God is really doing in this text is affirming that Jacob had a distinctive call. Jacob was blessed for that call as would be all the nations of the world eventually.

The blessing of Jacob led to a ranking or preference in order to carry out God's greater plan. This also ushered in the very grace that Esau would later need.

Again, it's more about God deciding to prefer one person for a certain blessed task than it is about his love and hate. This blessing was bestowed apart from anything Jacob and Esau were or did.

And it's the same thing with us today. God is in charge. Romans 9:18

God's choice of Jacob took place before he was born (Gen. 25:23, Rom. 9:11-13)

So it is unfair to interpret these verses as evidence of favoritism or of partiality on the part of God. Instead, these verses express a different set of realities than what our English words generally signify.

Often in Scripture to love someone means to choose to bless that person. Not to love someone means not to bless him or her.

Matthew Henry

"All advantages, either as to outward circumstances, or spiritual privileges, come from the free love of God, who makes one to differ from another. All the evils sinners feel and fear, are the just recompence of their crimes, while all their hopes and comforts are from the unmerited mercy of the Lord. He chose his people that they might be holy. If we love him, it is because he has first loved us; yet we all are prone to undervalue the mercies of God, and to excuse our own offences."

God's regard for individuals does not depend ultimately on their behavior or character. It rests on His sovereign choice to bless some more than others (Rom. 9:13).

To some, this is a problem involving His justice since it seems unfair that God would bless some more than others. However, since God is sovereign, He can do whatever He chooses to do.

Conclusion:

"The point of these verses was to get the Jews of the restoration community, who were thinking that God had abandoned them and forgotten His promises to them, to think again. Even though they seemed to be experiencing the same fate as their ancient enemy, the Edomites, God would restore them because He had entered into covenant relationship with them. He would keep His promises, both to the Israelites and to the Edomites, for better and for worse respectively. This reminder of the Lord's love provided positive motivation for Malachi to encourage the people to return to the Lord. It should have the same effect on all God's people who read these verses."

Gen. 33:4, 10-11 the reconciliation of Esau and Jacob!

June 17th, 2007

Difficult Bible passages "God's fierce anger" 2 Kings 21-23

Intro …"Fun with puns" Sometimes we look at difficult Bible passages the same way, this can't really be true can it?

Does God really get angry enough to wreak havoc on humankind? Jerry Falwell…

Text: 2 Kings 21:10-15

Let's take a look (first of all) at the books of 1 & 2 Kings…

Originally they were one book. These books trace the history of the kings of Israel and Judah from Solomon to the Babylonian captivity.

(After the time of King Solomon (David's son) the nation of Israel split into 2 kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. The word "Jew" is simply a shortened version of "Judah" The first mention of the word "Jew" in the Bible is found in II Kings 16:6)

These two books not only record the history of the kings, but show that the success of any king or leader (and of a nation as a whole) depends on his allegiance to God's law. Failure to do that resulted in decline or captivity.

2 Kings traces the decline and captivity of both Israel and Judah. Israel endured a succession of evil kings during a 130 year period! It's kind of a back and forth with the kings…however most of them did evil in the eyes of God.

In chapter 21 we read about the reign of King Manasseh, 21:1-3, 6, 8-9.

Now we see God's righteous anger flare up…and righty so….21:10-15

For 50 years Manasseh duplicated the depravity of the Canaanites. He murdered so many righteous men that there were not enough left to defend Jerusalem when the need arose (21:10-15). Worst of all, the people tolerated it!

We know from Hebrews 11:37 that he ordered Isaiah sawed in two. All this led to the unavoidable rejection by God.

Even with his conversion later in life, it was too late to reverse what had happened among the people of the nation as well as his own household.

His son follows right in his fathers footsteps, 21:19-22

He was assassinated by his own people and they put his son Josiah in charge to be the next King.

Mercifully God prepared Josiah, (Amon's son) to get Israel's house back in order with God. 22:1-2,

They found the book of the Law, 22: 8, 11-13, 15-20

Josiah reformed the nation, 23:1-4, (highlighted verses) through 24

He deserved credit for ushering in one of the most intensive periods of reformation and revival known in Judah's history.

However, even with finding the book of the Law and now following it, it seems this revival never really deeply penetrated and affected the culture.

Manasseh was so evil that the effects were multi-generational.

And then we come across our main passage for today, 23:26-27.

Amazingly , Josiah's reformation and revival was not sufficient to offset the evil done by Manasseh and temper God's anger.

Josiah was a great godly leader, but the people themselves did not turn back to God. They followed Josiah out of fear without a change of heart.

The early chapters of Jeremiah reflect the conditions under King Josiah (Jeremiah 1:1-3, 13-16, 2:4-6).

This describes the condition of the human heart accurately.

Really the bigger picture in today's story is : "What is the balance God's love and mercy with his wrath and righteousness?"

Today's story is a sobering reminder of how at times God will no longer forgive and extend mercy. God was (rightly so) obligated to bring the judgment foretold to Manasseh in 2 Kings 21:12-15.

Yes, God is patient and long-suffering in his mercy. Yet his judgment will and must eventually come, even though someone may arrive on the scene and call people to repentance. (Josiah)

God's wrath does burn against unrepentant sinners Ps. 38:1-3, Jer.1 0:24

If God always extended his mercy, we would (and do) abuse that mercy. Romans 6:1-2

Our minds want to compartmentalize things. We tend to emphasize one side, rather than the full package Reality though is not that way. Consider these contradictions we agree with:

God is one (person) God is three (community)

God is transcendent (outside us) God is immanent (in us)

Eternity (God's view) Time (Human's view)

Predestination Freewill

Christ is God (supernatural) Christ is man (natural)

Christ Crucified (surrendering) Christ resurrected (conquering)

Soul Body

God is obvious God is hidden

Faith (truth by authority) Reason (truth by deduction)

Heart (will) Head (intellect)

Witnessing by words Witnessing by actions

Water acts as a solid, gas and a liquid; while always retaining its nature (H 2 0).

Your body's cells are not half from each parent, but all from both.

True marriage (as God intends) is not 50%-50%, but 100%-100%.

A man can be both a father and a Cop; a woman both mother and lawyer.

It's often asked "Can a God of love include wrath?" Yes. God's wrath is the way God's love is experienced when we don't want it! Imagine a horseshoe magnet with one end labeled 'joy' and the other 'wrath.' The message: God uses the pair to draw us to himself.  Both ends connect.

Bible verses:

Matt. 22:14 "Many are called, but few are chosen." [freewill/predestination]

John 15:19. 17:15, "Be in the world, but not of the world." [being/doing]

Matt. 10:16 "Act innocent as doves, yet shrewd as snakes." [subjective/objective]

Matt. 22:21 "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, render to God what is God's." [character/Author]

Our Part. If we're driving our car off the road, God will let us drift until we experience the road shoulder at which point we'll either self-correct or suffer!

Others' Part . Close Christian fellowship will help identify our blind spots.

God's Part. The Holy Spirit will lead us via prayer.

There's no subsitiute for these. The reason is because life's purpose is not to have a perfect map and then drive it; rather, it's to enjoy the journey with the Map-maker.

It's called a healthy respect for God's total and complete character.

In understanding God's character, we need to be able to escape our linear, compartmentalized world view. This is only possible through…. GOSPEL

Conclusion:

Today is Fathers Day. There should be the same healthy balance in a good Father, right? A good Father loves his children and gives them grace when they mess up, yet he also sets the rules and disciplines his children. Kids need both!

And from today's Bible story, (Manasseh, Amon and Josiah) what a lesson for us men today on Father's Day…Men, are we living out a godly example for our children? Will they carry on the name of God?

2 Chron. 33:12-20 Manasseh actually humbles himself and comes back to God.

June 10th, 2007

Difficult Bible passages Exodus 21

Intro…The surfer who died in La Jolla…One family wants payback, the other mercy of on the four men who killed him. How does the "eye for and eye" passage work today in a situation like this?

Text: Exodus 21: 1, 12, 16, 17, 22-25.

So, what is the foundational truth to be applied here?

Let's take a look at Exodus as a book:

Exodus, along with the first five books of the Bible is known as the Torah or " teaching ," " instruction ," or " law ". (IOW, laws that God laid out for his people to follow.)

Exodus is mainly about the Israelites escape from Egypt and subsequent 40 years of wondering in the desert. (These wondering, complaining Israelites needed God's guidance.)

The book records the birth of the nation Israel, the giving of the Law and the origin of worship.

Leading up to chapter 21, we read about the escape from Egypt, direction by a cloud and fire, the red sea parting, destruction of the Egyptians, everyone complaining and in chapter 18 the division of responsibility , Read Exodus 18:15-26

The Law is given in chapter 19-20, direct from God in the form of the ten commandments.

Chapter 21-22 starts to get into more specific laws, towards servants, personal injury, theft, property damage, dishonesty, immorality, civil and religious obligations, feasts etc.

Chapter 21: 23-25 in particular is known as "Lex talionis" the law of the tooth, or law of retaliation. It is also found in Lev. 24:19-20 and Deut. 19:21.

Since this law was originally written for the Israelites, the question is, "Were the Israelites allowed to practice personal vendettas and to retaliate every time they were personally wronged?" It's the whole idea of taking the law into your own hands…

These laws were never written or intended to allow individuals to avenge their own injuries. This section of scripture was written to the judges set up by Moses (18:22).

These laws functioned as precedents for the civil and criminal magistrates in settling disputes and administering justice. They were not to be applied in a wooden or literalistic way. The Bible is not advocating human mutilation .

Look at the very next set of verses, 26-27…

It was more about realizing the seriousness of wronging others, and realizing there would be a consequence for the hurtful action. These laws functioned as an example for the judges who had to assign compensations and amounts or restitution in damage cases.

The lex talionis does impose a strict limit on the amount of damages anyone could collect. In modern terms it would read: car bumper for car bumper and car fender for car fender. Or don't try to get money you don't deserve from your car insurance company with a faked whiplash or made-up injuries.

This would be an offense against God as well since you are now lying.

Turn to Numbers 35:31……permits a ransom for all capital offenses in the OT… except in the one case of willful and premeditated murder. There are other ways to "pay" restitution..

Monetary compensation is mentioned in Ex. 21:19,22,30,32. However, no one was to try to get rich quick off such situations, and if you did, that was wrong, still is today.

Again remember, this was to be a rule of thumb for the judges , not an authorization of personal vendetta or private retaliation.

"In these early Biblical times, the Biblical law did not distinguish as sharply as present day legislators do between criminal law (determining punishment) and civil law (determining commensurate compensation)."

So, Exodus 21:23-25 is not so much a law of retaliation, but a formula for compensation.

IOW, A literal interpretation of "hand for hand" would not be fair and equivalent compensation if one man was a singer and the other a pianist. What would work here better is "the means of livelihood for the means of livelihood." Col. 3:25

So, let's be careful not to fall too far on either side of this issue:

Let's not transfer to the private sector what these verses assigned solely and properly to the God-appointed judges.

Being too literal with an interpretation and thus failing to see that this principle comes under the heading of restitution (an act of restoring or a condition of being restored: a making good of or giving an equivalent for some injury) and not retaliation (to repay [as an injury] in kind, to return like for like; especially :   to get revenge). Psalm 7:16

The compensation was to fit the damages, no more, no less.

This text actually curbs excessive personal retaliation or retribution among Israel's citizens.

Conclusion:

Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek…

It's the principle of the matter more than the action taken. Ideally as we answer to God in every area of our lives, we would not consider doing something harmful to someone else because we know that:

That dishonors God. 2. We shouldn't mistreat other humans.

Through these laws, God is teaching his people to be very careful and thoughtful before you take an offensive action against someone else.

June 3rd, 2007

Difficult Bible Passages

Genesis 1-2:4

Intro: Think about your studies in school. (Math, language, science, PE, music, art) Each one of these learned skills requires a basic understanding of the fundamentals. Gotta learn addition before fractions, alphabet before Spanish, etc.

Same thing with the Bible. Gotta start with the basics.

Text: Genesis 1:1-2, 31 2:1& 4

While today's passages may not be difficult for some of you, it really is important for how we view the entire Bible.

Gen. 1 is foundational to our faith, how we view God, theology, the Bible etc. It is packed with key verses that form the basis of our understanding
of God and the Bible.

If you can believe God has existed eternally, created the universe, man and animals, they you can believe that the rest of the guidelines God has for us in the Bible really are good for us.

So many people want to jump ahead and wrestle/debate other topics.
Those "crazy" Bible stories, who can believe them? Adam and Eve. The
fall, sin. Noah? The ark, all those animals? What is the purpose of
all those "weird" OT laws? Moses, the plagues. Jesus and the claims
he made. His virgin birth. Miracles. Walking on water. Rising from
the dead., the list goes on for many people.

What are some of the other Bible stories that seem hard to believe?

All those can be answered and settled with a fundamental understanding of Genesis 1.

Let's look at the key verses:
Right off the bat, verse 1. "In the beginning God"

This is in the beginning of creation, not eternity. This marks the first break in the past endless eternity. SLIDE

God is eternal, has always existed. I know that is a big step of faith, but that's
the way it is. Either God is eternal, unchanging God or he falls into any other category of a big bang theory, or evolution or science. God exists outside of our limited knowledge of our world.
"Created the heavens and the earth"

A very inclusive statement and rightly so. That includes everything within our knowledge. The heavens includes our universe, planets, solar system etc. The earth includes all living creatures, living things, humans, plants, animals etc.

v. 2 Before God created all we see today, the earth was formless, void.
"At this point in God's creative activity, the earth was yet unfashioned and unihabited." Charles Ryrie

Hard to know what the earth may've looked like at that point…yet we do know that God's Spirit was hovering over this formless empty "world". God was and is involved in every phase of creation, still today. God is actively involved in our world and our lives.

What follows is a description of God's creative process:
v 3 (Day 1) Light, v 4-5 Day and night

v 6-10 (Day 2) Separating the earth and the heavens/seas and dry
land. (A vast body of water in vapor over the earth, making a canopy
that caused conditions on the earth to resemble those inside a
greenhouse. This may account for the longer lives in those days.)
[Gen. 5] and for the tremendous amount of water involved in the flood
[Gen. 6-9].

v 11-13 (Day 3) Vegetation, plants, fruit trees etc.

v 14-19 (Day 4) Sun and moon
(Aren't all the pictures great? Man's attempt to capture God's beautiful creation!)

v 20-23 (Day 5) Sea creatures

v 24-31- 2:1 (Day 6) Animals and Humans. God saw what he created,
liked it. It was good. Good from the start. No mistakes. God's
perfect plan on how everything was created.

2:2-4 God ordained rest on the seventh day. (Saturday.) How come we
rest on Sunday then? Sabbath, day of rest?

Christians switched that day to Sunday after the rez. in honor of Jesus, the third day etc.

God wasn't tired and needing rest. He set an example for us humans who are tired and do need a day of rest. Especially in our work driven, goal oriented, success mentality Western European 1st world that we live in.

Everyone is trying to keep up with everyone else.

I wonder if 2nd and 3rd world countries have such a hard time with
taking a day of rest? Hmm...

God has blessed a day of rest for us and made it holy. How are you doing with a day of rest, today?

Conclusion:

My prayer today is that we are all re-reminded of God's "bigness"…

Genesis 2:4 is actually just as important as Genesis 1:1

If you can believe the Biblical creation account then it should set the stage for beginning to learn and understand the rest of the Bible stories and how they apply to our lives today.